Police Brutality in the United States
David French of NationalReview.com on the unjust and excessive—often illegal—use of force toward civilians by U.S. police officers: There is absolutely no question that police have a difficult job. There is no question that even routine encounters and wellness checks can—on rare occasions—escalate to deadly violence. But there is also no question that time and […]
The Tyranny of the ‘Always on’ Work Culture
Judith Shulevitz writes in The Atlantic on how our schedules are getting more hectic than ever before, which usually causes our work or our personal lives to suffer: America’s relentless work culture is undermining our relationships with friends and family. The old 9-to-51 five-day-a-week grind has been replaced by a combination of punishing and unpredictable […]
The Storm Clouds of The Heart
Jack Kornfield in The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace (2002,) It takes courage to grieve, to honor the pain we carry. We can grieve in tears or in meditative silence, in prayer or in song. In touching the pain of recent and long-held griefs, we come face to face with our genuine human vulnerability, […]
Facing Ourselves in the Maelstrom of Life
American Zen teacher Joko Beck in Everyday Zen: Love and Work: Sitting is essentially a simplified space. Our daily life is in constant movement: lots of things going on, lots of people talking, lots of events taking place. In the middle of that, it’s very difficult to sense what we are in our life. When […]
The Intensifying Regulatory Assault on the Tech Behemoths
Barron’s quotes RBC Capital internet analyst Mark Mahaney’s comments on the Justice Department and 11 state attorneys general’s long-expected antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet, alleging that Google has engaged in anticompetitive activity: At the heart of Mahaney’s problem with the report is a stark disagreement on whether these companies are a force for good or fundamentally […]
Data Visualization is Like Cooking
Statistician Nathan Yau in Data Points: Visualization That Means Something (2013,) In many ways, visualization is like cooking. You are the chef, and datasets, geometry, and color are your ingredients. A skilled chief, who knows the process of how to prepare and combine ingredients and plate the cooked food, is likely to prepare a delicious […]
Giving Oneself Wholly
American Zen teacher Joko Beck in Everyday Zen: Love and Work: Doing one thing at a time and giving oneself wholly to doing it is the most efficient way one can possibly live, because there’s no blockage in the organism whatsoever. When we live and work in that way, we are extremely efficient without being […]
Serious Fun is How You Win
Fast Company’s Alan Webber summarizes nuggets of wisdom from his Rules of Thumb: 52 Truths for Winning at Business Without Losing Your Self (2009.) Rule #39: “‘Serious fun’ isn’t an oxymoron; it’s how you win.” Yes, work is serious, the stakes are high, the standards demanding, the customers exacting, the boss unyielding. But things that […]
The Rise of Direct-to-Consumer Brands
Jess Huang of McKinsey on how consumer-facing companies must grow and thrive in an ever-evolving and demanding consumer landscape: New direct-to-consumer brands are popping up all over the place. Because there’s a very low barrier to establishing yourself as a brand, they’re willing to spend on customer acquisition. So it’s not that consumers are necessarily […]
Sheryl Sandberg’s ‘Lean in’ Doesn’t Speak for All Women
Daniella Gibbs Léger in Essence considers how Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In(2013) doesn’t speak to lower-income women or women of color. Sandberg shouldn’t be raked over the coals for telling her life story, even if we don’t see ourselves in it. The onus is on media and others to make sure that the story of women […]