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Fruity flavors: Nicotine & tobacco in a smoke-free state
26 July 2010 7:55 PM | No CommentsI hadn’t realized how jarring it is to see people smoking indoors until I watched two DVDs this month. Barbra Streisand, as Katy in 1973’s “The Way We Were” smoked throughout the movie, including during her pregnancy. And from the land of television, Tim Robbins...
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Angels in Minnesota
26 July 2010 7:03 AM | No CommentsAngels are coming to Minnesota — at least that is the hope. The legislature is betting on the old Field of Dreams saying “If you build it, they will come” and hoping it will apply to angel investors and venture capital dollars over the next...
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Gathering ’round the Campfire
22 July 2010 12:29 PM | No CommentsLast Monday I became a parody of myself. I took to the woods with my ten-year-old son, accompanying six of his friends, and some of their parents to Scout Camp in Wisconsin. Our kids are Webelos, going into fifth grade. We joined around 100 other...
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Author Archive
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Focus Your Efforts on Plan “A”
Posted on June 28, 2010 | 1 CommentAfter spending the last seven or eight months refining a strategic plan, involving an outside consulting firm, staff leadership, board members and community volunteers, the planning team was asked “what is your plan B if this doesn’t work?” Having worked on several such plans in... -
Who is in charge of this mess? Oil for all.
Posted on May 19, 2010 | 2 CommentsWith every failed attempt to literally “stem the tide” transporting the massive oil spill my thoughts grow darker and darker. It seems the price we are paying for oil (both collectively as a society as well as individually) is creeping steadily upward. -
Food Art
Posted on April 7, 2010 | 1 CommentFor some people the idea of Community Supported ART (CSA) is like comparing apples to oranges, and I can go there if the apples are in a still life and the oranges represent the ravages of war. Springboard for the Arts, a favorite of mine... -
Leadership vs. Management
Posted on March 1, 2010 | No CommentsLeaders have followers, managers have subordinates; this is the theory that popped into my head this week as I met with a manager who was trying to lead using fear. Our “first thing Monday morning” meeting left me angry for the entire day. (Well, angry... -
Work From Home
Posted on January 22, 2010 | No CommentsI wonder sometimes about all the empty cubicles in the city. It seems that over half the people I spent quality time with on sidewalk patios, over happy hour cocktails laced with bus exhaust now work from home. Companies are cutting expenses; downtown office space... -
Health Care Reform vs. Media control
Posted on December 16, 2009 | 1 CommentFaced with great challenges, some people get to work and some people get to complaining. While standing inline at the post office, yes, I am mailing holiday packages this late, don’t judge me, I was not surprised to encounter my fellow procrastinators venting. What I... -
Women, Men, Parents or Child Free, how do you lead with equity?
Posted on November 2, 2009 | 4 CommentsIs flextime a workers right, an employer’s nightmare or just another tool for equality? Ever since the string of profanity ran through my head due to my neighbors ranting about women lawyers “not having what it takes” to become full partners in law firms over... -
Parks our Democracy reflected
Posted on October 4, 2009 | No CommentsI know it is gauche to watch network television these days but I challenge the uber hipster to find anything on HULU as majestic as Ken Burns’ The National Parks: America’s Best Idea that ran for a colossal twelve hours on PBS last week. I... -
Betting the “Hard Eight” on Health Care
Posted on September 7, 2009 | 5 CommentsOne of the best mangers I ever worked for was at a local wine shop. He knew how to motivate, he always knew profit margin and he provided even the lowest peon (me) with health insurance. I learned a lot from Steve; the difference between...
