Java and Sympathy
A former Starbucks president tells how to succeed in business without putting people last.
continue readingHoward Behar
Articles by Howard Behar
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Java and Sympathy – a former Starbucks president tells how to succeed in business without putting people last
I don’t know if there are any MBA programs that have courses entitled “How to Love 101” or “The Caring Workplace,” but there should be. It’s impossible to lead in business — or in life — unless you genuinely care about other people. That’s what matters. Period.
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Should We Trust Them? - in a democracy, it's more important to believe politicians than to believe in them
Lobbyist Jack Abramoff was indicted for multiple instances of bribery, Representative Randy “Duke” Cunningham pled guilty to bribery, Representative William Jefferson was stripped of his position on the House Ways and Means Committee for allegedly accepting bribes; Representative Tom DeLay was indicted for conspiracy in a campaign financing scheme ... the list goes on. In the year leading up to the 2006 congressional elections, Americans had good reason to worry about their politicians’ honesty.
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I Cannot Tell a Lie - what people with autism can tell us about honesty
In moral terms, honesty is without doubt a virtue, and dishonesty is a vice. But in social terms, absolute honesty can lead to trouble, risking causing offense to others who may not want or need to hear the complete truth. White lies may be desirable. And in biological terms, dishonesty is a sign of typical brain development, whereas someone who is incapable of dishonesty may be neurologically atypical. Dishonesty is one defining characteristic of what it is to be human. It is not the only defining characteristic, but it does separate us from other animals. Some nonhuman species may have a limited capacity for deception, but humans have a flexible, unlimited capacity for deception. And since anything that is uniquely human is likely to be part of our genetic makeup, it stands to reason that we are, in a sense, built for dishonesty — and those incapable of dishonesty, like people with autism, have a uniquely human disability. Beyond having deficits in social interaction, they live with a different relationship to morality. Their experience is a unique window into the typical human mind.
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Truth or Consequences - America needs its own truth and reconciliation commission, but blacks stand in the way
Al Sharpton won the lottery and now it’s time for America to pay up. The good reverend’s windfall may well be the best thing to happen to America’s devastating race problem since the Civil War.
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Official Deception - when presidents lie
Lies, like the poor and taxes, will apparently always be with us. Parents warn children against lying; most people know that lying is “wrong,” but most people do it anyway. And that includes presidents of the United States. From George Washington to George W. Bush, some have kept secrets, others have obfuscated, others have told outright whoppers. Democrats, Republicans, Federalists, Whigs: they all are guilty of this sin.
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You'd Better Not Lie - how honesty and belief collide in the Santa Claus myth
The story of dishonesty and religion has an undisputed leading man — Santa Claus. He certainly keeps fun and imaginative company, including the Easter Bunny. But Santa, the onetime Byzantine saint who today is believed to magically deliver Christmas presents to children the world over, has become an annual moral conundrum for Christian parents who worry about whether it’s wrong to convince their children of the existence of someone who (if I may) does not exist.
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