From Chapter 16 “The Rare Find” in Ingredients of Outliers. If It Ain’t Broke . . . Unless you’re in at least your late 40s, the name Bert Lance may mean nothing to you. He first came to prominence in early 1977, when newly elected President Jimmy Carter appointed him Director of the Office of Management and the Budget (OMB). A banker and fellow Georgian, Lance perhaps received the appointment as a reward for his service to Carter during the 1976 presidential campaign. Lance’s tenure at the OMB ended within a few months. He resigned as a result of certain charges leveled at him for … [Read more...]
What Will Happen When Your Integrity is Tested?
From Chapter 14 “Integrity” in Ingredients of Outliers. “Because that’s what we do.” Over the years, the one sport that has seemed to avoid most of the scandals, which have plagued other sports, is golf. Now, I’m not talking about the personal lives of prominent golfers, but about how the sport itself is played. For example, golf is the only popular sport in which there are no referees overseeing the action on the course; the players themselves are responsible for playing by the rules and for penalizing themselves for any sort of violations of those rules, whether those violations are … [Read more...]
Super Woman on a Mission
From Chapter 12 “Indefatigable” in Ingredients of Outliers. Super Woman On September 16, 2007, I had to do something I never, ever wanted to do, nor do I ever want do it again. It was a beautiful Sunday in Phoenix. I was sitting in my office with the door to the rooftop patio overlooking twin runways open to let in the warm breeze. I was taking a bit of a break and called Bill and Colleen, close family friends. Bill was a founding partner in a law firm where I am “Of Counsel.” By coincidence, he and I went to the same university. He graduated from law school the same year I … [Read more...]
Remain Calm and Read a Poem
Take a minute out of your busy day to sit back, relax and read this poem featured in "Ingredients of Outliers." The poem, written by English short-story writer and poet Rudyard Kipling, speaks well to what it means to be imperturbable. Maybe we could all take a page out of his book, or rather, a line out of his poem. IF If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, … [Read more...]