Bruce Springsteen never had good skin. And his face was kind of puffy. Take a look: And that’s when he was still young. Now who is this 70-year-old guy? You might say he works out, eats right, that’s how he stays young-looking. There are no exercises to tighten your face, as far as I know. 70 years of gravity takes its toll. You might say that the photo is retouched and you’re probably right, but there are enough unposed Springsteen photos available with the same tight face. The hair is fake too, by the way. Here’s a selfie taken on the occasion of becoming a grandfather. Didn’t have time to slap on the toupee. I’m not taking a position against cosmetic surgery or other artificial ways of looking younger. Getting old and having to look at yourself sucks. But you have to be true to who you are, and Springsteen… Read more →
EppsNet Archive: Integrity
Goofus and Gallant on COVID-19
Goofus: I am stuck. I’ll never make it through this situation, and even if I do, I won’t be as successful as I was before. This is a downward spiral. Gallant: I am Growing. I am making progress – sometimes gradually and other times rapidly – with learning new skills and developing better habits. I am becoming stronger through these trying times, and so are many others in my work organization and community. Goofus: I am fragmented. I’m being pulled in too many directions to be truly helpful to anyone. Gallant: I am Integrating. I am drawing upon a broad reservoir of resources from my varied experiences, which can help me navigate new challenges. My authenticity and vulnerability can help me to build deeper connections and establish healthy boundaries with trusted colleagues during trying times. Goofus: I am incapable. I don’t have enough courage to meet this challenge,… Read more →
Integrity and Self-Respect
Forgive yourself for your mistakes and embrace yourself with all your character traits just as they are, believing that you’ve done the best you could with your available resources in the course of your life . . . Read more →
Profiles in Management: The Jackass Whisperer
Nothing good comes from two people talking about a third person who isn’t there. If your boss is allowing people to talk to him or her about team members who are not present, you have a problem. If you are the boss and you’re doing this, knock it off. Who is worse: the person who wants to talk about you behind your back or the person who encourages them to do it? The good boss is loyal. You can count on him going to bat for you, even if he privately disagrees with your view and even if defending you is not necessarily the best thing for him. He is never two-faced. The bad boss, perhaps while boasting of his uncompromising integrity, thinks only about what’s best for himself. Watch your back. Thus spoke The Programmer. Read more →
Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance
Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
It is essential not to profess to know, or seem to know, or accept that someone else knows, that which is unknown. Almost without exception, the things that end up coming back to haunt you are things you pretended to understand but didn’t early on. At virtually every stage of even the most successful software projects, there are large numbers of very important things that are unknown. It is acceptable, even mandatory, to clearly articulate your ignorance, so that no one misunderstands the corporate state of unknowingness. If you do not disseminate this “lucid ignorance,” disaster will surely befall you. Human nature is such that we dislike not knowing things that are important to our well being. Since there is so much we don’t know in a software project, the nearly universal tendency among developers and their managers is to gloss over or even deny altogether the extent of their… Read more →
Just Say No to Meetings
No one likes meetings, but we can’t stop having them — The Work Buzz Many of my co-workers say they spend too much time in meetings. I notice that they keep going to the meetings though. If I really thought I was spending too much time in meetings and I kept going anyway, I would have to question my own integrity. Read more →