Category Archives: General

Great leaders: Are personal crucibles a prerequisite?

Posted on 6 November 15 by Scot

I’ve been reading the book Strengths Finder 2.0, by Tom Rath.  Like one of my favorite business books, First, Break all the Rules  by Curt Coffman and Markus Buckingham, Strengths Finders 2.0 relies on data gathered from extensive Gallup surveys to … Continue reading →

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Recognizing our anxieties

Posted on 21 October 15 by Scot

I was mowing my lawn the other day, lost in my own thoughts as I usually am when mowing the lawn, when I saw someone I didn’t know walking by.  I saw him watching me and I found myself thinking … Continue reading →

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Breaking projects into tasks

Posted on 18 October 15 by Scot

I was been feeling a bit unmotivated at work a while back until I realized one reason why. I took (yet another) look at my task list and found most of the remaining items were not tasks, but projects. They … Continue reading →

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Who are you?

Posted on 24 December 14 by Scot

Who are you, if not your job or profession?  I asked myself this question recently, and didn’t have an immediate answer.  It’s easy to say I am an astronomer, or I am my job title, but what am I besides … Continue reading →

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Learning from an amygdala hijack

Posted on 9 June 14 by Scot

Last week I was hijacked. By my amygdala. I should have known better. I do know better. But last week, I didn’t prevent it when I could have and boom – I was hijacked by my amygdala.  An amygdala hijack … Continue reading →

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So, I finished my MBA. Was it worth it?

Posted on 2 June 14 by Scot

Yes! 22 months and countless hours later, I finished my MBA program from the Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. It was probably more work than I expected, but I also got more out of … Continue reading →

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The role of social media in astronomy

Posted on 29 September 13 by Scot

I’ve been pondering what role social media should play in an observatory’s outreach and marketing efforts. If you exist and serve customers, people expect you to have a web site. These days, they also expect you to have a social … Continue reading →

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Give yourself time to think

Posted on 10 March 13 by Scot

Why is it we schedule time for meetings, but not time for thinking? Take a look at your calendar. If it’s like mine used to be, it’s a series of scheduled meetings with some blank space in between for more … Continue reading →

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