When landscape architect Jens Jensen was creating the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago, workers constructing the waterfall could not seem to build it the way Jensen envisioned. “It’s supposed to be a prairie waterfall, not a mountain cascade,” he
Over the years, I’ve seen two or three copies of the above letter posted in creative workplaces. But I never knew its origins until I came across it recently while meandering my way through Letters of Note (an excellent
My wife needed to return a pair of shoes to Zappos, the on-line shoe retailer known for its customer service. A return label was surprisingly not included with the order, so she emailed Zappos and asked for one. Here’s
Here’s a little history lesson that has plenty of present-day applications. President James Garfield was shot in 1881 but held on for 80 days before dying. During those days, Americans kept hoping Garfield would somehow survive, because few folks
If you saw “The Descendants” film, you almost certainly remember the closing scene, where George Clooney’s character and his daughters sit silently on the couch, passing ice cream back and forth. In that moment, not a word was spoken,
When presenting ideas, every word you say takes decision makers closer to accepting those ideas or pushes them farther away. Do your presentation include the following statements? If so, it’s time to revise content and approach. 1. “So, how’s
For centuries, childbirth was a major cause of death for women. But around 1630, Peter Chamberlen, a British doctor, invented a special instrument to assist women in labor. Nobody knew what that instrument was, because Doctor Chamberlen and his
Do you sometimes dwell on mistakes or failures? Or do you kick yourself endlessly for decisions you made – or perhaps didn’t make? In A Touch of Wonder, Arthur Gordon tells of the method a psychiatrist friend used to
“There ain’t no future in the past.” That line from a Vince Gill song has it right — especially when it comes to fresh ideas. Creativity lives in today and aims for the future. Even the guy who wrote
A recent New York Times editorial piece references this excerpt from the book, The Speed of Trust: “There is one thing that is common to every individual, relationship, team, family, organization, nation, economy and civilization throughout the world –
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