The staff of ICMS, Inc. has joined with you and millions of other people around the world to offer our prayers and contributions to the victims, family members, emergency workers and businesses impacted by the sickening events of September 11th. We also pray daily for safety, wisdom and discernment for our President, our leaders and...

“Dusty BMW abandoned at the airport”. This headline caught my eye on a recent trip to Austin, Texas. Apparently a 1985 BMW 7 series sedan has been parked in the same space at Austin International Airport since September 2000. At this point, the owner who picks it up will owe $6,480. That’s $18 a
day for...

My twin grandsons celebrated their first birthday on July 1, 2001. And while the majority of people reading this article don’t know Alex and Austen, there is another set of twins celebrating their fifteenth birthday this year whose names are familiar. Born in 1986, their names are Six Sigma and Activity Based Management (ABM). I’m proud to say...

Our local baseball team, the Texas Rangers, is mired in a losing slump. Even though the Rangers have one of the highest payrolls in major league baseball, management and players have not been able to turnaround the team’s dismal performance. Webster’s dictionary defines slump as “to decline suddenly, as in value or business activity.” The...

“An estimated 10,000 business books have been published worldwide over the past three years,” reported The Wall Street Journal May 21, 2001, “many touting management tools promising to make their users incredibly successful by showing them new ways of doing business.” That is an astounding number of books. I read a book a week, but at this...

Question: What caused 101 men, women and children to risk their lives aboard a small ship in 1620 to set sail for a wilderness called America? Answer: Passion Passion is an extreme, compelling emotion or love for something or someone. The Pilgrims that sailed from Plymouth, England on September 6, 1620, did so with a shared passion for...

“God is great, God is good. Let us thank Him for our food. Amen” My four year-old grandson said that prayer Saturday before we ate lunch. It’s a fine prayer for a four year-old boy, but it’s pretty feeble for a forty year-old man. A key reason why most four year-olds don’t grow up to be forty year-old prayer...

“Bring me only bad news. Good news weakens me.” [1]   Those thought provoking words hung prominently on the wall of Sargent Shriver’s office as he launched the Peace Corps in 1961. Organizational bureaucracy often pressures subordinates to tell their boss what the boss wants to hear. With bad news filtered out on its way up the organization...

“If the jury’s vote is unanimous, the accused cannot be put to death.” [1] Yes, you read it right. This statement from the Jewish Talmud is different from American criminal law. While both Jewish and American law desire the same outcome…truth… the methods used to ensure a criminal defendant is accorded due process are quite different....

“No captain can do wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy.” This bold statement by Admiral Lord Nelson is both a military strategy and a definition of courage. It also serves as great advice for every walk of life, both personal and professional. Commander Bull Halsey says, “All problems, personal, national,...