What You Said About …
A NEW GM?
Rana Foroohar’s Oct. 6 cover profile of General Motors CEO Mary Barra drew praise, and coverage in outlets from NBC to USA Today, for its detail on Barra’s pragmatic approach to the company’s ignition troubles. Tim Sexton of Peoria, Ariz., was one of many who remained skeptical. “It’s good that Barra has made it her goal to clean up her company, but talk is cheap,” he wrote. “If she is really serious she would identify the employees from top to bottom who knew of the problem with its ignition system and have them charged with manslaughter.” Still, on TIME.com AlphaJuliette praised Barra’s efforts to make GM more “transparent and accountable” and urged support of the auto giant. “If we the customers don’t trust the product they are making then they won’t sell any cars.”
PEOPLE WHO OPPOSE VACCINES
Jeffrey Kluger’s feature on the antivax movement irked Karen Simon, an education advocate for children on the autistic spectrum in Stratford, Conn., who called the piece’s tone “dismissive.” She wrote, “Many of the kids that are not vaccinated are the younger siblings of kids diagnosed with autism,” adding that these parents are not arrogant or invincible, as a subject in the piece suggested, but “terrified.” But Eileen Haas-Linde of Cape Coral, Fla., whose adopted daughter has battled polio contracted in her native Kazakhstan, disagreed: “If anyone had to see what our daughter had to go through, they would never take that chance [of not vaccinating] with their children.” Added Tom Simpson, a doctor of pharmacy in Stockton, Calif.: “Parents who fail to vaccinate are endangering all other children and there should be a criminal penalty for doing so.”
TIME-OUTS
Many objected to a Time.com op-ed by No-Drama Discipline authors Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson, which argued that parents should sit with their kids for “time-ins,” since isolation–part of some time-outs–can be as harmful as physical abuse. “It is a disservice to the public to suggest that families try an unproven approach when one with decades of support is available,” wrote the Society for Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, a branch of the American Psychological Association, in a response letter.
LIGHTBOX
As part of a special TIME series, Deborah Willis, chair of photography and imaging at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, explores the way modern photographers such as Susan kae Grant (whose work is shown top right) and Ed Drew (bottom left) use themes of memory and history. See more at lightbox.time.com.
NOW ON TIME.COM
Who better to provide the blueprint for better emailing than Google boss Eric Schmidt and fellow Google veteran Jonathan Rosenberg? Here, a sampling of their nine rules at time.com/betteremail:
1 RESPOND QUICKLY
It sets up a positive communications loop in which you are more likely to be included in key discussions and decisions.
2 HANDLE BY LIFO (LAST IN, FIRST OUT)
Sometimes the older stuff gets taken care of by someone else.
3 BE CRISP IN YOUR DELIVERY
If describing a problem, define it clearly. Leave out the stuff abundant in most emails–the parts people can skip.
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