Many years ago as a young, single professional, I got this idea that I should put down roots. Although I was a carpet bagging television reporter moving from city to city every two or three years, I found a condo in Tampa that I loved and couldn’t afford. Though I was likely to leave town before a year or two was out, I really wanted to buy it. My dad happened to be coming for a visit so I took him to see the place. As we s...

Perhaps recently you’ve been in a conversation with business friends when the topic of Twitter comes up. It usually goes something like this.“I don’t get this Twitter thing. What’s the point?”“Who has time?”“Tweet, twit, I don’t even know the terminology.”“You know it is interesting, I just don’t know what the business application would be.”“One of those passing fads.”Now comes news from Wall Street that Twitter isn’t jus...

In college I once pulled three all-nighters. In a row. I wasn’t trying to ace the finals. I had to cram, just to pass. It wasn’t a report card I was proud to show my parents. And, just before the last final at 7 pm, I lay down (exhausted) to take an hour or two nap. I awoke in the middle of the night, in a panic, 7 hours late for the test. No way to reach the professor. I sweat it out until office hours. He had merc...

Years ago when I moved to Boston I lived in a lovely old apartment in the Back Bay overlooking the Charles River- a stunning part of the city - safe, walkable and within striking distance of chic boutiques (which at the time I couldn’t afford but window shopping was fun). Two drawbacks to living there - you pay nearly the equivalent of rent to lease a cramped alley parking spot often half a mile away, and there isn’t a ga...

Some years ago I had a boss who demonstrated how easy it is to get the best ideas from people. I was a television reporter at then-CBS-owned WCAU-TV in Philadelphia. Every morning at 8 am (an ungodly hour for those of us who worked the 11:00 pm news) the entire team of reporters and producers crammed into a standing-room only glass-walled office at the center of the newsroom.My boss started each meeting the same way - by op...

Scanning USA Today the other day I spotted the article I was waiting for a savvy entertainment reporter to write. A lot of fans of American Idol have noted the chemistry between the three judges this year is jammin’. Most people wondered if the show would survive without Simon Cowell. Au contraire! Newcomers Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and veteran Randy Jackson have made it hipper, more interesting and fun. I thought I wou...

We all make mistakes with the boss, and some leave a pretty healthy scar. My own list is robust and impressive. When you put your foot in your mouth, mess up, fail to communicate, or send a message you never intended, there’s only one thing to do - apologize and learn. As Conrad Hilton once said, “Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes but they don’t quit.”When I was a young reporter in Rockford Illinois, I w...

When I was growing up, we loved those ”What’s Missing” photo quizzes in the newspaper. Find all the differences in two nearly identical photos. It was easy to spot the first few. However, it was painfully, excruciatingly, tear-your-hair-out frustrating to get them all. In other words, most of us can find the obvious. It takes patience and tenacity to look with a fresh eye and successfully complete the task.The same th...

You may have seen their stories side-by-side in the Wall Street Journal a couple of days ago - the new CEO of HP, Leo Apotheker, and the just-fired CEO of Time Warner, Jack Griffin. Apotheker’s star is rising; Griffin barely got his nameplate on the door before they showed him out. Both companies were facing significant challenges when these chief executives came on board. So what happened? Let’s look at the facts as...

Christina Aguilera is probably still in bed with the covers over her head this morning. On Sunday night, at the opening of Super Bowl XLV in Arlington Texas, she flubbed a line of The Star-Spangled Banner. I was more focused on how not to break my Tostito Scoops in the 7-layer dip, so I didn’t hear it, and neither did my husband and neighbor. But a lot of people were paying attention, because the social networks lit up b...