Tag Archives: business

The Forest And The Trees

Forest

Image via Wikipedia

We went to the movies over the weekend and saw “Unknown.”  It’s an interesting film in many ways although it won’t be up for Best Picture next year.  Like me, it’s entertaining for the most part!

I bring this up because there’s a great visual at one point.  Imagine yourself in a forest (birch trees in the movie) and you’re walking.  The trees are somewhat impenetrable – a solid wall with very few gaps in between.  As you move forward, suddenly the trees line up – they’re in perfect rows.  You realize that you’re actually in a forest which has been planted by man and what seemed so impenetrable a moment before was, in fact, very accommodating as long as you found the point where everything lines up.  Isn’t that an executive’s job? Continue reading

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Filed under Helpful Hints, Thinking Aloud

So Long Mobil

Mobil logo taken from marketing materials foun...

Image via Wikipedia

The very first credit card I acquired was from Mobil Oil.  They offered one to college seniors and I had a car.  I’ve had the card ever since (and that’s 35 years for those of you counting).  My father-in-law actually worked for a division of Mobil for at least that long as well, so there’s a definite reason to be loyal to that brand.

I like to think my family is the kind of customer a gasoline company would want – four cars, a fair amount of driving out here in the suburbs.  So what happened over the weekend which cost them our business is kind of weird.  But I’ll let you judge. Continue reading

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Filed under Helpful Hints, What's Going On

Just Say No

Today's Special

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Friday at last and some Foodie Fun to go with it.  I have a question for you today.  When you sit at a restaurant and the server tells you all the specials, do you ask for one of each?  Probably not.  You may have also suffered as you listened to a server pitch you some dish you don’t really want but for which the chef overbought the ingredients and needs to sell a bunch.  You just say “no thanks” and move on.  So why is that so hard for someone to do the same in business? Continue reading

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