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Magical thinking
Listening can be difficult; that’s often an early lesson learned and hopefully one paid better attention to as life goes on. I’ll admit that’s been the case for me. Listening is especially important in business. Customers, co-workers, suppliers and vendors all have points of view that are worthy of consideration. Listening[...]
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 […]
Hot time, summer in Virginia
Thus far, we’ve been spared from the heat wave that gripped Oregon, as well as the drought hitting California, not to mention western wildfires. But summer is still always a hot time here in Virginia. Looking back, it wasn’t until 1968 that the commonwealth passed liquor-by-the-drink legislation. In addition to slaking thirs[...]
Making history (belatedly)
Virginia, sometimes better known for its history than anything else, is poised to make more of it this November. There will be two female candidates on this year’s ballot for lieutenant governor. It has been nearly three decades since Mary Sue Terry served as Virginia’s attorney general from 1986 to 1993. Heretofore, Terry h[...]
Are big tech firms more like nations?
Roughly two years ago, Facebook announced plans to lead a consortium of companies creating a new digital token currency called Libra. The partners were to include major payment processors Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Stripe, among others. However, strong opposition from financial regulators around the world led to its shelving. [...]
The future is now
One of the biggest and yet to be fully felt impacts of the global pandemic is the way it has accelerated trends, many of which were less apparent before the COVID crisis than they are today. Even as public health concerns might begin to subside, the impact of many business trends will remain. Much of […]
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 presid[...]
35 years of storytelling
My favorite day every month comes when a new issue of Virginia Business lands on my desk. Each magazine tracks emerging economic trends and the ongoing evolution of business leadership in the commonwealth. But for me, the impact is much more than just a good read about important business topics. Each issue of this magazine [&hel[...]
A moment for change
Growing up in 1960s and ’70s Virginia, racism was always present, in forms direct and subtle. Each experience carried a message: to “know your place” and stay there. During my years as a student at Dinwiddie County High School, I remember being in the crowd when we hosted majority-Black Petersburg High School for a footbal[...]
Let’s make business cool again
Back in my high school days, I recall longing to be one of the “cool kids.” Guys with names like Matt or Jim. This was a time of jocks and cheerleaders. I wasn’t great at sports, but I liked cheerleaders. I tried following in my older brother’s footsteps by being a yearbook photographer. Maybe I […]
OurView: How did it get so late so soon?
On the subject of time, the much-beloved children’s book author Dr. Seuss once wrote, “How did it get so late so soon?” With December here, that’s an almost perfect description of 2020. How did it get so late, so soon? Most of the past 8 to 9 months have been characterized by an almost immutable […]
Walking around
Back in 1982, Tom Peters and Robert Waterman Jr. co-authored a business book titled, “In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies.” Among many topics popularized by this bestseller was a concept called “management by walking around.” This wasn’t an entirely new idea. It was practiced in the 197[...]
