First of all, let me tell you I love watching TV. I don’t intend for this to be some high-brow TV-is-for-dummies blog post. Watching TV is awesome. Whether it’s a live NFL […]
Real World, Fake World: How to be a successful manager, leader, and person
As I detailed in this kind of weird article, the work world is not the real world. Work is a made up place, work hierarchies are made up things, and there’s really […]
It’s Only Work
Not only is business management my vocation, it’s also my avocation. In my free time I write this blog, manage two three-family investment houses, and help with two companies as an unpaid […]
Management Skills: Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick
I swore I wasn’t going to be one of those parents who would toss empty threats at their kids to try to coerce them into good behavior. You know the old, “If […]
Personal Finance: There and Back
I had a few bad years of personal finance. I was one of those guys who bought houses without any money during the Great Housing Boom of the 2000s. I bought my […]
Management Skills: Be Fit
Getting into shape is a good business decision. And this isn’t one of my weird and abstract metaphor posts that’s really about mental fitness or business fitness or something. This post is […]
Short Story: David and Gertrude
He and Jimmy drove along without talking pulled by a rig filled with ten tons of black top. His mind drifted, like it always did when he had nothing else to think […]
Not All the Turtles Make it to the Sea
Jack and I watched this movie called Tortuga, about an adorable sea turtle’s journey from birth through adulthood. The movie starts on a beach where adult female sea turtles have dug hundreds […]
Should I Get an MBA?
One sunny summer day, when I was 25, I was driving along the Massachusetts Turnpike between stores, and, from no where, an idea popped into my head. Freshly promoted that July, I […]
How to Become A Manager
So you didn’t turn out to be a doctor or a lawyer. Your parents must be so disappointed. Just tell them to chill out. There’s still hope for a long, progressive, and […]
We Will Always Forget
I still remember how I felt when I turned on my TV that Tuesday morning in 2001. Almost everyone reading this blog remembers that day. I didn’t know anyone who died on […]
Work Marathons
Sometimes you need to work more than five days in a row. What are you going to do, cry about it? It happens often in retail and hospitality, especially around holidays or […]
The Best Books For Managers
I’ve been kicked out of my home office. Again. First my son was born, and he stole it, and now my soon-to-be daughter is stealing my office. Last week I painted my […]
Thinking About Your Leadership Shadow
I attended a meeting today where an executive urged us to think about our “leadership shadow.” It’s a neat phrase. Got me thinking. This exec went on and asked us to think […]
Management Skills: Run a Tight Ship
The first and biggest challenge for any new manager is finding the right balance between being a good people manager and an effective task manager.