My sister recently told me about a poetry contest called the Floral Games, which was referenced in a commencement address by poet Billy Collins (alas, no relation, though I would take my brother, father, and grandfather — Williams all — over any other Billy Collins around). I finally had the chance to do a […]
Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. – Warren Buffett Everyone thinks businesses (and investment portfolios) should be managed for the long term…. until there’s a bad quarter. The pressures of short termism have been widely noted, but now there is some empirical proof that […]
76%. 20%. No matter how small, when we add speed bumps to a process, they tend to work. This is especially true when we craft opt-in versus opt-out action plans. In the case above, for young workers presented with an opt-in retirement savings plan, just 20% signed up to participate. When participation was set as […]
$150,000 x 2000 That’s a lotta yogurt. A few weeks ago, Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya announced stock grants to all 2000 full time employees, totaling about 10% of the company’s $3-5b value. A Turkish immigrant, Hamdi founded the company just 11 years ago. (Do you remember life before Greek yogurt?) Chobani’s initial operation was a defunct […]
Double. Half. Zero. 100. In Nike’s latest sustainable business report, CEO Mark Parker puts forth a bold charge: can we double our business while halving our environmental impact? Think about that. Double and half. Where could you double a positive, and half a negative? The company has also announced some specific goals: zero waste […]