An ad comes on on your Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or other digital feed and the product is attractive. You want to buy it, but you recently read an article that said the following:
1. The company — talking to you Shein and others — is accused of using Uyghur “uncompensated labor.”
2. The company is accused of paying workers $20 for an 18 hour day.
3. The company is savaging the environment whilst making the product.
Not long ago I was discussing the hiring practices of a mature company I had first met as a startup when I advised its CEO. Early in their existence they had used a decent headhunter, but when they brought it in house, they stubbed their toes over process.
The company has since successfully exited and the story is archived, but there is a discussion around hiring that may be useful.
In our discussion, the CEO was decrying post-Pandemic hiring practices and the pressure to allow folks to work from home or flexible hours. There was a lot of confusion as there was no experience upon which to draw. Continue reading
The highway between Rostov-on-Don and Moscow is the M4. It is an 18 – 20 hour drive at highway speed, slower if you are ambling northward with heavy weapons including tanks to conduct a coup-de-etat.
Rostov-on-Don is the headquarters town for the Russian effort to annihilate Ukraine, a military landmark thereby making it an important military town.
The American trade scene and supply chains, in particular, were rocked by the intrusion of The Great Pandemic, the War in Ukraine, the future War in Taiwan, worldwide political upheaval, and an increasingly prudent and muscular trade nationalism.
Two of those things — The Great Pandemic and the Ukraine War — were unwelcome surprises.
OK, maybe “muscular trade nationalism” is a little strong, but you get the drift.
Here is what American trade looks like today (click on it to make it readable):
Case studies are a great way to learn. If you get an MBA, you will study lots of examples of what happened in the real world. They are very instructive.
One of the most recent interesting case studies is the Bud Light School of Marketing’s recent program to destroy America’s leading beer brand.
TikTok and Instagram influencer, Bud Lite enthusiast Dylan Mulvaney ready for summer
If you are pondering your future — who isn’t? — allow me to introduce the Three Horsemen: discipline, risk, regret.
You will harness and ride some or all of them in your life and they are both your loyal friend and vicious enemy depending upon how you create the relationship.
There is no success in life without harnessing discipline. If you tell me you are out of bed by 5:30 AM and regularly plan your own future, I would buy stock in you without the necessity for us to even meet. Continue reading
A guy calls me up and asks, “What’s the smallest action somebody can take to improve their chances of success?”
Interesting question — “smallest” was the keyword here.
So, I think about that and I say, “Exercise just a modicum of self-control which means impose discipline.”
He laughs. He is prone to laughter, pleasant chap.
“Can you make that more practical and pointed?” asks he.
I say, “Yes.” Continue reading
A few years ago, I received a call from a fine young man I’d advised for about nine months about ten years ago. During that nine month period when I advised him, he wanted to start a company and we explored what that entailed. He was a very smart person and diligent in his work. First rate mind and education. Winner.
“What keeps you from starting a company?” I would ask him. Continue reading
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