Archive for November 2023

In his newsletter, The Daily Coach, Mike Lombardi offers four lessons for dealing with terrible bosses. He was watching Succession at the time and witnessing the rise of the character Tom Wambsgans, who turned out to be a monster. I have been both a boss and an employee throughout my working life, so I am…

Clara says to me, “Hey Dad, I memorized some of The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe.” Then she smiles and adds, “Just for fun.” Because that is who she is.

I’m standing at a table at WBUR CitySpace, filling out a form to compete in this evening’s Moth StorySLAM. It’s quite the questionnaire. Questions about my name, the pronunciation of my name, contact information, demographic data, known languages, and more. When I first began telling stories for The Moth in New York City back in…

I played golf yesterday afternoon with a man named John. We approached the first tee box about the same time, so he asked if I would like to join him. Honestly, I didn’t. I had limited time before a business call and a departure to Boston, so I had planned to don my headphones, listen…

In a meeting with a mother this week during parent-teacher conferences, she told me, “I did a great job” related to an aspect of her parenting. I loved this. I love it so much, and I said so. “I love that!” I told her. “Not enough parents give themselves credit for the job they do!…

After years of managing restaurants and working with the leaders of small businesses, large corporations, school systems, religious institutions, healthcare organizations, nonprofits, and more, I offer you this theory of management based on my experiences and observations: Leaders who transfer stress onto their subordinates are ineffective, foolish, and ultimately damaging to the people and organizations…

I chaperoned my son’s field trip to the Connecticut Science Center last week. Hundreds of kids from at least three schools migrated through the building in loud, energetic waves. I do not envy the docents in that museum. They must monitor their exhibits and children’s often less-than-ideal ways of interacting with them. Still, that doesn’t…

As someone who is asked quite often to provide a bio for an upcoming storytelling show, a literary festival, a corporate training session, a magazine piece, or, yesterday, for the “About the Author” section for my next book, I know how daunting this job can be. Summarize your life in a paragraph or two. Don’t…

Here’s my idea: Put up a sign that announces something very appealing and fantastic. An event that would excite the masses. List the date of the event as “Yesterday.” Wouldn’t that be fun?

While chaperoning Charlie’s field trip to the Connecticut Science Center, a student asked me, “Why are you so rich, but Charlie isn’t?” I was befuddled. I actually asked the boy to repeat himself. “You’re rich, but Charlie isn’t,” he said. “How come?” “What makes you think that?” I asked. “You published a bunch of books…