We have family in Nashville and visit two or three times a year. We often go to the Frist Art Museum, in an old Art Deco post office. It’s a beautiful container for interesting work. I’ve never seen it generate quite the interest I saw last week. LeXander Bryant is a Nashville-based artist. His exhibition shares the same space that …
Podcast 96: The Workplace Book Club – ”Nothing beside remains”
What will be your legacy? Your organization’s legacy? On this week’s Workplace Book Club, we look at a poem. (Just like AMC did for the sake of a hit TV show.) Even in the workplace, are there things that last? Mike and Mark are #twoguyswithoutlookswithbooks. The excerpt and study guide for this episode, “Nothing beside remains,” is available for free …
How to prevent hiring deceivers
I have seen a lot of bad hires over the years. Managers will be really excited about a new recruit. Then slowly over the course of time, they will realize the person isn’t who they said they were. Or worse, they won’t realize it: The person was so good at faking it in the interview that they faked it on …
Horn Sections Make Rock Better: Take Me to the River
A few years back, I got a chance to hear Jimmy Johnson at a blues joint in Chicago. The friend who took me, a lifelong Chicagoan and live music devotee, told me this week that Jimmy had died. So had his brother Syl, the source of a lot of hip hop samples. (Here’s a tribute to the brothers.) Jimmy was …
Damning words about screen time
I don’t normally share longer essays, but this one is worth the read: “How Digital Youth Became Unhappy–and Dangerous–Adults.” The gist: Well-off parents, especially those working in technology, LIMIT screen time for their kids. The article goes so far as to compare screens’ effects on the brain to crack cocaine. We’ve got the addiction ourselves, don’t we? Gallup just reported …
Podcast 95: The Workplace Book Club — No shame in tears
Charles Dickens has some thoughts on crying. He makes some blanket statements about the three ways expressing negative emotions improves you. Does it apply to the workplace? Mike and Mark are #twoguyswithoutlookswithbooks. The excerpt and study guide for this episode, “No shame in tears,” is available for free download. We would love your questions and comments (and book ideas!) for …
Customer service is nothing new under the sun
This morning I searched for websites and news articles about “serving customers.” And I had a stark reminder of what is at stake. I try to post two articles a week, one employee-oriented, the other customer-oriented. (And, of course, we post our podcast every Saturday, plus a song for #HornSectionsMakeRockBetter, just because I can.) It was time for this week’s …
Horn Sections Make Rock Better: Birmingham
Longtime listeners to #HornSectionsMakeRockBetter (both of you!) know I love Randy Newman. Good Old Boys is one of his many creative peaks. I even love the album’s cover.
Why frontline workers burn out
Seth Godin has put his finger on burnout in the service industries. More on that in a minute. But first, let me share a picture of how a lot of frontline workers feel: high schoolers. It happens every year around the start of December. I noticed it about 10 years ago–but I suspect it has been going on longer than …
Podcast 94: The Workplace Book Club — Clothes make the man
Should looks matter? Do they? What about criticism? What’s the appropriate response to getting it? Shakespeare gives his 2 cents via Hamlet, and Mike and Mark are #guyswithoutlookswithbooks. The excerpt and study guide for this episode, “Clothes make the man,” is available for free download. We would love your questions and comments (and book ideas!) for future episodes: Email …