Corporate crime
Brownell is the third high-level official of D.C.-based Douglas Development who has been found guilty of felony charges. (...) Between 1996 and 2004 Douglas Development made payments totaling more than $270,000 to a credit line account of Brownell at Potomac Valley Bank, where the funds were then
Teaching and Learning
Effective educators do not teach. Teaching is usually an obstruction to learning. (...) However, a good educator facilitates one’s learning process, enables one to learn more rapidly and effectively and motivates one to do so. To a large extent they do so by making learning fun.- Russell Ackoff (CQM Journal)
Teaching and Learning
The appeal of gurus lies to a large extent in the simplicity of the doctrines they put forth. They are simple no matter how complex the problems at which they are directed. They provide a life raft to those managers who are incapable of handling complexity. (...) Educators stand in sharp
business ethics
[T]he company disclosed that Chairman and CEO Micky Arison rang up $343K on his use of the corporate jet last year and that COO Howard Frank spent $321K. Of course, anyone looking to see how those numbers compare to the previous year have to dig through another set of
Bank fraud
A federal judge in Topeka sentenced former Westar Energy CEO David Wittig to 24 months in prison for bank fraud (Houston Chronicle via Business Week)
Teaching and Learning
After each (...) class, I post the readings for the class, a link to the PowerPoint slides used in that class, and a link to an audio recording of the class. (....) I am increasingly using these posts as a way of following up on subjects that we didn't fully
business ethics
Samsung Electronics of South Korea, the world's largest maker of memory chips, has agreed to pay $90 million to settle civil charges that it conspired with six other makers of computer chips to fix prices, the attorneys general of 41 states announced. (...) The other companies involved included Infineon
Business Communication
In the e-mail, Dell wrote that the company ended its fiscal year Friday with "great efforts, but not great results." "This is disappointing, and it is unacceptable," wrote Dell, who went on to say that he plans to remain CEO for the next several years.
duopoly
Over the last three years, Nardelli's base salary, bonus, and other compensation (loan forgiveness) totaled $37.4 million - more than quadruple the $8.1 million that Niblock got! The picture gets a lot worse when you add in grants of restricted stock and options. Over the last three
Comic relief
Daniel Engber over at Slate Magazine wants to dump the wind chill factor. He is bitter over the "paternalistic impulse" of weather reporters "to explain not just how cold it is, but how cold we'll feel." The best algorithm we'll ever have
Alitalia
A high school aviation teacher earning 1,200 euros ($1,500) a month became a celebrity by making a fake bid to buy Alitalia [an international airline] as a protest against years of mismanagement. (New York Times) The Treasury Department receiving the bids did not check his credentials...
Chiemgauer
[C]onsumers in the region southeast of Munich use (the chiemgauer) to buy products as diverse as pizza, haircuts and rugs. Aimed at fostering the production and consumption of local products and services, the chiemgauer challenges the central banking orthodoxy that pumping more cash into an economy accelerates inflation and