Want to have a short phone call with someone? Call them at 11:55 a.m., right before lunch. They'll talk fast. You may think you are interesting, but you are not more interesting than lunch.

One key factor in the downward spiral in our educational system is that there is too much stroking and too little real feedback.

Sometimes, all you have to do is ask.

I'll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short-term, earnest is long term.

Throughout my academic career, I'd given some pretty good talks. But being considered the best speaker in the computer science department is like being known as the tallest of the Seven Dwarfs.

Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.

And even though I did not reach the National Football League, I sometimes think I got more from pursuing that dream, and not accomplishing it, than I did from many of the ones I did accomplish.