Senator Francis O’Reilly (I-Puerto Rico) filed a bill yesterday to remove the phrase “land of the free” from the National Anthem. During brief remarks from the senate floor, the legislator from the recently admitted 51st state decried the embarrassing fall of the United States’ ranking to 10th in the Heritage Foundation’s 2012 Index of Economic Freedom.
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I think my brother makes more money than I do. During the annual Christmas visit to North Carolina to see my family, I told my parents that this absence of economic equality just isn’t fair. My parents’ answer was much more colorful, but the two-part message included a reminder that life isn’t fair and that trying to make it so is folly—and they’re right. Spending anytime at all resenting my brother, or anyone else, for making more money than I do, requires a belief that economic equality is achievable—but it isn’t.
Ours is a culture whose time is marked by momentous events, usually tragic, and documented by an explosion of media coverage. My father’s generation sacrificed to win World War II and put a man on the moon. Baby Boomers lost a president to assassination, endured the Vietnam conflict and navigated the constitutional challenge of Watergate.
Conversations about the economy are increasingly speaking about structural problems versus cyclical problems. In short, this equates to the difference between hearing your pest-control representative tell you that the cross-beams in your floor need to be replaced (structural) as opposed to just needing the more routine application of more termite retardant (cyclical).
The writings of M. Scott Peck, MD taught me just how important thinking is. Yet it is increasingly difficult to find the time to think as we all modulate between life- and work-styles equally characterized by the phrase, “time compressed.”
The sight of young Gideon in the distance, again standing behind his card tables, broke the tight grip that frustration had locked on my face. The blazing July heat and humidity dissipated as I approached my favorite 11-year-old neighborhood entrepreneur.
It is a fair bet that how we’d like to be seen by others is different than how others actually see us. In marketing, this is the difference between brand identity and brand equity. Companies (and people for that matter) should spend time up front thinking about how they’d like to be perceived by shareholders, customers, employees and other stakeholders.
“Fresh Squeezed Florida Lemonade Just $1″ read the hand-crafted sign stapled to the tree beside the card table separating me from a budding entrepreneur. The 100 plus degree heat had certainly created a market for this young capitalist working from his front yard.”
Are you going Greek next semester?
One of the largest fraternities in the world is responsible for generating in the neighborhood of $30 billion in income in Florida alone, yet remains so enigmatic that it never bothered with assigning Greek letters to brand its countless members.
Yesterday’s St. Petersburg Times featured a timely editorial by former Florida Governor and United States Senator, The Honorable Bob Graham (read for yourself: http://tinyurl.com/grahameditorial). The thought provoking piece calls our attention to several issues facing the Sunshine State, particularly the need for a return to a set of core values.
