Category: Managing

THE JOY OF RUNNING IN THE DARK

This morning, I did something that I have done at least once and often four or five times a week for nearly 30 years; I went out running in the dark.  This has been a particularly challenging winter with tons of snow, and, more important, lingering ice on the street, but I have my secret…

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Making the Gradual Retirement of a Co-Founder Work

Most people look forward to retirement. They can’t wait to play more golf with their pals, travel, hang out with the grandchildren, perhaps spend more time on non-profits, and generally pursue a more relaxed lifestyle. But some of us don’t really want to retire. Like my partner, with whom I co-founded our finance services company….

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Would You Play Golf on a Weekday Afternoon?

Last summer, I was invited by a few friends to meet at 4 o’clock on a weekday to play a few holes of golf on a sunny afternoon.   As I got out of my car, a guy I know waved and said, “Hey, great to see you, but don’t you still work?”  (Yes.) Over on the driving…

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Why the Market Keeps Going Up and Why It Might Matter to You

I work in the stock market, although I have never written a “market” piece in this venue. So why now? Because the broad indices have steadily climbed higher for almost five years and, until recently, no one outside of those of us trading stocks all day, seemed to notice. Now I have to be careful…

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Reciprocal Mentoring With Millennials

This is not a forum for true confessions, but I have nowhere else to turn.  After months of anxious observation, I am finally admitting that I have never witnessed, over my long career, such a wide ability gap favoring the youngest people in the office relative to the senior members of my company in an…

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Is It Ever OK to Break Into Your Colleague’s Computer?

Rick was looking for Kelly, one of the analysts who supported his consulting team. Kelly’s hours were a mystery, and Rick was confused and annoyed. He tried to check her calendar online, but, after struggling to locate it, he solicited help from an IT specialist. They found all sorts of surprising weekday appointments at the…

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Who Dares Bake Cookies for the Office?

Recently, I asked one of my partners, a big, strong father of three, what he had done over the weekend. He explained that while his wife was out one rainy afternoon, he and the kids baked blueberry crumble, then assembled a confection known as an “ice box cake” and also tried a new multi-step red…

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Look Who’s Distracted Now

When acclaimed hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones revealed his opinion that women become much less effective as stock traders or investors once they have children, he was, in a sense, suggesting that the distraction of motherhood—a distinctly feminine condition—exceeds that of other attention-siphoning activities. I was reminded of how, almost thirty years ago, I…

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Managing in a Safety-Centric World

Safety is now Americans’ overriding concern. Several years ago, as I sat in a secondary school board meeting, the visiting headmaster of a K-8 school was asked what he considered the highest priority for parents in choosing high schools. I was astounded when he said “safety” rather than, for example, “quality of education.” But that…

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How Should a Small Business Handle Parental Leave?

Although the U.S. is a highly developed country, the US government’s work/family policies have not changed since 1993, when the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) passed. We are the only developed country without any required paid parental leave. (FMLA entitles employees 12 weeks of unpaid leave with an equivalent position available on return.) Even…

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