For a toy that was invented in 1932, it’s pretty amazing that the boundaries and uses continue to be expanded to this day.

Helping clarify conversations of future plans nationwide, ailment hopefully.

[Via Shawn Blanc]

A lot has changed in the banking industry, and a lot more has remained the same. This quote might appear to be referring to the current economic situation, but in fact it’s decades old.

“There’s too much waste in banking. Getting rid of it takes tenacity, not brilliance.”
– Carl Reichardt, former President of Wells Fargo

I’ve heard plenty of arguments about all of the genius and intelligence and brilliance that exists in the banking industry these days. But not once have I heard anyone tout the tenacity of a financial institution or any of it’s leaders.

In the book I’m currently engulfed in, Good to Great, the author Jim Collins profiles Reichardt and talks about the changes he made in his company when he saw the writing on the wall.

Facing the ominous reality of the impending deregulation in the 1980’s, Reichardt made a habit out of making the tough choices. According to Good to Great he…

“froze executive salaries for two years (despite their current profitability). He shut the executive dining room and replaced it with a college dorm food-service caterer. He closed the executive elevator, sold the corporate jets, and banned green plants from the executive suite as too expensive to water. He removed free coffee from the executive suite. He eliminated Christmas trees for management. He threw reports back at people who’d submitted them in fancy binders. Reichardt would sit through meetings with fellow executives, in a beat-up old chair with the stuffing hanging out.”
– Good to Great, by Jim Collins [page 128]

I highly doubt there are any executives at the major banks that we could coax this attitude out of. What a shame. They just don’t make ’em like they used to.

Last night Archbishop Desmond Tutu graced the U.S. with his presence on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Tutu shared his thoughts on a range of topics from race, to America and forgiveness to  Truth and Reconciliation Commission that he chaired in his native South Africa. This is one of my favorite excerpts from his appearance.

The thing is, that you and I, and all of us, even when we don’t accept it or understand it, is that God created us in such a way that, I can’t be human on my own. I wouldn’t know how to walk, as a human being. I wouldn’t know how to think. I wouldn’t know how to speak, I would not know how to be a human being, except from learning from other human beings. And so our humanity, is bound up with one anothers. And, and you see, we saw it as …. if you carry out a policy that de-humanizes others, in the process, you are dehumanized.

- Desmond Tutu on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

(more…)

“Cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’ Expediency asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’ Vanity asks the question, ‘Is it popular?’ But, conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’ And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one’s conscience tells one that it is right.”

– Martin Luther King, Jr.

We’re finally seeing some decisions being made on conscience. Time will tell if they are in fact right or not. But the means by which decisions are made is a refresshing change.

“Don’t worry Craig, the war is over and you lost. But Germany and Japan lost too, and they’re doing alright.”
– Friend to Craig Fergussen just prior to Craig checking into a U.K. drug and alcohol treatment center.

With the way the world is right now, we could all probably use a little pick-me-up like this to help us see the big picture.

Andy Budd on Social Media Consultants and their effect [read: harm] on the realm of social media.

It reminds me of a guy I met while traveling many years ago. He was an ethnographic researcher employed by a big oil company to asses the impact oil pipelines would have on the indigenous population. He loved tribal culture so much he desperately wanted to work in the field, cure even if that meant being partly responsible for the destruction of the very thing he loved.

That may be the true measure of a professions success. Doing more good than harm.

The Super Bowl is right around the corner, only a few days away. So it’s far too late to be creating Super Bowl commercials, but I’ll still dispense some simple advice anyway.

Here’s the secret to making the best Super Bowl commercials: Monkeys. That’s it. Any time, any day, monkeys trump whatever you can put on screen. Period. Monkeys, monkeys, monkeys. The Super Bowl needs more commercials with monkeys. (more…)

Visit this link:
http://www.coudal.com/jan20/ 

Coudal Partners has asked that everyone “Buy Ten Shares of Common Stock in an American Company Today.” A simple request that even the the most modest financially stable citizen can muster.

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Political afiliations aside, today is a special day for all citizens of the world.