Commentary – Pragmatic

8 Things We Learned About Small Businesses During the Last Two Years

It was nearly two years ago, in the final week of February 2020, when I received the first phone call that alerted me that something serious was afoot. I had been monitoring the reports about COVID since December of 2019, when news on CNBC first brought it to my attention. It seemed obvious that thereContinue reading “8 Things We Learned About Small Businesses During the Last Two Years”

Case Studies in Leadership #Failures

Things I Have Learned About Leadership There are literally libraries full of literature on the subject of leadership. I would not dare attempt to corral the pearls of wisdom from the pages of those books or essays an try to regurgitate them here. What I have is far more pedestrian…learned experiences. I’m confident that othersContinue reading “Case Studies in Leadership #Failures”

Obituary for the Death of Common Sense

For many years, this piece below was attributed to George Carlin. According to this post from Snopes.com, it has been misattributed. I enjoyed it when I read it a few years ago, and was reminded of it recently by a friend of mine. Snopes details the origins, and I have decided to reproduce the itContinue reading “Obituary for the Death of Common Sense”

The Minimum Wage Conundrum

Let me start off by stating for the record that I have no objection to people making money, and even a “living wage” – the definition of which may seem to be an arbitrary moving target. We should not have poverty in what we have self-promoted as the greatest nation in the world. Don’t misunderstandContinue reading “The Minimum Wage Conundrum”

The Fall of the Roman Empire

For the students of history… Arnold J. Toynbee and James Burke postulated the following theory as to the fall of the ‘first’ Republic, the Roman Empire. They argued that the Roman Empire itself was a poorly designed economic system from the beginning. They further postulated that the entire Imperial era was one of steady decayContinue reading “The Fall of the Roman Empire”

Is Service Club Volunteerism Dead?

At a dinner last night with some members of my Kiwanis Club, I had an interesting conversation. Why is it that clubs like ours struggle to survive? I joined about 11 years ago, at the direction of my boss, who felt that being involved in a small community like the one I worked in requiredContinue reading “Is Service Club Volunteerism Dead?”