Net Cotton Content

Want an occasional shot of creativity?

So, reading a blog can be too much.

Too many messages. Too much blather.

Don't want every dit and dot from Net Cotton Content? (Can't blame you.)

How About A Smaller Dose Of Creativity?
I'm offering an occasional email — not more than eight times a year (and probably a lot less) — with a few creative ideas for your personal creative development.

If you sign up, you'll get a few ideas from time to time. (And you can keep subscribing to Net Cotton Content, of course.)

What's the difference between the occasional emails and Net Cotton Content?

• The occasional emails will offer specific creative ideas (and, sometimes, a short update on what I'm doing professionally and personally.)
• Net Cotton Content will continue to provide piercingly irrelevant commentary on life and creativity.

Here's where you can sign up for the occasional emails.

Artie's Occasional Ideas For Your Creativity

* indicates required

Email Address *

First Name *

Last Name *

Company or Organization (optional)

Why are you subscribing? (optional)

Email Format

html
text
mobile

Close

Business Fiction

What are the books that every business person should read? 

For value investing? The Intelligent Investor and Security Analysis. For management? Anything by Peter Drucker and the the latest issue of Harvard Business Review. For strategy? Michael Porter and Jim Collins. For sales and marketing? Customers For Life and Made To Stick.

And then there are the many hundreds of biographies, auto-biographies and memoirs of business heroes. And other historical figures. 

Oh, we could argue about those recommendations. We could easily add 20 or 100 titles. 

But this isn't about non-fiction. My students and clients already read — and my faculty colleagues already assign — enough non-fiction.

This is about business fiction.
What are the books of fiction that every business person should read? 

In my quest to teach liberal arts to business people, I'd like to teach a course on Truth In Jest: The Fictional Legends Every Business Person Should Know.

This course would ensure that the participants are more than literate. They could claim Business Literacy.

The list starts plainly enough.
These titles start to answer the question: "What does any well read business person have on the shelf — and in mind and soul?"   

Books: Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

Plays: Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice and Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross

Movies: Tin Men and House of Games

What titles would you add? What's essential for Business Literacy?

Who cares?
I do. Here's why I care.

When I was 22 years old, my boss and I were scheduled to meet the Big Client at the 21 Club for dinner.

My boss was stuck in late afternoon Manhattan traffic. So there I was: alone with the client.

"What should we do?" I asked Big Client.

"Let's wait in the bar," he said.

Forty-five minutes later, after my boss arrived, we sat for dinner. My boss asked Big Client, "So how did Artie do?" I was a very new guy at the office and leaving me alone with the client was foolhardy.

"Artie? Oh, he did great," said Big Client. "Anyone can learn your business. But few young people can stand at the bar for a half hour and chat with the client."

Business fiction can make that possible.  

POSTSCRIPT (6/27/11):
After I posted the "Business Fiction," I received the following, thoughtful email from Joe Sperry. (Thanks, Joe.) He permitted me to copy this for you:

Coming from the liberal art side of things, I can think of a number of business fictions, two of which I would not force anyone to read. Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener is the one that is perfect for English teachers (speaking as a former one) to gleefully show the limitations of business. The second is Joseph Heller’s Something Happened—the book he wrote after Catch-22. Something Happened is the story of a man living in terror at a corporation with awful bosses and after 900 pages or so (hyperbole) what happens is that his infant son dies. As you can imagine, sales were not great, especially for those expecting another Catch-22.

In one Shakespeare class I took, I do remember the professor discussing the leadership styles of various focal characters. Hamlet—awful, but Othello decent—there is a scene where he comes in and his men are dueling to the death ( I.ii.59) and he simply says: “Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them."  Not everyone could stop a fight thus. Julius Caesar was presented as the leader driven by ambition and reason—the Gordon Gecko of Roman times. I always thought there was an interesting course here. I’d be tempted to include Lady Macbeth in it.

If I had to choose a great business novel, it might be Anthony Trollope’s The Way We Live Now, which I reread several summers ago. The parallels with today’s business are frightening. Although it’s two very long books so I don’t know if a businessperson would read it. If there is a great business novel, I do not know it. Sinclair Lewis’ Babbitt maybe or Dodsworth—the movie remains a wonderful thirties classic—one of Walter Huston’s greatest roles.

There are others: William Dean Howells’ Rise of Silas Lapham maybe—although it’s a dismal book to read. I dimly recall Louis Auchincloss’s The Embezzler and that I liked it.

I don't know about you, but I find Joe's business literacy to be humbling. Way to go, Joe!

I think the syllabus might be full.

Role Models, Dead or Alive

I love to ask, "Who is your hero?"

Many people reject the idea of "hero," because it suggests perfection. They are members of the Hypocrite Police, smugly tearing down heroic candidates.

(Oh, how popular culture doth crave the Fall Of Man. Keep hold of your ideals.)

So, perhaps this question is easier to answer: "Who is your role model?"

With role models, you can pick a hero for each slice of life. A cooking hero. A cleaning hero. An exercise hero. A meditating hero. A writing hero. Each one, a model for each role. 

Shopping For A Role Model?
The New York Times offers a daily sampling of candidates as we seek role models. (The Times calls it "obituaries.")

Here are two recent candidates that win my admiration:

"Maynard L. Hill, Small-Scale Lindbergh, Dies at 85"
By Bruce Weber, June 12, 2011
In August 2003, Mr. Hill was the first to create and guide a model airplane across the Atlantic.

"Patrick Leigh Fermor, Travel Writer, Dies at 96"
By Richard B. Woodward, June 11, 2011
Mr. Fermor crossed Europe on a three-year journey, then wrote about his adventures.

These two were steeped in flow. 

Happily, not all the good ones are dead. 
Here's Alex Honnold, brought to my attention by Doug Smith, who teaches Happiness at DePauw. (Thanks, Doug.)

Alex Honnold climbs walls.

This National Geographic video makes my palms sweat.

Here's To The Graduates

It's been one of the most emotional weeks of my life, as I described here.

An anchoring moment, the chance to catch my breath in service to others, came at Village Academy, a lovely gem of a independent school. They were nice enough to invite me to deliver this year's commencement address and being there was a chance for me to relax and recenter myself.

This might sound odd to you.
Many people would be made more anxious to have to write and deliver a speech. 

For me, especially during an emotional week, is was a welcome moment of flow. Surfers surf — and that looks scary to me, but they are focused and reinvigorated. Speaking is my surfing.

Here's what I said to the graduates.
A disclaimer, first: it borrows heavily from and expands on a commencement address I gave two years ago to Laurel School.  I did what I could to improve the presentation. I customized it for this wonderful school. But I couldn't imagine a better topic for the day. 

Perhaps it is the right topic for you, too, today?

Here it is...

In Praise of Speed Bumps
(or "A Summer Breath") 

Presented to Village Academy
At the Fifteenth Commencement Exercises
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Powell, Ohio 

Thank you, Board President Dymerski, Head of School Lasley (Miss Susie), Mr. Fitchko, Miss Hohe, members of the board of trustees, esteemed faculty, proud parents, loving siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles. 

And to the class of 2011, thank you.

You have been mutually supportive in a real community of genuine people, indulging each other with encouragement, using your power for good. You are a model for other classes to follow. And they will. 

I don't know how your tradition describes heaven.
Perhaps it is white robes, halos and carpeting made of clouds.  

My tradition is vague on the notion. I kind of think that it is a place of learning, where fabulous people encourage each other. Village Academy might be heaven. I hope you're happy.  

Eulogy for a Classmate

During the week of our beloved daughter's graduation from high school, our beloved son's rise into another high school, an opportunity for me to address yet another high school's commencement ceremony — during this week of celebration and delight comes the sudden death of a beloved high school classmate.

Mark Barren, Teacher, Coach, Father, Husband, Son, Brother was only 51.
Mark and I weren't frequently in touch, but I always loved seeing him out at Academy. Blessing of blessings, Mark had grown into his father, inheriting and amplifying Dan's many admirable traits. Mark was a rare teacher and beloved member of the Class of 1978.

I chatted with Mark several weeks ago, before watching him coach a middle school lacrosse game. He was so happy to be coaching lacrosse, telling me that it was a career-long dream finally come true. And he coached beautifully.

Working the scorer's table for my son's side, arch rival Bexley, I was cold in the late spring day's dropping chill. So I had borrowed an old, beloved shirt from a young Bexley coach. When Mark saw me in the shirt -- it said simply "BEAT ACADEMY" -- Mark said, "Arthur!"

If you knew Mark, you know that tone of voice:
a smiling scold, sweetly yet firmly calling you to task.
Mark had always called me "AR-thur," emphasizing the first syllable like a rapper raised on K.C. & The Sunshine Band, with a smile that started at the sides of his strong neck -- a smile that had not aged. He was still gorgeous, just as he was in a profile photo in the Academy Life decades ago, a photo that had been clipped as an example of desirable masculinity in my own girlfriend's locker at CSG.

"Arthur!" Mark said, looking at my borrowed shirt and knowing me as an Academy cheerleader who long supported him on the field of play. "Something is not right with the world." 

Then, just as suddenly, everything was right with the world.
Mark turned to his students and was so palpably at home, the sun lowering behind us on the Academy pitch, Mark at the very peak of meaning in life, surrounded by the love and admiration of his community and family.

The Talmud teaches that a person who permanently improves ten lives is a success. Mark's score was much higher: 10x10 and probably x10 again.

May Mark's name remain a blessing to all of us who knew and loved him.  

Tattoo, redo

Last month's post on tattoos received more views and more responses than any other post ever on Net Cotton Content.

Why?

It's a topic that is like a tattoo.
Positions are taken seriously, for the long term. It's a matter of judgement: everyone reserves their own, and doesn't like being judged by others. It's at the heart of self-expression and our democracy is (partly) based on our freedom of expression.

The responses — which came by every form of social media, including the phone and in person —  were caring. People care about this topic. It must be important.

On all sides of the issue, some folks were contemplative, some regretful, some disgusted (by tattoos or me).

Some folks didn't like my being judgmental.
I appreciate not liking — and well know the feeling of — being judged negatively. But judgement is how we navigate. And the spice of life (until it turns despotic) is our disagreements.

Still, my advocacy against tattoos was truly offensive to some readers. Perhaps because the tattoo is truly the color of skin, my comments seemed (to a few readers) conceptually discriminatory.

What now?
I'm not going to rebut any of the critical comments. I've had my say and will stick to the original post, even though I have been taught much by readers in the interim.

There are a lot of fine tattoo blogs out there, I'm sure. This isn't one of them. 

However, to be fair, here is a thoughtful, opposing point of view for your enjoyment. This appears on Facebook by Johnalan Norris, in a point-for-point rebuttal to my post. (Thanks, Fred and Johnalan.)

Here's his entire, unedited response:

1. Time: Most Americans make time to watch crap like 3 1/2 Men, so we have plenty of time to get a tattoo.
2. Better use of money? Who are you to judge what's a good use of my money? To get a tattoo you have to go somewhere local. Tattoos can never be outsourced. You're keeping a business open in your town. That might be worth the $200 (which this guy is just guessing at, I've seen nice tattoos that were done for under $50, but I have also seen ones that must have been well over $1000)
3. He's basically saying that he's going to judge me by some old standard that hates tattoos. Tattoos have been viewed positively by different cultures for quite a while. In fact, the reason they're looked down on is because sailors came back to Europe with them. Dirty, filthy, poor, uneducated sailors. The aristocracy was just shocked and appalled. Then they were told about the native savages whose bodies were covered in tattoos. That's right, I'm saying tattoo hate is tied with racism and classism.
4. People choose their own tattoos. Many people design their own, or work with the artist to design it.
5. I'll actually agree with this one. Tattoos are permanent. You need to be sure you really like Bugs Bunny before you get his face put on you forever.
6. I had no control over my nose, my face, etc. Maybe I want something that I had a say in to be part of how I look.
7. People get tattoos for many different reasons, not just to make a message. This guy seems to think that everything everybody else does is directed at him, personally. Not everything I do is for or about you. Maybe you're just some guy.
8. He's just repeating point 6
9. a) Who thinks that chewing off a finger is a good idea? b) Who doesn't know that would make it bleed? c) A tattoo doesn't do any real physical damage to your body, so the comparison just doesn't work.
10. Missing the point of a tattoo. Sometimes a shirt isn't enough. I have a tshirt from the lunch counter I worked at in college. To I regulate my strongest beliefs to the level of that place?
11. Point 5 again
12. He's telling me what I should or shouldn't do? Is he my father? I thought he was outlining the points on why you shouldn't get a tattoo. Reason number 12 of why not: because, that's why.
13. Yes, many people regret it. I regret a lot of things. But not really. If you like who you are at all, you must accept that it was your life experiences that made you that way, good and bad.
14. Here's point 5 again, again.
15. Blood diseases are EXTREMELY rare, especially if you go to any reputable tattoo parlor. Many states regulate the sanitation of tattoo needles and equipment. The Red Cross needs to update their standards. They also don't want blood from gay people, so take that into consideration.
16. Even people with tattoos will say this one. Sit on the idea for a while. Really consider it. In a lot of better parlors, you'll sit with the artist and discuss what you want weeks before you actually get your ink done. 

If you want more, you can see other comments posted on the Facebook appearance of the post.