It has been over a year since the presidential election and I’m distressed. Not because Congress can’t get anything done. I’m fine with that, in fact, I prefer it when politicians get little done. No, what distresses me the most is the incivility of the political discourse and the lack of reason. I prefer when […]
Archive | July, 2020
Enjoying the Good Times, Preparing for the Bad, Redux
For several years I predicted that 2017 would be the year a recession would start. I began saying this about 2013 and for several years I thought my prediction looked good. But now it looks like I’m going to be wrong. The economic expansion continues with no end in sight. How long can this continue? […]
The Wisdom and Humanity of Howard Behar
For the past four years, I have been one of the sponsors of an annual event called Impact. At Impact 2017, held September 15-17, 2017, we gathered together CEOs from about 80 local small to medium-sized businesses. The sponsors, like me, are professionals who serve this size business. Every year Impact is terrific but this […]
Book Review: The Power of Habit
I’ve heard a lot of good things about Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit. Duhigg is a New York Times reporter who got interested in how habits are formed and how they are changed. His research resulted in this 2012 publication. Here is my review. The book is divided into three parts: The Habits of […]
The Curious Case of Iceland
In late April/early May my wife and I had a short vacation (five days including travel days) to Cabo San Lucas. We had beautiful weather, not much to do except lay in the sun, drink margaritas, go to dinner and repeat. In other words, boring. In July we took another short vacation, this time to […]
Embezzlement Becomes Almost Commonplace
Is embezzlement trending? It seems to be. For most of my career, embezzlement was something I read about in the newspaper (back when newspapers mattered). Or I read about it on news sites as the internet took over. It was a rare event; newsworthy. But I never had experience, first, second or even third-hand, with […]
It’s Deal Time in the Business Cycle
Business cycles seem to last about ten years. Out of a typical decade, there will be a couple years of recession (we’re overdue), a few years of boom times and several years that are neither boom nor bust. It has been a long of time since our last recession but it was memorable. And while […]
Book Review: Dereliction of Duty
This isn’t my typical book review because Dereliction of Duty isn’t a business book. But the truth is there is much in this book that does apply to business and to life. Dereliction of Duty is H.R. McMaster’s history of what led the United States into the Vietnam War. I had never heard of McMaster […]
The Importance of Buy/Sell Agreements
Any business that has multiple owners and isn’t publicly traded needs a Buy/Sell Agreement. With large private companies with lots of owners/partners/shareholders, there is usually a routine way that parties come and go. Think of the large accounting or consulting companies with hundreds or thousands of partners. But with smaller companies with only a few […]
Book Review: Disrupted, My Misadventure in the Start-up Bubble
Disrupted, My Misadventure in the Start-up Bubble was written by veteran journalist Dan Lyons. Lyons worked in print journalism for many years until he was laid off by Newsweek magazine as a part of the long-term death of ink-on-paper. In an attempt to reinvent himself and start another career as a marketer, he landed a […]