Bartholomäus Spranger’s “Minerva (Athena) Victorious Over Ignorance” (circa 1591), oil on canvas. Kunsthistoriches Museum.
It was another challenging week bookended by ice and snow on the East Coast and wildfires in California. I have no expertise to offer in alleviating the devastation wrought by wildfires, but I do have some thoughts on preventing the havoc wreaked by six inches – yes, a mere six inches – of snow, sleet and rain in New York.
Read MoreIt’s a hair thing. For more, visit tillys.com.
The election is still not over – with Senate races in Arizona and Florida and governor’s races in Georgia and, again, the ever-conflicted Florida still too close to call – but the fallout has been swift. No sooner did Nancy “With the Laughing Face” Pelosi take to the mike for a victory speech last Tuesday as Dems no longer in disarray took the House from repudiated Repubs, then Beauregard himself, alias Jeff Sessions, was out as AG.
Read MoreWhen it all began: Novak Djokovic first becomes the number one ranked male tennis player after defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semifinals of Wimbledon, 2011.
Novak Djokovic is back on top as world number one after an abdominal injury forced rival Rafael Nadal, the previous number one, to withdraw from the Rolex Paris Masters. Djokovic officially becomes number one on Monday, although he lost the Paris final to the latest tennis hotshot, Russia’s Karen Khachanov, 7-5, 6-4.
Normally, I’d be ecstatic with Nole’s return to top form. This time, though, I’m troubled.
Read MoreWashington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at “Mohammed bin Salman’s Saudi Arabia: A Deeper Look,” part of the March 21 Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED), Washington, D.C. Courtesy POMED>
The grisly murder of Jamal Khashoggi – for which the Saudis have now accepted responsibility (sort of) with some cockamamie blame-the-victim scenario – proves Benjamin Disraeli’s Macchiavellian dictum that there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests.
Read MoreThe announcement of a Rafanole exhibition in Saudi Arabia. Will the show go on?
A journalist, a tennis player and the president of the United States walk into a bar….
No, it’s not the setup for a joke. Indeed, it’s no laughing matter.
Tennis stars Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic – the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked players on the men’s tour – find themselves in the midst of an international crisis not of their making….
Read MoreIl 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.
Caption: Statue of Alexander the Great, third century B.C. Istanbul Archaeology Museums.
This past weekend commemorated the birth of Alexander the Great – in 356 B.C. Pella, northern Greece – so I thought I’d offer a meditation on a subject that has often occupied me as a writer and as a manager and that is leadership.
I myself have learned a lot about “leading” from Alexander, who conquered the Persian Empire in 331 B.C. and whom I began reading about when I was a child. But what made him a great leader? What is leadership?…
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