"Work for a boss to whom you can tell it like it is. Remember, you can't pick your family, but you can pick your boss." William Swanson

Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management: unwritten rule number six...

"The point here is that in the workplace, unlike your family, you have a choice. You will have many bosses in the course of your career. You are not totally passive in the process of 'selecting' your boss. You have a choice, more than you may realize. Be proactive."

A good friend called to catch up earlier this week. We talked of many things and ended up discussing office politics. Sometimes good people get into bad situations. They end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. The miasma of misfortune sets in. It comes time to delegate blame and they are asked to take one for the team. Life is not fair and no one is going to save you, you have to save yourself. Three lessons, taught me by experience, seem appropriate to mention:

We teach others how to treat us.

Whatever you allow, you encourage.

What you count, you improve.

Beginning of the end: Harvey Mackay suggests the way to end your meeting...

"What are the five things that could go wrong, and what would we do about each?" (Thanks to Tom Peters)

"The difficult we do at once. The impossible might take a few minutes." Sign posted in the newsroom of KLIF, Dallas during the Gordon McLendon era.

"Never try to tell a joke in Japan, Germany or at the Vatican." Christopher Buckley (Good counsel, wish I'd known this prior to my first presentation at MIDEM)

"Either way, struck forte or pianissimo, novelty is the designer's main note. The most impressive designs are those that seem naturally right, unimprovable, inevitable." Raymond Loewy

The glory: Our favorite ninja interviews Will Ferrell. Kudos - outstanding! Via YouTube here.

Something bad wrong here: That's exactly what my Georgia relatives would say should they hear about what Kathy Sierra has put up with this week. Kathy tells her story here. I agree with Seth here and with Hugh here. Kathy is a good person, no one deserves this twisted stuff less than she. There is never an excuse for bad manners but this is clearly beyond the pale. Darker than Mahler's 6th symphony. No excuse is good enough, none whatsoever. Kathy, you may count me in your corner.