Evans Gebhardt (TOR)
Evans joined 3 Peaks following an executive management career atboth Fortune 100 and start up organizations. From experience, Evanscarries the firm belief that organizational performance is derived lessfrom what you are taught and more from what is practiced. He brings to3 Peaks the unique ability to translate theory into a pragmatic toolkit that is relevant in senior management environments.
Priorto 3 Peaks, Evans held variety of executive general management roleswhere mentoring executives and building effective and productiverelationships drove much of his business achievements. After receivinghis MBA in Marketing from the NYU Stern School of Business, Evans hashad leading roles for several notable businesses:
AsPresident, Evans led the real world turn around CheapTickets.com, athen $1 billion, 2000 person company. Taking over after twoconsecutive years of $50 million losses, Evans created a “no fear – cando” Senior Leadership Team able to pull the company to breakeven andonto a trajectory of EBITDA growth. More importantly, Evans and histeam created a whole new productive environment rising from a historyof underperformance.
Evans wasPresident of Cendant’s International Consumer Travel group andresponsible for the integration of several new acquired companiesaccounting for $2 billion in turnover, including leading UK onlinetravel agency Ebookers.com. Relying upon his acumen to developindividuals and building teams, Evans was able to tap theorganizational potential of 2000 employees in over 15 countries and“make it happen” in a difficult post-acquisition environment. Managinga business as complex as this with personal responsibility the profitand loss, Evans understands that inspired personal performance andbuilding teams in a cross-cultural environment is critical to earningperformance.
Evans also was alsoinstrumental in the start up of Eos Airlines, a premium only classairline with service between London & New York. Through stronginternal team working and decisive personnel moves, sales grew 10 foldin just 12 months and unseated long time winners, Virgin Atlantic andBritish Airways, as Best Long Haul Airline of the Year.
Inhis tenure, Evans has held many senior executive roles in very diversesettings. He has worked for New and Old Economy companies, start upsand Fortune 100’s, and domestic and international entities such asCendant, CheapTickets.com, Ebookers.com, Clairol, Mead Johnson,Bristol-Myers Squibb.
After a productive career based upon theability to inspire individual performance and create productive teamstructures that are based on trust and mutual accountability, Evansdecided to enter the world of performance coaching. He now enjoys hispassion 24/7 as a Partner of 3 Peaks helping individuals andcorporations achieve results.
June 2007 Team of Rivals – audio recording
Here’s the audio recording for the June Team of Rivals call. Listen online ordownload the mp3 file and listen to it as a podcast on your ipod.
Betsy Scolnik (TOR)
Betsy Scolnik is president of National Geographic Digital Media. Sheoversees all NGV digital media and business initiatives, includingoperating Nationalgeographic.com and its digital extensions, andmanaging the National Geographic digital film archive and short-formvideo programming, production and distribution. She also heads contentdevelopment efforts for the Nationalgeographic.com Web site and DigitalMedia’s initiatives in the wireless, video game, broadband andeducation markets.
Since joining National Geographic in September 2005 as vice presidentof content operations for National Geographic Digital Media, Scolnikhas been a key player in the expansion of Nationalgeographic.com, withthe redesign of the homepage and the launch ofworldmusic.nationalgeographic.com, the widely acclaimed world music Website that both musicians and consumers have embraced. She launchedNational Geographic Podcasts, which regularly appear in the IPod top 50podcasts. She has managed the growth of the short-form programming,production and distribution unit, which was nominated for an Emmy Awardin 2006.
Scolnik has a wide range of interactive content and operationsexperience tied to the emergence and growth of digital media, includingextensive international experience. Prior to joining NationalGeographic, Scolnik worked at AOL for four years. From 2003 she servedas vice president and general manager entertainment for AOL Europebased at AOL’s U.S. and European operations in Dulles, Va., and London.She was a key player in the development and execution of AOL’s highlysuccessful “Live 8” series of concerts.
Previously, Scolnik worked for StarMedia network, then the largestSpanish- and Portuguese-language Internet media company, where she ranbusiness development and programming for the StarMedia services acrossSouth America and Europe.
Scolnik has a B.S. in international relations from the University ofCalifornia at Berkeley. She lives in Washington, D.C.
Ramona Piagentini (TOR)
As an analyst at Creative Good, Ramona Piagentini has worked on many consulting projects, particularly with multi-channel retailers. Ramona is also the moderator of the newly formed Associate Council 3 and the “Team of Rivals” Book group. Prior to Creative Good, she worked as an assistant curator at a contemporary arts non-profit. Ramona holds a Masters degree from Bard Collage in curatorial studies and contemporary art criticism.
Lev, Numbers and Deut – questions and recording
Here’s the audio recording for the Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy call. Listen online or download the mp3 file and listento it as a podcast on your ipod.
Download Old-Testament-June2007-Lev-Numbers-Deut.mp3
Below are the questions we discussed.
Phil
1. Why these books? Why all the rules?
Reading these books necessarily forces to ask why – why these books? why these rules? why the sacrifices? Most readers are offended by the sacrifices, by the seeming randomness of the rules, of the density of these books. so why read them?
2. Leviticus 18 is the chapter that fundamentalists can use to point to the prohibition against homosexuality. Interestingly, it only prohibits male homosexuality. There is no mention of female homosexuality. Leviticus 19.17, however, prohibits hatred against any “kin” …”you shall love your neighbors as yourself”…while Leviticus 19.14 asks Israelits to respect the deaf and blind. Reading further on, we see that Leviticus 19.19 says “nor shall you put on a garment made of two different materials.” Next time a fundamentalist quotes Leviticus 18.22 about homosexuality, check their collar and if they are wearing a garment of two or more different materials then throw Leviticus 19.19 back at them 😉
3. What of the role of women in Leviticus?
4. Numbers – Number is recognized as the most complex of the five books of the Torah. It’s name in Hebrew literally means “In the Wilderness” – Numbers is primarily concerned with “events during the Israelites’ travels in the wilderness.” It contains a wide variety of literature and it also has some wild stuff: talking donkeys (22:28) serpents (221:6), earth swallowing people (16:32).
5. Numbers deals much with the two generations: the old who had left Egypt and come to rebel against God and are prohibited to enter the promised land (14:30) and the new who would be able to enter the promised land. The narrative of the Exodus from Egypt thus continues in Number even as we get much else – especially a lot of “census lists.”
6. Even Moses and Aaron mistrust God and are prohibited to enter the promised land. Moses can’t go? What do we think of this part of the story? (20:12)
7. Deuteronomy – the name in Hebrew is “words” – the English name comes from a mistake made by the Greek translators – the “LXX translators” – who mistook a passage. D is the fifth and last book of the Torah – it ends with the death of Moses and “indicates the end of the era of divine legislation for Israel.”
8. D written by Moses? Thomas Hobbes in “Leviathan” said D had been written by Moses. This is no longer believed to be the case.
9. The editors of our edition argue that “D directly addresses the problem of the historical distance between past and present, between tradition and the needs of the contemporary generation….it makes paradox central to its structure….[t]he editors of D opted against closure: They preserved…different schools of thought in their full integrity.” What did you think of D? Did you find it as paradoxical and post-modern as the editors imply?
10. With finishing D, we complete the reading of The Torah. Looking back at Genesis and our discussions through D – what comments, questions, reflections do you have?
—
1. Thoughts on why these books? why these rules?
First, while it is easy to dismiss these rules, the sacrifices as outdated or irrelvant, it is important – as the Oxford Commentary points out – to remember that “many Jews still observe the regulations concerning ritual purity, in some form or other, even though the sacrificial regulations can no longer be applied in the absence of a functioning temple” (page 93 of The Commentary). See below for more about the Temple.
Second, again as the Commentary says the sacrificial ritual “was extremely meaningful to the participants even if we do not understand it from our time and culture millenia later.”
other notes:
– idea of sacrifice is universal among human societies
– central are “notions of expiation, cleaning and re-stablishment of cosmic – or at least microcosmic – harmony. If evil cannot be removed, sin wiped away, pollution purified, and harmony restored, there would be little point in sacrifice.”
– ritual purity is misunderstood – nothing to do with hygiene or cleanliness in a physical sense (excrement was not included in the category of “unclean”)
– “the regulations can be seen as a language…communicating….’correct’ attitudes towards relations between the sexes, marriage, kinship, and intercourse with outsiders.”
Mary Douglas in 1966 wrote a classic “Puity and Danger” that said among other things:
– “system of permitted and forbidden animals was a microcosm of the world…many forbidden animals repesented the surrounding nations; the few clean animals the Israelites; and the sacrificial animals, the priests.”
– “dietary regulations had both a practical and symbolic function; symbolically they stood for the fact that Israel was to keep itself free from intercourse with non-Israelites; practically, inability to eat certain animals meant that Jews could not socialize with those who ate these animals.”
key conclusion: “…the message of the rules which, on the surface, might seem arcane ritual turn out to be a rich symbolic system with significant meaning for understanding the concerns of ancient Israel.”
3. More thoughts on the role of women?
Women are mentioned specifically in only two places in Leviticus: concerning child-birth (which made them ritually “unclean”) and menstruation. Interestingly, they were not specifically excluded from entering the altar area…though that later became a rule in the “second Temple” period.
Intro to Thucydides
Hi Thucydides readers,
It was great to get to know some of you on the intro call. For you and especially for those of the group who couldn’t make the call, I have included a quick summary of our thoughts on reading Thucydides below. Also, here’s the link to the Book 1 questions:
Discussion Questions for Book 1
Recommendations for how to approach the book:
1. Editor’s Note is essential to getting the most out of Strassler’s format and, of course, Thucydides’ numerous references to the ancient world of the 5thcentury Greek city-states.
2. Try to digest Victor David Hanson’s Introduction as you read through Book I. Even if you do not read it all in one sitting, it is conveniently divided into sections that you can chew on individually and intermittently as you read through Book I.
3. Try not to be put off by the amount of information contained in Book I at first. As you become more familiar with the names of people, places and things, the points Thucydides makes will also become clearer. The actual narration of the Peloponnesian war begins with Book II. Book I is an opportunity to get to know Thucydides’ world and the background for the war to be described. It is also a chance for those of you who had read Herodotus previously to make comparisons.
Excellent Supplementary Reading:
Zagorin, Perez. Thucydides: An Introduction for the Common Reader. Princeton University Press, 2005.
Thanks,Andre
Thucydides Introduction – audio recording
Here’s the audio recording for the Thucydides Introduction call. Listen online or download the mp3 file and listento it as a podcast on your ipod.
Patrick Toner (RO2)
Patrick Toner has 15 years experience building online products for professionals, small businesses and consumers.
Joining SourceMedia as Vice President of eMedia in 2007, Patrick workswith publishers to find new and better ways to serve their audiencesand grow their brands online. New content and community strategies, aswell as improved user experience, are all areas of focus forSourceMedia.
SourceMedia is a business media company that provides marketinformation including news, analysis and insight through itspublications, seminars and conferences. Its flagship publicationsinclude American Banker, National Mortgage News, and The Bond Buyer.
Previously at MetLife, Patrick led teams that developed the web channelto help millions of employees, plan sponsors, and healthcare providerslearn about, enroll in, and get service on MetLife benefits. He hasserved in product development, marketing and business development rolesfor LEXIS-NEXIS and other business information companies focused onhelping professionals work smarter.
Brad Davis (RO2)
Brad Davis is vice president, advertising sales for Disney Online, a division of the Walt Disney Internet Group. A veteran of the advertising sales industry, Davis provides strategicdirection for the sales team and leads all media sales efforts forDisney Online, which includes Disney.com, FamilyFun.com, and Movies.com, Disneychannel.com since August 2005.
Davis has more than 20 years of experience in advertising sales. Priorto joining Disney Online, he served as director of sales at ComcastSpotlight, Washington, DC,
Before joining Comcast, he spent nearly a decade in online advertisingwith AOL, holding numerous management positions including vicepresident, sales and product training and vice president, local salesand marketing development. There, he supported key units such asDigital City, AOL Local including Mapquest and Moviefone, and AOL’sInteractive Marketing.
Davis previously held positions in Cable and local broadcast TV
He is an active member of the advertising community, with involvement in industry organizations including iMedia and IAB.
Bob Strassler’s answer to a question –
Folks,
Last night one of our reading group members asked me why Robert Strassler created the Landmark Edition of Thucydides before creating a Landmark Edition of Herodotus.
I asked him – and here’s his answer:
“I did Thucydides first because it was causing more trouble for my students than did Herodotus. And it’s a good thing too, because Herodotus turns out to have been about four times more difficult than Thucydides to fit into a format like the one i have developed. Good luck with the new group.”
Thanks again for joining this reading group.
Keep the questions for me, Andre, Robert Strassler (and everyone) else coming!
Best,
Phil
12. June 2007 by Arrian
Categories: Commentary, Thucydides | Tags: Thucydides | Comments Off on Bob Strassler’s answer to a question –