Robert Moses built Long Island parks that few African-Americans ever enjoyed. He poured parkways for New Yorkers to get to his parks – but few African-Americans ever drove on them. He carved out new beaches – but few African-Americans ever swam there. Moses accomplished this without passing one law barring them from his parks or…
Draw two circles. Make one very large – covering almost an entire page. Make the second circle very small. Write “reality” in the larger circle. Write “religion” in the smaller circle. Welcome to the 21st century. If you don’t think these circles square with reality, here are a handful of books worth reading this summer.
Four-on-five basketball produces a predictable result. With summer vacation, our weekly neighborhood game rarely fields a full complement of ten players. We could play 4-on-4, but that would require someone sitting out a game and getting stiff (we’re getting older). So we play 4-on-5 with the four-player team rarely winning. In the wider world, this…
by Mike Metzger & John Seel System thinking and its implications… The refusal of American colonials to buy British goods after the passage of the Stamp Act (1765) could be considered the first boycott. The practice didn’t receive its name until 1880, when English Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott’s ruthlessness in evicting Irish tenants, led his…
by Mike Metzger & John Seel System thinking and its implications… The refusal of American colonials to buy British goods after the passage of the Stamp Act (1765) could be considered the first boycott. The practice didn’t receive its name until 1880, when English Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott’s ruthlessness in evicting Irish tenants, led his…
Recent surveys show that only one in three families eat meals together on a regular basis, let alone the fact that the idea of family is itself, in some circles anyway, quaint. Among the many victims of modern ideology, the social act of eating is perhaps one of the most badly wounded. We have given…
Frivolous spending is out in our current economic crisis. High-end restaurants are hurting. McDonalds is thriving. The government is capping excessive pay for top executives. Trips to the Bahamas are being scrapped (Citigroup instead paid its 1,900 Primerica Financial Services brokers a total of $5,000 each). Rahm Emmanuel said you never want a serious crisis…
Most business managers are Marxists. Not Karl Marx, but Harpo. In 1912, Harpo Marx was told his career was in jeopardy when he opened his mouth. So he performed as a mute for virtually the remainder of his professional life. This is often what managers do when they imagine using moral language at work. They…
For centuries, “experts” had widely assumed that a human being could not run a mile in under four minutes. “Can’t be done.” On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister did it, completing the distance in 3:59.4. Since the early 1900s, management “experts” have assumed workers have to be managed. If you suggest mentoring as a better…
Memorial Day has become meaningless for most Americans. Admit it – it’s a stretch to remember those who have died in our nation’s service. We shouldn’t, however, be too hard on Americans. They’re the product of a system designed to make paying attention darned near impossible. Inattention poses one of the most significant challenges for…