Most of the 150 men and women who sit in the Indiana General Assembly are fine people. This column, however, is too short to detail how they become a collective disgrace. They continue to vote along strict party lines. Virtually every Democrat and Republican is in lock step with the caucus leadership. Even their Web […]
This week, three ambitious shows-a new musical at Beef & Boards, magic realism at the Phoenix and a lesser-known classic at IU Opera. Beef & Boards has a history of doing the Tried & True. And there’s a very good reason for that. As a for-profit theater-a rarity-it relies on audiences and little else to […]
When we read that all the Democrats in the House voted against all the Republicans in the House on a given issue, we know independence has been cruelly killed by the leadership of each party. The same applies to the Senate.
There’s a smorgasbord available for small businesses in the federal stimulus. The trick is figuring out how to get a plate. Plenty of local experts are serving up access to the buffet. And some entrepreneurs are digging in. But others consider the stimulus warmed-over leftovers. “For high-tech, high-growth businesses of the 21st century, there’s nothing […]
Still stinging from the city’s loss of the giant Performance Racing Industry trade show in 2004, a group of local motorsports business advocates is racing to put on a competing event. Organizers of the upstart International Motorsports Industry Show are not being bashful about their intentions: They want the new show to eventually supplant PRI’s […]
ChaCha Search Inc. co-founder Brad Bostic has stepped down as president of the human-assisted Internet search company, which is struggling to turn a profit in a dismal advertising climate, but he hasn’t left. “Brad is still engaged with the company as a director, co-founder and consultant,” said co-founder and CEO Scott Jones. There are no […]
Scott Whitsitt puts so much effort into his recordings for the Indiana Reading and Information Service that they have a professional quality. He’ll record, edit and re-record his weekly rendition of Time magazine for two to three hours, far exceeding most volunteers’ booth time. “I’ve been a wannabe radio announcer for years,” Whitsitt said. Since […]
Hoosiers identify many factors contributing to our state’s long-term economic difficulties. It is fashionable to blame our workers. It is easy to decry a lack of natural amenities: no mountains, no coral reefs. Our public schools are inferior and perhaps our higher education is overrated. Our taxes are too high but we have substandard government […]
A friend of mine is a minister and an expert on church management and growth. During one of our discussions, it struck me
how much starting and running a church is very like running a business. There are the same problems with morale, with retention,
with site selection, finance, marketing and growth pains. And with technology.
Hoosiers identify many factors contributing to our state’s long-term economic difficulties. It is fashionable to blame our
workers. It is easy to decry a lack of natural amenities: no mountains, no coral reefs. Our public schools are inferior and
perhaps our higher education is overrated. Our taxes are too high but we have substandard government services. We ain’t got
no culture. Rarely do we hear anyone say that our problem is management.
Every day, we get more bad economic news. While I’m not smart enough to know when the global economy will rebound or how strong the rebound will be, I do believe central Indiana and the Midwest are well-positioned to lead the recovery. Why? Well, I can’t be lieve I’m making this argument, but our low […]
Compared with some of his pharmaceutical CEO peers these days, John Lechleiter has his company on a diet. Instead of using a mega-merger to bulk up before the famine that patent expirations will bring on the industry next year, Lechleiter has Eli Lilly and Co. burning management fat while looking for smaller companies to munch […]
Last week the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released its estimates of county personal income and all the detail comprising those data. These data are important because they provide a consistent view over a long period of time. It’s easy to focus on the immediate problems of our economy. However, we do ourselves a disservice […]
Indy Racing League founder Tony George dropped a bombshell in December when he told an industry group that he would shut down the open-wheel series if it didn’t break into the black soon. When pressed about the possibility of being profitable by 2013, George responded, “It has to be, or or there won’t be a […]
It took Pete and Candace Kissinger 33 years to build West Lafayette-based Bioanalytical Systems Inc. into one of the largest contract research firms in Indiana’s life science sector. It took just a year and a half for them to turn against the company’s new management. The Kissingers quietly stepped down from the management team in […]
Last week the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released its estimates of county personal income and all the detail comprising
those data.
Looks like the folks at Conner Prairie in Fishers have beat White River State Park to the hot-air-balloon-ride punch. They plan to unveil…
Just when one hopes racial stereotypes are in retreat, along comes another study suggesting otherwise.
Now weâ??re told that black CEOs with â??baby facesâ?? fare better than black CEOs with more “mature”-looking faces
when it comes to results at…
“How is your unwritten book coming along?” Myra Mariachi asks. “How do you know I have an unwritten book?” I respond. “Because you’re the type of person who might write a book but not the type who is writing a book,” Myra says. “A genuine author is secluded for hours at a time, doesn’t answer […]
The planet is all agog over swine flu. We’re not supposed to call it swine flu. We’re supposed to call it H1N1. That way, the hogs and pigs won’t get upset and U.S. pork sales won’t decline any further. And besides, the disease isn’t transmitted through swine, um, “donations” to the human cause. We spread […]
