Essays on creative leadership,
culture, and the human side of work.
Published weekly, with an original illustration. Two series: Becoming and Advisory Notes.
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed Everybody knows the war is over Everybody knows the good guys lost Everybody knows the fight was fixed The poor stay poor, the rich get rich That’s how it goes Everybody knows –Leonard Cohen Three women, with packs on their backs, were…
“We reach down deep when forced to, and become what we need to be.” – Old Overture parable Writing on the wall The meeting was short. Tom had known for weeks that things weren’t right. Now he pushed back his chair, stood and headed for the door, unemployed. He was a little off balance as…
Revulsion, then anger. She felt the redness. Her face burned. And then that churn from deep in her gut. He was speaking at the Esteemed Conference of Professional Spokespersons. Or something like that. It hit her hard. She couldn’t look at the fucking announcement again. Couldn’t avoid his topic slipping into her consciousness. He’d been…
“Anna? Anna Foley?” The rain pounded. The city was a mess. Wet garbage everywhere. Tent cities filled the parks, and anyplace else the homeless could get away with. “Yes, who’s calling please?” Late for her appointment, Anna was madly trying to get a note off to let the prospect know when the call came in.…
“Where do the leads come from?” I’d been worried about Anna since she’d left the co-op to take the sales job. We’d been in the planning stages at the time, and had no revenue. In fact, we hadn’t even put in any startup money yet. Anna was an industrial designer who’d worked mostly with exhibits.…
Marcus, standing, still wet from the storm… “The Amazon is burning. The Amazon is gone. The oligarchs are taking over. The oligarchs own us all. “Tommy, Tommy! Didn’t you see this coming? Why didn’t you do more? You Boomers let them burn the world. “You burned high-octane. Laid the rubber and the girls. Felt no…
“You promised us we’d win Unilever.” “That’s a child’s response. Grow the fuck up.” That’s how Brie’s Thursday started at Overture. “I shouldn’t have been so cocky,” Brie thought. “I should have been more measured.” Rough patch Sitting in her office, hands wrapped around her second cup of the day, Brie remembered the feelings: First…