No Country For Old Men

It’s sort-of strange that I would recommend No Country for Old Men, because I can’t say that I enjoyed it, exactly. I don’t do very well in movies with a lot of violence or in movies where you are just waiting for another person to be killed or wounded. I can’t handle the tension or the blood. I watched about a third of this movie through my fingers and I was relieved when it was over.

However, this movie is really sticking with me; I can’t stop thinking about it. It was very well-made by the Coen brothers. I love them – even when they miss their target they are really interesting, and this movie was definitely not a miss. The acting was wonderful – several really amazing performances. Tommy Lee Jones was very good, but this was a familiar type for him. Josh Brolin was excellent, as was Kelly MacDonald. Good writing, based on the Cormac McCarthy novel. I can’t speak to the faithfulness of the adaptation since I haven’t read the book, but the movie is oddly beautiful and haunting in spite of the violence. Worth a look.

Today’s recommended

I decided that I’m going to try to post a daily recommendation – might be a book, movie, website, song, whatever. I’m considering this a target and not a moral obligation, so there will inevitably be days missed, but I thought it would be fun to talk about some of the new stuff I come across along with some older favorites and thereby resist the temptation to post about what I ate for lunch just because I can’t think of anything else to say. So, with no further ado:

Although I don’t make resolutions, this book seems like a good fit for the beginning of a new year. It’s All Too Much by Peter Walsh is a handbook for clearing out the clutter in your home and organizing what’s left. There are lots of practical tips and how-tos, but what I really liked about this book was Walsh’s emphasis on how clutter and the proliferation of stuff affects your quality of life. The entire book is informed by the idea of living the life you want to live instead of being controlled or overwhelmed by stuff you possess (or stuff that possesses you).

Organizational health

Meredith Farkas’s post reminded me that I’ve been meaning to write about First, Break All the Rules. Meredith introduced the 12 questions that demonstrate organizational health, so I’ll just say that one of the highlights of the book for me was the mountain climbing metaphor, early in the book. Buckingham and Coffman break the twelve questions into 4 groups that represent different stages of the “climb”:

• Base Camp (What do I get?)
  • Do I know what is expected of me at work?
  • Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
• Camp 1 (What do I give?)
  • At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
  •  In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
  • Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
  • Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
• Camp 2: (Do I belong here?)
  • At work, do my opinions seem to count?
  • Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my job is important?
  • Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
  • Do I have a best friend at work?
• Camp 3: (How can we all grow?)
  • In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
  • This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

The idea is that you can’t advance too soon to the higher camps, or you will get “Mountain Sickness” – that is, you won’t be able to sustain your energy at the higher altitudes of vision and purpose if you haven’t firmly established your foundation at Base Camp and Camp 1. The authors point out that a lot of management theory and practice is focused on Camps 2 and 3, when most managers really need to focus on Base Camp and Camp 1. I’ve definitely found that most of the leadership and management books I read seemed to be focused on the Camp 2 and 3 types of issues.

At any rate, this book made me question several assumptions I had about leadership, and I got a lot out of it. Definitely worth a read.

My favorite toy

We are getting ready to leave for a vacation, which means it’s time to pull out the gorillapod.

I LOVE this thing. We took it on our vacation last year, and for about the first time in recent memory got more than one or two pictures of my husband and I together. Plus, it’s just fun to play with!