Commentary
Letters to the Editor
CURE FOR CONGESTION?Rarely do I grab my pen to underline when reading Seattle Business, but I really appreciated your unvarnished appraisal of our citys needs [Editors Note, July 2015]. As the current president of our familys business, traffic congestion is a huge issue and one that the current city administration seems committed to use in…
Editor’s Note: A Choice Development
When Delta Air Lines began flying to sitka last May, some local leaders assumed the move was part of Deltas effort to invade Alaska Airlines home turf and undermine the Seattle-based airline in a first step to acquiring it on the cheap. Why else would a global airline fly to a city with just 9,000…
Commentary: Mindful Practices
Apple founder Steve Jobs lived with mental health issues. So did cosmetics mogul Estee Lauder. Media tycoon Ted Turner has written about living with mental illness. Many other executives struggle with mental illness, a fact that is gradually changing minds and practices within the business community. But this gradual pace of change of mental health…
CEO Adviser: Keeping it Old School
A proper mobile strategy is as important for a business as its actual products and services. With three billion mobile users on nearly six billion devices worldwide, it is the top channel for reaching and interacting with on-the-go customers and employees. As executives consider the checklist of mobile capabilities their businesses use, one key technology…
Virgin on Business: Who Gets What?
Lets review the recent history of Washingtons economic development programs and sector-specific initiatives. State government has a position dedicated to aerospace, and it offered an incentives package to encourage Boeing to build the 777X here. Meanwhile, the state jettisoned its own tourism marketing and promotion efforts, leaving that to the industry. Tax incentives for technology…
Final Analysis: Reality Bites
As i write this, the seattle seahawks have just disclosed that Russell Wilson has agreed to a four-year extension of his contract to play football for them. As with all big-time sports contracts, terms of this deal were conveniently revealed to the media, indicating Wilsons average annual salary will be $21.9 million. As you read…
Letters to the Editor
CELEBRATINGCREATIVE CONTENTI love that you did an issue on creativity in Seattle [August 2015]. I feel creativity will be an economic engine in the 21st century and will inevitably separate us from our competition in China and India. This city doesnt focus on it enough and, while it gets labeled as a creative city, doesnt…
Editor’s Note: Investing for Impact
The threshold group, which was established to invest the assets of the Russell family of Russell Investments fame, now represents 60 well-heeled clients. It recently found itself facing an odd conundrum. Of the $3 billion it manages, says Threshold President Ed Lazar, $1 billion is money clients want invested in ways that will improve social…
Why Boeing Needs a Union
In this day and age, does Boeing need a union? Thats the question top management at the largest commercial aircraft manufacturer in the world, as well as governors of states like South Carolina, would like to ask folks in the Puget Sound region. Usually, debates about unions are framed around issues like fair pay, workers…
Virgin on Business: Heres to the Underachievers
As a means of measuring who was most successful at being a success, Americans have compiled endless lists of the biggest, fastest, richest, winningest and best, and handed out endless awards to confirm those who had achieved it. But success is looking a bit shopworn lately. Threadbare and dusty. It hasnt completely lost its allure,…
Final Analysis: A City’s Sign Language
Elsewhere in this months issue, some pretty clever people weigh in on how they would brand Seattle if given the opportunity. Some suggest that trying to brand a place is a bad idea. Especially a place like Seattle, which is appealing on so many levels that youd have to be comatose to be unaware of…
Letters to the Editor
ANA MARI CAUCEIm an avid reader of Seattle Business magazine and enjoyed Washington CEO as well. As a 1973 graduate of the University of Washington, I couldnt have been more pleased to read your Editors Note in the June issue in support of interim UW President Ana Mari Cauce for the permanent position. Applause on…
Editor’s Note: Building Trust
In the 1970s and 80s, when the rise of japanese industry led to huge layoffs in United States businesses from automobile assembly to semiconductor manufacturing a strong anti-Japanese response contained dark warnings of an incipient Japanese takeover and featured members of Congress taking sledgehammers to Japanese cars on TV. The United StatesJapan trade war was…