ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative news organization, presented a very important podcast on a “typology of truth.” Using Trump’s claims that he won the popular vote because of voter fraud, journalists could say any of the following: 1. Trump claims he won the popular vote, saying 3 million people voted illegally. 2. Trump claimed, without evidence, […] Read More

Daniela Papi-Thornton and I have a piece appearing in the Stanford Social Business Review on university-hosted business plan competitions. The gist of it is: These competitions reward superficialityby emphasizing business plans and models (and sometimes taking action) at the expense of deeper understanding that comes from truly knowing your stuff. Knowing your stuff means being […] Read More

By Michael Gordon Saw the most energetic guy I’ve seen in a while present on TED. Passionate (almost fiery) , well informed with pertinent data. Optimistic about the our potential for the planet. Yes, that Al Gore. This is well-worth watching. Read More

Sorting through my thoughts about Detroit’s bankruptcy (or whatever it turns out to be) Different ideas about how companies can be organized and run are floating around. What resonates with me are institutions that support communities: “communities” of employees, of local citizens, of people interacting with the natural environment. Too often, though, companies barely acknowledge […] Read More

How’s the economy looking to you? Of course, none of us has ever seen “the economy,” since the term is just an abstraction. But it is an abstraction that covers such a broad range of activities that we probably need a few new words to cover them all. If you’re poor, the economy doesn’t look […] Read More

I have found my community — actually, one of several, but a special one. I attended the BALLE conference (no, not in Bali, but in Buffalo this year), an event focused on more enlightened, more powerful forms of business.  BALLE — the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies — emphasizes the primacy of local over […] Read More

By Michael Gordon Imagine the sound you make when you blow on a long untouched stack of papers, and visualize the cloud of dust you stir up ….         <insert the electronic equivalent of sound and image here>   … because, after a days that became months of not writing anything on this […] Read More

Some businesses go to any extent to get you to buy. The New York Times recently described the lengths stores will go to to make you uncomfortable so that you’ll buy more. Why? “Experts” in marketing have discovered that the louder, the more repetitive, the more crowded — hell, the more irritating — the more […] Read More