My Greatest Failing

Don't think I'm being humble here. My modesty is only half false. It is at least half earned. During decades in the advertising business, friends and colleagues scolded me for being a little pessimistic, self-denigrating, too risk averse when selling. The...

Landlord’s Court

On Friday afternoon, I enjoyed a conference call with some friends and clients. At the beginning of the call, as we waited for a couple latecomers, one friend wished me a good new year. Rosh Hashanah would be starting at sunset.He mentioned one of the Jewish...

In Gene We Trust

This might not be as witty as your conversation at home, but Gene liked it so much, he put it in the dialogue between the main characters of a novel that he's just finished. Pope Mary and the Church of Almighty Good Food (working title) is "a gently humorous...

On Receiving Harsh Criticism

I've heard Ph.D.s say that we should, before interpreting market research data, throw out the top and the bottom comments.Throw them out? Why simply discard data? The reason: there are some people who love everything and there are some people who hate everything....

Who Loves You, Baby?

Thanks to Nils Root for quoting his father in a recent midterm exam in the creativity class (and for permitting my quoting it here):"What you think of me is none of my business."I just love that.I'm simply not that interested in what others think of me....