As life looks to “resume”, the issue I want to explore today is WFH. The dream of millennials for a decade (one of my colleagues described it as “work from the beach”), it was forced on Gen X’ers and Boomers with no credible excuse to not do it. After the failure of the open office concept and collaboration that would occur because everyone could see each other, work from home was actually the elusive bullet. No commute, no hours spent...

In April of 2019, Vicki Hollub made a play for Anadarko that was aggressive, bold and totally out of the realm of my imagination that I instantly discovered that she was my favorite CEO. Oil was $72, consolidation needed to happen and everyone else was too afraid to do it.  My entire career was built on data driven, bold risk taking and, for the most part, it had worked out. She had a super fan and she was going...

For 3 of the last 4 nights, I’ve been out to dinner around our neighborhood and unquestionably, it is busier. Outdoor seating and closed streets have added to capacity and for the first time since this started, I would surmise that restaurants are constrained now by capacity not patrons. It’s still easy to get and move reservations but the energy in the restaurant is higher, full of talking and story telling and friends. What unquestionably has also happened is that...

So far this year in the United States, 454,000 people have died from cancer, including the star of the ‘Black Panther’, ‘42’ and ‘Marshall’, Chadwick Boseman, who died yesterday. Death is hard. It is sad. But it is guaranteed. One of my father’s very best friends died last week at 71 after his fight with cancer. He found out in October when he found blood in his urine. Harry was a wonderful man, father and friend and he will be...

I love the freedom of speech. It is absolutely, positively, everyone’s right to say whatever they want. I do think that sometimes people forget that other people have the freedom of choice to respond. When you say something, you will be held accountable for it. Don’t mistake freedom to say it with intelligence to exert the freedom. #hottakeoftheday

The hypocrisy is starting to really get to me. So, like a year ago, every company said “plastics are bad!!! We are moving to paper and cotton and reusables”. Which is why I suffered from miserable paper straws for months! Seriously... those are the worst. Turns out... then reusables were bad because even though restaurants are required by law to sanitize plates and glasses after use, restaurants must serve in plastic glasses. Ummm.... what? How about “to-go” booze? It was...

After finishing hockey practice, my son and wife stopped at McDonald’s on the way home. Not the healthiest choice, but when you work out 14 times a week, a little cheat day won’t kill you. In a snapshot of problems covered up by the stock markets ascent, a woman was prostituting herself in the parking lot and there were 3 homeless people asleep beside the drive-through. The problems have always been there, we just chose to ignore them. They are...

As a storm barrels down on GOM, shutting in 1 Mmbo/d of oil, another storm just hit the New York Stock Exchange. Exxon...Venerable Exxon. Former global super power and once the world’s largest company, was replaced in the DJIA by Salesforce.com (that little software company that sales people hate because they have to track all their customers and contacts and thus commoditize the relationship). Many misinterpret my comments about the death of the oil and gas industry as implying we...

This week I am joined on the #htotdpodcast by Danielle DiMartino Booth.  Former investment banker, Dallas Federal Reserve Advisor, Author of “Fed Up” and financial expert and commentator on economic trends, Danielle provides context to federal action, what’s going on in the economy and educates on the perils of the path we are taking. I was a fan before. I’m a bigger fan now. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.   #hottakeoftheday Episode 62 w/Danielle DiMartino Booth https://youtu.be/A0YrzIRFCzg   Audio...

Over the last couple weeks, as the buzz about going back to school picked up, I would ask students of all ages “What are you most excited about?” The answer: “seeing my friends.” Among the many reasons online school is not a viable long term option, not hanging out with friends, not meeting potential mates (for life or for the evening), not going to parties and not growing up are the largest. So when universities put plans together to welcome students...