links for 2009-06-06

"[W]hen sheer love of words and sentences and ideas canât carry you through, what can you fall back on?

Bribery."

As someone who created a Facebook page for his dog as a way to promote a book project, I definitely appreciate this.

"Since it's looking like we'll be short of funds for some time to come, I can foresee some pitched battles coming over what little professional development funding we haven't cut yet. And I can guess that those battles won't be terribly enlightening, because we haven't really figured out what makes some professional development activities better than others."

"Ever wonder how much daylight you can gain or lose just by getting in your car and driving either West or East? "

"Part of the problem at such meetings is that the leader has not set clear objectives or an agenda, and didnât assign pre-meeting preparation tasks. Instead, the leader seems to hope that magic will occur, producing a serendipitous solution to some of the problems addressed. Of course, that doesnât happen. As a general rule, meetings make individuals perform below their capacity and skill levels.

This doesnât mean we should always avoid face-to-face meetings â but it is certain that every organization has too many meetings, and far too many poorly designed ones. "