Next time you’re in the drive-through at McDonald’s, try this mental exercise. You’ll have the time. Consider that there are nearly 1500 McDonald’s restaurants in Canada and 36,000 in the world. Let’s say orders are fulfilled every two minutes, and that an average tab is twenty bucks. Let’s do some math. One car, twenty dollars,…
To be sure, the reputation that matters most for all of us is character reputation – the reputation we have for integrity, for work ethic, for kindness, and for all the other attributes which the world needs more than ever. But for today we’re talking about another reputation, although the two kinds necessarily overlap. We’ve…
Last week I wrote “… our secret sauce is our professional reputation. In simple terms, the very best clients for each of us are those we are uniquely enabled to serve, and they will come to us because the word is out that we have the exact solution they need.” So now the question is,…
For those of us lucky enough to work at the stuff we love to do, most of the time the creativity flows reasonably well. But sometimes it doesn’t. Because we are lucky enough to spend all or most of our time doing the work which just seems so natural, it’s not a question that we…
Once upon a time there was a very famous hockey player, multiple Stanley Cup champion, and the idol of Lincoln and every other seven year old who ever strapped on a pair of skates. One day this very famous hockey player, who we will call Gilles McStranovich, was invited to play at a charity golf…
Some of my luckiest breaks happened when doors slammed on my fingers. I suspect you know exactly what I mean. I have numerous friends who, when they were young and in love, had their hearts broken. In one case, shortly before the wedding date, my friend found that his fiancee was cheating on him. If…
A recent news article (fake or not, I cannot tell) described a certain Russian diplomat as “an avuncular father figure”. Given that “avuncular” is a derivative of “uncle”, the expression “avuncular father figure” conjures up some rather creepy images of too-close families up in banjo country. I don’t know if Russian diplomats are like that,…
Coined in the 1930s by Allen F. Morgenstern, an industrial engineer, the expression “work smarter, not harder” has been at the center of nearly every productivity enhancement model ever since. It has the force of gospel. And who can argue with it? Now, of course every software salesman and every business consultant wants you to…
It’s become fashionable to dispense advice far outside one’s expertise. Even presidents opine on the use of bright lights, bleach, and horse medicine to cure covid. As is usually the case, Donald, most such advice is better left unsaid. This is not new. For example, when I was in practice, more than one client asked…
You don’t need to be James Comey to understand the value of a memo. Short for “memorandum”, a memo can save your bacon when your memory is called into question. Just as important, a memo created during or immediately after an event will often remind you of errors or omissions in the transaction and give…