Deceptive simplicity.
When we find ourselves enthralled with the outcome of an endeavor, it is good practice to examine the source of our satisfaction. Did we inject creative thinking in the face of a challenge or push the way we have always done something? Did we live with some complexity instead of the lazy or easy answer? Did we collaborate or compete with our colleagues? Categorizing everything in terms of winning and losing is the real loss.
Chess Players. Lovis Corinth. 1918. Drypoint in black on laid paper. Gift of the Marcy Family in memory of Sigbert H. Marcy, National Gallery of Art.
Three essential talent traits for tumultuous times
Oliver Wyman partners: In stable environments like a chess match, role players excel: their ability to recognize patterns enables fast, accurate decisions. But when the rules change, role players can find themselves stuck or, worse, making wrong decisions by applying old solutions to new problems.
Norton grain terminal project set to seek bids this month
Matt Busse: The effort to build the grain terminal has been dubbed Project Thoroughbred — named for a barley seed Virginia Tech developed in the 1980s that initially was intended for horses but later was recognized for its malting quality. Project Thoroughbred is one of three legs of a stool that also includes Project Calypso, which is the overall effort to increase the number of Southwest Virginia farmers growing specialty grains, and Project Trace, which aims to track food miles associated with specialty grains to help make the case for using local products. The effort is backed by $2.5 million from the federal Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization program, which is administered in Virginia by the state Department of Energy, and $500,000 from the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission.
Intelligent vs. smart
Morgan Housel: Intelligence: Good memory, logic, math skills, test-taking ability, rule-following. Smart: High degree of empathy, b^&*s!@# detection, organization, communication skills, persuasion, social awareness, understanding the consequences of your actions.
As the creative force for Christian Dior longer than its founder, he maintained a reputation for playful elegance throughout fashion’s endless cycles
Alex Williams: There was a deceptive simplicity to much of his work. “Things must look simple, but they must not look poor,” (Marc Bohan) said in a 1989 interview with Women’s Wear Daily. “What I’m trying to do is create luxury. Quality. By taste. By simplicity. Something very refined. Very elegant. Not showy at all. That is true elegance. And so few understand it.”