The word of the week comes from a recent Peggy Noonan column that appeared in the Wall Street Journal, "The Week They Decided Donald Trump Was Crazy." Here is the relevant section: "I end with a new word, at least new to me. A friend called it to my attention. It speaks of the moment … Continue reading Wednesday Word of the Week: Kakistocracy →

Are there many moments more exciting than move-in day at college, particularly for freshmen? I am sure there is also a lot of stress leading up to the big day, but hopefully that stress is overwhelmed by the amount of excitement associated with such an event. It seems as if schools have become logistics experts … Continue reading Move-In Day! →

After watching Gwen Jorgensen's dominating win in the women's Olympic triathlon, I realized that 2016 is shaping up to be a great year for accountants. Before becoming a world-class triathlete, Gwen worked as a tax accountant for EY, the global professional services firm. One of the EY partners, Mark Hellmer, helped set up a flexible … Continue reading 2016 Could Be the Year of the Accountant →

A recent story in the Wall Street Journal shared some recent academic research that showed participants who had no backup plan associated with their primary goal performed better than those participants who did have a backup plan in addition to their primary goal. According to Jihae Shin, the study’s co-author and assistant professor of management and … Continue reading Should You “Burn Your Boats”? Having a Plan B… or Not →

In the past month I've come across two separate stories of women who left successful business careers and moved to an island. Kathleen Byars, founder of Blazers, Inc., a marketing strategy firm, recently published a post titled, "Why I Traded My Lipstick and Pinstripe Suit to Live on an Island". Byars write that in 2004, … Continue reading Is the Island Life For You? →

I'm a huge sports fan. Not only do I love the competitive aspect of it, but I also believe sports can teach lots of good life lessons, such as the value of hard work, how to perform under pressure, how to win and lose gracefully, how to play fairly, how to be part of a … Continue reading Shake Hands Or Don’t Bother Showing Up →

The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert isn't the type of book I would normally have picked to read, but it was the selection as the One Book at Villanova University for this coming academic year, which enabled me to pick up a free copy, so I thought, why not. I had just finished reading a … Continue reading The Sixth Extinction →

Katie Ledecky set a world record in the women's 800 meter freestyle, and beat her closest competitor by more than 11 seconds. Katie now has the 13 fastest times in the history of the 800 free. Almaz Ayana set a world record in the women's 10,000 meter run, and beat her closest competitor by more … Continue reading Why Doesn’t This Happen More Often? →

Research has found that, to put it bluntly, expressing gratitude to someone who helps you keeps them interested and invested in having a relationship with you over the long haul. It makes their time, effort, and inconvenience seem worth it. In the same vein, there is nothing quite like ingratitude to sour an otherwise happy … Continue reading Expressing Gratitude the Right Way →