Thursday Three For All
It’s Thursday, kiddies: the day when I roll out a few things I’ve been reading over the past week. Three of ‘em, to be exact. Enjoy. (Remember: click on the big bold print to read the entire article.)
5 Things That Make Nearly Any Meeting Great
(via @Leadershipfreak) Meetings are like technology: they’re great when they work. But when they don’t…oh man, can they ever be a virus to your team. I have a love/hate relationship with the meetings that I lead. This article was helpful.
#4. Conversation happens around the table.
Monologues make for lousy meetings. It’s only slightly better when conversations are between the leader and one participant. Everyone else becomes an observer. (See #3.)
If you’re leading a meeting, help participants talk to each other.
- Nod and look around for input, after someone speaks. Don’t add your two cents after each person talks.
- Bob, we haven’t heard from you in awhile. What’s going on in your thinking?
- Mary, what do you think about the issue Fred raises?
Why we’re obsessed with the hit show ‘This is Us’
(via @drmoore) Merriem and I are officially hooked on this new show. (She’s hooked about two weeks ahead of me; not that I’m bitter.) Russ Moore explains why ‘Us’ has struck a chord with so many of us. (Warning: if you’re thinking about watching it, there are a few fairly significant spoilers in the article.)
…We see a glimpse of the way the decisions made in private of a young couple who never planned to be parents reverberate through the years in the lives of their offspring.
This rings true because we all tend to see our lives as narrative and, like the characters in this series, the narrative is often murkier than we would like. Some of us had relatively idyllic childhoods. Some of us grew up in the specter of violence or addiction or abuse or some other awful reality. Some of us grew up wondering, as we do as we see some of the secrets of the backstories of this series unfold, whether the family figures of our past are heroes or villains or a mixture of the two.
Amazon App for iPhone Now Has X-Ray Vision
(via @lifehacker) I’ve already used this a few times. It’s magic, I tell you. Magic.
photo credit: Jason Mathis
