It’s Autumn!

Musings on a Monday Morning from Mike Mullin…

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September 23, 2019 – It’s Autumn! Monday Morning Musings

Good morning! Autumn arrived just a few minutes ago; welcome! It’s the season of the apple; do you have a pie cooling on your window sill — or perhaps half a pie leftover from last night?   — Do you prefer yours a la mode (cremé glacée) or a la fromage? Gold, yellow, and orange are starting to replace green on the poplars, birch, ash, aspen, linden, and hackberry; others to follow, no doubt. If you enjoy the raspberries — and who doesn’t?! — the late summer/ early autumn 2nd crop delicacies are on the vines in magnificent abundance; yum! Tomatoes, too, are still in abundance… and beets! 

• We promised more information about having experienced a hurricane.
  • Albeit, we were at least 100 miles from the eye and it had decreased to a category #2 storm.
    • We were on the back side of Dorian’s incredibly powerful low pressure eye and thus experienced weather coming from the northeast.
      • Rain, winds (~40 MPH), ominous skies, seemingly infinite energy, roiling surf.
        • As Dorian departed on its way to Greenland, reportedly to dump a bit of snow, we glimpsed what might have been:
          • The surf roiling in ten different directions, powerful rip tides, and spectacular spray 100 feet into the air from waves crashing into the rocks.
• Lobsters are to Maine as corn is to Iowa.
  • Consider the impact the tariff has had on the lobster workers (farmers/ foragers) and the industry in general.
    • Exports to China have dropped 80% in the last year — and many lobster companies in Maine have reduced their work force by more than half.
      • The biggest customer, China, is going elsewhere; e.g., Canada, to satisfy its cravings for the succulent crustacean.
• Why change matters — and it will get you if you don’t manage it first!
  • “When it was first formulated a S&P 500 company stayed on the index for an estimated 61 years…
    • by 1980 it was 25 years…
      • and by 2000 it was 17 years.”
        • “An S&P 500 company in this decade is being replaced once every two weeks…
          • which translates to roughly 75% of today’s S&P 500 firms being superseded by newcomers in the next ten years.
            • There are currently only 60 companies of the original 500.” (Keller & Schaninger, 2019, Beyond Performance 2.0)
• Remember In Search of Excellence, the go-to guru book of the 1980s written by a couple of McKinsey guys, Peters & Waterman?
  • Only thirty-three percent (33%) of the companies profiled therein and in the sequel, Built to Last, were still gold standard ten years later.
• Consider the changes to commercial and network television/ entertainment the last several years.
• Think there is only one way of doing things?
  • According to the mathematicians (I’m not one of them) there are supposedly more possible moves in the game of chess than there are atoms in the observable universe.
    • Chess, originating in India 1,500 years ago, has evolved and been standardized over time.
      • The queen, for example, prior to the 15th century, had little power, but inspired by Queen Isabella and others, became the most powerful piece.

“It takes a person who is wide awake to make his (her) dream come true.”  (Babson) When will you give yourself the greatest gift of all, the gift of time? Schedule a no-obligation, no-cost initial exploratory visit with Without a Vision Consultancy today.

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