On My Mind
My paper on Visions & Visioning is now available on the RESEARCH page of this website. One of the most interesting visions in history was the “Human on the Moon” vision put forth by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieve the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” Here is an excerpt from my paper: “In 1961, the United States was far from having the necessary capabilities to attain the vision. President Kennedy appeared passionate, energetic, and confident during the delivery of the speech. The motivation for the vision was in part driven by the Cold War Space Race against the Soviet Union according to Ted Sorensen who was involved in pre-speech research and the writing of the speech. President Kennedy later repeated similar themes during subsequent speeches including his famous Rice University speech on September 12, 1962. He repeatedly made the case for attaining the vision and promoted it with confidence and passion. The Joint Session speech excerpt was thirty-one words in length. It was reportedly perceived as bold and wildly ambitious by some and impossible to attain by others. President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 and so he did not witness the attainment of his vision. The endeavor was continued after his death by President Johnson and the vision was attained during President Nixon’s presidency.” Please read my paper for other great visions.

Interesting Stories
The Major League Baseball World Series is currently in progress and there are two interesting teams this year – the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves. Controversy surrounds both teams. The Astros won the World Series in 2017 and the team was confirmed to have “cheated” that season in the form of using technology to “steal signs.” The fans of the Braves commonly perform a “tomahawk chop” in unison during games which is known to offend some Native Americans and others. Aside from these controversies, the two teams are evenly matched and it should be a great World Series. Play ball!

Company News
I presented on “Creating a Quality Vision” at the American Society for Quality Madison, WI Section meeting on October 12, 2021. Over thirty people attended the Zoom event and the participants were very engaged and asked great questions. I was supposed to present in person, but the event was moved to Zoom because of the pandemic. There are a number of SIS events on the horizon: the Visions & Visioning short course on November 16, 2021; the Strategic Improvement Green Belt course which starts December 13, 2021; the Visions & Visioning webinar on December 21, 2021; the Strategic Improvement Yellow Belt course which starts January 4, 2022; and the Strategic Improvement Black Belt course which starts January 24, 2022. The brochures are available on the PUBLIC SEMINARS page of this website.

Intriguing Reads
I’ve been studying the annual “Letter to Shareholders” written to Berkshire Hathaway (BH) shareholders by Warren Buffett (91 years old), the Chairman & CEO of BH. The BH website has all of the letters dating back to 1977 which is where I started. Pre-1977 letters exist, but they are not on the BH website. The letters are packed with business insights plus they are very entertaining. The set of letters should be required reading for anyone interested in economics, management, and business. If you want to learn from a legendary business expert, then give these letters a try.