Bulldogs don’t always play nice. My bulldog is especially bad; he has been indulged, the behaviorist tells us, and believes he is king. My son is working particularly hard to make the dog a better citizen. Together they try to play ball, the baseball-crazy boy and the chew-toy-crazy dog. The problem is that when my... Continue Reading →
Last night I dreamed I was standing in my kitchen in bare feet surrounded by broken glass, calling rather pathetically for my husband to come help me. The dream also featured a swiftly rising river and an old man who lived in a hobbit house. It was a dream, okay? This morning, standing in my... Continue Reading →
Not long ago I wrote a polemic against criticism. One might therefore think that I am a fan of criticism’s opposite, praise. But I am not. Praise, in my mind, is as damaging as criticism in the long run, even if it is more pleasant in the moment. That is because praise and criticism arise... Continue Reading →
At my Peace Corps swearing-in ceremony I gave a speech in Russian in front of the ambassador. I had written the speech, painfully, at the end of two months of language immersion. It was one sheet of paper long, written out phonetically in Roman script because I couldn’t yet read in Cyrillic. When I got... Continue Reading →
If a woman works in a forest, and no one sees her work, is she really working? Okay, silly question, but it gets at why many of us hesitate to take or approve offsite work. To understand whether that woman in the forest is really working, it helps to have common understanding of the word “working.” How can there even... Continue Reading →
Delegation wears two faces. There is the face everyone likes, where good and challenging work is delegated from more senior staff to more junior staff, and junior staff are mentored through the difficult bits. But there is also delegation where boring mindless tasks are shifted from more senior staff to more junior staff, and junior staff... Continue Reading →
Procrastination is blamed for all manner of work woes. It’s true that putting something off until you don’t have time to do it well is not the best way to work. On the other hand, I think we lump a number of sins (and virtues) under the heading procrastination and castigate them all. If we... Continue Reading →
Ever since writing that post on quality last week I have felt uneasy, knowing that perfectionists might understand it as an exhortation to be even more perfect. It isn’t. Good work is a worthy goal. Perfect work isn’t. In fact, aiming for perfection can stand in the way of moving important, useful, even life-changing work... Continue Reading →
Two years ago I spent spring break building a deck in my backyard with my son. I thought it would be a good way to spend time together while playing with power tools. We had fun for a day before my son decided he’d rather watch TV than do manual labor with his mom and... Continue Reading →
Job descriptions are written in code. They aren't meant to be cryptic, but to describe a job in its entirety in plain words would overwhelm (or terrify, or bore) a reader. How should I tell someone what I do all day, the roiling, ever changing mix of problem solving, writing, advising, delegating, head-banging, and discussing?... Continue Reading →
Open Door Policy 