It’s the Month of Pumpkins — and Maples

Musings on a Monday Morning from Mike Mullin…

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October 7, 2019 – It’s the Month of Pumpkins — and Maples | Monday Morning Musings

Good morning!

Thank you for being among my readers, I mean it, thank you! I’m often focused on one or more of you specifically as I write — making it much easier to write… thank you! One and three-fourths inches (1 3/4″) of new rain in the last forty-eight hours. It’s the month of the punkin; aka, pumpkin… I see tens of thousands in the fields; how many do you suppose are actually eaten vs. wasted? As darkness deepens and the bright light of summer decreases to depressing depths there is always hope…that in just three more months light will begin to strengthen once again, and…to ameliorate some of that angst, a hard maple has been sharing its bright reds, oranges, and yellows in the morning darkness by way of a street lamp. If you had several candy m&ms, one each of the following colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, brown — in what order would you eat them?      Or, would you not eat them at all given the perfection of the color line-up?         What if you had three (3) green and one each of all the other colors?

• Have you experienced a dramatic increase in aggression, apparent anger, careless, and/or reckless driving?
  • I try to walk or take public transportation whenever possible, but when out on the roads it seems I regularly narrowly escape mayhem.
    • It’s seems more likely than not that two or three cars will run red lights at any given semaphore — and impatience appears to be at an all-time high.
• When is the last time you hiked a significant distance in the cold rain?
  • Exhilarating!
• In the late 1800s and early 1900s forty percent of industrial capital was controlled and owned by 100 corporations.
  • These included the most (in)famous such as Standard Oil (controlled 90% of petroleum), Swift Meats, and the railroads (probably most at fault).
    • Roosevelt, Congress, and the courts determined many of these corporations had established unfair monopolies, though there are those who still disagree.
      • There is talk nowadays that some of the corporations, Facebook especially, but also Google, Amazon, Etc., et al. are analogous or even more monopolistic.
        • Today it’s not so much the control of financial capital as it is the control of social capital; maybe more concerning?
        • (Lamoreaux, 2019, has a good essay on this.)

• The New York Times, in partnership with the University of Chicago and courtesy of $3 million raised by a nonpartisan group, Helena, recently convinced 526 random people to come to a resort outside of Dallas for four days and nights, all expenses paid.  Many came having never traveled outside their home areas.
  • The purpose was to study what might happen if the entire country, by extrapolation, were to spend time together discussing current issues.
    • The group was statistically representative of registered voters in the United States when considering age, race, gender, educational attainment, and geography.
      • Politically-charged trigger words and phrases were eliminated from the agenda as much as possible.
        • Big picture results:  The far right and the far left tended to moderate their views a bit because — they reported — they listened to the personal stories and experiences of others in the room.
          • Very few of the 526 changed their political views significantly, but the cumulative civil discourse resulted in greater understanding and appreciation for a wider range of viewpoints.
• Last year Amazon reportedly invested an average of $7,000 per employee on education.
  • Don’t know if there was more at the top, in the middle, or with the worker bees; those data are important, too.  Jeff?

• Are you a growth leader?  Take this little quiz to see:
  • I am all in;
  • I am willing to fail;
  • I know my customer (client) as a person, not as a datum point;
  • I favour action over perfection;
  • I fight for growth;
  • I have a growth story I tell all the time;
  • I give control to others.

• What are you reading?
  • Lincoln’s Constitution, Barber, 2003.
    • If you take delight in scholarly research you will love this book; try it.
      • Dan Barber slices, dices, and analyzes Lincoln’s morality and philosophy, which led to his actions resulting in a civil war.
        • What’s perhaps best about the book is the balanced treatment given to Calhoun and the Confederacy — vestiges of which remain; excellent read.

What is the perfect number of punkins to perch upon your porch?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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