Welcome to my Point of View commentary. Enjoy!

September 12, 2011     It’s been 10 years. I flew into New York’s LaGuardia Airport last night. Today, I’m with our local Master’s group for Session #7, in Mid-Town Manhattan. We’ve all been looking back to The Events; here was my Point of View on 09/17/01, after the horrible attacks on our culture:   […]

September 5, 2011     Holidays aren't part of the “universal calendar;" I know you knew that.     Granted, Christmas and Easter are pretty common… unless, of course, you're in the middle of some of those 3+ billion Muslims/Hindus/Chinese Communists who don't buy their wall calendars from Hallmark. Even among the billion or so […]

August 29, 2011 Dear Marketplace Friend,     It’s pretty innocuous, really; in the right context, it’s even pretty good advice: “You can get anything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want,” (Zig Ziglar). When Zig says that, he has an underlying values filter that assumes […]

August 22, 2011     Einstein is quoted as having said that if he had one hour to save the world he would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution.     ATKINSON, IL: President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he will propose a plan in September to jump-start […]

August 15, 2011     In the old days, at Disneyland, it wasn’t a one-price-at-the-gate experience. They charged for entry, and then sold you ticket books. A, B, C, D and E tickets were in a book to be traded for seats on the rides. The kid-friendly attractions were A’s and B’s; the thrill-a-minute good […]

August 8, 2011     Most people don’t reply. That opportunity is built-in, with e-mail… but most people don’t use it. They read… they consider… they conclude… but, they don’t reply.     One did, recently. We’re friends, so it was amicable. I had sent an e-mail asking him to come to an introductory event […]

August 1, 2011       Allow me to make a self-disclosure: I’m a pull-out packrat. Articles that catch my attention – in newspapers and magazines – are routinely ripped from the publication. I don’t have files; I have piles. They don’t congregate in an orderly alphabetized system; instead, they become my personal driftwood.   […]

July 25, 2011     Everyone has their rituals, especially on Sunday. Mine are engrained: up at 5:00a; S’bucks by 5:30; Sunday paper, beginning-to-end; run six miles… and be at church 10 minutes before the kick-off.     Yesterday, I lingered at the Obituaries. Mortals (my peeps) warrant a brief mention, about the size of […]

July 18, 2011 Dear Marketplace Friend,     Some who are biblically-challenged could think this is a quote from the Old Testament book of Proverbs: “You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em; know when to walk away and know when to run. You never count your money when you’re […]

July 11, 2011     I hope your summer is unfolding well! For me, the intensity of fall/winter/spring is unrelenting: I fly 150,000+ miles during those seasons maintaining my contact with the Master’s Program groups I lead across the country. But, summer is different; my work for Master’s is closer to home, and allows me […]

July 5, 2011     While delivered a “day late,” this weekly piece is time-stamped for July 4th, 2011. In America, we’re celebrating the 235th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence, which is deemed America’s “birthday.”     Wow; we’re 235. It’s an age when we – nationally – are at risk of some historic […]

July 27, 2011 Dear Marketplace Friend, A selective highlight of reports regarding a topic in the “Top 10 List” of hot-potato political issues.   GARDEN OF EDEN – The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him…” So the LORD God caused […]

June 20, 2011 Dear Marketplace Friend,      If you’re a dad, Happy (belated) Father’s Day. If you’re a man – but, not a dad – allow me to talk about something you experienced (your dad), but have not yet passed along (your fathering). Ladies: this week, you’re spectators, not targets…     My pastor, […]

June 13, 2011 Dear Marketplace Friend,      I’m considering a news fast; the daily headlines are in conflict with my quality of life.     The markets are losing steam, and there’s no indication of change-points on the near-term horizon. The ideas in Washington – and, on the early-stage campaign trail – regarding a […]

June 6, 2011     It’s the sixth largest county – measured in people, not acres – in America; in California, it’s #3, behind Los Angeles and San Diego. There is no “big city” anchoring Orange County, but there is a Magic Kingdom. In my travels, the question, “Where’s home, for you?” has always been […]

May 31, 2011 Dear Marketplace Friend,     Memorial: something set up to remind people of a person or an event. Memorial Day may be a convenient start-of-summer holiday, but its purpose is clear: it is a day set-aside to remember the men and women who gave their lives in defense of our national freedom. […]

Dear Marketplace Friend,       I’m sure he meant well.     Harold Camping is an elderly gentleman who has built a media platform – dozens of stations, under the banner, “Family Radio” – which has allowed his voice to be heard, by lots of folks. His early work was civil engineering; he had […]

May 16, 2011 Dear Marketplace Friend,      Great quotes are memorable synopses of something far larger in scope and substance.     I saw the picture of a tombstone recently that said it all:”I Have Nothing Further to Say".  If anyone is going to mark the location of my remains someday, I would love […]

May 9, 2011 Dear Marketplace Friend,     Let’s hear another sustained applause for the moms who enrich our lives! Yesterday was tremendous… but a token, nonetheless. Some mothers devote themselves almost exclusively to the role, making maternal duty their day-in, day-out assignment. Others carry a full load in the career arena, but place the […]

May 2, 2011 Dear Marketplace Friend,     ​It took almost 10 years; the hunt has been relentless. It consumed the bulk of the Bush presidency, and it was the legacy handed to the current president: the international hunt for Osama bin Laden is the initiative that has, in part, defined American foreign relations and […]

April 25, 2011 Dear Marketplace Friend,     There are some businesses that have staying power (grocery stores, gas stations), and some that are on the way out (Blockbuster). You could put daily newspapers in Category #2.     ​The Sunday morning paper pile that calls itself the Los Angeles Times – April 24, 2011 […]

April 18, 2011 Dear Marketplace Friend,     "Only in the federal government would you double up on workers, averaging $161,000 per year in salary and benefits, that aren’t doing their job." That’s according to Rep. John Mica (D-FL), who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He’s reacting to the avalanche of reports of […]

April 11, 2011     Recently, I invited myself onto your screen with my Point of View presenting a stewardship solicitation, asking you to sponsor me in our upcoming Golf Challenge event. The effort underwrites The Master’s Program; TMP is known – by its participants, its graduates … and their friends – as a mentoring […]

April 4, 2011 Dear Marketplace Friend,       This year, I was ready. The old adage – “Burn me once, shame on you; burn me twice, shame on me!” – is not lost on me.     I have a friend – a Master’s graduate, on top of that – whom I’ve known for […]

March 21, 2011 Dear Marketplace Friend,     Blame the Boomers. Count me in, I suppose. My – our – generation has insisted that we examine the whole sociological/cultural thing… and renegotiate everything. “Start with a clean page” is the First Commandment in the Boomer Top Ten. We don’t accept anything as a “given;” except, […]

March 14, 2011 Dear Marketplace Friend,       The headline was sourced in Canada, not in the United States – or, Japan: “No Doomsday Seen in Recent Quakes, Just ‘Bad Luck’.”     The focus of the following article was purely scientific: “Powerful killer earthquakes have rocked one corner of the globe to another […]

March 7, 2011 Dear Marketplace Friend,       I was tempted to announce that I would no longer be producing this weekly digital discourse, created at one of Starbucks’ 10,000 US locations before sun-up; instead, I’m trying to grab the timeslot on the VideoCam Network just after “Charlie’s Korner.” Why not allow my Point of […]

February 28, 2011     It’s still dark outside. Today – Monday – is a session day for The Master’s Program in Santa Barbara. A good friend – TMP grad in SB – did a “reply” on my Point of View a week ago to snag a coffee time before today’s session; I was delighted […]

February 21, 2011 Dear Marketplace Friend,     Yet another Monday “off,” if you work in an environment that regards holidays as sacrosanct. In an act of efficiency, we’ve declared the third Monday of February as Presidents Day in America, to honor George Washington… and the 43 men who followed him in the office.   […]

February 14, 2011     Back in grade school – when I was a kid – today (February 14th) was a day of ritual. Everyone brought everyone else a “Valentine;” each desk in the room had a stack of hokey heart cards with the name of a classmate etched on the back. If you had […]