I am not much of a cultural commentator. It's probably sacrilege to admit that on a site that's dedicated to the interaction of faith, news and culture, but except for an inexcusable affection for celebrity gossip, there's not much about the popular press that gets my riled up. Maybe its because I tend to be a long-range thinker and the burning issues of today, quickly become the burnt out concerns of yesterday. Or maybe its because I tend to be a pretty cerebral processor (I once read a book about bookshelves which is anathema to most people) and things like the latest political maneuver or the Ebert and Roper's movie reviews aren't of great interest. I say all that to say, my opinion on the proposal to drill in ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Reserve) is barely informed and probably worth less than the paper it would take to portray it.  I tend to leave those things to the expert, alhough I would like it to cost less to fill up my car's gas tank. It turns out, I'm not alone in this.

Anyone who saw the Lakers implode on Thursday night is now very well informed of the fact that basketball is a four-quarter game. Up by over 24 points at the half, the Lakers manage to blow the largest lead in an NBA final game. GIve props to the Celtics though because the Lakers lost wasn't causes solely by their own incompetence. Doc Rivers' team did a masterful job of defending the NBA's MVP and winning the game one point and one block at a time.

I'm sure that much will be made of the game in sports annals, and I'm sure that many will use the analogy to illustrate other points. Let me be among the first. Playing to the end with excellence is what wins basketball games. It's also an important lesson in business and life.

Businesses have a cycle. After the founders leave, most businesses go through a crisis. If this hasn't already happened, it usually occurs thirty or so years into the organization's history. What has been the organization successful no longer works. Times have changed and adaption is necessary. Just like the Lakers couldn't adjust to the Celtic's smaller line-up, businesses continue to try to offer the same products and the same service and at the end of the third quarter of their infancy, they find themselves in trouble. The same is true in life. Those who don't play strong until the end find themselves similarily in despair. Achieving your goals means playing every second with them in mind and not relenting when you have them in sight.

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Variety, the trade magazine of the film industry, recently announced that the WB Looney Toon characters would be exclusively featured on a line of healthy eating products to be sold at Safeway. Of course, this exclusivity has its limits. The characters would no longer be featured on unhealthy foods except for "certain ice cream products or birthday cakes." I haven't taken a nutrition class in a long time, but I'm pretty sure those don't qualify as healthy, and I'm also guessing that those are some of the more popular unhealthy items for kids.

My cynicism aside (or at least that part of it), I find it noteworthy that the powers that be at the WB would choose to restrict their characters' license opportunities. Cast in the clock of corporate responsibility, this move creates a premim for the characters. Any upper-class marketing student should be able to tell you, using your brand to promote anything and everything quickly dilutes the power that your brand held. By limiting the types of products that these characters can promote, the brand owners actually increase the brand's value. Assuming these are characters that food companies want to have represent their product, they now have greater leverage in negotiations because their standards for representation has increased.

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In A Severe Mercy, a wonderful book about a fairytale love story that was present in reality, the author, Sheldon Vanuaken shares that his wife and he used the analogy of getting a glass of water in the middle of the night for the author as the highest form of courtesy. Thinking this through, one can see why this would be. Getting up for somebody else from the warmth of a bed into the cool of the night in order to meet their need for thirst is a simple yet profound way to treat someone as valuable - to treat them with respect. This level of magnanimity is rarely seen nowadays.

• You'll have to talk to someone else
• I just didn't get around to it
• I have to ask my boss
• I know this isn't what you wanted, but . . .
• That's not my job
• That's not my fault

Whether your the employer or the customer, these are words you don't want to hear. And yet all to often, they are exactly the response you'll receive.

Organizational life in the 21st century has many challenges. All of these challenges are now more poignantly experienced as a result of the recession we're not having. Businesses today know that in order to succeed, they must make the customer king. Maybe that's why Business Week's recent list of most innovative companies is proliferated by company's who have a reputation of listening intently to customer feedback and delivering accordingly. These are organizations who employ people that know it is everyone's responsibility to deliver excellence, consistently.

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You can have this whole world, but give me Jesus - lyrics from a song, author unfound


Being self-sufficient is a much sought after trait these days. Relationships fail, jobs end, parents divorce, and money runs out. Having our own accomplishments, our own trophies that we can point to give us a sense of pride and a confidence that whatever the world may throw at us we can handle it. We like to know that when all else fails, we can count on ourselves.

As encouraging as this awareness might be, its also wholly false. If we're honest with ourselves, we know that we are the most frequent culprit of disappointed expectations. We're never as good, or as nice, or as smart as we want to be. We all have our "D'oh!" Homer Simpson moments. Hopefully these moments are more about finding our remote control in the refrigerator than causing a rift in a relationship, but we all probably have plenty of both to fill a book. Being self-sufficient may seem like a nice ideal, but its an illusion.

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Teaching college students is one of the greatest joys of my life. It combines two things that get me excited - business principles and helping others. Although it may be strange to think that business principles can get one excited they truly do. Its just one of my many quirks.

Along with teaching though, there comes the time that the students will inevitably leave. This isn't a time I look forward to although it is a time that's filled with mixed emotions. You're proud of what they've accomplished and yet sad that at the same time you will in all likelihood never see them again this side of heaven. At the same time, many students approach their date of graduation, a day that they've been preparing for the past four years, with trepidation. Many don't know what they'll do at the time of their departure and they are looking for some sort of plan.

My hope for all my students, regardless of the plans that they've established for themselves is that they've used their time during their college careers to get know their Father better, to deepen their relationship with Him, to make a commitment that they'll be used by Him "any way, any time, any place." In other words, its not only their increase in business knowledge that I hope has changed them, I hope that their hearts have been changed as well.

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In business, there is often good-natured teasing between the disciplines. The division of power not only ensures fulfillment of all the responsibilities, but it creates barriers between those who spend the money and those who count the money. This tension is beneficial and if parlayed correctly helps ensure that the organization is properly run. Recognizing this, doesn't eliminate the tension but it does make it more hilarious.

What's true in the confines of an organization often gets carried over to the classroom, and my students have repeatedly heard about the evils of marketing, mostly from those who participate in other business disciplines. While this is understandable, some of the jokes may have had an unintended effect. They cause those who fill called to a career in marketing to question the validity of their chosen path. As an individual who has spent her adult life in this field, this makes me sad. Sure, marketing can be used for less-than-commendable purposes, but so can any discipline (Enron, anyone?). The marketers job isn't to convince people to buy something they don't know, it's to communicate to the organization's audience on its behalf. It's the responsible marketer who listens to the customer, discovers their needs, and creates products or services that meet those needs. It's not about need creation, it's about need fulfillment.

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