If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?” Abraham Lincoln was reported to have said once when accused of playing both sides of an issue. It’s good to see a politician with a self-deprecating sense of humor. Scott Adams of Dilbert fame and the writers of The Office have some hysterical views on…
Read more
“This is crazy,” I said glancing over my shoulder toward my two hiking companions. One was only six horizontal feet behind me, yet his head was well below my ankles. The same was true for the man behind him. We were scaling the south side of Albert Mountain, climbing from one four-foot rock to the…
Read more
A man and his wife were taking a lazy Sunday afternoon drive through the country enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells of the rural community. As they slowly navigated the narrow two-lane road, large hardwood trees reached for the sky and offered shade from the hot sun above, broad pastures and farmland extended as…
Read more
“I truly believe that if you take care of your employees, they will take care of your business.” – Sir Richard Branson If Branson is to be believed, and his track record at The Virgin Group suggests that he knows what he’s doing, we’re left with the question: how do you take care of your…
Read more
I scaled the four-foot dirt bank and followed the trail as it turned sharply left and paralleled the meandering stream that I had just crossed. It was almost noon and I was hungry. I considered every small clearing as a potential spot for lunch, hoping to find a site near the water. The sound of water…
Read more
A work environment like The Office where an obtuse boss unknowingly stifles productivity and routinely kills morale makes for a funny sit-com. That series is one of my all-time favorite television shows. However, when fiction becomes reality, it’s not so funny. I’ve seen work environments every bit as dysfunctional as the Scranton branch of…
Read more
Want to talk about something controversial? Politics? Religion? Healthcare? Mere child’s play compared to the deeply entrenched beliefs about the effectiveness of the Scrum or Agile practices in software development shops. OK, maybe that’s a bit of a hyperbole, but the senior leadership that I’ve consulted with over the years tend to have impenetrable convictions about…
Read more
It took all of the will power I could muster to get off the fallen log beside the trail and hoist my pack onto my shoulders. It wasn’t even lunchtime and I was beyond tired. I was weary. The overcast skies were not helping matters. They seemed to mirror my gloomy attitude. For the past five days,…
Read more
My headlamp shown dimly in the dark moonless night. The trees cast long shadows that faded into the blackness of the dense underbrush. Occasionally I could see a highly reflective strap from another camper’s backpack as I surveyed my surroundings, searching for a place to bed down for the night. It was midnight and my hiking…
Read more
On the far bank, a hiking friend from Georgia that I had recently met called out “Joe! You have to try this.” The blissful look of peace on his face affirmed his invitation. The stream was 8 feet across and 10 inches at its deepest point. Someone had thoughtfully placed stepping-stones in the water to allow…
Read more
Recent Comments