Morning Briefings

If we had no winter, spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.

– Anne Bradstreet
Meditations Divine and Moral (1655)

She turned to ‘borrowing’ from clients to cover her business and personal expenses with the intention of paying them back, but it just ‘spiraled out of control.’ In March, Durkee pleaded guilty to embezzling from more than 50 of her clients.

– Brian Joseph, The Orange County Register
Durkee sentenced to 8 years in prison, ordered to pay $10.5 million in restitution

At its core the question of how to transform suffering into happiness is still a religious one. Ultimately, it is God alone who has the power to bring good out of bad.

– Anthony DeStefano
Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To

Meet the Meeting Killers: In the Office They Strangle Ideas, Poison Progress; How to Fight Back

– Sue Shellenbarger
The Wall Street Journal

A small person with small ideas won’t lead us to new levels of excellence or an improved quality of life. There are a hundred times more small people than big people in the world. Wherever they are, they do their best to shoot down people with big visions, big dreams and big perspectives. This is sad, because all of us, including the small people, ultimately benefit from the big ideas.

– Kent M. Keith
Anyway–The Paradoxical Commandments: Finding Personal Meaning in a Crazy World

Insomnia-producing ethical dilemmas do not usually embody the kinds of straightforward conflicts or temptations that an intelligent twelve-year-old would recognize and astutely resolve if asked, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ The real thorny ethical challenges are typically subtle, often involve the welfare of more than one person or group, characteristically require the rapid and intuitive calculation of probable consequences, and always occur in real time.

– Clinton W. McLemore
Street-Smart Ethics: Succeeding in Business Without Selling Your Soul

While heroic confrontations make for a compelling Bible story, it is probably not a likely scenario for us. Our conflicts will most likely occur in the quiet of a troubled heart, trying to sort out God’s voice from the heavy static that surrounds us. It is never easy to do this.

– Paul Pennick
Living Faith

Does not each generation, by means of suppression, concealment and ridicule, efface what the previous generation considered most important?

– Hermann Hesse
Journey to the East

Adult sibling rivalry. Experts say it remains one of the most harmful and least addressed issues in a family. We know it when we see it. Often, we deeply regret it. But we have no idea what to do about it.

– Elizabeth Bernstein, The Wall Street Journal
Sibling Rivalry Grows Up

At Alaska Airlines, we have provided prayer cards to our customers for more than 30 years. A former marketing executive borrowed the idea from another airline and introduced the cards to our passengers in the late 1970s to differentiate our service. The cards have been provided only to our First Class customers since meal tray service ended in coach six years ago. Beginning February 1, 2012, however, we’ll be eliminating the cards entirely.

– Bill Ayer, Chairman and CEO, Alaska Air Group & Brad Tilden, President, Alaska Airlines
In a letter to their customers