The day that I had my job interview at The Washington Monthly a new issue had just come into the office. In huge type, the cover said, CRIMINALS BELONG IN JAIL. It’s a sign of how much the liberal world has changed that at the time, February 1976, this seemed shocking to me—it was the kind of thing that […]
March 1989
Posted inMagazine
Group Therapy: The Answer to Merit Pay
A few years ago I came upon a small company that seemed to provide a strong rebuttal to the Monthly’s longtime support of merit pay. Instead of basing salaries on individual performance, it paid everyone the same— clerical workers, professionals, sales reps, accountants, even the artists. The exception was the owner and his assistant, but […]
Posted inMarch 1989
I’ve Tilted at Windmills, and the Windmills Won
Six years ago, I was offered an unusual job at Newsweek that was at least partly the result of the efforts of the editor of this magazine. While I’m grateful to Charlie Peters for assisting my career advancement, the job he helped arrange also points up some practical failures associated with his view of how […]
