The Work Goes On: Like many of you, I serve in a not-for-profit organization. In a recent meeting, we went over how there is a negative impact on revenue from grants, events, and donations due to the pandemic. Many not-for-profit organizations are struggling. Yet, the group quickly changed to a discussion of how to continue delivering the services over video …
Happy Fourth! As those who read my newsletter know, we are on vacation in Europe at the time of the publication of this blog post. And while I usually shy away from any political topics in this business blog, I think it is appropriate to pause and think about patriotism on this day. I believe that is especially appropriate when …
Climate Change Now there’s an interesting topic! Of course, there are at least two camps on the climate change thing. One is that the climate is changing and that mankind is causing or at least exacerbating the change. A second camp is that yes, the climate is changing but it’s a natural phenomenon and mankind is not only not causing …
Firestorm: As I write this post, Tim Cook is in the middle of a firestorm. Well, at least, many of the folks I hang around think it’s a firestorm. Of course, I’m speaking about the issue of pushing back on the US Government over breaking into an iPhone. Based on my recent reading (Data and Goliath), I am quite skeptical …
Comparisons: Well-made analogies can be quite useful, informative, and enlightening. Or, they can be ill-formed and carried too far. Here’s a definition: a·nal·o·gy: a comparison between two things, typically based on their structure and for explanation or clarification. That seems straightforward enough. I like analogies and use them often. But some common analogies I find to be less than useful. …
Yesterday I had lunch with a good friend and colleague. We had a wide ranging discussion as usual, including talking about the water situation here in Southern California. Recently a court ruling found that a small town’s water district here in SoCal did not calculate their rates properly. I suspect the Water District knew that, but had other reasons for wanting …
According to Tyler Cowen, Land, Technology and Uneducated Kids provided the America of early days an incredible diet of “low hanging fruit.” In this excellent short book (fewer than 90 pages), Mr. Cowen shows how the manifestation of having eaten all the low-hanging fruit is that individual and family median incomes have all but stagnated with respect to the pace …
I’ll call him “Bill.” He is a good friend, a wise mentor and an all around great guy. I listen carefully when Bill speaks. Recently, we’ve traded a few emails on the general topic of politics, economy and business. What I love about our “conversation,” electronic though it is, is that we are not trying to change the other person’s …
The subtitle of Greenhut’s book is; “How public employee unions are raiding treasuries controlling our lives and bankrupting the nation.” Steven Greenhut is a journalist who was on the board of the Orange County Register, a libertarian publication. His columns were always informative and detailed with facts, figures and names. He made no friends in the public workers unions, and stepped …