I came across this list of "10 things you should never say on the job" and I remembered my own painful little lesson about something you should never say. Figuring that the statute of limitations on saying stupid things is long over on this one (it ... [Continue Reading]
More intelligent food labeling
I've written some previous blog posts about how confusing (and generally useless to the lay person) food labeling is. My musings on the topic are found here and here... now, I've just stumbled across a very interesting design competition where the ... [Continue Reading]
Another supply chain contamination incident…
Just a few days ago, I blogged about the tainting of soft drinks through supply chain malfeasance here. I just came across this blog entry by Guardian writer George Monbiot which outlines the facts behind a very interesting -- and hard to trace -- ... [Continue Reading]
Green marketing — the reality
I'm fascinated by the idea and practice of "green marketing". What this looks like currently is labeling on products that tell you that the carbon footprint is lower (Than what? Than it used to be? Is that OK, or just better?), the food is organic ... [Continue Reading]
Business truths — realities & outcomes
Over my many years as a business practitioner and amateur researcher/reader, I have been trying to "figure out" business, in all of its fascinating complexity. By being able to break it down into it's component pieces I hope to be able to better ... [Continue Reading]
Tainted Supply Chain — here we go again…
In the June 18th 2011 issue of the Economist newspaper (look -- it's in a magazine format, it gets issued weekly, it looks, feels, and smells like a magazine -- why do they insist on calling it a newspaper...??? That's my only criticism of the ... [Continue Reading]
Humor — the best preparation for crazy interview questions?
I recall at various times when going through formal job interviews being asked the odd "crazy" question that had little to do with the company or the role I was being interviewed for. They were questions like: "what is the weight -- in kilos -- of a ... [Continue Reading]
Incentives Matter
One of the things that I have learned over my few decades of "business-as-trench-warfare" experience is that properly thought-out and structured performance incentives are a critical component in getting people inside an organization to "do the right ... [Continue Reading]
Thoughts on time management
I'm just reading Ricardo Semler's fascinating book from 1993 -- it's his story of building and running the large Brazilian conglomerate Semco. The book is "Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World's Most Unusual Workplace, and only 72 pages into ... [Continue Reading]
Career Tip: Don’t be an a**hole!
This "career tip" probably seems very straightforward as obvious advice -- we don't like assholes and nobody should aspire to be one. However, this advice comes from a significant lesson learned in my own career many years ago; it's a real story that ... [Continue Reading]
