Dudley Do-Right was the hero of a segment of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, a cartoon entertainment show from my youth. Dudley was a dim-witted but cheerfully optimistic Canadian Mountie who was ever trying to apprehend his nemesis, Snidley Whiplash. Dudley was romantically interested in the lovely Nell Fenwick, daughter of Inspector Fenwick, commander of [...]
Top photo: Dad on left in "Ol' B29" amtrac. Bottom: Dad marked with "x" - "Chow time on Saipan" Click on picture to enlarge. During the morning of February 19, 1945 my father was about to drive a United States Marine Corps amphibious tractor onto the beach at Iwo Jima. This was his [...]
We encounter people in life who give us – with the best of intentions – advice and counsel that is inherently biased. In the 1967 movie, The Graduate, we find Mr. McGuire (actor Walter Brooke) giving recent college graduate, Benjamin Braddock (actor Dustin Hoffman) some advice about his future: Most of us have experience or [...]
This story is told by David Kirk Hart, former professor at Brigham Young University's Marriott School of Management. It comes to me by way of my good friend and storyteller, Jim Ericson. "During World War II, a British war correspondent had gone into Normandy. He was particularly disgusted by the fact that the generals were living [...]
According to TIME magazine article "Lies, Lies, Lies" (Oct 5, 1992), "Lies flourish in social uncertainty, when people no longer understand, or agree on, the rules governing their behavior toward one another." Whew! That was close; I thought I had to bear responsibility for my truthfulness, or lack thereof. TIME made it society's fault. The [...]
Have you seen this email? It has been making the rounds for a while: A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated [...]
The first time I saw people shooting pool (playing pocket billiards) I was hooked. Perhaps is was having seen The Hustler with Jackie Gleason as "Minnesota Fats" or maybe it was a manifestation of male adolescence. What a simple and elegant game! The cue ball strikes another ball and it goes into a pocket on the [...]
The business owners and senior managers I know who are really good leaders are frequently tired. It’s a good tired, but tired nonetheless. It’s a lot like the tired you get from a spirited game of tennis, a fairly serious jog or, in my case, a long bike ride. It’s not a “lay down on [...]
Today, Walter Issacson's authorized biography of Steve Jobs will be released to the general public. Many interesting "leaks" from pre-lease copies have been published over the past few days. Steve Jobs excelled in thinking differently. Apple iPods changed how we listen to music, iTunes disrupted the music business, iPhones put the mobile telecommunications business into a new [...]
Or not. At least one organization (the Economic Cycle Research Institute, ECRI) with an exceptionally good track record says another recession may already be here. Over the last 15 years, it has gotten all of its recession calls right, while issuing no false alarms. Whatever the case - weak economy, recession, improving economy - your [...]
