Mike Betts, chairman and CEO of Fresno manufacturing firm Betts Company, has been selected as the new chairman of the Fresno Business Council. He will replace Kurt Madden after four years of service. Madden will continue on as Fresno Business Council director. Founded in 1993, the Fresno Business Council was formed by business leaders to […]
Mind the (Skills) Gap
The White House announced this week that Taiwanese electronics manufacturing giant, Foxconn, plans to invest $10 billion in a new manufacturing facility in Wisconsin – a big win, the White House says, for revitalizing the “Made in America” mantra and manufacturing jobs in the midwest. The 3,000 expected jobs from this development, though, won’t replace […]
The Case for Conscious Capitalism
Decades of drive toward a single bottom line seems to have caused a violent swing in the other direction, one that sought swift correction to complex social and environmental problems created by runaway capitalism. In their article “Runaway Capitalism” published in Harvard Business Review in 2012, Christopher Meyer and Julia Kirby note, “Certainly we humans have the […]
Dissolving Shame Culture by Redefining Failure
As human emotions go, shame is one of the most crippling. The fear of exclusion or being exposed is deeply embedded in the human psyche. This can keep us from actions that may harm or cause discomfort to others. Despite its strong self-regulatory impact, we have managed to weaponize it—use it as a tool for […]
Real Collaboration: Difficult But Worth It
The attempt at working together can have many faces: monkey pile on a symptom (a shallow version of collective action); a Band-Aid when a blood transfusion is needed (ineffective at best, but can actually do more harm in the long run); or a deep, reflective analysis of a complex, intractable issue to avoid unintended consequences. In […]
What is Broken and How Would I Fix It?
What if what’s broken is us? We the people became fragmented, narrow-minded and comfortable in our separate worlds, watching as we waited for someone else to save us. “It” covers a lot of ground—infrastructure, water shortages, preventable chronic health issues, disappearing middle class, predatory legal and financial systems, entitlement mentality, cranky and childish political culture… […]
Elevate California – California 2017 Economic Summit
We are seeing the same themes and conversations happening everywhere we look… Complex problems require a new way of thinking and acting together. (Systems approach to intractable issues) We are all connected. (“What affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.) Solutions to social, environmental and economic challenges are interdependent. (Triple-bottom-line) As […]
Bullard High School Law Lab
It’s a new world of work. Complexity abound. Our schools have been challenged to equip our children with 21st century skills, and they can’t do it alone. This is an all hands on deck responsibility. What this means is becoming informed and getting engaged. Every adult and every employer has a role to play in […]
A Marine veteran asks, ‘Isn’t it time to say Good Morning America to each other again?’
One of the often unspoken rewards of being a Marine Corps veteran of World War II is to strive to help ensure that the ultimate sacrifices made by all of those who have served our nation were not made in vain. At the same time, one of my great sorrows is realizing how far […]
This is Not Your Grandfather’s Manufacturing Career
The 2016 Presidential race put a spotlight on bringing jobs back to the US, particularly in manufacturing. While the focus during the campaigns was on losing the jobs to lower-wage economies abroad, there is another reality: we lost interest in the greatest American middle-class industry sector somewhere along the way. Contrary to another belief, technology […]