Hal’s Blog- Stop acting out! I heard this a lot growing up and did not realize until long after childhood that this admonition is tough to observe. Acting means motion. To stop acting out I lose all my kinetic energy.
I just read a memoir with insights on acting out for a full career. It is Paul Newman’s book, The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man. Here is what sticks with me, from three book passages.
Hal’s blog- For many years I have considered this expression as a miserable excuse for male bad behavior. A new book gave me a very different take. Of Boys and Men by Richard Reeves speaks to just how males struggle and fall behind in education.
Hal’s blog- What if nonprofit organizations acted like gas stations?
Hal’s Blog- My partner Robyn and I had a great discussion the other day about how nonprofits typically hire consultants to do one of two things. The first is to study an organization and provide observations and recommendations in an area the organization wishes to improve.
Hal’s Blog- No, this is not about cancel culture, whatever that means. This blog entry is about how words help or hurt each other. I was prompted to write this after reading today in an ad for a window company that it featured a “Robust Limited Warranty”. Robust lost its meaning when I learned it is limited.
Hal’s Blog- I was rereading my many underlining’s in a book by this title last night as I unpacked boxes for our winter in Florida. Dan and Chip Heath’s 2007 explanations of why some ideas last and others die are—sadly—just as relevant today as when they wrote it
Hal’s Blog- Social scientists have long called attention on limits of being objective. Everything gets filtered through the eyes of the observer.
Hal’s Blog- I was working with a fine group of nonprofit organizations in the Tampa, Florida region last week in a program of …
Much of our life is spent living in the land of expectations met. What happened yesterday happens tomorrow. I drink the same coffee, use the same toothpaste, greet people with the same expressions. We assume the expected and value it. More people rate McDonalds high because they offer the same things everywhere than because it serves great hamburgers. Where it gets interesting is in the ways unanticipated events can help us break up the usual terrain in enriching ways.
Hal’s Blog- Last week I wrote about boxes and how the organization charts that contain them can have so little effect on organizational culture or performance. My colleague Arthur Webb wrote a comment musing on how a CEO might graph a set of relationships with no boxes. Great question. Let’s ponder it this week.
Moving Boxes Last Sunday I was scratching my head for a blog topic this week and found one in an article inthe Los Angeles Times
Hal’s Blog-I have written extensively about how groups can test assumptions through prototype projects. This assumes that assumptions are an important starting point and need to be made explicit. It is hard to test something you have not defined. But there is another view.
