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Junkyard Management

Problems of the Privileged

A friend of mine was playing golf at her country club when she began to recognize a disturbing pattern: there were a lot of complaints about meaningless things.

I asked for more detail, and she said, “Oh, you know, just normal POP stuff.” I looked at her questioningly and she said, “POP. You know, Problems of Privilege. We’re playing golf on a beautiful course with everything we could ever really ask for, and yet we still find things to complain about. Problems of Privilege.”

I laughed out loud at that one! Indeed there is such a thing as POP, and …

Book Reviews, Junkyard Management,

How I Sold Car Parts to Steve Jobs (okay, so probably not, but still…)

Walter Isaacson is one of my favorite biographers. His books about Einstein, Kissinger, and Benjamin Franklin are fantastic. So last summer when I heard that he would be writing a book titled Steve Jobs, I immediately put it into my Amazon cart.

Little did I realize that Jobs would be gone by the time the book was released. A sad loss for his family, for Apple, and for those of us who love the unique Silicon Valley area and culture. Jobs changed the world with his innovation and passion. He brought together great design and great technology as nobody …

Family, Goble Properties, Junkyard Management,

Taking Good Solutions Too Far

My father built a mobile home park in the early 1970’s. Seemed like a good idea at the time — the land was cheap, the location was near a lot of blue collar jobs, and construction costs were minimal.

But he had a hard time getting anybody to move into the park.

He found a solution by buying mobile homes from the factory and moving them into the park himself. Then he’d sell the mobile home all ready to go. The buyer didn’t have to deal with permits, utilities, setup, transportation, etc. The park began to fill up this way …

Family, Goble Properties, Junkyard Management,

Goble Lane

I love this picture. Take a close look and you’ll see three wrecking yards, with metal buildings mixed among them. You’ll also see a small mobile home park in the midst of construction (about half the trailers are in place).

This is Goble Lane, in San Jose, circa 1960 or so. My Dad built the metal buildings and eventually owned all three wrecking yards plus the mobile home park. It’s all gone now, of course, torn down for retail spaces and condominiums. But it was the anchor of Goble Properties for a couple of decades.

I spent a lot of …

Goble Properties, Junkyard Management,

Jobs Plan

There’s a lot of talk about how to create jobs. Much of it is nonsense, and that’s true for both sides of the political spectrum. The discussion (if one could call it that) has degenerated into different visions of blurry reality. As with most divisions, there is some truth on both sides…but mostly a lot of catering to special interest groups.

So I thought I’d add a personal insight into how to create more jobs in America. This is part ranting, part common sense, and part personal agenda. Most likely it will contain things neither political party likes.

Here are …

Family, Goble Properties, Junkyard Management, PathLight, The SOLD Project, Wine Reviews,

Goble Properties Staff Retreat

During the 30-years that I have been at Goble Properties we have never had a staff retreat. Ridiculous, right?

Well that has been corrected. Last week D’Aun and I spent three days in Napa at the Silverado Resort with some of the nicest people on the planet. Our staff are scattered from Cathedral City to San Jose to Pleasanton, so it was good to pull everybody together.

We built our meetings around the book ReWork by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson. What I love about this book is that it understands the mindset of a small business owner. …

Emerging Ministries, Goble Properties, Junkyard Management,

Lead, Follow, or Go Your Own Way

A previous post promised that I’d explain my leadership style. But first a reality check: this is an ongoing progress. I’m still working through my thoughts on how, exactly, I lead. I’m still learning.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “lead, follow, or get out of the way.” It’s a clever saying, but it is incomplete. The part I especially dislike is that “get out of the way” is not the only other option.

My leadership style is better expressed as “lead, follow, or go your own way.”

Many say that leadership is defined as having followers. There are well …

Family, Goble Properties, Junkyard Management,

Walt Rodoni, 1913-2011

I have written before about my friend, mentor and employee Walt. Sadly, Walt passed away on Easter Sunday. He was 98 years old and lived an active life right up till the last week. He will be missed.

Below is the obituary for Walt, and below is that is unedited footage from a shoot my son Jedd did about Walt’s life. The video is well worth watching; a candid moment of reflection, with an endorsement for “a good doctor and tabasco sauce”.

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Walter A Rodoni, 98, was born on January 23, 1913 and passed away April 24, 2011 at …