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Dec. 3, 2008
Steven Emerson: Yes, the terrorists are winning
Don Terry: Lifetime, no see
Dec. 2, 2008
Melanie Phillips: The Mumbai atrocity is a wake-up call for a frighteningly unprepared world
Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report: Strategic Motivations for the Mumbai Attack
Dec. 1, 2008
Max Freidlander, as told to Jacklyn C. Wadler: India Inkings
Mark Steyn: Whodunit!?
Nov. 28, 2008
Rabbi Ahron Rapps: An evil seed that didn't have to be
Melanie Phillips: Carpe diem --- or can we all relax now?
Nov. 26, 2008
Michael Feldberg: Meet the Orthodox Jew who laid groundwork for scientific development of ordnance that undergirds America's current world leadership
Andrea Simantov:
Shades of life
Nov. 25, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Getting Emotional For Influence
The Kosher Gourmet
by Ethel G. Hofman : Thanksiving feast!
Nov. 24, 2008
Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg: 'I just Became a grandchild!'
Barry Rubin: Don't flatter your enemies, protect your friends
Nov. 21, 2008
Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Money matters?
Caroline B. Glick:
Civilization walks the plank
Nov. 20, 2008
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bronfman's blindness
The Kosher Gourmet
By Linda Gassenheimer: Portobellos add a hearty flavor to pasta with pesto
Nov, 19, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Spread the wealth? Jewish tradition and income equality
Elliot B. Gertel:
'Mad Men': Tackling prejudices or reinforcing them?
Nov, 18, 2008
Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn: The End of the Age of Reason
Jonathan Tobin: Does Barack + Bibi = Disaster?
Nov, 17, 2008
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The End of the Age of Reason
Diana West: Gulling Americans into making terror legit?
Nov, 14, 2008
Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The Power of Spiritual Inertia
Caroline B. Glick: The perils ahead
Nov, 13, 2008
Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: How Bush and Obama together could change the Middle East dynamic
The Kosher Gourmet
by JeanMarie Brownson: Sweet and savory, crispy and meltingly tender bestilla
Nov, 12, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Tyrannical Co-Workers
Michael Doyle: High Court to consider today donated monuments that may have religious messages in public parks
Nov, 11, 2008
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Will Obama stop government officials considering institutionalizing financial jihad?
Jonathan Tobin: They Will Decide Their Own Fate
Nov, 10, 2008
Rabbi Avi Shafran: $8 billion, modern-day Tower of Babel being built?
Barry Rubin: A letter to the president-elect from a Middle East realist
Nov, 7, 2008
Rabbi Francis Nataf: Of Children and Immortality
Caroline B. Glick: Livni's Obama strategy
Nov, 6, 2008
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: How I tricked a classroom of apathetic students into grasping the fallacy of moral relativism
The Kosher Gourmet
By Gina Kim: Tips for making the perfect soup --- includes recipes
Nov, 5, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Destitute Debtors
Bruce Weinstein: 'Religulos': Bad title,even worse movie
Nov, 4, 2008
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Treasury Dept. submits to Shariah law
Frida Ghitis: A surprise for Obama in the Middle East
Nov, 3, 2008
Jonathan Rosenblum: Who says Jews are Smart?
Jonathan Tobin:
Was He Wrong About Everything?
March 22, 2007
J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)
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Jewish World Review
April 7, 2008
/ 2 Nissan 5768
Meet the new boss …
By
Mitch Albom
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Last week, I learned that my long-time book publisher was resigning to try something new. A senior member of his staff would replace him. In short, I had lost an old boss and gained a new one.
It got me thinking how many times this has happened in my life, and how personal it still feels. Like a substitute teacher stepping before the chalkboard, like a babysitter waving hello, her coat over her arm, the introduction of a new "authority" goes back a long way in our lives. It almost feels primal.
But with a boss, it's a never-ending feeling. Think about how much of your day is spent trying to make the boss happy, how many hours you invest trying to please, avoid, impress or affect this person who controls your working fate. Most people I know have their daily outlook shaped by the mood of their boss. ("Oh, he's on the warpath today." "Oh, man, he's making my life Hell on Earth.") A great boss, work is upbeat. A bad boss, your day can be torture.
With a position this influential, any change can be profound.
Yet it happens all the time.
HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW
The guy who hires you suddenly gets promoted. The company you signed with suddenly gets sold. One morning you come into the office, same as the other mornings, but there is a certain buzz in the hallway, a hasty gathering in a conference room, and an unfamiliar man in a nice suit is standing with his hands crossed, being introduced with the words "… will be taking over for now."
At this newspaper, the man who hired me was gone a few months after I arrived. He was replaced with a guy I, luckily, got along with well, but in time that guy left and was replaced with another (who, thankfully, I get along with, too).
At my second book publisher, two of the top three people who signed me left for other jobs before I turned in a page.
At my first radio station, I saw four different men sit in the big office. Four different "heart-to-heart" talks about how I fit into their plans.
We constantly try to make headway with bosses, only to wake up and find another in their place. Alliances crumble. The guy who "kissed up" to the boss is laughed at for wasting his time. The woman who always angered the boss gets a new lease on life. The promises an old boss made evaporate like steam on a window.
And you wonder why you twisted yourself in knots for someone who could depart so easily.
WHO'S THE BOSS?
Have you ever met an old boss later in life? Run into him or her on the street? Isn't there part of you that wants to say something maybe beginning with "You know, now that I'm not working for you anymore…"? Or maybe you share a heart-to-heart, how bad things have gotten since that boss left, how much you yearn for the good old days.
Either way, when you walk away, you are reminded of just how much one person can affect you, and then become a person who has no bearing on your fate at all. It is the reason Kipling once advised to let "all men count with you, but none too much."
So this week, I have another new boss. And it's OK. I think I've learned, maybe the hard way, to let go of the "too much" part, to recognize that bosses are just men and women who, for a brief moment in life, make decisions that affect you. But how much they affect you is still in your control. The real trick in life, when it comes to bosses, is learning how to be your own.
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