If you had my wife as your boss, you would have improved your cost management system years ago. You see, Sue’s not one for accepting excuses or procrastinating. She could have been Nike’s inspiration for “Just Do It.” When it comes to improvement, most of us “delay” instead of “do”. “Today we have a generation...

“Define the activities you enjoy. Then look for a job that will provide you the opportunity to do those activities. When your job is fun, you’ll never think of it as work.” This advice was one of “Uncle Tom’s Top Ten Tips”, a list that I prepared for my nephew at graduation this year. You probably...

There is a Texaco convenience store near my house that has not changed its gas price in eight weeks. While other stations around town change prices almost daily, the storeowner stays at $1.49 per gallon, even when the 7-11 down the street is higher or lower. Why doesn’t the storeowner change prices? I came up...

I’ve watched television with shock and awe this week as courageous men and women confront their fears, their mortality and their enemy. The courage I see and read about was not created during the war for Iraqi freedom. Instead, their courage is being exhibited in this war. While the battles that you and I are...

Have you ever had a stress test? The doctor puts you on a treadmill going nowhere. Then they raise the pace and incline to see how much stress our heart, mind and body can take. A stress test exposes our strengths and weaknesses. Stress tests our limits. Such is the case that followed September 11,...

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...

“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...

“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,...

Televisions are a predictor of wealth. The job of newspaper columnist Steve Blow takes him into a lot of different homes – from shacks to mansions. “One thing I noticed from the very start – the poorer the home, the more prevalent the television. In well-to-do homes, TV’s are hardly in evidence.” (1) In poor homes the...