The Slow Death of Sears and Kmart
Businesses come and go like anything else. Like living things, they adapt or die. I wrote about this a couple of years ago when I wondered why Sears wasn’t more like Amazon. Starting in...
Category: Business
Thoughts on work and business
The Decline and Fall of Pizza Hut
When I was a kid, going to Pizza Hut was a big deal. It was a place you went with the family for a big occasion, even if that occasion was just a Friday...
Corporate Contrition and Course Correction
It’s never easy to say you’re sorry. This is as true for large corporations as it is for individuals. In the past week or two, I’ve noticed several examples of corporate contrition, some done...
Reinventing the Word Processor
As a writer, I spend a lot of time using a word processor, specifically Microsoft Word. For the most part, word processing software hasn’t changed much since the early days of Windows. In some...
Going Back to Work
I’m going back to work after a couple of months of unemployment, and while I’m still looking forward to the weekend, it’s good to feel productive again. It’s going to be an interesting experience,...
PowerPoint Sucks
PowerPoint sucks. I can’t be the only one who thinks so. PowerPoint presentations are unpleasant to make and unpleasant to sit through. But what saddens me most is that it doesn’t have to be...
Sears vs Amazon
Why isn’t Sears the world’s leading online realtor? A hundred years ago, Sears, Roebuck & Company was Amazon.com of its day. At the turn of the 20th century, Sears’ mail order catalogs were everywhere,...
The Fall of the Mall
Remember when shopping malls were the center of American life? During the 1980s and 1990s, the shopping mall served as the hub of commerce and culture in the United States. Just watch any movie...
Bean Counters and Brand Decay
Branding is not an exact science. In fact, is much more of an art. The most successful brands, like Apple and Starbucks, rely on emotions, rather than rational thinking. And like a personal reputation,...
Deep in the Pit of the Stockroom
I worked at a home decor store back in college. It wasn’t my dream job, but it paid the bills. It was a small store with a dozen employees, so we did everything from...
