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Freaky Nukes

The authors of Freakanomics are popular in some circles of the nonprofit tech community. Despite their decidely establishment perspectives, they are hip enough that you would think, when discussing nuclear power, they could come up with less stale targets of blame than Jane Fonda! But that's exactly what they do in a recent NYT Magazine article. In Freaky Nukes, Phil Bereano takes them to task for it in his latest arch commentary on the New York Times and its memes. Posted: 1/14/08; 3:54:21 PM #

Love, Honor, and Thank

Recent research shows that successful domestic relationships don't just depend on how partners divide their household chores, but on how they each express gratitude for the work the other one puts in. Given how gratitude in nonprofit organizations often seems expressed only in order to get more out of someone, I would be very interested in seeing this research extended to our sector. Posted: 1/14/08; 3:36:31 PM #

With Friends Like These: Tom Hodgkinson on the Politics of the People Behind Facebook

While I love social network analysis, I tend to be less than thrilled by most "social networking" websites. For example, I have a backlog of several hundred Facebook friend requests to which I have yet to respond. Of course, I have never been good at pursuing the latest cool gathering place, whether online or off and privatization of the commons (of which Facebook's walled garden and even its vaunted API is an example) bothers me in general. Nevertheless, I was going to take another look at it in 2008 (and maybe apologize to all those people whose requests I haven't answered), when along comes a powerful critique of Facebook by Tom Hodgkinson. Since one aspect of social networking sites is judging people by the company they keep, I deeply appreciate knowing whos who at the top of Facebook and what they really seem to think of civil society. Posted: 1/14/08; 3:33:24 PM #

How to Bust the Office Bully

Last year, the Project for Wellness and Work-Life published How to Bust the Office Bully (16 page PDF), which I found while researching an upcoming piece on "work-life balance". It's really very sensible and goes into enough detail with each of its eight tactics to be genuinely useful. Those eight tactics are: (1) Be rational, (2) Express emotions appropriately, (3) Provide consistent details, (4) Offer a plausible story, (5) Be relevant, (6) Emphasize your own competence, (7) Show consideration for others’ perspectives, and (8) Be specific. Posted: 1/14/08; 2:59:14 PM #