Posted in People, tagged Martin Luther King Day on January 21, 2008 | No Comments »
Six years ago, I took a trip to Atlanta. I visited the King Center, Ebenezer Baptist Church, and the family home where he was born. I also saw an unexpected photo of King at the Margaret Mitchell House — as a child, he sang with the church choir at the premiere of Gone with the [...]
Posted in People on December 17, 2007 | No Comments »
I was sad to learn today that Diane Middlebrook has died. I never worked with Prof. Middlebrook at Stanford; my only encounter with her was over email. When I wrote to ask her for guidance about becoming a biographer, she advised doing what she did — “appointing” myself to a project and “bumbling along.” She [...]
Posted in People on August 22, 2007 | No Comments »
My grandmother died a few years ago. She was 93. At her wake, a 70+ year old friend of hers stood up and told the story of how she was always going to my grandmother for encouragement.
“I’d say, ‘I’m scared,’ and Sophie would say, ‘You just have to do it. Even if you’re scared, what [...]
Posted in People on August 14, 2007 | No Comments »
I still remember the moment I heard that Elvis had died. In August of 1977, a tell-all book by Elvis’ disloyal entourage had been released. I was 10 years old and had been completely hooked by the sensationalistic excerpts published in People — especially the story of Elvis’ spearing a woman’s breast with a pool cue and “paralyzing” [...]
Posted in Methods, People on May 31, 2007 | No Comments »
Before I heard the term “call to greatness” in coaching and new age circles, I had the good fortune to have an eighth grade teacher who was a master practitioner of the call to greatness. Part of his personal myth (probably true) was that his father had worked with Albert Einstein and that his childhood [...]
Posted in Methods, People on May 12, 2007 | No Comments »
I found a fascinating autobiographical essay on Edgar Shein’s site at MIT. If you aren’t familiar with Shein, he is the author of a concept he has labeled career anchors. He says that in each of us, one of eight motivators predominates in our career choices.
For example, the autonomy anchor drives the field sales person [...]
Posted in People, Random Thoughts, Uncategorized on May 9, 2007 | No Comments »
As someone who grew up watching a lot of TV, I am always intrigued to discover the perspectives of early TV stars who grew up without it. I love their sense of wonder about something that is for me so mundane. It is corny and sweet, but I am touched by it. From the personal [...]
Posted in Methods, People on April 29, 2007 | 1 Comment »
What comes to mind when you think “Stanford University”? Hewlett & Packard? Google & Yahoo? Chelsea Clinton? I think of my two blissful years waking to crowing roosters, cultivating a compost bin, and harvesting fresh vegetables from my own garden. Now when I’m feeling nostalgic, I can visit the virtual homestead of the folks at [...]
Posted in People on April 28, 2007 | No Comments »
I watched American Masters Lucille Ball piece last night. The voiceover said that Lucille Ball’s face has been seen by more people than any person’s who has ever lived.
Since I Love Lucy has been broadcast all over the world almost continuously for more than 50 years, I can’t imagine anyone who’s been seen more.
Not Hitler. [...]
Posted in People on April 25, 2007 | No Comments »
I learned from a manager I respect that one should always follow up on a list of problems and criticisms with a list of solutions. So, my proposed solutions to the people problems I described in my last post, none of them rocket science:
To counter the Peter Principle: Create independent contributor tracks. Those tracks need [...]
