What factors significantly affect how quickly my couch-potato pooch obeys the “lay down” command? The cushiness of the floor surface? The tone of voice used? The type of reward she gets? How hungry she is?

Effective leadership is the process of persuasion and example by which an individual induces a person or group to take action that is in accord with the leader’s purposes. It’s the art of letting people have your own way.

For work purposes, I first made my way to the United States on a short business trip in October 2007. I remember it vividly. I was not long married, and my boss was putting me on the long haul into Texas and Louisiana.

When I was 50 years younger and 50 pounds lighter, I tried my hand at pole vaulting. It’s a peculiar track-and-field event that involves running at full speed with a heavy pole in hand toward a crossbar set high off the ground.

A $500 “nano-camera” that can operate at the speed of light has been developed by researchers in the MIT Media Lab.

So I had a heart attack last month. No. Literally. And I’m using the word “literally” correctly here.