I must say that my favorite speeches at the Columbia Law School graduation ceremony were made by student speakers – Max Miller, president of the student senate, and Andrew LeGrand, nominated to speak by popular vote of his fellow JD graduates. Trying to pinpoint what I enjoyed about their turns at the podium, I come back to one common theme: rather than waxing poetic about a lesson they learned years ago, they spoke with passion about taking action in the future.

This week I took advantage of an opportunity to cheer on a good friend graduating from law school. I attended the Columbia University commencement and law school graduation. Between the two ceremonies, I listened – staying mostly attentive through the sun and heat – to several speeches from various parties, all imparting words of advice or encouragement to the graduates.

My recent commitment to consistent blogging had me thinking over the weekend about messages that have been consistent in my life and the wisdom in them. With Mother's Day on Sunday, I had the pleasure of taking my parents out for dinner. Spending time with them brought one piece of advice to mind which I was fed every day growing up:

Ask a good question.

I've read a fair amount recently about the need for employees to get manager feedback or have an annual performance review. In fact, it seems like I've been reading about management feedback for a long time now and how the only way for employees to understand how to improve is if their supervisor decides - or is forced - to give an annual review. You will never hear me complain about hearing too much about good, constructive criticism, though, because I find it very helpful, but I do see it as simply a micro-level review.