Our culture seems to be constantly changing these days. Personally, I have come to the conclusion that I can no longer keep up with, much less conform, to the many cultural shifts that are happening all around us. There was a time when I accepted those social changes as inevitable. However, as a follower of … Read more
CBMC International
The story is told about a night when operatic composer Giuseppe Verdi performed a piano recital at La Scala in Milan, Italy. As he finished his final piece on the program, the adoring audience demanded an encore. Reveling in the applause, Verdi chose to perform a loud, frilly composition he knew would delight the audience … Read more
As the world grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the investing world grappled with its own upheavals. People who had money in the markets will likely long remember the period from mid-February to mid-March when the U.S. stock market fell 35% in just 16 trading days. Never before has the stock market so quickly … Read more
The term cancel culture evokes images of screaming undergrads, deplatformed speakers, fired employees, and demanding protesters. However, the cancel culture ethic doesn’t simply exist “out there” in the larger culture; it has infiltrated our homes. Our dinner tables have become personal social media platforms. Increasingly, this doesn’t merely take the form of political ideology, it … Read more
Author Simon Sinek, in his book, Infinite Game, says he believes the business world for too long has been stuck chasing what he calls a “finite game.” When business leaders simply pursue profits from quarter to quarter, or fiscal year to fiscal year, they are chasing a finite solution, rather than a lasting purpose, he … Read more
For the majority of us, over the past 18 months or so – or perhaps even longer – fear has been a daily companion. Part of it has been the pandemic itself, unprecedented in our lifetimes, which has cast a deep shadow of pain and death across our society and the world. The ramifications of … Read more
Perspective. It makes a tremendous difference in how we approach life in many ways. If you view life from an optimistic perspective, you can usually find positives in even difficult circumstances. However, if you take on a pessimistic outlook, even good things that happen can be viewed with cynicism and anxiety. It is like the … Read more
For each of us who labor on the marketplace, change is nothing new. Whether we like it or not, change is a familiar experience, one that happens all the time. Some business and professional people, even high-level leaders and executives, declare with absolute conviction, “I hate any kind of change!”, as if change itself has … Read more
The Gallup research organization polled thousands of people to determine in which institutions they had the most confidence. After the military, which was ranked first, small business was second in the Gallup ratings, with 68% of the people surveyed stating they trusted small commercial enterprises more than other institutions. Big business, however, ranked only 12th … Read more
There is a saying, “Into every life, a little rain must fall.” What an understatement! Sometimes that “little rain” turns into a full-blown storm, one that hangs around for a while. Without a doubt we all have to face adversity from time to time, at times only an annoyance but other times a major crisis. … Read more
Most of us are familiar with Aesop’s fable about “The Tortoise and the Hare.” The humble tortoise challenges the arrogant hare to a race. The quick rabbit jumps to an early lead, then decides to take a nap. He awakens to find the tortoise has trudged pass him to win the race. The supposed moral … Read more
Business professionals obviously like improving the bottom line. If you work for others, you might have to deal with performance reviews of one kind or another. Even top executives are reviewed by their board of directors and undergo scrutiny from their major stockholders. And the bottom line is usually an important element of those reviews. … Read more