The Phrase 'A Mile Wide and an Inch Deep'

In 1889, American journalist and humorist Edgar Nye introduced the phrase "A mile wide and an inch deep." He was referring to a river found ...

High-Wire Walker on the Dangers of Invincibility

The Walk is the 2015 motion picture, and true story, about high-wire artist Philippe Petit. In 1974 he fulfilled his dream of walking between the World ...

Country Bumpkin Lawyer Surprises His Legal Team

In the 1840s a court case based in Chicago captured the attention of the entire nation. Labeled "The Reaper Case," it centered on the patenting ...

Less-Confident People Are More Successful

Writing in The Harvard Business Review, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, a CEO and business professor, had some surprising conclusions about self-confidence and ...

Writing Your Un-Resume

You know the resume drill—make a list of all your amazing accomplishments, job duties, and honors—to impress your friends, enemies, and potential ...

David Letterman Misguided By His Ego

Looking back on his three-decade long career as a late-night TV host, David Letterman offered the following perspective:

You believe that what you are ...

A Cultural Shift on Pride

In an NPR interview, David Brooks, author of The Road to Character, observes how differently we deal with promoting our own success. Brooks said:

The day ...

Moral Overconfidence

Nitin Nohria, in the Washington Post, explores the idea that we are not as virtuous as we think we are. Nitin has coined the term "moral overconfidence. ...

You're Really Not That Nice

A 1961 research project asked ordinary people to send extremely painful electric shocks to a stranger. (Unbeknownst to the participants, the fake shocks ...

New Parachute Inventor Plunges to Death

On February 22, 1911, Gaston Hervieu climbed the Eiffel Tower to test a new parachute for pilots. He checked the wind, took a nervous breath, and began ...