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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 […]
Seizing our future by creating value together
Here in Virginia and across the nation we are witnessing an unprecedented effort to create greater equity — in consideration, treatment, opportunity and investment — throughout our society. Media attention has focused intently on what governments are doing to evolve their policies, but businesses are rapidly transforming as well, confirming the effectiveness of existing practices […]
Lessons from COVID-19
For most of us, March 13 marked the one-year anniversary of our worlds ceasing to operate normally. We remember institutions closing, schools shuttering, and that last day in the office. These pandemic times have compelled me to reflect, learn and remember. I was making ham biscuits for Easter when I heard Merle Haggard’s song, “Are […]
Better times ahead
Back in the early 1980s, a co-worker of mine and his wife became first-time homeowners. They felt pretty good about getting their new house and signing a mortgage note at a whopping 18% interest rate! By today’s standards, that’s pretty unthinkable. While much time has passed since those days, we’ve had only six new presidents […]
5 ways Va. can put people back to work and transform higher education
It’s tempting these days to believe that once COVID-19 is contained, the U.S. economy will bounce back quickly, replenishing jobs and incomes lost in the pandemic. Yet there are early warning signs that when the labor market fully reopens, some high-demand jobs may be hard to fill even with millions of Americans looking for work. […]
OurView: It’s time to speak up
Whenever there is injustice, business pays the price. Can you say his name? George Floyd. The Confederate generals have taken multiple beatings in Virginia and elsewhere. Is it time for their statues to be gone? The business community needs to say “yes,” if for no other reason than because it’s good business. Virginia Business would […]
