When I opened my e-mail inbox this morning, the usual assortment of messages that arrive overnight were awaiting my review and action. This morning, however, the new messages were punctuated with exactly sixteen e-mails marked as HIGH PRIORITY – with that annoying red exclamation point – and all of the so-called urgent e-mails were from the same person. What am I to believe other than a) the offending e-mailer had sixteen emergencies pop up simultaneously; b) she believes that…

There’s nothing quite like a personal tragedy to nudge a person into a state of reflection. My father passed away on May 30th after a massive heart attack. At age 67 he appeared as fit as anyone I know at any age. He swam twice per day, once in the early morning and again in the late afternoon, and managed his diet effectively so he was trim and athletic. With no history of heart trouble there was no reason to suspect that he had total or near total blockage of all major…

The five-year-olds on the baseball field deserve better. At least that’s what I told myself as I walked off the field last night. The game ended in a tie, of course, as all games at this age do given we don’t count outs and runs, but my feeling of failure last night as a head coach had nothing to do with the game result. Looking back on the game the kids had fun, we avoided any significant injuries, the players generally understood where to be and what to do, and the flow of…

A recent internet dialogue attracted my attention as a job candidate wondered aloud why he wasn’t being invited for interviews despite being a “perfect match” for the jobs he is applying to. The original post and subsequent comments led me to think back to a blog post I published in 2007 on this very topic. It appears below without edits or amendments.

[Originally published on March 1, 2007 at http:blueblanketblog.com where it was read by…