Writing: Create a Context
The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think.
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Create Your Own Reality
ByHeatherThe future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created—created first in the mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them, changes both the maker and the destination.
Life’s a tough proposition…
ByHeatherLife’s a tough proposition, and the first hundred years are the hardest.
Madness
ByHeatherWe do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.
— Goethe
Goethe lived from 1749 to 1832. In the two centuries since his death I am please to report that the planet has made great strides in mental health. At the dawn of the 21st century we have managed to confine the majority of our disordered minds to the executive suites and the board rooms of our largest corporations. A small consolation to the millions of us who must work in these corporations but progress nonetheless.
Leadership
ByHeatherThose “best leaders” excel at six skills . . . They have a winning attitude, a passion for customers, an ability to collaborate across boundaries, a global mindset, an ability to leverage diversity and a talent for working just “fast enough” — getting the right balance point between overly rapid decision-making and paralysis by analysis.
— Ann Livermore, HP Executive VP
From a Knowledge at Wharton articleGo away, I’m looking for truth
ByHeatherThe truth knocks on the door and you say, “Go away, I’m looking for truth,” and so it goes away. Puzzling.
— Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
I actually sent this quote to an internal recruiter once. I had been through several interviews with the company and it seemed that I was progressing towards a job offer. I was excited about the company and it looked to me to be a very good fit.
And then came that one final interview with one of the partners. Within the first fifteen seconds of our conversation I knew that an offer would not be forthcoming. It was clear that she had already made up her mind before the call even began. When the recruiter called a few days later to say that the firm had decided to not move forward I was deeply puzzled.
Reading
ByHeatherBooks must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they are written.
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden
I have always been a deliberate reader. When I stumbled across this quote while reading Walden so many years ago, it simply gave me permission to enjoy the pace at which I read. Good writing is more than just conveying ideas or recounting a story. Good writing creates a mood, and images, and evokes emotions — and these cannot be digested while speed reading.
One of my favorite writers is Pat Conroy, and my favorite book of his is Prince of Tides. When I read this poetic prose I am drawn in to the rich and colorful images Conroy is able to create. Every sentence feels like a sculpture carefully crafted.