I have a tip for everyone regarding interviewing. In my experience, I have seen that there are some people who recognize they are not as skillful at interviewing as they would like to be. But it is interesting to me how many (and this is a large number) think they are very good at interviewing, but they really aren’t. It’s kind of like driving. I have met next to nobody who doesn’t think they are an expert driver – yet, few of them are. And so it is with interviewing – far too many people think they are experts, and a good proportion of them are wrong.

I’m going to break a basic rule that seems self-evident when talking about books. I’m going to recommend you read The Oz Principle. However, I have to warn you I have only read at it.

By now, everyone should have completed their mid-year performance reviews. However, if you are like me, you’ve put it off and are now under constant attack by the denizens of Human Resources to share your incredibly important and insightful feedback with your employees.

I have had the occasion over the last year to be involved in a couple of projects that were fascinating. Now, the projects were not necessarily fascinating for the subject matter nor for the intricacies of the problem that was faced nor for the way solutions were reached nor for the interactions of the people nor for the way politics played a nasty part in the proceedings nor for any of the myriad reasons for which any project can be fascinating. Nope, these projects were interesting for the realization they provided – the realization of how readily people accept their current situations without questioning what else might be done.

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site has an unusual distinction among the collection of national parks, monuments, sites, etc – it is not just a recreation of a trading post; it is an actual working trading post. It was established in 1878 by John Lorenzo Hubbell. In 1965, the Hubbell family made an agreement to turn the entire operation over to the National Park Service. This was with the unusual stipulation that the trading post be maintained as a true, working Indian trading post. This resulted in the need for an authentic Indian trader to run the post.

Company A and Company B decided to have a canoe race on a local river. Both teams practiced hard and long to reach their peak performance before the race.  On the big day, Company A won by a mile.

I’m late to this party. What party? The party that is the book Shtuff My Dad Says. (No, that’s not the title. Yes, we all know the real title. Yes, we know the title uses some of the letters of shtuff and an appropriately placed asterisk. No, I’m not going to go there.) How late? Well, the book was published last year, the blog posts started well before that, and the situation comedy of the same name premiered (and disappeared) in the 2010 fall season.

My daughter decided to correct me on my use of a particular phrase the other day. I don’t remember the specific matter of our discourse, but I had just said to her “I don’t disagree with you.” She stopped me short. “I’m sick of people saying that. If you don’t disagree, then you agree.”