Commentary
Editor’s Note: All Aboard!
Light rail in Seattle has been a disappointment. The train trip from downtown to the airport, for example, usually takes nearly twice as long as by car. But with two new stations opening up recently in hard-to-reach locations, commuters may finally begin to see value in the system. Hop on the train at Westlake Center…
CEO Adviser: The Art of Making Change
If you keep doing what youve always been doing, youll keep getting what youve always gotten. Im sure youve heard some version of this saying. Youve read it in a dozen books; youve heard it in a dozen motivational speeches. (If that last part is true, congratulations on surviving a dozen motivational speeches.) If you…
How “Banksters” caused the great depression and led to the Glass-Steagall Banking Act.
The aftermath of a financial panic bread lines, foreclosures, falls from great power make for good drama. The causes of one, not so much. The Oscar-winning film, The Big Short shows how creative you have to get to explain the flaws of a collateralized debt obligation. That hasnt deterred a small Seattle theater company, whose…
Virgin on Business: Who Needs Regulation?
There have been two great waves of the American deregulation debate. The first was during the Carter-Reagan era, when entire industries airlines, railroads, trucking, natural gas, long-distance telephone service were freed from government constraints on what markets they served and what prices they charged. And the second? Youre experiencing it right now. You might not…
Final Analysis: The Buddy System
Friends and i were talking recently about one of Seattles infrastructure problems dont remember if it was the abysmal traffic, rising homelessness, the messy waterfront and I said, as I often do in these situations, Maybe its time for Buddy Cianci. All told, Vincent A. Buddy Cianci, who died in January, was mayor of Providence,…
Letters to the Editor
Our readers weigh in.
THE YEAR OF THE CRANEKudos to John Levesque on his Year in Business column in the December issue of Seattle magazine (published simultaneously as Final Analysis in Seattle Business). Its a tour-de-farce of acerbic and accurate insight into Seattles growing pains from the tunnel not being dug by Bertha to the Potola Pit just a…
Virgin on Business: Testing, Testing
Companies that don't try out all those crazy ideas are, well, crazy.
Somewhere in the acres of South Lake Union real estate that Amazon now occupies is the secret lab where the company comes up with its next big idea. Maybe it looks like a movie-cliche mad-scientist lab, with bubbling beakers and electrical apparatus throwing off sparks. Maybe its a room decorated in tech-sector-employee lounge motif, with…
Final Analysis: Forceful Marketing
Tying in to 'Star Wars' is obviously the clever approach.
Since the premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in mid-December, social media sites have been awash in the kind of piggyback promotion that accompanies any pop-culture phenomenon. The savvy marketer, knowing that a Star Wars connection confers instantaneous hotness and coolness, is on it like a baggy robe on a skinny Sith. Drawing inspiration…
Commentary: Before You Leap
Make sure your own house is in order first.
Seattle is experiencing a tech boom second only to that in San Francisco, creating a new generation of startups led by ambitious founders. On average, these startups receive $800,000 to $850,000 in funding much of it from local investors. These local investors, some motivated by the desire to support the Seattle economy and to contribute…
CEO Adviser: Life, Death and Legacy
The missing wealth in family businesses.
At the origin and center of every successful family-owned business are the founder(s) and elders. In their lives, we find the most valuable and often hidden assets: their expertise, business savvy, personal values and ethics, lessons learned and family stories. Two prominent family-business experts who recognize the importance of human assets to long-term success are…
Virgin on Business: C.S.I. Software
Given Volkswagen's deceit, how can we know when malicious code is being foisted upon us?
Tthe credibility of Volkswagen executives these days is about as low as that of a card sharp in an Old West poker game who has just deposited seven aces of varying suits onto the table. Wha … wha … how did those get there? They got there because he put them there, just as those…
Final Analysis: Change the Corporate Climate
Because wouldn't you rather live on a sexy planet?
Lets hear it for the Breakthrough Energy Coalition! Its rad. Its rockin. Its righteous. Its a bunch of rich guys pledging to invest billions to find a faster way to meet the energy needs of a growing planet without contributing to climate change. Bill Gates announced the coalition on the eve of the United Nations…
Letters to the Editor
CHALLENGING ARCHITECTUREi love john levesques column Boomtown Update in the December issue of Seattle magazine [published simultaneously as his Final Analysis column in Seattle Business]. Its a great article and I love the descriptions. We already were referring to the [apartment building] boxes in Ballard as architecturally challenged, but his addition of Bow-Wow-Haus is brilliant….