Who is in charge today?
Home Depot came to town a few years back. The who’s in-charge sign has the managers name in a small white box on a piece of removable tape. That’s good as multiple GM’s have come and gone through the revolving door of Home Depot management. Top Grocery is the local super market. One of a Washington State chain of thirty-two community stores owned by the Haggen Family. The local Top store manager is not a Haggen yet his name is on the entrance to the store and presented in a way that shows real ownership. I am guessing Tim is not an equity owner in this family...
read moreThink
The Queen of Soul said it musically in 1968. My parents said it frequently after I had done something stupid. By the time we reach adulthood we have all been admonished repeatedly by our parents, other authority figures, mentors and teachers to think. Leaders make good decisions and bad ones, smart decisions and dumb decisions. Good organizations may take actions that sully a previously solid and reputable history. Such things are costly and tough to undo. When personal filters drive irrarational decision making, fasten your seatbelt, there is a wild ride ahead. Susan B. Komen for the Cure...
read moreIvy League MBA – What’s missing?
I once worked with a CEO who had an Ivy League MBA. He was very frustrated at his inability to connect/communicate effectively with employees. Smart guy but… I had a good discussion once with a bank CEO about a strategic planning project. The CEO while polite in saying so, was concerned that we would not be deemed worthy by the Harvard MBA CFO, yet the project would not have interested the BCG (Boston Consulting Group). I wondered in what ways the CFO’s arrogance negatively impacted the business. Guess I should have wondered more subtly. This excellent article in The American...
read moreBoomtown #2 – A Different Work Ethic
Day labor is a way of living for some people. While in Minot and Williston, North Dakota I talked one morning with some good people who manage Command Center Staffing. They dispatch around 100 people a day to a variety of service and labor positions where employers need a worker or more for a day or more, but not permanently. These people work when they want to or need to. Some want a permanent job and some don’t. Some get permanent jobs. Some don’t. Some have the characteristics of a solid permanent employee. Some don’t. I heard the story of an 11 year old girl who...
read moreBoomtown #1
Bakken Shale – Williston, North Dakota - Boomtown. You’ve read about it in WSJ, Seen it on CNN. and in National Geographic. It is a “Eureka” sort of reality for hearty souls and pioneering entrepreneurs. Together with similar geology in Pennsylvania and Texas, a part of the solution to US dependence on foreign oil even though some environmentalists beg to differ. For laborers and skilled trades people it is opportunity to work for crazy wages. Three weeks on and a week off. Straight time $60/hr for a Cat operator. New man camps are being set-up daily with mobile...
read moreSteve Jobs on quality and other things
With Steve Jobs announcing his step down from the top of Apple the media is full of stories about him, his contributions, history and view of things. This from the WSJ listing of favorite Steve jobs quotes: When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.” [Playboy, Feb. 1,...
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