Why Business is Like the Wizard of Oz

10.  No Heart

Obvious and yet its not always apparent.  People who have worked together for a long time usually do care about each other.  How many times have you seen the stories of donations of time and money for co-workers who are hit by some accident.  And yet, do we really want business to wear its heart on its sleeve?  The ones that do tend to be mushy liberals – with Ben and Jerry springing to mind, but take any of the flaky Kalifornia startups – who don't make a lot of money but sure generate a lot of press.  I'll take money over feeling good any day – isn't that what capitalism is about?

 9.  No Brains

It is almost counter-intuitive.  An organization that survives has to be making money – so some sort of intelligence is there – or was there at some point.  Yet businesses waste oceans of money and time on activities that have no chance of actually making any money.  Let's just take the Motorola Irridium phones as an example.  Designing a whole satellite infrastructure to support phones which won't really work for the business people who are the target audience at a cost that will guarantee a loss of money.  And this went on for years, with no one ever actually saying "just how stupid are we?".

 8.  No Courage

 Google, Microsoft, Yahoo – is there even one Internet company with the courage to stand up to the Butchers of Beijing?  Or how many ayatollahs will get their rings kissed by oil companies?

Or take it the other way.  Who will actually stand up and say that spending endless amounts of money and time on activities that have no chance of succeeding in the marketplace is not in the owner's (shareholder's) interest?  Certainly not anyone who wants to get promoted by the big boss. 

 7.  Flying Monkeys

Any business of any size ends up with the plague of consultants.  Business consultants, IT consultants, Sales consultants, Strategy consultants–there is nothing too small or esoteric as to not attract a flock of "professionals" to ensure that any productive work gets prevented.

 6.  Munchkins

They are always willing to live with the evil witches and do their bidding, but if anybody actually steps up and proposes something new or innovative or even vaguely different it will be death by a thousand little cuts.

 5.  The Man Behind the Curtain

And in this case I'm talking about the men at the top of the organization.  Millions in salary and bonuses for sub-par performance?  Compensation committees run by the very people who benefit from their actions?  Government regulators who cross over into the very industry they spent time regulating with nary a peep?

 4.  Wicked Witches

Any one actually tried to fire someone who was incompetent?  It feels like incompetence is viewed as some sort of golden fleece which protects the stupid from the consequences of their actions.  And we all know that the squeaky wheel doesn't get fired – its the quiet schmuck in the corner who simply takes the punishment.

 3.  Falling Houses

How often has it been announced that "unforeseen changes in the competitive environment have forced a retrenchment, blah, blah, blah"?  If managers are being paid a fortune to run the company, doesn't it seem that they should be able to evaluate the competitive environment and change plans accordingly?  Yes, an act of God like an earthquake can be unforeseen, but if you life on the San Andreas fault, making prudent plans for such and eventual outcome should also be expected.

 2.  Ruby Slippers

The fair-haired young man or woman who sits at the boss's right hand will get the favored assignments and big bonuses.  But beware those slippers!  They can go from ruby to lead in a heartbeat.

 1.  The Yellow Brick Road

Which can lead to long-term success, or long jail terms if you get caught bending too many rules.  Just a few is OK – but too many or too publicly and you are toast. 

El Paso County Republican Party

The Republican (and Socialist/Communist) party members got together this past Tuesday (21 March). I am a member of precinct 290, which had the second highest percentage of votes for President Bush in 2004.  Therefore, we get 11 delegates and 11 alternates to the county assembly.  We also get 2 delegates and alternates to the Congressional District 5, and the state assembly.

 These latter two are probably the most important.  As Joel Hefley is not running for reelection, there has been a huge outpouring of interest in Congressional District 5 by Republican Candidates.  As for where they stand:

•  John Anderson – former El Paso county sherrif, and the only candidate to had declared prior to the announcement by Hefley that he wasn't running.  Mr. Anderson has really good stand on gun rights – he was very good at allowing concealed handgun permits all during the time that he was in office.  His efforts probably lead to the recent passage of the "shall issue" bill that passed the legislature two years ago.
• Jeff Crank – former chief of staff for Congressman Hefley.  He very recently moved back to town and is currently serving as the president of the Chamber of Commerce.  However, most of his political experience and background is Washington, D.C.
• Doug Lamborn – currently serving as State Senator in El Paso County.  Previously served as State House Representative – total of 12 years in the Colorado Legislature.  Very strong pro-life candidate – for years he has submitted bills to protect the unborn.
• Duncan Bremer – served as El Pas county commissioner for 8 years.  Currently not serving in any public office, but strong conservative credentials.  Brother of Paul Bremer, the Iraq representative.
• Lionel Rivera – current mayor of Colorado Springs.  He announced his candidacy on Tuesday.

Of all these candidates only two received any support at the meeting – Doug Lamborn and Duncan Bremer.  I think this is a bad omen for Jeff Crank.  It seems that the party machinery is lining up behind him – Hefly announced his endorsement of Crank on Tuesday, the head of the state Republican Party has resigned to take a position with the Crank campaign–it feels like a push behind him.  However, in the grassroots there is definitely a feeling of "why take someone from Washington when we have perfectly good home-grown candidates?"

 My support lies with Doug Lamborn.  I think that he has earned his stripes in the Colorado Legislature.  And if you think its easy to take a pro-choice stand in Denver, you haven't seen the push that will come from the MSM and the Boulder intelligentsia.  

The issue is really one of degree.  Whoever the Republicans nominate will end up with  the seat unless something completely untoward happens.  El Paso county has had some influx from California, but a lot of them are conservatives who are disgusted with the way that state is falling off into the liberalism sea.