Skip to main content

Common Ground

image: doug smith

This is a guest entry from my good friend and fraternity brother, David Spiegel. Dave runs, co-runs, and helps keep going some great businesses. He also is a kind soul with a dry sense of humor. Here's Dave:

Common Ground

There can be no doubt that we are living in highly polarized times. Passions, feelings, and tempers can be inflamed in an instant. This diversity is increasing on a daily basis.

Still, I believe when we act as mature rational individuals, we can and will be able to find common ground. Take the relationship between my good friend and fraternity brother Doug and myself.

One of us is true blue.

The other one's blood runs as red as the stripes on the flag.

We never argue about it. In fact, I can't ever remember it ever being an issue. Of course when we meet at our frat's yearly get together and one of us is wearing a red hat the other one naturally tends to bristle a bit. Still, we respect each other and value each other's opinion, no matter how misguided.

You see, Doug is a Phillies fan. I am a Yankees fan.

In the last two weeks, we have been subjected to cancelled games between our two teams -- first because of Covid and now because of a tropical storm. 

Enough is enough!

Stop the madness!

This we can both agree on. We want baseball!

(What did you think I was talking about?)

Common ground.

This is what we need to bring people together.

Time to play ball!

-- David Spiegel



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Build and Connect

  The world is full of "buts" in search of more "ands." In improv. In leadership. In life. Let go of the fear and build on what's here. -- doug smith
Post a Comment
Read more

Better Traditions

  It's easy to tear down the past and wreck the present. It does not take much thought to condemn what seems to be ill-suited for our present needs. We might even take glee in crushing part of our past. But before we do, we should ask a question or two. What if we improved our traditions instead of destroying them? What if that's a better solution? -- doug smith
Post a Comment
Read more

Pause First

Falling behind might not mean catching up. It could also reveal change and opportunity. Would you rather chase, or lead? Has one moment or movement gone leaving room for something new? Don't let a treadmill turn into a dread mill.  Haul that rock up the hill if it is part of your future, not just because it was part of your past. -- doug smith  
Post a Comment
Read more

In Search of the right steps...

Three step processes. Four step processes. Seven step processes. Even more. A problem is a dynamic in search of a dance. Follow the science, of course, but also find the dance. -- doug smith
Post a Comment
Read more

Practice

If practice was easy we wouldn't need it.  -- doug smith  
Post a Comment
Read more

Wrong Is Wrong

There may be more than one right way to do something but that does not make the wrong way right. -- doug smith  
Post a Comment
Read more

Speedy, Pause

  Speed is great. It overcomes indifference, it outruns hesitation, it gets things started. It can also lead to mistakes. Sometimes a mistake comes from moving too fast. Pause. Practice patiently to filter out the flaws. -- doug smith
Post a Comment
Read more

Found

Everyone wants to do meaningful work. Work of value. Work that matters. Work that uses your skills, your gifts, your best intentions. Is that hard to find? Does it require a massive search? Embrace the search for meaningful work but remember that it is right in front of you. -- doug smith  
Post a Comment
Read more

Be Careful of Your Measures

Peter Drucker once said "what gets measured gets done" and there is much truth to that. Point people in the direction you want and they will do their best to get there. Just make sure, very sure, that you are measure what you really want and doing it without creating paths to cheating your way there. Given an incentive, people will find a way to achieve it. Most will work fairly but some will be tempted to game the. system, to stack the deck, to churn the number on their own behalf. That's not what you want. Ask yourself this question: how can we measure quantity and quality without gaming the system? Until you've answered that question, you'll never know how accurate, or useful, the measure is. -- doug smith  
Post a Comment
Read more

Too Much?

Don't we all just love information? We love to stay informed. We need to keep up. We believe that our people and our customers need the same. But is there such a thing as too much?  How many emails do you get each day that you never read? How many reports do you just scan or skip over entirely? Yes, we need to keep up. Yes, we need the data. Too much information ends up about as useful as too little information. High performance leaders find the balance.  -- doug smith  
Post a Comment
Read more