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Monthly Archives: June 2010
Health care reform? We need to change our thinking, too…
The health care reform (ok, insurance reform) we enacted this year will make it easier for us to get and keep insurance. But, without major changes to our medical-industrial complex (doctors, manufacturers, hospitals, clinics, and insurers),our expenditures will not drop from the 17+% of GDP anytime soon. Continue reading
Posted in Medicine, Taxes, Technology
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More about Vision, Mission, Goals- the order of development is critical
We’ve codified our vision, wrote down our values and mission, and planned the execution with a series of goals last quarter. But, now, our children’s father (or mother) is failing to execute. It’s your job to insure that they are executed- and that means comparing the results to the plan daily. Continue reading
Posted in Business Management
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Vision, Mission, Goals
Our visions set us on the path for the longer term; our mission is our “Constitution” or credo, describing our values and ethics by which we will guide ourselves (or our companies) to achieve our vision. The goals are the tasks we need to effect to insure we achieve our vision. Continue reading
Posted in Business Management
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So you want to start your own business? Are you really ready?
When you prepare to start a new business, you must define certain characteristics about your business- including why YOU want to do this. You also must do some soul-searching to insure that you are ready and the business model you are choosing is one with which you can live (and prosper). Continue reading
Posted in Business Management
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Big Oil- can’t live with them, can’t live without them (at least, for now)
We can’t turn off our demand for petroleum overnight. Our transportation system relies on them- and even if we terminated producing all liquid fueled vehicles tomorrow, it would be ten years before we would see a substantial drop in our need for oil. Our alternative, “new” energy technology can’t replace our power plants tomorrow, either. So, we need to insure Big Oil’s compliance environmental and technological regulations and best practices, as we forge new ways of providing energy for our needs. Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Technology
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What we need to do with Big Oil (not just BP)
Big Oil always says it cares for the environment, until we find it doesn’t. Now is the time for everyone- not just BP, but Chevron, Shell, Exxon, Conoco, academia- to get together to develop better systems for deepwater (and, probably, shallow water) drilling. Let’s choose best practices and insure they are followed. We already had Big Money lead us into a world-wide recession; let’s get better at this. Continue reading
Posted in Business Management, Energy, Technology
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Forget Ready, Fire, Aim- that’s old school!
We need to re-adjust to the new normal- we can’t react and be buffeted by events. We need to absorb the reality, adjust our thinking AND our actions to that reality- and proceed. Focus on results, market ourselves AND our enterprises, and constantly fine-tune our actions. Continue reading
Posted in Business Management
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Barriers to Entry
A barrier to entry is an impediment to a competitor, something to make it difficult for it to compete against you. There are conventional barriers to entry- and there are creative ones. Not only do they preclude market entry, but provide a means to insure that you have pricing power- the ability to raise prices without losing your customers. But, there are no absolute barriers to entry. A quick discussion about these barriers and what they truly provide your business. Continue reading
Posted in Business Management
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Risky Business: Part 2
Yesterday (Part 1), we discussed why we need risk assessment- and alluded to why we fail this process. We really do not understand risk, at all. The chance that a nuclear reactor will experience catastrophic failure in any given year … Continue reading
Risky Business: How we perceive risk- and how we must do MUCH better (part 1)
I said I was going to discuss risk last week; today seems like the perfect day to do so. Yesterday was the anniversary of the (almost) Iranian Revolution. The younger generation (about ½ of all Iranian citizens) were dismayed at … Continue reading
