by Mark O'Brien | Mar 21, 2016
When I took my first full-time job (in a major U.S. insurance and financial-services corporation), my boss said to me: “The quality of your work doesn’t make any difference. The only thing that matters is who you know.” It remains one of the most...
by Mark O'Brien | Jan 13, 2016
This was quite the morning. First, I read this, from my horoscope: How exactly do you hold onto your ideals in a world where it seems like the whole game is rigged for greed, competition, and conformity? Then I read this — “John Edwards (yes, that one) looks to...
by Mark O'Brien | Dec 16, 2015
I couldn’t help thinking about Charles M. Schultz’s most popular character (with the possible exception of Snoopy) when I read “The Dark Side of Creativity”. The article would have us believe creative people are negative, moody, depressive,...
by Mark O'Brien | Dec 11, 2015
If you read this article from Fast Company — “What Does Authenticity Really Mean?” — you’ll get a smorgasbord of options: According to one person cited in the article, “If you want to be a leader, you have to be yourself—skillfully.” So,...
by Mark O'Brien | Dec 4, 2015
I came across a post from some self-important schmo — “My Social Media Doctrine” — that’s a perfect indication of the extent to which the rampancy of COTUS (Center of the Universe Syndrome) is fast approaching epidemic status. The post and the schmo...
by Mark O'Brien | Oct 30, 2015
One of the more superficial revelations of my recent trip to New York was that I’d never taken a selfie. This realization was driven home by the fact that I saw people who’d come from all over the world seemingly for the sole purpose of taking pictures of...
