Archive for the ‘RSFS’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

A Thanksgiving tribute: Paul Harvey on why God made a farmer

By Jim Whitt On Thursday most of us will sit down to tables covered with more food than we can say grace over. Here in America, that bounty comes to us as a result of the safest and most efficient food production system ever known to mankind. I’ve been fortunate to be involved in food production all my life, either directly or indirectly. Meat, milk, eggs, vegetables and bread do not magically appear on grocery shelves or on our dinner plates in a restaurant. This Thanksgiving I want to pay tribute to those who work on the ground floor of… Read More

November 20th, 2011 at 9:07pm

Tags: , , ,

An open letter to the President: You’re right, we’re lazy

Dear Mr. President: I am in complete agreement with the statement you made at the recent APEC conference in Honolulu: “We’ve been a little bit lazy over the last couple of decades. We’ve kind of taken for granted — ‘Well, people would want to come here’ — and we aren’t out there hungry, selling America and trying to attract new businesses into America.” You have hit the nail on the head and here’s my analysis of why you are right. We have become lazy. Laziness is subsidized through a myriad of government programs that make it easy and profitable to… Read More

November 16th, 2011 at 9:48pm

Tags: , ,

A 12 Step Program for Government Spending

By Jim Whitt If you had any doubt that our economy is joined at the hip with the global economy it was shattered by how the stock market reacted to the news that Europe had reached an agreement on resolving their debt crisis. The thing that got my attention about the deal is the recapitalization of European banks which forces them to accept a loss of 50% on their holdings of Greek debt. I am no economist but taking a 50% loss on anything is never good. This isn’t really a solution. It’s just another bailout. You can slap some… Read More

November 1st, 2011 at 8:13am

Tags: , ,

God and science: Is there a conflict?

By Jim Whitt I’ve tackled politics and sports in my last two articles so I thought what the heck, why not write about religion. If you can’t start an argument with that trifecta you aren’t really trying. What inspired me is an article in the Pueblo Chieftain entitled No proof of God by Jon M. Pompia. Mr. Pompia was reporting on a sermon by Victor Stenger at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Pueblo. Stenger is an atheist, a professor of physics at the University of Hawaii and adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado. It’s not unusual for… Read More

October 12th, 2011 at 8:53pm

Tags: , , , , , ,

The Big 12: A case study on how to destroy a partnership

By Jim Whitt If you’ve read Riding for the Brand: The Power of Purposeful Leadership, you know there are four principles for leaders to follow in order to create a model organization: 1. Purpose 2. Partnering 3. Pioneering 4. Profit The key words are “in order” — you start with purpose and end with profit. Not the other way around. Apparently, leaders of the universities that comprise the Big 12 Conference haven’t read the book. Those of us who reside in the Big 12 geography are witnessing a case study of what happens when you get the principles bassackwards. What is destroying the Big… Read More

September 22nd, 2011 at 10:50am

Tags: , , , ,

The seeds of solution are found inside our problems: Let’s get to farming

By Jim Whitt The seeds of solution are found inside our problems: Let’s get to farming I have good news and bad news. First the bad news — a sampling of recent online headlines: • 46.2 million Americans are now poor… • 22% of children in poverty… • Dramatic drop in median income… • Likely to worsen… • ABBAS: Palestinians want full UN membership… • Netanyahu set for UN showdown… • Anti-Israel subway signs in NYC spark religious war of words… • Bloomberg warns of riots Our world is in a state of disruption. Our nation is in a state of disruption. Business is in a state of… Read More

September 19th, 2011 at 8:10pm

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Ask, listen and act: You’ll be amazed at what happens

By Jim Whitt I had no idea what a great listener Kent Stroman was until he wrote a book entitled Asking about Asking: Mastering the Art of Conversational Fundraising. In the preface he writes about what inspired him to write it: “It really began a few years ago during a conversation with my friend Jim Whitt. As we were getting acquainted he asked if my thoughts had been recorded in a book. After I responded in the negative he exclaimed, ‘Kent you owe it to your audience to leave them with more than just a memory of what you have… Read More

August 17th, 2011 at 10:05pm

Tags: , , , ,

What will the world look like in 30 years?

By Jim Whitt While speaking at a meeting in Australia I shared the platform with Steve Tighe, a future strategist. This was in the fall of 2008, which coincided with the “fall” of 2008 when the economy collapsed. Keep in mind that many major corporations and financial institutions were so totally unprepared for this free-fall that their only salvation was a taxpayer bailout. The devastation was so severe that the economy still hasn’t recovered. How and why did this happen? Part of the answer comes from a recent article Steve wrote entitled: Time to Slow Down: “For many companies, it’s… Read More

August 8th, 2011 at 7:48am

Tags: , , ,

Oil and water may not mix but they certainly go together

By Jim Whitt Retired U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal made an interesting point about Iraq in a recent speech: “They have a couple of big advantages — they have water, which for a country like that is a huge value, and of course they’re on a sea of oil.” Note that he placed water ahead of oil when he talked about advantages. Both commodities are valuable but which do you read and hear about in the news? Oil, because it provides the fuel for the internal combustion engine which powers our vehicles. So, the price of gasoline is foremost in… Read More

August 1st, 2011 at 9:32am

Tags: , , , ,

Call Me Crazy but I Have an Idea to Solve the Debt Problem

By Jim Whitt A few years ago I had the privilege of sharing the platform at a speaker showcase with comedian Tom Ryan. Tom can take a very serious subject, like being in debt, and make it very funny. For example: “I am heavily in debt. Right now my goal in life is to be just broke. I want to get back to zero. How’s that for a pathetic dream? Someday, I’m going to have nothing. I’m going to leave it to my kids. None of this is all yours. Don’t squander it!” Tom could have just as well been… Read More

July 27th, 2011 at 9:05pm

Tags: , , , , , ,

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »