The Power of One Word

"When words are scarce they are seldom spent in vain."

So said William Shakespeare....and channeled by many a hopeful job interviewer, when they ask: "If you had only one word to describe yourself, what would it be?"

Follow-up question: Do you hate that question as much as I do? I mean, how COULD any one word sum up the complexities of an individual? And yet, ABC News listed it as one of the top 25 "great" interview questions.

I think, on the contrary, that one-word descriptions often do the opposite of describing a person accurately - they represent a stereotype, or a preconceived picture of attributes associated with that word.

Autistic * Jewish * Gay * Blonde * Russian

Each of these words likely will conjure a set of characteristics in your mind...characteristics that may not apply to the next person you meet who self-identifies with one of these terms. Okay, I know, in a job interview you're supposed to pick words like "resilient," "innovative" or "diligent." But still, why just one word? WHERE ARE THE OTHER WORDS, DAMMIT?

GIVEAWAY: Easy to Love but Hard to Raise

It's my first blog giveaway, and I feel oddly powerful. I'm giving away a shiny, new copy of  Easy to Love but Hard to Raise. Read more about the book and its origins here: Guest Post: Easy to Love but Hard to Raise.

This giveaway is open beginning RIGHT NOW through August 22nd, morning-ish.

I'm glad to share this meaningful book with one of my readers. I won't call you lucky, because if you need this book...well, you might feel slightly less so. So how can you win? Well, I'm thinking that if you're anything like me, you're busy enough filling out paperwork, shuttling to therapy, and just trying to keep it all together. The last thing I want to do is to make your life harder. Or my life harder. I mean, what in the world is a Rafflecopter anyway?