I had a fascinating discussion with my son-in-law the other day. He is transiting to a new job with a new employer and one requirement was to have a drug test. He easily passed but he described the discussion he had with the person administering the test. It appears […]
I recently participated in the Artistry in Wood show sponsored by the Spokane Carvers Association. It’s an event showcasing the talents of the wood carvers in the Inland Northwest. This year, the Inland Northwest Woodturners (INWT) participated by having a single table with wood turned objects, mostly bowls, vases, […]
I recently received an email from a client that asked:
“Our quality teams are floundering. I’d like to do training for each team on how the team should function and the roles of each person on the team. I am sure you have a lovely infographic in your library of […]
The news this week reported that the captain, executive officer and the senior enlisted sailor were removed from their positions aboard the USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) which suffered a collision with a civilian ship on June 17, 2017. It’s not unusual for the captain and senior personnel to be relieved […]
Over the past five years, my business partner and I have written more than 300 blog posts – more than one a week. Usually we would post a new entry on Tuesday while having a Throwback Thursday re-post. But we’ve recently skipped several weeks because our production system was […]
We’ve written about sexual harassment before – there’s no secret there. But I would like to examine the economic benefits and costs associated with harassment today. This examination is prompted by Bill O’Reilly’s firing by Fox after it was revealed that five women had been paid $13.5 million to […]
I generally encourage people to lower their voices and think before they speak – perhaps to not speak at all – it makes for more reasoned communication. But there is one area that I personally violate that rule – when things go wrong. And when things go wrong, I […]
It’s the end of the year and it’s a common feeling to feel that the year wasn’t a good one – we didn’t accomplish much – we’re no better off than we were at the beginning of the year. It isn’t true but the little devil sitting on our […]
December 7, 2016 is the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on the Hawaiian Islands. There are newspaper inserts and TV specials as well as countless articles and speeches retelling the stories and pointing out the lessons that were learned. Usually, the lessons can be summed up as “we […]
I was listening to my local radio morning show last week when the discussion got to the clothes that Hillary Clinton wears. The consensus was that she dresses horribly – she’s a multimillionaire and could afford better clothes so why does she wear dumpy pant suits? This brought to […]
The subject of ethics in the workplace always create conflicting emotions in me. There’s the sterile “Here’s the rules that you should always follow” mode – a product of countless ethics training sessions while in the Navy, as a government contractor, and later as a government employee – and […]
In another blow to trust, on April 21st, the International New York Times reported that:
“Mitsubishi Motors said … that it had cheated on fuel-economy tests for an ultrasmall car it produces in Japan, acknowledging its engineers had intentionally manipulated evaluations.”
It’s known that at least 620,000 cars sold in Japan […]
I spent some time recently helping my son and his family move into a new house. It’s been over three months since they moved out of their old house in Virginia and they were looking forward to being in their new house in Washington. The situation was the usual […]
Have you ever considered how many convenience stores there could be? This question came up in the 70’s when 7-11 was expanding using the franchise model. As long as the number of franchises was growing, 7-11 was the darling of investors. But the question of how many 7-11 […]
Have you heard of the 3S method? In the West where wolves are a very polarizing subject – either you are for wolves or against wolves – it’s not uncommon for some people want to “eliminate” wolves. But shooting wolves is illegal except when you have a permit. So […]
The crisis in Flint Michigan with their water supply brings back bad memories for me – my family and I lived a similar experience the last year I was in the Navy. We were living on the Yorktown Naval Weapon Station in base housing and our water suddenly became […]
A while ago, one of my start-up clients messaged me. It began: “You’re probably going to hate me for this…!”
That’s always a good sign, right? Sigh.
She continued: “I just committed to an amazing opportunity for us to triple our advertising exposure,” she went on. “A sponsor dropped out of […]
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced a week before Christmas that as many as 3,200 prisoners since 2002 had been released early from state prisons because of a computer glitch which granted them more time off for good behavior than they should have received. The median number of days […]
I would like to take you back to 1900. Imagine that you are a blue collar worker*:
Your odds of dying on the job are more than 2500% higher than today.
You likely don’t have heating in the winter or cooling in the summer – unless your job involves heat or […]
One of my favorite Demotivators (www.despair.com) – posters that mock those motivation posters a lot of companies put up on their walls to inspire their employees – shows a ship sinking with the caption “Mistakes – It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve […]
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