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Full speed ahead
No other region of Virginia moves the entire commonwealth forward like Hampton Roads. Sure, Dee Cee is about technology, government contracting and national politics. And Richmond is about politics that are generally more local. Hampton Roads, on the other hand, is about the military and commerce. The ports, the railways, interstates, tunnels, trucks and air […]
2022 Virginia 500: The power of leadership
Power is one of those things that can sound great until you have it. It’s a be-careful-what-you-ask-for kind of thing. Power without leadership often goes awry, leading to unfortunate outcomes. The kind of power that works well requires leadership, good stewardship and a genuine concern for the well-being of an entire team. Many of us […]
All businesses great and small
There are 32.5 million small businesses in the United States, employing more than 61 million people and making up a staggering 99.9% of the nation’s businesses, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. As business journalists, though, we tend to focus almost exclusively on the larger businesses that reap bigger profits and make bigger news. […]
Breaking rank
What a difference a year makes. On July 13, 2021, against a backdrop of ships blasting their horns and spraying water in celebration at the Port of Virginia’s Norfolk International Terminals, Gov. Ralph Northam sat for a harborside interview with CNBC, which had just named Virginia the nation’s best state for business for an unprecedented […]
Higher gas prices are needed
The U.S. inflation rate, which reached 8.6% in May, is at its highest point in 40 years. In 1982, it was just over 6%. Since then, the U.S. inflation rate has hovered mostly in the 2% to 4% range. The inflation rate is determined by changes in the cost of a fixed basket of 80,000 […]
The evolving workplace (or what I wish I told my younger self)
In 1983, when I walked through the doors of my first job in Washington, D.C., I could have never anticipated where life would take me — from a young staff accountant to a vice chair at Ernst & Young, advising C-suites and boards, as well as leading thousands of professionals. And now it’s bittersweet to […]
Rethinking labor
Back in my big company days, large newspapers were heavily unionized. After railroads and before high tech, newspaper publishers were the media barons of the day. The business was capital intensive, requiring once-in-a-generation investments for big presses and printing facilities. It was also high on fixed costs, with payroll being the largest expense before newsprint […]
Media matters
It’s hard to have a conversation about anything in the headlines, especially anything to do with technology or politics, without some blame being assigned to “the media,” as if there were one enormous unified communications cloud shaping all our collective thoughts. That would be enormous for certain, but the media is perhaps more consolidated than […]
Higher values
About 30 years ago, I was a volunteer for a local group of marketing professionals that was launching its Marketer of the Year awards. Publicity was needed. Working in marketing at the local paper, the task fell to me to pitch the event to the newsroom. In those days, the news business was fairly balkanized; […]
Political Kool-Aid
Depending on who’s in charge in Dee Cee, plans alternate on what is best for the U.S. economy. The choices are seemingly reduced to tax cuts versus government spending, but things are rarely as they seem. More accurately, these choices are two different sides of the same dollar — or trillions of dollars to be […]
Closing the digital divide: It’s not optional
With the Senate’s passage of a massive infrastructure bill, there is rare and refreshing bipartisan consensus on the need to close the digital divide, which came into sharp focus during the pandemic. As much of daily life, including work and school, shifted online, underserved communities faced huge obstacles to productivity and success. The sweeping bill […]
What’s good for HBCUs is good for Virginia business
Earlier this year, I issued a call for the commonwealth to confront and reassess its disproportionate support of its historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). I wrote a letter to the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and the respective leadership of the General Assembly. At this juncture, I have not received any acknowledgment or response […]
