A Blog Update from Randy – with a brief look at our most popular posts, and a comment regarding “Comments”

In late March of this year, we expanded our First Friday Book Synopsis blog from our original two bloggers, Karl Krayer and me, Randy Mayeux (we are the two who present book synopses at our monthly event, the First Friday Book Synopsis, now in its 12^th year).  We asked Robert (Bob) Morris and Cheryl Jensen and Sara Smith to join us.  (Click here to read about our blogging team).  In the process, I have started posting far more frequently, but I’m still no match for Bob Morris, who is prolific and seems to have an ocean of wisdom and insight.  But the entire team regularly contributes valuable content.  We think you will find useful information in perusing posts from our entire team.

This is primarily a blog about ideas found in business books, with occasional business topics in general making their way into our posts.  And, occasionally, we throw in a “fun post.”  (Thanks, Bob).

Since we expanded our blogging team, our growth in the number of readers has been significant and dramatic —and it continues to go up each month.  No, we are not one of the “big blogs” – but we are finding our tribe, our tribe is finding us, and we think we offer quite a bit of value.

In case you are interested, here are our top three posts of all time, with the title and a brief excerpt (and of course the title is “linked” so you can read the post).

Top Viewed Post Of All Time:
Q #72: Any “power schmoozing” tips?
# 10. Go everywhere with the intention of having fun. “People want to be around the upbeat, fun, interesting, and interested person.”

Second Highest Viewed Post:
Dehumanized — A Cause for Alarm in Education, and in the World of Business Books
This was prompted by an article in Harper’s:  Harper’s: Dehumanized:  When math and science rule the school.
I think it is a mistake for the business community to help lower the importance of the humanities.  And not just because the humanities would make us better at business communication.  I think the humanities will help make us better people.
Does anybody else wish that Bernie Madoff, or the creators of mortgage swaps, had spent more time really paying attention in the humanities?

Third Highest Viewed Post:
A Jobless Recovery and a Slip Down Maslow’s Hierarchy
Well, I think it is obvious we have slipped down a notch or two.  While just a brief time ago we were a nation looking for self-esteem and self-actualization in our work, we may be back down to physiological needs and safety needs.  We need to pay the bills and survive this jobless recovery, and self-actualization will have to wait a while.
Personally, I wish we had a job-filled recovery.  What about you?

I invite you to bookmark/favorite our blog, check in regularly, and help spread the word.  And a big thank you to all of our readers.

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A Comment About “Comments”:

We invite you to leave comments on our blog.  We want comments.

Comments on blogs may be far more numerous on “controversial” or “partisan” blogs.  We have fewer comments, but we certainly invite you to join in the conversation.

But we will “reject” a few comments:
We reject comments that are clearly spam.

And occasionally we reject comments that are partisan, or overtly political.  We don’t mind disagreement about the ideas in our posts.  We certainly welcome correctives and elaborations.  But we will reject comments that seek to turn this blog into something this it is not.  We are a blog primarily prompted by ideas in business books, and a blog about business issues.

I will take the blame for occasionally rejecting a few comments that do not quite fit our purpose.  Of course, I know the argument — that politics and business overlap.  A lot.  But we will let other blogs fill that role.

Disagree all you want with points made, with quotes and ideas from business book authors… — but please follow the intent of our blog.

Thank you.