Recent Articles from Pat Wiesner
On management: What’s it like to work for you?
Once somebody asked me to help him figure out what his people thought about his management style. It caused us to come up with a list of things we thought were important. You could be running anything from one person to an entire large company. So here are some of my favorite items from the […]
On management: small crisis puts character on display
It started as a nightmare. After being on the road for two weeks in a motor home on the way to this year’s Kentucky Derby, I scraped the back end of my rig along part of an auto-hauler trailer in a crowded Cracker Barrel parking lot. I had been slowly following the signs to “RV […]
On management: How to get into the Final Four of business
Even a part-time basketball fan like me had to get excited by the prospects for the big game last month between Duke and Butler. Part of the excitement had to grow out of the drama created by the entire series of events leading up to the “Final Two.” A truly David vs. Goliath struggle. Butler […]
On management: “I want to be a lion!”
Only one hour after we had landed at the little airport just outside of the game park in South Africa it was getting dark, and we were in an open Land Rover headed for the jungle. All this happened about 15 years ago, but I always remember it like it was yesterday because it was […]
On Management: Jobs
A lot is being said about jobs these days, ranging from “How do I keep mine?” to “How do I get one?” “The Snowball” refers to a book by that title about Warren Buffett. The snowball represents the little bit he started with that slowly became one of the world’s largest fortunes. Not many jobs […]
On Management: Job interviews picking up? Part II
What makes a boss say, “I really like this person, I want him/her working here,” after just 20 minutes or so? What makes an interviewer who has prepared a list of 15 questions for you forget those questions and begin to tell you how much you are going to like working at this company? What […]
Ritter has his priorities straight
Bill Ritter might just be tougher than all of us. Perhaps he has been able to make a decision to forgo power, fame and reputation in favor of family, love and what is really important in life. Like politics, just about everyone trying to excel in business experiences the seductiveness of power, riches and importance […]
On Management: Job interviews picking up?
A candidate for the sales job comes into the room, looking ready for the interview. She seems cool, pleasant and friendly. She has a confident manner, and over the next 25 minutes she gives a very professional account of her experiences and successes of the past few years of selling. She had the experience and […]
On Management: Ski-lift snub raises questions
My wife and I were visiting the San Diego area for the first time. Quite a nice place to go! One day we wound up at Mission Beach at lunchtime. It was just like in the movies, people everywhere, surfers catching big waves, roller-skaters on the sidewalk, many on the sand and along the wall […]
On Management: A simple approach to selling more
We were being good parents, helping one of our children look for a house. (Details have been disguised enough in this story that none of those involved would recognize themselves.) This was not my favorite thing to do, so I resolved to sit in the back seat and quietly amuse myself by judging the salesmanship […]
On management: If you are working you are probably running
Being retired now, I often sit on my front porch on these summer mornings and enjoy my coffee. We live in a cluster of what they call “patio homes,” and the street is often a short hike from the door to a house. This particular morning it was an especially beautiful Colorado day. I was […]
On management: So you want to start a business?
In the early ’80s, things got tough for the Wiesner family. I was working for a medium-sized publishing company. A pretty good company. I was its president, doing well, but I wasn’t happy. I don’t remember exactly why, but looking back it was probably because underneath it all I didn’t like the way I was […]