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Junkyard Management

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Taking Stock

Junkyard Wisdom is 4-years old now. Topics have bounced from leadership ideas to wine reviews, from PathLight updates to family stories, and a wide range beyond all that. All of it has reflected my range of interests and ideas.

After four years of this, it’s time to again ask what you have enjoyed most. I can easily look at the data and see what posts were the most popular, but sometimes popularity isn’t the same as having an impact. A quick example: the most visited post of all time was a book review, but that’s mostly because the author promoted …

Apocryphal, Junkyard Management,

Being and Doing

This is the time of year college seniors seek my advice about jobs and careers. Sometimes I have good leads, often I’m clueless how to advise them. So I’m always looking for insights that I can pass on.

I recently heard a young preacher say, “If you know who you are you will know what to do.” It’s an interesting insight that is true. But it’s not the complete picture.

To understand who you are, you have to get out and do a few things. We learn a lot about ourselves by doing. We gain experience and talents along …

Junkyard Management,

Social Investment & Giving

Enormous resources are poured into “social investment” these days. The definition of the term isn’t always clear, but the idea is utilizing the power of the economic system to improve the lives of the poor and the marginalized.

One significant difference between “social investment” and simply “investment” is the motivation. Social investors focus on changing people’s lives. Pure economic investment focuses on earning a profit. There is an overlap in those two objectives, and social investment is experimenting to find the right balance.

There is also a difference between “social investment” and “giving”. Giving (or philanthropy, or charity, or any …

Apocryphal, Junkyard Management, Random Thoughts,

My 2013 Predictions

A year ago I began a new tradition and posted ten predictions for the upcoming year. And you know what? I was actually fairly accurate!
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Among other things, I predicted the Giants would win the World Series, the economy would slowly improve, Obama would win the election, the Mayan apocalypse would not happen, the London Olympics would be great, China will keep growing, and the Occupy folks would lose steam. Not bad!

Of course, I missed it on the Priceline Transporter, Hawaii seceding from the Union, and the Kanye West marriage to Taylor Swift. But hey, you didn’t really …

Junkyard Management,

Humorous Photo

Long time friend Brad Boydston posted this and it made me laugh out loud. Figured it was well worth sharing. As Brad said, Jeep driving is known to help people maintain a sense of humor.

…

Family, Junkyard Management,

The Murderer Who Built Our Waterfall

Taking a break from blog posts about wine, books, or spiritual insights…and sharing a story from my youth.

My childhood was a weird mix of suburban predictability and wrecking yard madness. On the predictable side, I grew up in a typical tract home in the Willow Glen district of San Jose, we shopped at the regular stores, we wore clothes typical for the era, we ate regular middle class meals, and we attended a conservative Baptist church. Life was pretty straightforward.

But there was that madness side. Dad always had some odd deal in the works and he knew some …

Junkyard Management, Random Thoughts,

Intention Allows for the Organic

A recent workshop had me thinking about the importance of being intentional.

The things we call “organic” in an organization, movement, or other endeavor are actually changes, connections, serendipitous moments, and unexpected consequences of something that was originally intentional. The intention creates the environment for the organic to happen.

Now this might seem obvious to you. I suppose it is obvious. But I’ve never heard anybody express it before. Maybe I haven’t been listening? Whatever, it’s an interesting insight that I want to ponder a bit.

You see, things can happen intentional or organically. Said another way, you can plan …

Book Reviews, Junkyard Management,

Twenty Five Books That Influenced My Life – #20

If you read this blog you know that I grew up working in my father’s junkyard. Many of the people who worked for my Dad were Mexican-American. Spanish was spoken as often — perhaps more often — than English.

My point is that I spent a lot of time around people of Mexican heritage when I was growing up.

Several years ago I picked up a copy of The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle. It sat on my end table for a long time before I finally got around to reading it. I probably kept putting it off because …