As August wanes and autumn draws near, only days remain until the start of the college football season. Regular readers of this blog know my story. In the early 1970’s as a freshman at Auburn University, I was part of a small army of non-scholarship players, better known as “walk-ons,” kids armed only with the dream of earning the right to wear the orange and blue, and perhaps … [Read more...]
The power of great expectations.
A friend recounted the story of a women’s softball coach at a major university. The program, that only a few years earlier had been invisible on NCAA softball radar, had in just three seasons advanced to the finals of their conference tournament and then on to the College World Series. Like any good CEO, the coach met with each of his players individually. One by one, the … [Read more...]
United Airlines, a public relations multiple engine failure.
If we had to pick the public relations flub of the first four months of 2017, try United Airlines. Calling United’s fiasco, a flub is an extreme understatement. For the airline, this is a public relations multiple engine failure, a public image crash and burn. The bare facts: United personnel physically removed a Chinese passenger from an overbooked Chicago-to-Louisville … [Read more...]
Could this be what the future of banking looks like?
Our country seems so awash in bad news these days, it feels like ISIS could kick back in its collective recliner and watch us destroy ourselves. And American banking is not immune from sad tidings of great sadness. A draft plank of the Democratic platform released July 1 calls not only for the expansion of Dodd-Frank, but also would authorize the United States Postal … [Read more...]
5 lessons for bankers from Augusta National
Traditionally, at least, banking and golf go together like sweet tea and cornbread. And this week - for weekend duffers like me - marks golf’s high holy days. The Masters tournament begins today. Think of it, the coveted green jacket, the resplendent azaleas painted every color in God’s palate. Green grass my wife would kill for. Bobby Jones, Palmer, Nicklaus, Watson, … [Read more...]