I did a bit of traveling last week, different hotels in different cities. Invariably, I would get up early to get some work in before my meetings. And as I worked, I would begin hearing the incessant beeping of alarm clocks going off in unoccupied … [Continue reading]
A morning not fishing
This weekend, I took my daughter to our family place in Montana. She had not been there in three years and I had promised to take her over the summer, but the work got too crazy. So we settled for a long weekend and a little hooky from school. We … [Continue reading]
Tune Out to Tune In
Do you ever get that feeling that, when you're struggling for an answer, you never can find it, but when you're focused on something else, you suddenly see the answer right in front of you? And in fact, from then on, everything you look at, … [Continue reading]
Death by Dashboard
Two years ago, I had all the operations in my business put together dashboards -- metrics on many aspects of our business (from sales calls to retention) -- that could help us understand what was working and not working before we saw the results in … [Continue reading]
Don’t Be Tofu!
My wife is experimenting with vegetarian cooking. And tofu plays a major role in a lot of dishes. "The thing about tofu," my wife said, "is that it tastes just like whatever you cook it with. If you cook it with celery, it will taste like celery, … [Continue reading]
Baptism in Lake Superior
On Saturday I completed my first marathon, Grandma's Run in Duluth, MN. My standing joke had been that, given my size, I'd be in the Clydesdale's weight divison and given my inexperience, I'd be in the back of the Clydesdales making me the horse's … [Continue reading]
Who not What
Let's face it. It's always all about us. The world we see is a world where we see ourselves, often only ourselves, what we want and what we do. And our self-centeredness is fine and probably necessary as some darwinian self-selected survival … [Continue reading]
The Last Cry of the Airport Loudspeaker
I've been on a couple of conference calls this week both from airports and with individuals who are in airports. Given this age of constant travel, I suppose that's not too unusual. What also is not unusual is the intrusive drone of the airport … [Continue reading]
Pancake People
There's a lot of buzz around social media these days and, of course, the Internet has become the de-facto platform for communication and commerce. We have the ability to connect and interact in ways never thought possible. Customers have become … [Continue reading]
Poncho and Lefty
For the past six months I've had a cd by Townes Van Zandt recycling through my car stereo. I have a few other cds as well, most of which I enjoy but also most of which my wife is tired of hearing over and over. But I keep come back to Townes who … [Continue reading]