“Ask me, ‘What’s the secret of good comedy?’” “Oooohkayee, “Whaaats da secret of goooood Comedeeee?” “Not like that. Ask me like you really want to know.” “Oh all right. What’s the secret of good com-“ “TIMING!” That was one of my annoying fifteen-year-old jokes; now it’s told by annoying ten-year-olds. Evidently, in kid-comedy, the jokes […]
“Ask me, ‘What’s the secret of good comedy?’” “Oooohkayee, “Whaaats da secret of goooood Comedeeee?” “Not like that. Ask me like you really want to know.” “Oh all right. What’s the secret of good com-“ “TIMING!” That was one of my annoying fifteen-year-old jokes; now it’s told by annoying ten-year-olds. Evidently, in kid-comedy, the jokes […]
“The job is no longer any fun. I feel like I have spent the last seven years atop a giant marshmallow kicking down, only to watch as it slowly moves back to its existing shape.” So said William O. Spencer, the retiring CEO of Sherwin Williams paint company of Cleveland, Ohio in 1978. I didn’t […]
Leadership As a writer, I try to simplify, to summarize, to capture the essence of something in a phrase. I don’t always succeed, of course; I am too often wordy, loquacious, distracted and meandering. In my upcoming book, Change Leader? Who Me? I repeatedly describe the difference between management and leadership: Managers: thrive in a […]
When I first became a trainer, my kids were little, and I confess that I often used stories about them to illustrate the points I was teaching. Sometimes I even attached my children’s names to cute stories I read. I’m not necessarily proud of that, but those weren’t the worst lies I told in my […]
The Eldest told the story of the Three.” The Grey One spoke slowly; his mouth and eyes smiled as if remembering a youthful transgression made humorous by time. “She is perhaps not so much older than me, but she is wiser and still lives in the clan hold. I am Grey, and live on the […]
“I’m sorry. So Sorry. Please accept my apology. I know I was wrong, But I was too blind to see.” (1960 #1 hit by fifteen-year-old Brenda Lee, written by Dub Albrittin and Ronnie Self.) “I am a terrible person!” The clocks changed last night and I awoke at 3:00 a.m. (old time), thinking about all […]
“I’m sorry. So Sorry. Please accept my apology. I know I was wrong, But I was too blind to see.” (1960 #1 hit by fifteen-year-old Brenda Lee, written by Dub Albrittin and Ronnie Self.) “I am a terrible person!” The clocks changed last night and I awoke at 3:00 a.m. (old time), thinking about all […]
“I am the Scourge of God! If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me among you.” Bellowed Genghis Khan from horseback outside the sacred Mosque of Bukhara, moments before he ordered the wealthy town elders to surrender gold and jewels, razed their homes and slaughtered them, leaving […]
I’ve been thinking about Shakespeare’s play Hamlet recently. Though I trained as an actor, I never played Hamlet. Hamlet is a young prince of Denmark, grieving the loss of his father, and feeling vaguely uneasy about the fact that his mother married his uncle Claudius so soon after his father’s death. “Thrift, thrift, Horatio. The […]
