Dr. Riedy's Random Thoughts

In this piece I argue children can and should be taught how to recognize choices they make are decisions and that making decisions is a skill no different from sports or music or foreign languages. With training and practice decision–making skills can be improved dramatically and create life-long benefits. Training should begin as early as grammar school and continue through high school, evolving always to be age-appropriate, but in a formalized and structured program involving both teachers and parents. Further, making decisions sometimes leads to successful outcomes and other times leads to failures.  Truth be told, we can learn a great deal from our successes, but we probably learn even more from our failures. Children need to learn it is OK to fail. I’m thinking about writing a separate blog piece addressing the “it’s OK to fail, kids” issue.  On my career journey to becoming a senior executive I learned to make choices/decisions the old-fashioned way—by the s...

Time for ourselves has become a rare and highly valuable commodity.  In this post I start by highlighting  unique perspectives on the availability of time for ourselves, then list a few of my pet peeves—ways in which others rob us of time and our ability to make the most of it. Thinking about the importance of reserving time for ourselves I’m always reminded of a conversation I had with (the late) Jim Rouse, at that time one of America’s true pioneers of planned communities (Columbia, Maryland) and regional shopping malls. I asked if he would be willing to fly from Baltimore to San Diego, on the occasion of the dedication of the Ernest W. Hahn Endowed Chair in Real Estate Finance at the University of San Diego, to speak on behalf of his good friend and fellow mall developer, Ernie Hahn. I was to be the first holder of the Hahn Chair. Because I knew Jim I hoped he might agree to honor his friend Ernie by speaking at the dedication. Rouse, at that time aged 80+, was...

I enjoy the two minutes it takes to read cartoons in the daily paper, especially when one strikes a chord, as did the "Luann" cartoon authored by Greg Evans today.  In it, Luann says "I'm so tired of trying to get my dad's attention and approval.  I feel like I'm always competing--at home, at school, with other girls.  I'm just exhausted."  We live in an interconnected digital world, but one becoming increasingly depersonalized. Yet we all want to be loved and appreciated by others, or recognized for our "worth" as individuals and/or for our accomplishments--preferably in-person. Whether it's a hug, high-five or pat on the back, coming from someone we respect and delivered with sincerity, it's a feeling like no other.  Further, in a era where children now "earn" trophies and ribbons just for showing up, to have real meaning feedback must be credible in addition to being sincere. Delivering feedback with false sincerity, is...