“You’re the only parent of anyone I know who is pushing their art kid to art school and out of nursing.” I was talking to my oldest kid, encouraging her to apply to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts High School, a residential performing arts school which also has a visual arts program. We live in a …
What’s more important to job satisfaction: work language or work level? “It depends.”
Should I look for a Real Boss, one who can unpack a “stratum” more complexity than I can, who can think out farther that I can? Or should I look for a team that “speaks my language”? As always with things that are deeply true, “it depends”.
How an Urban Studies course taught me that my “friends” were wrong (and I wasn’t an idiot)
It’s odd how some of us get stuck in a rut of not understanding who we are. Being told to go in a direction that is antithetical to our core, we work where what we have is not what they want. For most people, this is probably nuts. If you aren’t one, maybe a tale from my past will help.
So, I asked Chat GPT to write some poems about my writing….
I asked Chat GPT to review the contents of this site, and using that knowledge, write some poems about Hidden High Potentials. (Which you can go research if you’re unfamiliar. I’ll wait for you here.) My first attempt was requesting a sonnet, no style otherwise: Amidst the crowds, a gem oft goes unseen, A talent shining bright, but rarely found, …
How You Talk About Deciding Affects Who Thinks You’re an Idiot
How you talk about work affects who will hire you or work with you. I was reminded of this recently. I have been talking with some senior executives at work about how to build the structure for writing complex text responses for some of our forms. They reached out because I’m an expert in the responses’ topic and I’ve worked …
What To Do With Turkeys In The Company
“He was turkey farmed, and there wasn’t anything to do but ride it out to retirement.” We were talking about his old colleague. The guy had run afoul of his commander at the base for his insistence on following some environmental policy or other. The commander had “promoted” him to a special project with a special office. Each day, he …
How CEOs are Different Than Risk Pros
Hersh Shefrin, long-time Santa Clara prof and father of Behavioral Finance, points out that Lopes’s SP/A theory explains why CEOs and risk professionals have so many “what are you talking about?” moments: … my research indicates that CEOs are the most hopeful of all groups, the most apt to set specified goals, and the most likely to try to achieve …
Note: Was Jesus Poor or not? (further)
Although Monday’s note argues that Jesus’ father was a respected craftsman, and that James, Jesus’ brother, was likely either himself a Pharisee or respected by them, there is some evidence that Jesus was bereft of personal resources when he died. The Gospel accounts have many accounts of Jesus being hosted by others, or being supported by them. His disciples are …
SP/A Theory and Operational Risk
Lopes developed the SP/A Theory framework about why people make certain choices when faced with risk. These are developed through empirical studies of undergraduates, including running commentary on why they are choosing one alternative vs another. It led to one of the key insights into why we take the chances we do, and why one person may have a thoroughly …
Note: Jesus Wasn’t Raised Poor
The ancient texts are always interesting, in part because you often discover that you’ve been reading them wrong. … Luke attests that “every year [Jesus’] parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover” (24:1)….. They were obviously a devout, Jewish family with the financial means to make the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem, something few could afford. Bütz, Jeffery …