As budgets become tighter think of Ingrid Bergman.

As the economic gloom spreads, as staffing becomes leaner, we will all be berated, scolded and otherwise brow-beaten. You must become more efficient. We will all have to work harder and faster.

I don't disagree that so much bullshit gets in the way of productivity. One morning many years ago a boss of mine held up a copy on The Wall Street Journal in one hand and The New York Times in the other.

He said, "Each day these start blank, and each day they publish and the quality is pretty good." He was right. By and large, there's too much carping and too little doing or, better, too many discussions about what needs to be done or about what has been done. And not enough doing.

Just now I came across a quotation by Ingrid Bergman that reminds me that magic might just be sacrificed when productivity is king.

"A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous."

Certain bits of creativity are products of serendipity, magic and luck. We can not force-produce them.

Kiss kiss.