Jonathan Miller's Blog, page 20

Erica and Matt Chua: The Love Saga of Sapa

The saga of Sapa begins in the small hill tribe villages, whose civilizations have yet to reap the benefits of modernization. They have recently been inundated with tourists, however many of the traditions of the Black H’mong and Red Dao people persist. In particular the traditions that dictate love hold strong and the courtships of very young villagers are short and arranged, but I learned fromour young trekking guide Coo thatit is a little more complicated than that.

At first glance Coo look...

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: A Wife’s Apology?

It looked like it was about to really happen. That rare and unnatural act that violates the most deeply entrenched parts of our genetic code: A wife apologizing to her husband.

There we were. Standing in my home office. Rebecca had initiated the conversation to bring resolution to the issue of who was most to blame for us going to bed sulking last night that led to 5 consecutive hours this morning of short matter-of-fact sentences, no ‘love’ or even ‘L’ at the end of text messages, pained pout...

Saul Kaplan: This Is What Customers Really Crave

This is the ninth of a seriesof conversations originally published on theTime site, authored by Nicha Ratana and myself, with transformational leaders who will be storytellers at the BIF10 Collaborative Innovation Summit in Providence, RI.

“The real promise of the technology revolution isn’t its products—it’s the new ways by which it has enabled us to express our humanity,” claims Bill Taylor, co-founder of the iconicFast Companymagazine and author of the bestseller, Practically Radical.

“Today,...

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Spiritual Retreats

Going to a weekend spiritual retreat is about the scariest and most exciting plan you can have for a Friday night.

If you are going for the right reasons.

It’s not a business networking opportunity or about being liked. It’s not about looking good. It’s not about sounding good. It’s not even about being good.

It’s about thinking anew while also letting go of old thoughts and beliefs that no longer serve their purpose. It’s about being silent –or as quiet as you can be –on the inside. It’s about...

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: My Ode to Airports

Airports seem to be a good place to be if you are an asshole and want to go undetected.

Airports have lots of food to eat that neither tastes good nor is good for you nor is affordable. You don’t get that combination anywhere else I can think of.

Airports are a great place to buy books you will never read. And would never have bought if you hadn’t been stuck in an airport.

Airports are places where you can shop for things you don’t need and would otherwise never consider buying –and pay twice as...

John Y. Brown, III: Federal Judge David Hale

Miller, Hale and Brown in 1995

25 years ago this fall, I found myself shoveling books in and out of a law school locker next to a tall, clean-cut young man who was soft spoken and kind yet also very thoughtful and keenly intelligent.

We became easy friends and enjoyed each others company through our law school years. We went out weekends with our wives and served together as summer associates at Brown, Todd and Heyburn (now Frost, Brown, Todd). By the end of our legal education I counted David...

Josh Bowen: Aspire to Inspire

I am a fitness writer. I write about fitness. But interestingly enough, I often times write about life more than fitness. I believe fitness is only a component of our make up as people. However, its impact on us is felt is all realms of our being. So with Thanksgiving over and December steadily approaching, I wanted to write a piece that could be applied to a variety of aspects of life. I set out for 2014 with only two things in mind that I wanted to accomplish; publish my first book (release...

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: The Stones

I used to think the professional life span of a rock and roll group was about the same as an NFL lineman. 4 or 5 years on average. In a few exceptional cases maybe a little longer. But never more than the culturally transofrmative Beatles who survived together for a stunning 10 consecutive years. Longevity was never a concept that seemed applicable to rock and roll.

At least that is what I believed as a boy who was born in 1963 and watched rock legends and one hit wonders whizz by me like cars...

Lauren Mayer: Costco Vs. Walmart

I often struggle to reconcile my progressive values with my love of shopping. I don’t want to patronize companies whose policies are at odds with the environment, LGBTQ rights, fair treatment of workers, and so on, but I also love a good bargain. (My ultra-liberal husband gets weekly updates on which businesses we should avoid based on a wide variety of criteria, making it almost impossible to find an acceptable retailer or gas station!)

But fortunately, it turns out that there is a retailer w...

John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Are You Kidding Me?

I woke up on my own this morning several minutes before a quarter after (the time my alarm goes of), so I hop up and shower, shave, and get dressed. And am excited –even proud– to be running about 5 minutes ahead of schedule. I think to myself “I am going to start getting up 5 minutes earlier every day.”

I throw on a sports jacket and pack my laptop bag and pause to wait for Rebecca to tell me to have a good day. But Rebecca isn’t on cue.

I now worry I am about to lose my 5 minute advantage and...