Il Sodoma's "Marriage of Alexander and Roxane" (1517), a fresco in the Villa Farnesina. Alexander and Roxane figure in Rudyard Kipling's "The Man Who Would Be King," a cautionary tale about demagoguery.

The battle for narrative in the age of Trump

July 28, 2018

Donald Trump controls the national narrative. Instead of complaining about it, his critics need to ask this salient question: How are they to wrest control of it from him?…

Tennis has got your G.O.A.T.

April 14, 2015

Ah, spring: Time for the Monte Carlo Open, the clay-court season and the game within the game:

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the greatest of them all?

Nothing men’s tennis loves better than a discussion of who’s the Greatest of All Time (G.O.A.T.). This usually involves the Federinas squaring off against the Nadalistas. You know, Roger Federer has the most slam titles with 17, but Rafael Nadal is right behind him with 14. Although lately, Rafa, the king of clay, has been in a bit of a slump, while Novak Djokovic has passed him to move up to No. 6 on the list of most weeks as No. 1. (Nole now has 142.)

So what is the measure of greatness – the most slams and weeks at No. 1 (that would be Feddy) or the person who owns the person with the most slams and weeks at No. 1 (that would be Rafa) or the person who beat them both, often back-to-back, to become No. 1 (that would be Nole)? ...

The ecstasy of Agassi

April 10, 2014

My sister Gina is the administrator of the Westfield chapter of Meetings Planners International. Recently, she graciously invited me to hear clinical and sports psychologist John F. Murray address her group. I’m glad she did, for his talk not only offered valuable tips on translating sports success to the business model but also recalled one of my all-time favorite tennis players – Andre Agassi.

Murray – a former tennis player and author of “Smart Tennis” who’s worked with top athletes in that sport, the NFL, the NHL and diving, among others – identified eight key concepts that contribute to success in any field, including passion, work ethic, resilience, flexibility, focus, guided imagery, confidence and energy. I asked him which tennis player best exemplified the principles he conveyed to us. He paused for a moment before giving me what I thought was a surprising answer.

“(Andre) Agassi,” he said. “He had the kind of tough mental skills to turn every disadvantage to an advantage.”