tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72792400941596024712012-01-29T17:35:43.297-05:00When you want to know how things really work, study them when they're coming apart. ― William Gibson, "Zero History"Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.comBlogger3051100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-32957859345810898182012-01-28T11:21:00.001-05:002012-01-28T11:24:08.376-05:00

Apple employs 43,000 people in the U.S. and 20,000 overseas, all dwarfed by its virtual workforce of 700,000 employees of overseas contractors assembling the gadgets we have come to cherish.  Apple describes overseas manufacture as its only viable economic option, and I don't doubt that to be true.  This information comes from a recent, excellent (oft-blogged) New York Times piece by

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-39273239352433934222012-01-19T17:53:00.000-05:002012-01-19T17:53:50.399-05:00

Please answer the following two questions: It takes five machines five minutes to make five widgets.  How long does it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?  100 minutes or 5 minutes? If a field of lily pads doubles in size every day, covering an entire pond on day 48, how many days does it take to cover half the pond?  24 or 47? Got your answers? I'm slowly making my way through Daniel

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-62460400058660464432012-01-15T19:45:00.002-05:002012-01-15T19:47:53.810-05:00

Engineers who design roller coasters will tell you that speed is essential for a great ride, but it’s the unexpected turn that makes for a truly unforgettable experience.  That helps explain, for example, the success of Disney’s Space Mountain; it’s not the biggest or fastest roller coaster in the land, but being in the dark--where every turn is unexpected--can make for a memorable ride.Such

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-71183835441546191822011-12-28T19:37:00.000-05:002011-12-28T21:06:34.031-05:00

A long time ago at a company meeting I tried to say something positive about productivity.  The revenue generated by each person in the company had grown dramatically over the past few years and I wanted people to know how much we valued their efforts. In doing so, I made two mistakes. First, in general terms, we’re all in favor of increased productivity.  In many ways our economic

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-21139046611732288122011-12-19T20:10:00.000-05:002011-12-20T19:57:07.446-05:00

It's possible this house has an artificial tree because a live one is "too much of a hassle." Have you noticed that nothing really stays the same?  Even tradition.   Christmas Trees.  40% of U.S. households purchased live Christmas trees in 1991 and only 23% last year.  Baby  boomers stop buying live trees as they get older.  The latch-key generation never had a live tree.  Artificial

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-28075753422786861912011-12-18T22:21:00.000-05:002011-12-26T12:16:39.842-05:00

I took issue with Marketing Myopia a few posts back--at least regarding its characterization of the railroad industry--and thought it time to make amends.  (After all, an icon is an icon.)  It’s clear that Ted Levitt identified a central truth in Strategy when he wrote that how we define "the business we're in" can create or destroy opportunity. The drama playing out now is in the personal

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-57068338633860503722011-12-16T08:25:00.001-05:002011-12-16T13:21:55.397-05:00

My first post "rated-R for mature themes" was here, back in June 2008.  It was about selling stuff people wanted but weren't allowed to admit they wanted. My second post, this time "rated-R for holiday violence," is the display window of Town Cutler on Nob Hill in San Francisco.  We were walking by the other day and someone in my group gasped and another grimaced and another started laughing.  

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-47175640784965325732011-12-11T16:52:00.001-05:002011-12-11T16:54:38.313-05:00

Just another way we've become the Sandwich Generation. . .

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-84182082564395227412011-12-07T19:56:00.001-05:002011-12-07T20:28:09.672-05:00

I was at a very pleasant business dinner the other evening with three smart gentlemen discussing everything from the presidential election to cold chain regulatory trends.  I mention these topics only because what happened next, and what happens every single time, occurs regardless of the table's combined IQ. The waitress appeared and asked (what is apparently) the hardest question known to

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-62826253532360528042011-12-04T20:01:00.001-05:002011-12-04T22:00:10.549-05:00

Every play in every NFL game is filmed by the League from multiple angles, ReedAlbergotti tells us in the Wall Street Journal. On its way to accumulating about $4B in annual broadcast rights, the NFL is willing to sell virtually every angle it films except one.  It’s called the “All 22” and its taken from a vantage point that shows the entire field, what every player does on every play.  “

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-47532535613758173002011-11-27T17:38:00.001-05:002011-11-27T21:32:40.351-05:00

Many years ago we had a shareholder who would visit from time to time to offer advice.  I valued these visits, though I’m not sure I always completely understood the counsel I received.  In particular, I was told on a periodic basis that I should “put it in a sock before I put it in the bag.” I thought perhaps my shareholder friend, a native Norwegian who emigrated to America after WWII

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-91645961713283066642011-11-23T20:24:00.001-05:002011-11-25T08:52:50.000-05:00

About five years ago I expressed my affection for golf with the post, A Modest Proposal to Fix Golf. For those of you (like me) who are disinclined to read anything about golf, I made a case for improving the sport dramatically by offering four simple and straightforward rule changes.   1. Shorten every course from 18 to 11 holes. 2. Place a forecaddie on every hole. 3. Time every hole;

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-89162232561098878652011-11-17T21:36:00.001-05:002011-11-25T08:53:17.490-05:00

If you’ve ever launched a business, you’ve been faced with the task of writing a Vision statement and a Mission statement.  One does one thing, the other does another, and I can never keep the two straight in my head.  But I do know that having a clear idea of what the business should look like three or five years down the road--what I call the “end state,” which I can keep straight--is

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-42918783110815197842011-11-14T20:51:00.001-05:002011-11-27T15:16:04.218-05:00

We've been reading a lot lately about Steve Jobs' leadership style, and for the last generation about guys like Jack Welch, Bill Gates, Richard Branson and even Donald Trump.  In most cases, the purpose of leadership appears to be about creating something useful, maybe beautiful, and inevitably profitable. Last weekend I attended the girls cross-country banquet at our local regional high

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-78655609812536104722011-11-11T11:08:00.001-05:002011-11-25T08:55:46.900-05:00

My father was an engineer.  My wife is an engineer.  I have been working in engineering cultures for years. This is the first time any of it made sense.  Thank you to my friend at sursumcorda.  I now possess the "Theory of Everything." Better than String Theory, no?

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-32924950222536229132011-11-07T21:21:00.000-05:002011-11-27T15:17:06.825-05:00

In my last post, I suggested that there were four basic kinds of innovation in the world arrayed along an axis of significance and an axis of chance. At one extreme we have entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Henry Ford who intentionally and majestically innovated in ways that had long-term, significant impact on the world.  Smart, Big Impact.  They are to the far right on the innovation

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-59850099796847066692011-10-28T21:00:00.000-04:002011-11-27T15:18:08.193-05:00

We are the slaves of innovation.   Every day we hear we don’t innovate enough, we don’t innovate in the right ways, we are being out-innovated by some other country, we forgot how to innovate, and we will soon die from lack of innovation. I grow anxious just thinking about the next Tom Friedman jeremiad. Who's our daddy?  Innovation. Children in America used to want to become cowboys and

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-54054733090299128232011-10-13T13:42:00.002-04:002011-11-25T08:56:51.155-05:00

An irksome downside to the Great Analytics Economy we’ve created is the need to keep the data-tanks full.  That means we’re being asked incessantly for our opinions.  At any moment we can be sure someone, somewhere wants to be rated. It’s getting to be one of the hidden costs of our economy. For instance, I love Amazon, and I love to purchase things on-line much more than shopping in a

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-46980814774207530932011-10-05T20:15:00.000-04:002011-11-25T08:57:44.825-05:00

From time to time someone will tell me that Boston and San Francisco are alike.  I’ve been to both and I know the truth.  Each is near water, but after that it seems to me like a pretty weak resemblance.   In fact, I would call Boston a great national city; people visit to see Paul Revere’s house, Fenway Park and eat lobster.  Then they go home.   However, San Francisco is a great world

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-88789933879518056042011-09-30T19:54:00.001-04:002011-11-25T08:58:30.047-05:00

I've been involved in a research project for the last eight months that has allowed me to spend time in what must be one of the finest corporate archives in the world.  The documents I've read span the last 110 years back to the turn of the twentieth century.  The first 40 years are particularly fascinating because they comprise the correspondence, memos and field reports of the seven

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-16690817821450996932011-09-23T20:02:00.000-04:002011-11-25T08:59:25.212-05:00

In 1998, Beloit College launched its first Mindset List, designed to give faculty and staff insight into the worldview of the incoming freshman class.  It turned out to be startling.  We were told that the class of 2002 couldn’t sound like “a broken record” because it had never owned a record player.  It did not remember the Challenger blowing up, the Cold War, or a world before AIDS or MTV.

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-65097931765534073912011-09-13T21:59:00.002-04:002011-11-25T09:00:45.822-05:00

It’s hard not to appreciate and occasionally even quote from Ted Levitt’s 1960 Marketing Myopia, in which he challenged leaders to define their businesses around the customer, not the product.  Levitt led his essay with a classic example of the railroad, saying: The railroads did not stop growing because the need for passenger and freight transportation declined. That grew. The railroads are

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-2450016312891292542011-09-10T20:04:00.000-04:002011-11-25T09:01:06.473-05:00

10 Years After, 2011: New York City will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks with a ceremony at the World Trade Center site on Sunday, when the nation pauses to grieve for the dead and reflect on the decade since terrorists toppled the Twin Towers, damaged the Pentagon and crashed a jetliner in rural Pennsylvania.  President Barack Obama and his

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-46461075965582718532011-09-09T10:27:00.000-04:002011-11-25T09:01:46.271-05:00

. . .of the times.  Recently spotted in Scotland, but could have been almost anywhere.  Thanks to friend Matt.

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-40136072162936415722011-09-02T21:07:00.000-04:002011-11-25T09:02:32.068-05:00

Last century I rooted for the Red Sox.  I’m still a fan, but last century in particular they lost habitually to the Yankees.  This went on for most of a hundred years. Consequently, the conversation in Boston was always about the Yankees.  Why we were really better than them last year.  Why we are better than them this year.  Why we will be better than them next year. If you’re comparing,

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-10539923623591507322011-08-27T08:51:00.000-04:002011-11-25T09:02:54.848-05:00

I enjoy the march of technology as much as the next person.  That doesn't mean, however, that when some treasured object is obsoleted, I don’t experience a pang of regret or nostalgia. For example, I love my scheduling software, but I also miss the New Year’s Day ritual of sitting down with my old Day-Timer and manually moving lists, birthdays and important phone numbers from the old

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-5901416601058434282011-08-23T20:25:00.002-04:002011-11-25T09:03:34.559-05:00

Over vacation I read Leo Marx’s 1964 The Machine in the Garden.  It’s not exactly light reading but I needed it for a project I’m working on, and I accidentally missed the reading assignment for this specific book (something about a party after a Brown football game) in 1978 so knew I would one day have to pay penance. Marx is a professor emeritus at MIT and this is a wonderfully

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-26040984849902350892011-08-19T17:07:00.000-04:002011-11-25T09:04:01.364-05:00

It's easy to complain about our lot in corporate life.  The noisy, stuffy cubes.  The computer eyestrain.  The silly office rules.  The long, 8-hour days.  We are so on the short end of the dialectic.  Dilbert is our patron saint of business idiocy, Tim Ferris our beacon of the four-hour work week. The Information Revolution is killing us, just as the Industrial Revolution killed our

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-14973370494730643412011-08-08T15:33:00.002-04:002011-11-27T15:36:28.860-05:00

I've often heard the term "all sail, no ballast" when applied to a certain type of business executive--the same thing a cowboy means when he says "all hat, no cattle." Today in Stockholm I was fortunate to visit the Vasa, a Swedish warship that launched in August 1628, sailed about a mile, sunk and lay at the bottom of Stockholm Harbor for over three centuries.  Needless to say, this was not a

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-55204751754225347762011-07-25T20:56:00.001-04:002011-11-25T09:05:48.841-05:00

In the beginning, we anthropomorphized our machines.   “My hard drive is temperamental.”   “My computer hates me.”  “This #$%%ing machine won’t let me get anything done today.” Now, it feels like a reversal.  Our machines have mechanized us.   “I wish I had more cycles in my day.”    “Sorry, I don’t have the bandwidth to take that on.”    The score at halftime: Machines 1,

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-34974717648648261822011-07-21T19:56:00.000-04:002011-11-25T09:06:22.727-05:00

“The officers of this corporation realize that traveling by air is continually becoming more popular and safer.” So began an internal company policy memo, written in July 1935, 76 years ago this month. “At the same time,” the announcement continued, “statistics indicate that fatalities are considerably higher in percentage in flying than with other modes of transportation.  It is,

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-58515177921345251412011-07-19T08:00:00.001-04:002011-11-25T09:06:45.498-05:00

Last weekend I went to the movies.  As I ordered my small, 128 oz. Diet Coke at the snack counter, the young lady waiting on me asked what I was planning to see.  “Harry Potter, “ said I, to which she exclaimed, “Oh, it’s so sad!”  I asked, “What?  Does Harry die?”  (I’m always the last to know these things.)  She answered, “No, but all my friends who have seen the movie come out crying.  It’

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-55698936783914262622011-07-12T20:14:00.001-04:002011-11-25T09:08:50.332-05:00

The Kanamits are a race of nine-foot tall aliens who visit Earth to help humanity, sharing technology that erases hunger and disarms nuclear weapons.  They are even nice enough to drop-off a book at the United Nations entitled To Serve Man.  Soon enough, lovely cryptographer Patty is madly deciphering its code to learn the book’s secrets.  Meanwhile her boss, Mr. Chambers, and a group

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-87039849095581099442011-07-10T11:00:00.002-04:002011-11-25T09:09:24.048-05:00

In 1826 Eli Terry installed a $200 clock in the town hall of New Haven, Connecticut.   All went well until townspeople noticed that the Terry clock was falling further and further behind the nearby Yale College clock.  At first the Terry clock lagged, gradually losing some 15 minutes; then it began to gain, eventually racing ahead of the Yale clock by 15 minutes before, over the course of

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-58572100769559900762011-07-06T08:27:00.002-04:002011-11-27T15:19:47.123-05:00

When I was 30 years old I was playing a fair bit of tennis--and was not very good--so decided to try some lessons. I met my instructor one morning at 7 a.m. and we hit for about 10 minutes before he walked up to me and asked, “How old are you?” "30." “Well, if you were 20,” he said, “I’d force you to learn a two-handed backhand.  And if you were 40 we wouldn't even bother-- I’d just

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-88794411426595903372011-06-30T18:13:00.004-04:002011-11-25T09:12:12.066-05:00

In 1883, Henry Ford was tinkering with a neighbor’s watch and claimed later to realize that it could be manufactured for as little as thirty cents.  He never bothered, however, because he concluded that “watches were not universal necessities, and therefore people would generally not buy them.” Ford was brilliant but missed “the watch thing.”  Needless to say, he also missed “the marketing

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-49344684758418755082011-06-23T19:40:00.001-04:002011-11-25T09:13:30.256-05:00

In 1960, Theodore Levitt’s “Marketing Myopia” was published in the Harvard Business Review.  It became an instant classic by reminding leaders to focus on the customer instead of the product.   This challenged CEOs to properly define their business: Railroads should have discovered they were in the transportation, not railroad, business.  When TV appeared, Hollywood should have found

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-33240227040134895942011-06-19T20:12:00.002-04:002011-11-25T09:14:33.453-05:00

Some ruminations on Father’s Day, in three Acts. Act I Many years ago when I was a second-year MBA student, I made a little extra coin by working a couple of afternoons a week in Admissions.  My job was to provide informational interviews for prospective students, telling them about the school, the admissions process and my own experiences. On a typical afternoon I might see three or four

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-39581690526887821592011-06-15T21:22:00.000-04:002011-11-25T09:15:33.914-05:00

On an April evening in 1960, small-time crook Rocky Valentine was shot by police, only to awaken and find himself unharmed and in a world where everything he wanted he got, every wish he desired was granted. Of course, this all happened on small black and white screens across America in an episode of The Twilight Zone called “A Nice Place to Visit.”  We watched Rocky for most of

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-53231819199613780952011-06-12T22:23:00.024-04:002011-11-25T09:16:53.033-05:00

There’s a fascinating study out in Science magazine which says that the competition among nations isn’t about East vs. West, communism vs. democracy, or Christianity vs. Islam.  It’s not even about those with and without McDonald’s. It’s about what researchers from the University of Maryland refer to as “loose” vs. “tight.”   “Loose” describes nations like Brazil and United

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-50597691787917242962011-06-04T09:33:00.004-04:002011-11-25T09:23:56.293-05:00

I did not know what the word meant, either, so I’ll explain.  “Lithobolia” is a “stone-throwing devil,” a kind of poltergeist that might—should you be unlucky or unwise or just plain unpopular—attack your home with a barrage of rocks and sticks and debris.  Sometimes, eyewitnesses will report that the rocks are “hot,” as if they have been plucked from a fire. It’s all very unpleasant.

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-30601319158131716392011-05-21T10:48:00.001-04:002011-11-25T09:26:57.847-05:00

There are many good reasons I'm not an English major.  One is T.S. Eliot.  Another is Hart Crane.  Oh, and then there's Gravity’s Rainbow.  I could go on, but suffice to say I knew there were people much smarter than I who could divine intelligence and beauty where I could only see pretentiousness and befuddlement.  Stephen Hawking reminds me why I am not a physicist, especially when I

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-54458099573027928212011-05-16T21:20:00.000-04:002011-11-25T09:27:41.716-05:00

One of my favorite reads every month is Harper’s Magazine, and in particular, “Harper’s Index.”   The Index is a collection of data that is legitimate, sourced, and sometimes so strange that it will make you think you’ve stumbled upon a special insert from The Onion.  I found the May edition particularly useful in laying out the American economic and political landscape, just as the next

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-56797185168800048442011-05-11T14:25:00.001-04:002011-11-25T09:28:48.379-05:00

Let’s play a word association game.  The only rule is that you have to answer with the name of a company. I say, “magical.”    You say, “Disney.”  Right?  It’s the name that comes immediately to mind, thanks in part to their own branding, and in part to the fact that many of us have had some kind of magical experience--at the movies, at a park, on a cruise--with the company through the

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-25392071702457360122011-05-03T20:52:00.002-04:002011-11-27T15:22:08.901-05:00

I had the fortunate opportunity to see Ken Burns speak last week at the annual dinner of the New England Historic Genealogical Society.  His presentation included a sneak peak at the upcoming series on Prohibition, which looks to be classic Ken Burns—beautiful, thoughtful, relevant and worth investing the time to take it all in.  Ken is 57 but looks at least ten years younger, and maybe

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-33170524846664363112011-04-28T08:05:00.003-04:002011-11-27T15:23:51.249-05:00

If you interviewed 100 failed entrepreneurs, I suspect that many would list as their number one reason for failure "being slightly ahead of our time.” It was a brilliant idea, they might say, but the market just wasn’t ready. I don’t have a problem with that reason.  I believe it happens.  (Maybe not as much as “we invented some technology and then tried to find someone to buy it,” but

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-51488971924080170262011-04-20T22:20:00.001-04:002011-12-26T12:16:56.221-05:00

In December 1911, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers held its 32nd Annual Meeting at Society headquarters in New York City.  More than 1,200 people attended, a remarkable turnout for an industry gathering, even by today’s standards.    I stumbled upon the Minutes of this century-old meeting the other day and it got me thinking about the trajectory of Engineering in our society.

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-8524350328517409532011-04-16T09:08:00.000-04:002011-11-27T15:26:02.122-05:00

The first thing they should teach in business school: Try to find a boss whose head will explode, then get behind him and go. Those of you familiar with Angry Birds will know the leader in this group is the tall guy with the red eyebrows.  Trust me. Great illustration from Pastor1's Posterous. 

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-356868822899890782011-04-13T22:12:00.001-04:002011-12-26T12:14:04.944-05:00

Old joke.  Woman: My husband thinks he’s a chicken.  Doctor: Why don’t you just tell him he’s not?  Woman: Because we need the eggs. I have about 2300 songs on my iPod and, strange as it seems even to me, I’m down to maybe five that I actually want to listen to.  The rest are boring.  Boring.  I’m bored with all my music.  And I know, if I listen to the five songs I like today, I’ll be

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-26689707738178380642011-04-11T17:02:00.000-04:002011-11-27T15:29:43.729-05:00

A good friend of mine, the Old Guy, occasionally leaves a comment on this blog.  More often than not he’ll drop me an email.  Recently he sent me a thoughtful message that I've received permission to repost. In it, he worries that our stunning technology can do as much to pull us apart as bind us together. Here's what he says: A long-time friend gave me an iPod loaded with the songs of

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-88158619255772650372011-04-07T15:35:00.000-04:002011-12-26T12:14:05.064-05:00

I’m just finishing up Don Felder’s book, “Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001).”  I’ve had a little fling with rock ‘n roll bios lately, so it made sense to get the scoop on one of my long-time favorite bands--even if they did make me shop at Wal-Mart for their most recent album. First, the truly distressing news.  Only one of the seven Eagles came from California.   Henley

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-1288245827338091772011-04-03T06:42:00.000-04:002011-12-26T12:14:04.898-05:00

There may be 50 of these gems floating around, but something happened the other day that encouraged me to jot down the first five that came to mind.   Here goes. Number 1 Big Fat Business Lie: There are no dumb questions. I’m sorry to say that there very much are dumb questions, and if you ask one in front of people you are trying to impress, they will think you asked a dumb question.  

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-77693899332408782302011-03-31T09:19:00.000-04:002011-12-26T12:14:05.038-05:00

A few years ago after my mother died, my wife, sister and I had the somber task of cleaning out the condo in which she and Dad had lived.  There are few harder things in life than going through your parents’ stuff and having to make decisions about keeping, giving-away or tossing-out.  The giving-away and tossing-out feel a little bit like betrayals, even when it’s hard to see how anyone could

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-22469068750052138072011-03-25T22:05:00.000-04:002011-11-27T15:35:56.037-05:00

The Economist has a feature it calls “Flash Interview” in which the magazine lobs three seemingly innocent questions at some business or economic luminary.  These can be insightful (see here) but particularly dangerous kinds of interviews in that they’re little more than three unforgiving sound bites, leaving no chance to elaborate—and no ability at all to recover. On March 15 The Economist

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-38238501671560158042011-03-21T07:43:00.000-04:002011-12-26T12:14:04.955-05:00

The worst lie ever told in an Economics class is this: If everyone optimizes his individual happiness, the entire system is optimized.    I still remember some bright bulb in ECON I raising his hand and asking, “So if I give a panhandler $10 and he buys liquor and gets drunk, that optimizes the system?” and the professor arguing that, indeed, it did.  In fact, “Who were we to decide what

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-65978520871709294492011-03-17T19:48:00.000-04:002011-11-27T15:40:49.473-05:00

I’m finally catching up with my personal reading and dove into a couple of old New Yorkers, only to stumble upon a great article and familiar name.  Jill Lepore was writing about King Philip’s War way back in the day, and has since gone on to bigger battles of all sorts.  She is now David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University where she also chairs the History and

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-74190793588916222502011-03-12T10:55:00.000-05:002011-12-26T12:14:05.018-05:00

I was lucky enough to spend a day this week with a ninety-five year old CEO. Not an occasional one, either, but a full-time, fully energized, meet-with-customers and visit-operations-in-five-states, entrepreneurial CEO who has held his title for over 55 years. Inspired? He doesn't take the elevator. He doesn't wear glasses. He works out at least five days a week, including 30 minutes

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-29444793045807251112011-03-06T10:14:00.004-05:002011-12-26T12:14:04.933-05:00

Even people who have never heard a Van Halen song may know the rock band for its infamous performance clause calling for a backstage bowl of M&Ms with all the brown candies removed.  Until recently, I had simply chocked this extravagance up to sex and drugs and David Lee Roth’s outsized ego. But I was wrong. Many years ago at Sensitech there would be an almost annual

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-88809893733344344082011-03-02T13:09:00.000-05:002011-12-26T12:14:05.071-05:00

I'm always fascinated by how people--business and otherwise--perceive the passage of time. We are convinced, and tell ourselves often, that life is moving faster now than ever before.   I’ve written several times about this issue, in Shift Happens, and again in Are We All Just Being Cry Babies? Me,  I’ve settled at a kind of mixed conclusion: On an absolute basis it isn't hard to argue that

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-37481260014135910612011-02-13T12:06:00.002-05:002011-12-26T12:14:04.949-05:00

This is Fenway Park's Green Monster back before the flood.  Almost looks like you could play baseball here, eh?  Hold that image. In 1991 Intel launched its hugely successful "Intel Inside" program.  Since that time--if you are like me--you have been in dozens and perhaps a hundred business conversations where managers schemed ways to get their own logo "inside" or "powered by" or "on board"

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-48383451976585823982011-02-08T07:39:00.000-05:002011-12-26T12:14:04.971-05:00

Suppose I gave you a digital camera with enough memory for exactly one picture.  One and only one.  Oh, and a time machine. In fact, suppose I put you in the time machine and gave you the opportunity to travel into the past and take exactly one picture of anything you wanted.  Anything at all. Think about that for a minute. Images are incredibly powerful and especially relevant in a

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-39185508061052847742011-02-01T17:49:00.000-05:002011-12-26T12:14:04.960-05:00

There's a well-tread logic for thinking about how best to organize and operate a business, one that's appeared in a million business plans and PPT decks. It all starts with Vision, or--awkwardly translated--what you wish the world in which you operate would look like.  I'd call this the first-order question when launching an enterprise.  Vision is the currency of entrepreneurs, the thing in

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-7611195700334049612011-01-18T21:46:00.002-05:002011-12-26T12:14:05.025-05:00

Though first, of course, Jeremiah was a prophet.  Today, we tend to use the term "prophet" to mean a kind of fortune-teller.  But good old classic propheteering like Jeremiah practiced was about delivering angry, impassioned harangues to His wayward people.  Jeremiah was so talented and relentless, in fact, that today we call such written works "jeremiads."  And, thanks to our Puritan past

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-48266463029195185212011-01-08T11:19:00.001-05:002011-11-28T21:23:02.434-05:00

I tend not to write about myself too much on this blog (think: boring), my family (think: death), or my friends and associates (think: interesting but unfair), yet every so often I am intrigued enough by a personal event to write a few lines. Last June, for example, I mentioned our book group.  Last night, the five couples who make up this group met for the 71st time, just a few months shy of

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-31862874642888442532011-01-05T08:57:00.001-05:002011-11-28T21:23:56.459-05:00

In the beginning there was agrarian time.   We all rose when it was light.  We slept when it was dark.  We extended our work day when the sun was long and warm in the sky, and stayed huddled in our caves when it was not.  Then, something funny happened in the monasteries of seventh century Europe.  In Technics and Civilization, Lewis Mumford tells us that Pope Sabinianus ordered bells to be

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-22590491846555586102010-12-20T08:32:00.000-05:002011-11-28T21:25:06.369-05:00

Last Thursday, Harvard and Google hosted the largest data release in the history of the humanities, a database of 500 billion words contained in 5.2 million books. It's just the beginning--maybe 4%-5% of all the books ever written--but it's an heroic beginning. Here's what I've learned so far: The mention of men vastly exceeded the mention of women in texts until th 1980s when

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-232967629230401092010-12-16T16:41:00.000-05:002011-11-28T21:25:36.031-05:00

I met up with Peter Worrell, Managing Director of the Bigelow Company, on a cold December day a few weeks ago at his office overlooking Portsmouth Harbor.  Despite a frigid wind whipping off the water, downtown Portsmouth was decorated for Christmas and bustling with shoppers.  (NB: Great restaurants and retail in Portsmouth, not to mention summer concerts on the water and Strawberry Banke

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-86605211480117234052010-12-11T10:27:00.001-05:002011-11-28T21:26:53.272-05:00

I took the Amtrak Acela Express from Boston to New York City last week.  If you've ever ridden the Acela you know that most of the train is Business Class; seating is four seats divided by an aisle, two and two. Boston is the start of the route to New York, which eventually winds up in D.C.  So, getting on at 6 a.m. in the morning is nice--each car is clean and completely empty. And

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-84278738350147454302010-12-07T21:12:00.000-05:002011-12-26T12:14:05.058-05:00

So this is how it happens. It's the third or fourth day of your ski vacation.  It's been fantastic.  Superb conditions, long runs, no crashes.  This particular morning, had the snow not been so perfect, you might have rested your weary bones in bed and gone out for a late brunch. Instead, you are on the slopes by 8, dodging the snowboarders and practically skiing up to the chairlift. 

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-63212817217047481382010-12-02T11:18:00.001-05:002011-12-26T12:14:05.000-05:00

I was working on my book about entrepreneurs the other day when I had a brilliant (if tardy) insight: I might actually want to define the term.  After all, "entrepreneur" is used endlessly in the press, academia and in conversation, and we simply take it for granted that we're all talking about the same thing.  So, I turned to the usual suspects:  Wikipedia sources.  JSTOR.  Questia. 

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-70930997323687656862010-11-27T22:36:00.000-05:002011-11-28T21:29:08.858-05:00

The Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation sits on the former site of the Waltham Watch Company in Waltham, MA, one of the wonders of 19th-century American industry.  It's not far from the spot where Francis Cabot Lowell founded the first textile mill in America to manufacture cotton-to-finished cloth in one building, another wonder of American ingenuity.  In fact, if nearby Bunker Hill

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-6636038970372329412010-11-21T15:09:00.000-05:002011-12-26T12:14:05.005-05:00

1914 was a defining year for the American people, though it's likely few recognized it at the time.  The startling, big news was from Europe--the death of the Archduke and start of war.  But the fundamental and lasting change for the American population was this: In 1900, the big killers in America had been diarrhea, pneumonia/influenza, tuberculosis, and diphtheria, which combined accounted

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-4843097311997504372010-11-14T16:36:00.000-05:002011-12-26T12:14:04.976-05:00

Earlier this month the Boston Globe printed a glossy magazine insert entitled "Top Places to Work 2010."  Inside, segmented into "large, midsize and small," were dozens of companies ranked by, well, I suppose, the happiness of their employees. "Provocative List Articles" come out on a regular basis around here--top places to live, top lawyers, best schools and pizza and podiatrists--and are

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-2879522931533043862010-11-06T22:37:00.002-04:002011-12-08T21:59:28.360-05:00

. . .at least for a while, anyway.  All of this future shock stuff is wearing me down.  No robots mowing our lawn.  No jetpacks.  No "Tea, Earl Grey, hot" popping out of the wall.  Just doom and gloom.  Friend Jerry sent me an email after my last Armageddon post telling me to get the heck offline and visit the mountains.  I think he was politely telling me to stop worrying (and maybe get a

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-88931290363580118552010-11-01T08:09:00.000-04:002011-12-08T22:01:21.068-05:00

I'm a little depressed this Monday morning. Every Saturday I read Peggy Noonan's column in the Wall Street Journal, and, generally speaking, find that the sky is falling somewhere that she's visited.  Mostly it's falling on Democrats, but it's falling for sure.  And usually I don't think twice about it because I grew up on Chicken Little and know it all ends well.  However, she kind of laid

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-81477067084082187032010-10-30T15:54:00.000-04:002011-12-08T22:02:45.848-05:00

Following my last post, the WSJ this morning ran an article on the genius of Stephen Sondheim.  It turns out that Sondheim, now 80, is in the "Nathaniel Hawthorne camp" when it comes to inspiration.  The article reports: When Stephen Sondheim writes, he looks at a blank wall.  Lying on the couch where he has created some of his best-known Broadway musical scores, he tunes out the world

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-17356246484513412212010-10-24T11:52:00.000-04:002011-12-08T22:03:48.307-05:00

We held a Board retreat for the New England Historic Genealogical Society this glorious fall week at the historic, (and some say) haunted Colonial Inn in Concord, MA.  During the retreat we launched discussion around updating our strategic plan, a discipline (despite all the noise about strategic plans being dead) that has been extraordinarily beneficial to the Society over the last two

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-39970077167455420732010-10-06T20:59:00.001-04:002011-12-26T12:14:04.966-05:00

We take as a given that the pace of our world is accelerating, and the word we most like to use for this acceleration is exponential. This is mostly because we rely on a raft of technology "laws" to describe what we're feeling in our gut.  The most famous, Moore's Law, says that the number of transistors in a given integrated circuit doubles every 18 to 24 months.  Likewise, Haitz's Law

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-41472162185907179442010-09-26T16:19:00.000-04:002010-09-26T16:19:11.089-04:00

Here's the scene.  My oldest daughter and I are in the only open check-out line at a Bob's Store.  Four items in hand.  Second in line.  One young lady behind us with one item to buy. Customer #1, checking-out in front of us, is having trouble of some sort so another cashier appears and says, "I'll take the next in line." The young lady behind us has the inside angle on the new cashier, steps in

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-75327380016022196082010-09-24T11:55:00.000-04:002010-09-24T11:55:32.328-04:00

Last weekend my son and I ventured into the local theater to see Devil, the latest horror movie from M. Night Shyamalan.  (Here's the trailer.) We did so with some trepidation after Mr. Shyamalan's last few lemons (especially "Lady in the Water,") prompting the affectionate nickname (around our dinner table, anyway) of M. Night Shamalama-ding-dong. At the risk of spoiling the movie, Devil is the

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-5331873864740360432010-09-19T09:08:00.001-04:002010-09-19T09:10:39.837-04:00

Taking the kids to Storyland in New Hampshire is a rite of passage for New England families with young children. Storyland is a clean, right-sized park that appeals to kids from ages 4 to about 12, that brief golden age when your offspring can use the bathroom without assistance but still like to hang out with Mom and Dad.  Founded in 1954, Storyland is one of a collection of northern New England

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-34681057769356124072010-09-11T16:45:00.006-04:002010-09-19T08:52:01.900-04:00

Imagine being born in 1880 and, as a 13th birthday present, your parents taking you to visit the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Perhaps the most influential world's fair in American history, the 1893 Exposition was organized to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus's landfall in America.   (Those of you good at both math and history will notice it was a year late, mostly the

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-10634995231712442802010-09-06T09:28:00.000-04:002010-09-06T09:28:32.730-04:00

In our town we have something called an Animal Control Officer (ACO).  This is the person who presumably controls animals, especially the kind that pester residents.  Unfortunately, it doesn't work quite that way. Resident: "My cat is stuck in a tree."  ACO: "Get a ladder." Resident: "There's a skunk ruining my yard."  ACO: "Buy a trap.*"  Resident: "I bought a trap and caught the skunk."  ACO

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-69513037433151484922010-08-27T15:31:00.006-04:002010-08-29T18:35:26.464-04:00

OK, kids, put down Angry Birds, take out your #2 pencils, and lets get ready to write.   It's that time of year when we're required to draft our annual rite of academic passage, What I Did on My Summer Vacation. (No, you may not go to the lavatory.  Sit back down, please.) This year was particularly interesting, what with the world economy half-past implosion, the air space a quarter-after

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-90928616977506514792010-08-17T21:26:00.000-04:002010-08-17T21:26:10.484-04:00

This morning at one of my consulting assignments I turned my computer (and a dozen Dunkin Donuts) over to the (kind, benevolent and brilliant) people at Helpdesk to take care of (what I think was) a problem with the Wankel Rotary Engine.  This sacrificial act left me computer-less for most of the morning and part of the afternoon.  Sure, I could check email on my iPhone, but I couldn’t get any

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-60026585407880277712010-08-01T19:30:00.000-04:002010-08-01T19:30:42.651-04:00

Long-suffering readers of this blog, especially those with a little Web-savvy, know that there is very little done properly ‘round these parts.  First, most of the posts are far too long—even my wife warns me about that.  And, clearly, I don’t post enough of them.  (Subscribe to TechCrunch, one of the Web’s top-rated blogs, and you’ll be buried by noontime in posts.  Throw-weight is definitely

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-75088480319586196362010-07-25T19:47:00.004-04:002010-07-25T22:16:11.986-04:00

Earlier this month I was fortunate to spend time with Greg Galer, VP of Collection and Exhibition at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.  The museum itself is a gem, with holdings that include the world's largest: library of whaling logbooks, prints, journals; collection of scrimshaw; Japanese whaling art and literature outside of Japan; and Dutch Old Master marine paintings in the New World.  In

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-86863847116815612942010-07-10T08:50:00.000-04:002010-07-10T08:50:40.285-04:00

These made me laugh out loud. 10. Don’t butt heads with anyone who has bigger horns.9. The grass is always greener when someone else cuts it, bales it, and totes it over to where you’re already lying down.8. Better the same old milking hands every day than getting used to a whole new set of callouses.7. If you’re not sure about something, go ahead and taste it. You can always spit it out.6. The

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-54187711008437352932010-07-04T06:51:00.000-04:002010-07-04T06:51:41.168-04:00

A byproduct of attending business school in the 1980s is the unshakable belief that most everything in the world can be explained by a 2X2 matrix. For that, we have the Boston Consulting Group to thank.  I remember well discussing product portfolio theory in terms of cash cows, rising stars and dogs.  The BCG Matrix, widely taught (and even occasionally used), has since been displaced by strategy

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-80056785126721845472010-06-26T20:13:00.001-04:002010-06-26T20:17:31.506-04:00

On the early afternoon of December 19, 1675, about 1,100 New England colonial soldiers and friendly Natives marched on a large, fortified Narragansett village located in the Great Swamp in present-day South Kingstown, Rhode Island.  A few hours later the fort was in flames while hundreds of Narragansett men, women and children lay dead. Not long after, Puritan ministers sang the praises of this

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-28793399589882530812010-06-17T19:43:00.002-04:002010-06-17T19:46:53.857-04:00

My wife and I belong to a book group composed of five very likeable, very smart, very busy couples.  We launched in May 2001 and are now reading our 68th book, Tinkers.  The hosting couple chooses the book and will often serve food (or drinks, as the case may be) that match the story.  (Needless to say, we have not yet read Hunter Thompson or Timothy Leary, but I suppose we should put them on the

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-45990260906571536282010-06-03T21:00:00.000-04:002010-06-03T21:00:12.496-04:00

I’ve been re-reading Daniel Boorstin’s The Americans: The Democratic Experience for maybe the third time.  It’s just full of compelling stories about the formation of America, and especially good in spotting unconventional entrepreneurs and innovators.  It’s fair to say, in fact, that in the America that Boorstin observes, there’s hardly an American who is not an entrepreneur or innovator.

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-9490020550336325262010-05-22T08:52:00.004-04:002010-05-22T08:59:58.471-04:00

In 1900, a new book by a fledgling children’s author reached stores in America.  The handsome, 44-year old writer had a checkered career that included acting, breeding chickens, selling fine china, serving as secretary for a baseball team, and founding the National Association of Window Trimmers of America. Indeed, his new children’s book contained elements of many of these life experiences--a

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-68458480463488130692010-05-02T07:29:00.000-04:002010-05-02T07:29:43.542-04:00

Regular readers to this blog know that I find the Swiss watch a fascinating yet completely inscrutable consumer product—one that, by all rights, shouldn’t even exist.  No question it’s elegant, the product of superior craftsmanship, and resembles nothing less than strapping a miniature sports car to your wrist.  At the same time, how is it possible that thousands of people choose to purchase a

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-85321670837257270672010-04-26T21:46:00.003-04:002011-11-25T09:24:43.003-05:00

This morning as I drove to work the weatherperson announced that New England was likely to feel the impact this summer from the volcanic ash spewing from Iceland’s completely unpronounceable volcano, Eyjafjallajokull. We've been lucky thus far, with prevailing winds keeping our airspace clear and clean. But, if the weatherperson is to be believed, we could lose as much as two degrees

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-69782534664136870722010-04-21T21:42:00.002-04:002011-11-25T09:23:10.159-05:00

We had the chance last week to bike-ride in Faubourg Marigny, Faubourg Treme, and the Ninth Ward, a journey through post-Katrina New Orleans very different from what tourists typically see in the French Quarter.  Friends asked, "Is the city recovering?"  My best answer is, "Depends on where you are looking." There are still plenty of abandoned houses with the "FEMA X" painted on their fronts,

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-58123816883539269542010-04-15T08:28:00.001-04:002011-11-25T09:22:40.212-05:00

There are certain awards that would be a pleasure to win, like an Olympic medal, the Pulitzer Prize, or a Nobel Prize.  Likewise, there are certain awards that a person of good sense might naturally shy away from, including Class Clown, a Darwin Award, and a “Pig Book” award. And then there are some awards which one would accept with a sense of pride, but also with a great deal of

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-16065921501599975232010-04-10T09:01:00.000-04:002011-11-25T09:21:45.125-05:00

The first class we took in business school having to do with people management was called Organizational Behavior.  It was a required course in the first-year curriculum, but one that seemed trivial after a hard day of Marketing, Operations Research, and Finance cases.  After all, we were much more concerned about learning how to break bottlenecks on the assembly line, launch new products and

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-60711486522379591632010-04-03T11:26:00.004-04:002011-11-25T09:20:11.019-05:00

One of the most famous motivational stories on the lecture circuit is that of the two salesmen from competing companies who are sent to a foreign country to assess the market for shoes. Salesman One scouts around for a few days and then goes to the telegraph office to contact company headquarters.  He writes:  Research complete.  Unmitigated disaster.  Nobody here wears shoes. Likewise

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7279240094159602471.post-7115269706443958062010-03-30T21:53:00.001-04:002011-11-25T09:19:17.516-05:00

I'll be speaking to students at the Jeanne and Dan Valente Center for Arts and Sciences at Bentley University on Thursday at 6:30 p.m., part of the Liberal Studies Major professional speaker series.  Director (and Associate Professor of History) Chris Beneke is host, and it should be lots of fun. If you are a Bentley student wondering if your liberal arts degree will do you any good in a

Eric B. Schultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169391149462048777noreply@blogger.com3