Endless Knots

"The studio of my mind"

She lived for thirteen years after tests confirmed ovarian cancer, which she intuited long before that.  She opened her sealed orders early, knew she was meant to dance, which she did until two days before she died on April 6, 2007.

Last night, two hundred members of Dorothy Hershkowitz's family celebrated her life. Sweet nibbles to welcome guests and then the curtain.

A forty-minute film that Dorothy narrates, a dance biography, with Dorothy looking to the filmmaker, Lynn Bikofsky, and talking to us. Dance has been her "best friend," she says (at her funeral last April, the cantor recalled her saying that dance was her "conversation with God"). When things have been difficult, which they often were (we remember), she goes to her studio or at least "the studio of my mind." Dance is where she works out life, realizes emotion, travels through space. We see clips of her as a very young dancer, and, remarkably, pieces of her major early works, Kaddish, which she choreographed and performed shortly after her father's death (I made seafood lasagna for the cast party), and Monday Morning Quarterback, inspired by an incident where she had to step over a drunk in a subway turnstile. She is still dancing at the end of the film: she had to repeat a take 30 times, 30, when she performs in the halls, not the auditorium, of Dana Farber Cancer Institute, because people keep walking into frame, the background narration a lab technician saying "some people enjoy this test, find it relaxing," as Dorothy throws her body, just a few months before her death, from wall to wall with the knocks of the MRI. And then her teaching one of her last classes, frail, close to the end, her arms floating like no others, and the camera rests on her smile, her very beautiful smile.

People speak, beginning with the cantor, Lorel Zar-Kessler, and then many others. Poems, anecdotes, quotes from letters, a cello concert, cards, and emails Dorothy wrote, Dorothy-aware of death coming soon, her son, Alexander Bohn, recalling that she danced when she put away groceries, her students, her best friend in junior high, her cousin, all recalling a Dorothy the others recognized, and the brave tall man who said Dorothy was his icon of hope after his wife's ovarian cancer diagnosis because D had already lived seven years, (and, as it turned out, did live four years more after his wife died). Surely, as her husband, Dave Evans, has said, her incredibly strong body, all those years of movement, extended her life.

And then they danced, 15 of her students, in a piece choreographed by Joanie Block to "Smile."

Dave said the last words. Gratitude to all, composed and dignified, and very lovingly he tells of two things Dorothy said, the first a few moments after they met: "She poured out her love, meaning Alexander and Jonathan, her sons;" and her last, to the effect of: "No one should go hungry - there is no reason for that."

And then we all sang "You gotta have heart," words on the jump page here.

Repeating what I wrote when she died: Dance on, Dorothy.

A nice article in the Newton, Mass, newspaper where Dorothy lived.

Guest blogger: Belle recruits other dog-writers

Today we (meaning I) introduce an irregular Endless Knots feature, Guest Blogger. Pleased to present our first, Steve Teicher, friend, former student, and later client on one of the great all-time projects:

Belle Lipnack-Stamps, a well-known maven who is the inspiration for many books and papers, has decided to branch out by recruiting other dogs like herself.  One of her top collaborators might be Jake Thorndike who has tales of tails from almost 40 states.  Jake is an expert in truck stops and Walmart parking lots.  He will add flavor to Belle's rich experience as a writer and consultant.

Lipnack and Stamps can truly say that business is going to the dogs.

From your roving reporter....Steve

Collaboration, according to Alex

Alex Eaton, 12, had a social studies question: "How can we make group work successful?" He answered with seven points. His father, Dick Eaton of Leapfrog Innovations, found the list consistent with his work in team building (see story by Kellye Whitney in Sept 07, Chief Learning Officer).

• share ideas
• work together
• share work evenly
• listen well
• follow the golden rule
• stay on task
• be accepting

I agree.

"(We) will reduce number of layers from ... 11 to about 7"

The new CEO at BP is shaking things up, or perhaps better said, taking things out. CNNMoney.com quotes Tony Hayward in BP Shares sinks as CE0 warns on results:  "'There is massive duplication and lack of clarity of who does what,'" the [Financial Times] quoted Hayward as saying. "'We will reduce the number of organization units. (We) will reduce the number of layers from the workers up to the CEO from 11 to about seven.'"

Is that the right number, Mr. Hayward?  How do you know what the right number is? Using OrgScope, we found 11 levels at one of the energy giant's competitors--and its shares are not sinking.

How do you determine the right number of levels in an organization the size of BP, with in the neighborhood of 100K employees and perhaps 10x that number more in contractors? What number allows the chief executive and senior leaders to "spot weaknesses and areas for improvement," as one energy executive said to us.

The deeper question here is not about a target number of levels but about whether the structure optimizes strategy.

Facebookers learn F2F 101

I suppose this was inevitable. The Sept 17, 2007, New Yorker has  a piece with the canny title, "Icebreaker Dept: Social Studies," by Michael Schulman, about a New York University dean having to explain face-to-face (F2F) to incoming students who only know how to have friends on Facebook.

The peril in getting to know classmates on the computer is that incoming undergraduates may forget how to do so in real life. That was the thinking behind “Facebook in the Flesh,” a seminar held during N.Y.U.’s freshman orientation. “Meeting new people face-to-face can be . . . intimidating,” a brochure read. “This fun, interactive workshop will get everyone talking as we build social networks in person.” The session took place at the Kimmel Center—it was scheduled at the same time as “Dude, Where’s My Class?”—and drew about thirty-five students, who spent the initial minutes sitting side by side in uncomfortable silence. Eventually, two girls struck up a conversation and realized, to their delight, that they were both from Long Island. (“Suffolk County?” “Me, too!”)

“Here’s what in-person networking is,” David Schachter, an assistant dean, began. “It’s face-to-face. It’s brief. It works best when there’s virtually nothing at stake except a few minutes of someone else’s time. And it’s social. It happens in the same space.”

Schachter went on to describe the benefits of live interaction...

"New light bulbs in plain English"

Common Craft Show, encore, this time a short online video on why to buy compact flourescent light bulbs. It would be hard to buy the old kind again after seeing New Light Bulbs in Plain English, their latest spoonful of common sense. Producer Lee LeFever explains:

Switching the types of light bulbs we use at home is a small but impactful way for nearly everyone to save money and help reduce pollution. We made this video because compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs make sense and we want people to make the switch.

This video is an obvious departure of our web-centric ways. We're still web-at-heart, but the Show may veer into foreign territory from time-to-time.

And they list their sources:

• NaturalGas.org - Comparison of Fossil Fuel Emission Levels
• EPA - Electricity from Coal
• National Coal Council - Source of US Energy (PDF)
• Popular Mechanics - Comparison of Light Quality
• Popular Mechanics - Reality of Compact Fluorescents and Mercury
• ConEd - 100 Tips for Energy Conservation
• Energy Star - CFLs

See other "in Plain English" posts below:
Google Docs
Social Bookmarking
Web 2.0

Something I didn't know about Bucky

An article in the Berkshire Eagle (just seeing the name of the paper makes me want to move to Western Massachusetts) profiling Frederick H. Burkhardt, the former Bennington College president "who died earlier this week at 95," mentions his devotion to the faculty. Among those he recruited to the small Vermont institution were the extraordinary management thinker "Peter Drucker, influential psychoanalyst Eric Fromm and former United States Poet Laureate Howard Nemerov...In his years there, Martha Graham was also running her modern dance workshop at the college and Buckminister Fuller built a prototype of his Dymaxion house, an energy efficient structure."

Worst things said at work (and sadly on occasion at home)

Boston Globe asked its readers for their least favorite "Workplace Jargon." Read it. It's a relief, particularly when you encounter the ones that make you cringe. Mine:

--"reach out," as in, "I just wanted to reach out to you," which triggers the shot back, "Please don't"
--"value-add," typically an early warning that none is to follow
--"touch base," puh-leez, and...

low hanging fruit, ramp up, boil the ocean, circle the wagons, and need I continue? Begs question: Are we thinking when we say these things? (Not me, of course, I'm too busy herding cats.)

More on trust in virtual teams

Web Worker Daily's Anne Zelenka points through to another good post on building trust in virtual teams, this article by Kelly Pate Dwyer on BNET.

I'm in on the four attributes Dwyer cites for remote managers: passion, availability, patience and reliability, and in on four of her "five ways to build trust." The last, the need to show up face-to-face, is not borne out by the research that underlies "Can Absence Make a Team Grow Stronger?", the Harvard Business Review article we did with Profs Ann Majchrzak and Arvind Molhatra. That said, here's Dwyer's good list:

1. Be available. Don’t let employee calls go to voicemail. When you absolutely can’t be reached, reply ASAP.
2. Beware of using sarcasm and teasing in distance interactions, like email and conference calls, where signals can easily get crossed.
3. Handle sensitive issues with discretion. One team member might tell Belmont that another is having a bad day. He’ll immediately call the person having the bad day, without exposing the colleague who told him.
4. Communicate in a variety of ways (email, phone, in person, etc) and often.
5. Visit employees on their turf. It shows respect for their time and interest in their life outside the job.

Three big developments in collaboration over past decade

Repeat plea: I'm still working on the article (ok, still in thinking stage but that's writing too) and need to pinpoint at least three major developments in the collaboration field over the past ten years. Michael, Steve, Rob, others: What was The Big Thing in collaboration in '97? '00? What's new for you right now? Looming deadline. I know you want to help me.