Steve Fernlund and The Long Way Home

Just over a year ago, I finally understood what a podcast could be. Having participated in a few, I learned that a podcast could be just audio or include video, consumed at one's leisure. This simple understanding of a digital medium was a revelation that prepared me for another, far more impactful, digital trend. Lately, I’ve happened upon a new word for an ancient practice that is stirring the thoughts and fears of old folks like me. That word is influencer.  Influencers, typically young, tech-savvy, and good-looking, began sharing their lives and perspectives directly with the world in the social media universe that has enveloped and consumed much of our time and thoughts. Little, if any, regulation or curating goes into what is presented. The main goal is to get “followers” and “likes,” which gets the attention of marketers, business people, and politicians, who might pay outrageous sums of money for endorsements or promotional campaigns. Perhaps surprisingly, between 30% and 5...

Last Saturday, around 7:30 am, as my car crept onto Highway 61 heading west, I heard a report on Minnesota Public Radio about a shelter-in-place order in a three-mile radius around the Edinburgh Golf Course in Brooklyn Park, MN. They reported that a shooter, who had injured at least four people in the early hours of the 14th, was still at large, dressed as a police officer. The search was ongoing, and no other details were available. Every time I hear about one of these incidents, I assume the shootings are somehow related to gang activity or domestic violence. A jealous husband kills his wife and her boyfriend, and will soon give up the chase. In gang-related incidents, the shooter seems to vanish without a trace. I shook my head, sighed, "Here we go again," and proceeded to my customer service job at the Cook County Home Center, which opened at 8.  Three of us were on the job, focusing on turning on the computers and the lights. As the morning routine continued, I tackled m...

As we proceed through life, minor aggravations are the number one cause of angry outbursts and sleepless nights. Incompetence, bureaucracy, and my favorite recent word, idiocracy, frustrate all of us to no end. Business, like life, is a process. And like life, business is filled with a seemingly endless scheme of rules and regulations that are ill-considered, antiquated, or downright stupid. These eventually swell to a tsunami of rage that generally leaves an ocean of regret.  As a manager of people and business processes for way too many years, I was obsessed with the small stuff. My goal? Eliminate all the processes (rules and regs) that customers find aggravating, even a little bit, so they and my co-workers could focus on the essential stuff.  "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff... and It's All Small Stuff” is a self-help book written in the 1990s by Richard Carlson, Ph.D. The title became a widely known and often-quoted piece of advice for stress management and maintaining p...

Money. We all need it. For millennia, it has been the lubricant that keeps the economy moving.  Talk about indoctrination; Centennial Elementary School in Richfield, MN, hooked us wee grade schoolers up with Richfield State Bank passbook savings accounts. We could stuff allowance there instead of in a mattress or a piggy bank. I don’t remember the logistics of getting money in or out, but I was proud to say I had a bank account. We learned early on that money, which may have been at the root of evil, was something we’d need for the rest of our days.  Our species has functioned quite well as "a trading people." The impulse to exchange goods and services is deeply embedded in human behavior, driven by necessity, efficiency, and the desire for specialized items. Long-distance trade networks have existed for thousands of years.  The beginning of agriculture centuries ago led to more settled communities and food surpluses, freeing people from the direct need to find food. This...