Success Without the tsuris

Smite Not: Helpful Feedback About Hindering Behavior

Adam Dickter — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Deborah Grayson Riegel

Jewish Week Online Columnist

As difficult as it may be for many of us to give or get feedback, let’s be thankful that we don’t live in Biblical times. Think about it: when God wanted to let His people know that He was unhappy with their behavior, He didn’t typically sit them down for a heart-to-heart. He didn’t share his observations about what was working and what wasn’t, and then request a change in performance to be observed over a period of time, and then re-evaluated.

Managing Change

Adam Dickter — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:17:00 +0000

Success Without the tsuris

Deborah Grayson Riegel

Jewish Week Online Columnist

(Especially When You Don't Want To)

According to the Shocher Tov, a book of biblical commentaries, “If you behold a custom set by your forefathers, change it not!” In other words, if it was good enough for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Rachel, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah, it should be good enough for us, right?

The Gift and Fear of Having Healthy Parents

Adam Dickter — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 19:07:00 +0000

Success Without the tsuris

Deborah Grayson Riegel

Jewish Week Online Columnist

When my mother- and father-in-law brought up the subject of taking a family vacation over the winter school break, my husband Michael and I weren’t surprised. We have come to expect that we will be invited to join my in-laws someplace warm and tropical, where the only rule is that if you want a strawberry daiquiri, you have to swim up to the swim-up bar to get it yourself so that you get a little exercise.

American Express Fifth Commandment Florida Gilda Radner

Lost And Found In Translation

Adam Dickter — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:59:31 +0000

Success Without the tsuris

Deborah Grayson Riegel

Jewish Week Online Columnist

Atlantic Ocean Beijing Chevy Chase china Peking University Saturday Night Live

The Blessings of a Dragon and Phoenix

Adam Dickter — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:56:22 +0000

Success Without the tsuris

Deborah Grayson Riegel

Jewish Week Online Columnist

It was my first day of my second semester teaching Presentation Skills and Business Writing at the Beijing International MBA Program at Peking University, the top business school program in China.

American Express Beijin China one-child rule Columbia Microsoft Pfizer Sony and Toyota University of Michigan

When a Fortune Cookie isn’t Enough: Three Models for Making Tough Decisions

Adam Dickter — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 17:42:58 +0000

Success Without the tsuris

Deborah Grayson Riegel

Jewish Week Online Columnist

An hour after I got home from a month-long business trip to China last fall, I was hungry again – hungry to go back. Last year, I hankered for the excitement of living alone abroad, for the challenge of communicating in a new language, and for the autonomy of having nobody else’s opinion to consider in making my decisions. (Of course, it’s cold comfort to have complete control of the remote when there’s nothing on television in English).

Great Wall of China Mao Zedong Suzy Welch Tiananman Square Vroom-Yetton-Jago

Think Jewish!

Adam Dickter — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:33:12 +0000

Success Without the tsuris

Deborah Grayson Riegel

Jewish Week Online Columnist

It's Not Just For Holidays Anymore

My 10 year old twins, Jacob and Sophie, were in the back seat of our minivan, and bickering once again. I mean, I love it when people fight over me, but this was getting ridiculous.

“I’m the one who made mom a mom!” Jacob announced, holding his one-minute head start in life over his twin sister’s head.

“Yeah, but I’m the one who made her a mother of twins. That’s even more special!” Sophie reminded him.

Ben Gurion china David Allen Martha Beck

In Praise Of Praise

Adam Dickter — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:51:00 +0000

Success Without the tsuris

Deborah Grayson Riegel

‘Tis the season – the season for overeating, celebrating and gathering. It’s also the season of giving praise, whether to your mother-in-law (ok, to my mother-in-law) for her delectable stuffed cabbage, or to your children for decorating the sukkah with such creative flair, and to God – for His gifts, forgiveness, and patience with us.

Are You Living Your Life by FOMO?

Adam Dickter — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 16:47:08 +0000

Success Without the tsuris

Deborah Grayson Riegel

Jewish Week Online Columnist

On September 11, 2001, after my Manhattan offices at the Jewish Federations of North America were evacuated, I walked across the street to pick up my friend Wendy from her office, and the two of us headed uptown to get my husband Michael from his. We planned to camp out at Wendy’s Upper West Side apartment until the Long Island Rail Road began running again. We made one stop along the way at the supermarket, to pick up the necessities we thought we would require if we couldn’t leave for a few days.

9/11 American Idol Kris Allen Live Like We're Dying Long Island Railroad Oreos

Two Jews, Three Opinions: Embracing Multiple Perspectives

Dani Shetrit — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:02:00 +0000

Success Without the tsuris

Deborah Grayson Riegel

Special To The Jewish Week

I remember exactly where I was when I heard that the Space Shuttle Challenger had exploded 73 seconds after lift-off just before noon on Jan. 28, 1986 in Cape Canaveral, Fla. School was closed for parent-teacher conferences that day, but we had been assigned to watch the launch on television for homework. I was sitting cross-legged on the living room floor, watching the shuttle climb higher and higher and then … disaster. There was an explosion of smoke, the plume splitting into two, and then the trail of destruction lingering in the skies.

Got A Problem? Mazel Tov

Adam Dickter — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 02:37:00 +0000

Success Without the tsuris

Deborah Grayson Riegel

Jewish Week Online Columnist

One of my favorite movies as I was growing was The Other Side of the Mountain, based on the non-fiction book A Long Way Up: The Story of Jill Kinmont by Evans G. Valens. In this inspirational and heartbreaking true story, Jill is a national championship skier who has a terrible skiing accident, leaving her a quadriplegic right before her 19^th birthday. The movie followers her long road to emotional recovery, including her life-changing long-distance romance with Dick “Mad Dog” Buek, himself an exceptional skier and later a stunt daredevil.

Jill Kinmont time management

What's Trust Got To Do With It?

Adam Dickter — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:00:34 +0000

Success Without the tsuris

Deborah Grayson Riegel

Jewish Week Online Columnist

During one of our many girl talks, with topics ranging from boys to basketball, my daughter Sophie gave me a very special compliment: “Thank you for always telling me the truth.”

Ben and Jerry Dr. Duane C. Tway trust Zohar

"Aren't You Leaving Soon?" (How To Be a Great Guest)

Adam Dickter — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Success Without the tsuris

Deborah Grayson Riegel

Jewish Week Online Columnist

While my husband Michael packed our suitcases in preparation for our return trip home from five wonderful vacation days in London, I gathered all of our used sheets and towels, stuffed them into a single pillowcase (as my Jewish male Martha Stewart-like husband had taught me) and carried the sack into kitchen where my friend and hostess Lisa was having breakfast before attending a class. “Do you want me to wash these?” I asked her. “Just leave them,” Lisa said. “I’ll get to them later in the week.”

When Leadership Means Following

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 18:49:38 +0000

Success Without the tsuris

Deborah Grayson Riegel

Jewish Week Online Columnist

When my father-in-law gave me and my husband Michael a birthday gift of sessions with his personal trainer, I realized that I had a choice: I could choose to be offended (as my mother-in-law was when he tried – and failed – to gift her a bathroom scale for her birthday) or I could choose to see this as an opportunity to get myself whipped into shape. Since I genuinely like my father-in-law, and he’s not known for beating around the bush, I chose the latter perspective. Michael and I booked our appointment with the trainer, Mona, and got ready to turn our flabs into abs.

exercise personal trainer Ray Kroc Sam Rayburn Yoga

What Will You Catch This Summer?

James Besser — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:34:00 +0000

Success Without the tsuris

Deborah Grayson Riegel, MSW, PCC

Jewish Week Correspondent

Hello Muddah, hello Fadduh,
Here I am at Camp Grenada
Camp is very entertaining
and they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining.
I went hiking with Joe Spivy
He developed poison ivy
You remember Leonard Skinner
He got ptomaine poisoning last night after dinner.
All the counselors hate the waiters
And the lake has alligators
And the head coach wants no sissies
So he reads to us from something called Ulysses.
- Allen Sherman, “A Letter from Camp”