Honest Business: An Oxymoron?

“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.” Socrates

I once had a business student plagiarize a paper about ethics. Think about it. When I confronted him, his excuse was, “I didn’t know what ethics was.” I thought that was pretty obvious. Therefore, I wasn’t surprised to read that MBA students were the most likely of all graduate students to cheat in class. The survey, conducted by the Academy of Management Learning & Education found that 56 percent of graduate business school students cheated last year, compared to a mere (?) 47 percent of other graduate school students. These are our leaders of tomorrow.

The result of this lack of integrity and, in some cases, common sense is apparent in the recent list of 101 Dumbest Moments from Business compiled by Business 2.0 magazine. My personal favorite is #11, the Starbucks email coupon fiasco.

©2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Creative Toolkit

“While we have the gift of life, it seems to me the only tragedy is to allow part of us to die -- whether it is our spirit, our creativity or our glorious uniqueness.” Gilda Radner

I’m not a traveler. I’d rather read a book about a place than actually go there. I like to take care of my cats, sleep in my own bed and have my things around me, all things that are not possible (unless you’re in a motor home) when traveling.

It is odd, therefore, that an ebook called a Creative Toolkit for Travelers caught my eye. Written and sold by Cynthia Morris, a writing and creativity coach based in Boulder, CO. I’ve subscribed to her newsletter for several years and enjoyed her book, Create Your Writer’s Life, which is a visual delight as well as a source of information and inspiration. I figured I could benefit from using her tools for travelers right here in Denver as I wander the city.

The ebook didn’t disappoint me. The first tool I want to use is a postcards, in fact dozens of postcards. These days of email overload, everybody I know is thrilled to get an actual physical letter or card in the mail. You can make your own cards or use commercial cards.

Another tool she recommends is the Moleskin Japanese Accordion book. You can buy one for $9.95 at Amazon, but I think I’ll make my own. It’s all part of the creative process.

©2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Discovering Fun

“All I want to do is have some fun. I’ve got a feeling I’m not the only one.” Sheryl Crow

Stumbleupon.com is the best website I’ve run across in years. I learned about it at Barbara Sher’s message board for scanners. Scanners are people (like moi) who have too many interests to focus on just one. This website adds a tool to your browser. You enter a list of your interests, and when you click the button, it takes you to a website based on one of your interests. I just started using it over the weekend (our fifth weekend of snow and cold weather) and I’ve found sites of funny cat pictures, a site that recommends new books based on previous books I’ve liked and an online MP3 player. Very cool.

When I first started surfing the internet, I could spend hours exploring websites. Lately, though, I seem to go to the same old places day after day. StumbleUpon takes me back to the good old days when the internet was a source of constant wonder and entertainment. Great stuff.

©2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved