At least an unchecked ego benefits someone.

Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University had an interesting news release headline today:

Boosting Self-Esteem Can Backfire in Decision-Making

According to the release, the group’s research indicates that previously-received praise can make an employee recommit to a bad decision rather than admit a mistake and try a new approach.

I’m sure there’s some truth to that – lots of people don’t like to admit mistakes.

I once assembled an IKEA armoire so that it was unquestionably crooked and whenever someone pointed it out, I said, “Well of course it looks like it’s leaning when you’re looking at it from over there – at a distance!”

But my insistence had more to do with me being completely stubborn and less to do with someone complimenting me on a job well done on the nightstand the day before.

Here’s the thing: some people are just plain bad at admitting mistakes. And other people are bad at realizing that their employees are bad decision-makers.

So maybe the best thing to do isn’t necessarily to question the effect of doling out praise or compliments, but just not let the person in question make any more decisions.

After all, isn’t that the Kellogg School’s main message:

“In one study, participants, acting as senior managers of a large investment bank, received feedback about how rational they were before revisiting a hiring decision. After learning that the person they had hired was not working out, they overwhelmingly recommended spending additional time and money on training, rather than simply acknowledging the poor decision and cutting their losses,” reads the release.

In that case, I hope someone keeps inflating the ego. At least someone wins.

4 Easy Ways to Beat the Recession

I love a good sale, but this new deal from Domino’s is pushing it:

Domino's Launches New 'Recession-Buster' 444 Deal

"A dollar doesn't go a long way anymore -- until now," reads the press release.

And I never thought a pizza had anything to do with a recession – until now.

Sometimes it's not about politics.

My boyfriend once announced that his official view on abortion was “anti-choice.”

He often likes to test his boundaries, so I ignored him – until about five minutes later when his words fully sunk in.

“You’re WHAT?” I asked.

“You heard me," he shrugged. "Anti-choice.”

“Be quiet,” I said. “You’re being disrespectful.”

To whom, I’m not really sure – but I know someone besides me would be annoyed.

“I’m not really,” he explained. “I just like getting your reaction.”

I can only hope that’s what the American Life League was going for when they issued a news release with the headline, “ALL: Throw Babies in the Dumpster, Get a Slap on the Wrist???”

I really don’t care where people fall in the debate - be anti-choice if you want.

But I think everyone should be firmly pro-sense and anti-triple question mark when it comes to news release headlines.

Lit-tle Question

Kids always have a lot of questions.

For example, my four-year old cousin visited my parents’ house for Easter and asked why my father kept a turkey baster in a cup on the shelf under the aquarium.

I thought it was a fair question, but I didn’t stick around for the answer because I didn’t have 20 minutes to spare.

And I found out today that some kids must ask the question, “Where did Mary get her little lamb?” because someone went and wrote a children’s book about it.

In case you were wondering, when an ewe gives birth to more than two lambs at a time, a sheep rancher usually pays a child to feed the third lamb with a bottle so that it doesn’t starve to death.

“Mark Jay Bingham's new color-illustrated children's book, "Woolie" (published by AuthorHouse), creatively expounds upon the familiar nursery rhyme, "Mary Had A Little Lamb," and provides children with an applicable, real-life explanation as to how and why Mary had a lamb as her companion.”

I guess if someone wants to write a book about such a thing, that’s their business.

But I have a question of my own: Who decided to issue a press release about it?

Adventures in Grammarland

This news release headline caught my eye:

Learn 'The Secrets' That the Banks Do Not Want You to Know About Bankruptcy.

And this lead kept me interested:

“On March 31, 2008, at 8:00AM, Bankruptcy attorney, Jamie Ryke, will be on the air, live, answering listener's bankruptcy questions as they call into radio station 1200 AM WCHB… Mr.Ryke is co-founder, along with Andrew Thav, of Second Start; a law firm whose headquarters are located in Michigan.”

On a related note, I am available, live, to answer questions about the comma and its sister the semicolon; call me.

Ted Skup - Repeat Offender

In case it was ever in question, Ted Skup, author of "Death, Taxes & Push-Ups,” is officially insane.

Bold statement, I know. But for the fun of it, let’s recap his nonsense:

1. Published a book entirely about push-ups.
2. Ordained himself “The New Dalai Lama of Fitness.”
3. Posed for this book jacket.

But like any dedicated spiritual leader, Skup didn’t stop there.

In his most recent press release, he compares himself and his "Push-up Revolution" to the likes of “Thomas Jefferson, Ghandi, and Martin Luther… Whether it's Ralph Nader or Michael Moore, the battle cry remains the same, "We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore," reads the release.

"As a revolutionist, my nature draws me to challenge everything the fitness industry dishes out," said Skup in his recent release.

And as a person who thinks, my nature draws me to point out that if we’re going to make outlandish comparisons, we could at least get their names right.

I thought that would be my biggest issue with the release, but then I read this:

“Just like Luke Skywalker who took on the Evil Empire, Ted Skup is announcing today that he and his militia of minutemen will take on the fitness industry by doing push-ups on every battlefield.”

I’m not sure what that means, but I’m afraid. And so is every public figure – alive, dead or fictional – who may be the victim of his next comparison.

Creativity Gets Ugly

In recent months, I’ve noticed several news releases from The Creative Group. As far as I could tell, they spend their time conducting surveys on a variety of mission-critical business topics like “Off-The-Wall Job-Hunting Tactics” and “Wacky Behavior at Company Events.”

Sample results? “More than half (52 percent) of marketing executives and one-quarter (26 percent) of advertising executives said they view unusual job-hunting tactics, such as sending a potential employer a shoe "to get a foot in the door," as unprofessional.”

Personally, I find that statistic astounding. And I once emailed my resume to a company with a bullet point that read, “Mange the work-flow of two full-time co-op students,” so I know a thing or two about being unprofessional.

Today, The Creative Group took it to a whole new level:

“OFFICE PRANKS FOR APRIL FOOLS' DAY?: They May Be No Joking Matter, Survey Suggests.”

According to the release, “Seven out of 10 (71 percent) marketing executives polled by The Creative Group consider April Fools' jokes unsuitable for the office. The responses were more evenly split among advertising executives, with about half (51 percent) finding workplace pranks appropriate versus 45 percent who gave a thumbs down.”

I find it kind of alarming that more than half of marketing executives can tolerate receiving a shoe in the mail from someone they don’t know, but 71% of them think “whoopee cushions in [yes, in] their coworkers' chair” is “unsuitable.”

Perhaps what’s worse is that on the advertising side, 4% of respondents flat out “don’t know” if jokes are OK in the office.

And these aren’t just any respondents, they’re “senior marketing executives randomly selected from the nation's 2,000 largest companies.”

I happen to think that if these executives can’t decide on a joke, then there’s not much hope they can mange a major business decision.