Blog Posts

Let’s Not Write Toyota’s Obituary Just Yet

The Los Angeles Times had been stalking Toyota for months about the runaway acceleration in some of the automaker’s models. Ordinarily, I  dismiss such articles as over-aggressive reporting or even Japan-bashing. But last week, events proved the LA Times to be correct. In a weekend report, the New York Times noted how Toyota had initially … Continued

Four Lessons from the Demise of Japan Airlines

On January 20, 2010, the New York Times and all major Japanese papers reported the bankruptcy filing of JAL (Japan Airlines). The crane that once symbolized Japan’s powerful national airline is no more. Not even privatization could help an airline run into the ground by arrogance and incompetence. But this is actually old news—everyone knew … Continued

Tiger Woods needs Yoda

The media, sports, business, ethics, and image pundits are all out now, pointing out what Tiger must do to revamp his shattered image. Meanwhile, we all ask the question: What do we learn from this? Surprisingly, the business takeaway isn’t really about ruined images or the billion-dollar golf industry that Tiger almost single-handedly created and … Continued

Peter Drucker, Masatoshi Ito, and In-N-Out Burger

November 19th is management pioneer (now deceased) Peter Drucker’s 100th birthday. To celebrate the life and teachings of this remarkable man, the Drucker Institute hosted a weeklong event, Drucker Week, featuring some of the most respected business academicians (a paradox?) of the world at Claremont University. Ken Blanchard (author of The One-Minute Manager and Know Can … Continued

Why Real Estate Matters

First, there’s the obvious reason: It’s the sheer scale. The total value of the US residential market hovers around $20 trillion. There simply isn’t anything close to it (add up all the cars in the US—maybe 250 million—and give each an average value of $10,000 (8+ years median age), and you only get about $2.5 … Continued