Herbert Stein was an economist who served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. He was also a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a contributor to the WSJ. Herb was father to comedian Ben Stein, so he must have had an interesting perspective. He …
Winston Churchill was first credited with saying, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” It’s my hope that we’ll all find a silver lining in the extra time as we are all hitting the pause button. In the meantime, I am working in my yard in the evenings and parallel planning for the future. …
It’s easy to focus on the person at the head of the table. That person is undoubtedly important, but I would argue that he or she wouldn’t be there without the team of people sitting nearby. I’ll add that for us, it’s a long table. Those in leadership make big commitments, but someone must back …
Strange indeed. We are all facing this same trifecta, a worldwide pandemic with severe health implications, crippling markets and now oil wars to top it off. I got to thinking about my own parents and others who spent a decade scratching out a living after the Depression, then they had to fight a world war …
When we made the decision to trade our offices in a corporate environment for a 16-acre campus, a garden was part of our plan. We saw a garden as part and parcel to the building, a place of beauty where we would all learn to eat a bit better. Beyond the fruits and vegetables that …
In the construction business, it can be common to ask for a Fee & General Condition proposal prior to the plans being finished so that a customer/owner can bring a contractor on board. This is very analytical, and the question I ask myself is, “Where’s the matrix for the heart?” In any business transaction, there …
We are currently involved with the rebuild of a major United Way campus. This involves bringing an existing multistory office building constructed in the 1950s to current standards, including a new skin. Most of our projects that have a new curtain wall as a component are structural steel frames, but this project is reinforced concrete. …
Last Saturday, I got to attend a symposium entitled, “Faith Meets Business: Climate Solutions for the Common Good.” One of the panelists included our friend Dr. Jim McClintock, an endowed Professor of Polar and Marine Biology at UAB. Jim is recognized internationally as one of the leaders in this field. Coincidentally, I read this past …
I spent some time recently with a couple of long-term customers. Both have national presence, but one is small and the other large. Each is successful in its own way, with the smaller company’s strategy relying a fair amount upon the corporate culture and its boots on the ground, and the larger historically using a …
I am fortunate to be a part of the Master’s of Real Estate Development (MRED) program at Auburn University. It’s a 2-year tract targeted at people who have been out of school and working for a while. The focus is “training a new generation of executives to build places that matter.” I enjoyed sitting on a …
If I was a college football player, I would want Dabo Swinney for a coach. Like most Division I coaches, he’s talented in strategy and implementation, but to me, what sets him apart is his empathy, passion and ability to see things others may not. That’s all true both on and off the field. A few years ago, a …
In some ways, current retail direction mirrors retail of the past, with a renewed emphasis on neighborhoods, the storefronts where we live and “the experience.” It seems retail is becoming more focused on community, creating spaces where people spend time with friends and family. Shopping is part of the experience, but not the only goal. …