To wrap up this series on Think Local, Act Local, let’s take a look at  sustainable agriculture. Sustainable agriculture protects water and soil quality, while preserving green space for healthy native habitats. Eating locally produced, sustainable food has personal benefits– as a consumer, you’re getting food that is fresher and better-tasting – as well as [...]

This is a reprint of an article I wrote for Insight on Business, an excellent business publication dedicated to the 100,000 or so businesses in The New North (Northeast Wisconsin) from their October 2011 issue: Tips from a technophile Here’s a simple way to pick a meeting date among busy people If you don’t happen [...]

Reality TV. The mere mention can produce a visceral, less-than-positive reaction: Shallow. Waste of time. Zero intellectual or entertainment value. Garbage. Indicative of all that’s wrong with America. Or is it? If you look a little deeper there are some positive business principals you can take from reality shows – well most of them anyway. [...]

Sustainable development practices — conserving energy, reducing carbon emissions and protecting natural resources – are increasingly becoming ‘the norm’ for businesses and individuals. However, if you’re just getting started or are looking for additional ways to implement sustainability, here are a few simple ideas for business and at home. For businesses, the following areas are [...]

This is the fifth article in our series entitled Managers: The Good and the Bad. Twenty years ago, in 1991, it was quite a novelty for someone to have in their title the term “Evangelist”.  Even today, it is perhaps misleading to label a person an Everyday Evangelist because, despite the good intention (typically), this term smacks [...]

In our last post on this issue, we discussed sustainability, which is about providing the best for people and the environment—now and for the indefinite future. Several organizations in the Fox Valley have put forth a commitment to sustainability by implementing such practices in their operations or by offering sustainable products to their customers. Recently, many [...]

This is the fourth article in our series entitled Managers: The Good and the Bad. Do you happen to know any managers who CAN NOT accept responsibility for anything that happens?  Nothing pertaining to their projects, their products or services, their departments, their teams; nothing is ever their fault? As though woven into their very DNA, [...]

This is the third article in our series entitled Managers: The Good and the Bad. Fortunately, there are some very good managers in this world and one of them is the Strength Finder.  I can’t imagine a better person to work for, simply because it is in their nature to find the best that each individual [...]

This is the second article in our series entitled Managers: The Good and the Bad. Poor managers like the Arrogant Bastard represent a real risk to the companies for which they work.  It is not really OK with an arrogant bastard when women take jobs traditionally held by men or when foreigners take jobs formerly held [...]

Innovators are those leaders who can easily view the future and they will try to explain their view of the future to anyone who will listen. They challenge the status quo, think in terms of possibilities, and tend not to be encumbered by risks and ambiguity that hinder most people from embracing the future and change.