Blog

Home/Blog/

The (Occasional) Wisdom of Inefficiency

By Alec Pendleton, Big Ideas for Small Companies, powered by The MPI Group Many leaders think they know the Magic Bullet for Maximum Success: Efficiency! If only we could do everything in our lives with superior efficiency, they believe, all sorts of wonderfulness would be sure to follow. Profits would surge! Competition from China and elsewhere would dwindle! Our standard of living would soar! What could possibly go wrong? Well, actually … quite a lot. The Theory of Constraints, described by Eliyahu Goldratt in The Goal — one of the best business books I’ve ever read — makes it clear [...]

By |2018-12-11T19:36:00+00:00December 11th, 2018|Alec Pendleton, Big Ideas for Small Companies, Business, Customer Service, Leadership, People, Small Business Advice|Comments Off on The (Occasional) Wisdom of Inefficiency
Read More

The Profitable Magic of Transparency

By Alec Pendleton, Big Ideas for Small Companies, powered by The MPI Group I recently bought a used car for my daughter. I expected it to be unpleasant — because car-shopping, whether new or used, has always been a notoriously one-sided affair, with sellers having much more information than buyers, and rarely disclosing enough to level the playing field. Even in our digital age, with access to CarFax reports, dealer costs, etc., I always feel that there’s something that I don’t know. In short: I rarely walk away from an automotive transaction without feeling that I’ve been somehow swindled [...]

By |2020-04-30T15:48:32+00:00November 7th, 2018|Alec Pendleton, Big Ideas for Small Companies, Customer Service, People|Comments Off on The Profitable Magic of Transparency
Read More

A Timely Lesson from our First President About Tolerance

George Washington’s Letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island By Ned Hill, A One-Handed Economist, and Professor of Public Administration and City & Regional Planning at The Ohio State University’s John Glenn College of Public Affairs, powered by The MPI Group On August 17, 1790, Moses Seixas, the Warden of Newport Rhode Island’s Synagogue Yeshuat Israel, read his letter of welcome to President George Washington: Permit the children of the stock of Abraham to … join with our fellow citizens in welcoming you to Newport… President Washington had two reasons for traveling to Newport. The professed reason was to recognize [...]

By |2018-11-07T16:04:05+00:00October 29th, 2018|Ned Hill, Policy, Presidents|Comments Off on A Timely Lesson from our First President About Tolerance
Read More

Happiness is Control (unless you don’t have it!)

By Alec Pendleton, Big Ideas for Small Companies, powered by The MPI Group Early in my career, I had the good fortune to attend seminars led by the late Leon Danco, a noted consultant to family businesses. He had particular skill — and took particular delight — in waking up scions to the realities of life in a family company, and in urging them to upgrade their management skills. A master storyteller, he often underscored points with memorable quips that stuck with his charges for decades. One of his favorites was: “Happiness is Control” — a critical point for [...]

By |2018-10-19T17:01:17+00:00October 19th, 2018|Alec Pendleton, Business, Growth, Leadership|Comments Off on Happiness is Control (unless you don’t have it!)
Read More