Musings on a Monday Morning from Mike Mullin…

The weekly Newsletter of Without A Vision Consultancy LLC

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March 2, 2020 – March 2, 2020

Good morning!

It looks much more like a lamb than a lion from this vantage point. Have you enjoyed the moon and its juxtaposition with Venus in the evening sky? Spectacular. This tweet reported recently by The Huffington Post: “70% of marriage is yelling “what” from a different room.” Church attendance down? Hold a fish fry.

Thinking about the so-called Covid-#19 virus and its spread conjures up the unmatched poetic philosophy of John Donne:

No (wo)man is an island, Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thine own Or of thine friend’s were. Each (wo)man’s death diminishes me, For I am involved in (hu)mankind. Therefore, send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee.

If you are over the age of 40 do you fully understand memes?
- I was just educated on the subject and I’m almost giddy. I think I’m almost ready to teach it to someone else.
- That’s the ultimate test of understanding, by the way, don’t you know? Try teaching that at which you think you’re an expert… try teaching it to someone.
Are you old enough to remember the United States vs. Russia Olympic men’s hockey game in 1980?
- If not, you missed a good one, a signature moment, one of those, “Where were you when?” moments…
- Trouble is, did you do the math? Olympics are every four (4) years, right?
- Forty years ago divided by four is ten, right? And, wouldn’t that mean we should be having winter Olympics right now?
- Can you figure out the mystery — and the answer to the riddle?
The most recent edition of The Smithsonian has an excellent article on Florence Nightingale.
- You will unlearn — and learn — lots by reading this scholarly piece.
Without a Vision Consultancy is typically not this in-your-face aggressive, but from a worthy colleague and competitor: “Your competition isn’t other people. Your competition is your procrastination, your ego, the knowledge you neglect, your negative behaviour, and your lack of creativity. Compete against that. Let’s have an amazing week!” (Wyatt)
I directed this question to a high-ranking member of Delta Airlines’ management team just a few days ago: “Given your glory days in the 1980s, your subsequent fall from the top, and now Delta’s resurgence back to #1, to what do you attribute your success?”
- “It’s our people; we have the best people,” he said.
  - From The Economist: “Perhaps the oldest management cliché is, ‘people are our most important asset.’ If that were true, companies would rigorously assess their own hiring practices, and their record, to ensure that they are indeed recruiting the best people… Only a third of U.S. companies check whether their recruitment process produces good employees…” (Wharton School)
Ornithology is among the more ubiquitous hobbies in the United States.
- Originally envisioned in 1886 and formally incorporated in 1905, the National Audubon Society seeks to preserve and protect birds.
- The society was established in reaction to the slaughter of millions and millions of birds so as to pluck their colorful plumage, a popular fashion adornment of the day.
- Parallels today include avian-unfriendly urban centers, loss of healthy ecosystems, the destruction of traditional nesting areas, and changing laws.
“Nuclear holocaust is a probability, disastrous outcomes due to climate change are a certainty.” (Santos)
- Google this guy: Juan Manuel Santos
- Those of us living in the U.S. can at times be a bit myopic; we experience the inter-connectedness of our planet, but we don’t connect the dots.
- We recently had the experience of being in Santos’ company for three hours; he has enormous intelligence and credibility.
- He is the 2016 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and as Colombia’s President ended the 50-years-long terrorism that devastated his country.
- He said he is dedicating the rest of his life, his influence, and his resources to addressing our global natural environment.
The Mississippi River here in our town (St. Cloud, MN – U.S.) is completely open for a six-mile stretch just North of the St. Cloud Hospital.
- This might be the earliest on record for the Mississippi to have had its surface ice completely melted in this specific location.
- Check this out: Nine Days of Ice Melt in Antarctica
- I have personally witnessed the similar and alarmingly rapid melting of glaciers in Alaska.
- Your world view changes when you see something with your own eyes — up close and personal.
Student loan debt (college debt) has quintupled (5x) in the last sixteen (16) years… it is now nearly 8% of U.S. GDP. (The Economist)
- But, says The Economist, no worries because most of that is owed to the U.S. government and that kind of money doesn’t count.