I’ve been thinking a lot about the Pilgrims lately, and not because as I write this it’s a few days after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving represents abundance, yet my thoughts concerning these first New England immigrants have been more about scarcity and how they dealt with it. Coming to the New World was always a risky venture [...]
In response to growing concerns about financial survival, the news media is full of information about ways to save money, conserve energy, etc., but very little is being said about people’s biggest worry—secure employment! Work, either through job-employment or self-employment, is the levee that protects us, and as long as it holds, we can weather [...]
If you’re a regular reader of this newsletter, you may be as tired of hearing about my book as you are of the presidential campaign. I’ve been coming at you with it for longer than the election has dominated the news, starting in January, 2007, when I devoted this newsletter to presenting one chapter a [...]
It’s pretty clear to most baby boomers that they will be creating, either by choice or circumstances, a very different kind of retirement from their parents, for whom it simply meant, stop working. Retirement was first quantified in 1935, when the Social Security Administration gave it the number, 65. At the time, the average lifespan [...]
There are many advantages to living on Cape Cod, especially in August when the weather is glorious and the North Atlantic is finally warm enough that you can ride the waves on a boogie board without succumbing to hypothermia. You learn to live with it, and if you can get beyond grumbling about the traffic, [...]
When tea became trendy, I gave in and, with a sigh, supplemented my grandmother’s depression glass dishes with a few pieces from the new array of tea service paraphernalia available in gift shops. When yoga started to become an “in thing,” promoted in slick videos and shops such as the one near my home called [...]
Dear Graduate, “The rest of your life is an eight o’clock class,” a colleague of mine likes to say to the new graduates he counsels. It’s a delightful metaphor, but I think that makes it sound too easy. It suggests that, in your professional future, just signing up and showing up will be enough. As [...]
My husband and I were taking Amtrak to Virginia, and in Trenton, a stylishly dressed mature woman boarded the train and took the seat behind us. She dozed until Wilmington in an erect posture with her back against the window. Then she awoke and called her son. I know this because it’s impossible not to [...]
Last month the manuscript of my first book, Ground of Your Own Choosing, finally went to the publisher. You can’t imagine the relief I feel to be approaching the completion of this intense, time-devouring project. Putting your voice in the world in whatever form your creativity takes—writing a book, designing a bridge, developing a branding [...]
I was once invited to speak to a class of MBA students, and I started my presentation by asking them how much time they devoted to their jobs. The responses ranged between 40 and 50 hours a week. I asked how much time they gave to their studies, and they answered 10 to 20 hours [...]
Small business owners and managers may not have the six-figure incomes, paneled offices and private jets of corporate executives but they have the same responsibility—leadership. Top managers do not spring into existence out of nowhere. They are selected because they are suited for the job, and they are carefully groomed through extensive training and a [...]
Ask small business owners why some of them fail and they’ll tell you it’s because they don’t make enough money. This makes about as much sense as saying that Enron went under because the price of its stock fell. It begs the question, why don’t they make enough money, and misses the opportunity to seek [...]
