George Orwell once wrote that a classical education would be impossible without corporal punishment. Maybe that’s why it isn’t taught in schools today. Classical education was demanding. It included rhetoric: the art of effective speaking and writing. Rhetoric’s goal is to persuade. Effective communication will always be a vital business skill because business is essentially… Continue reading The art of persuasion 1: Rhetoric
creativity
After losing an argument
I was browsing in a New York bookstore when I overheard a man ask for a book on how to win an argument. The two young women behind the counter giggled. I wondered if they knew about Demosthenes. Persuasion is a serious subject, and this bookstore customer wasn’t just a victim, he was doing something about his… Continue reading After losing an argument
Is slowing down bad?
You’d think promoting counter-urgency in business would be as popular as a middle-of-the-night-car-alarm-wake-up-call. Do a news search on “slow and business” and you get nothing but misery, pain, and frustration. Don’t we associate slow with failure, inefficiency; and perhaps worse — laziness? Speed worship We love speed. We have speed dating, speed networking, and fast… Continue reading Is slowing down bad?