Steve Fernlund and The Long Way Home

You may not know this about me, but I'm passionate about small businesses. Small businesses and those who build and operate them play a vital role in our country. My favorite features to write for publication are about the entrepreneurs who do the tedious, often aggravating, but always satisfying work of operating a small business. As I found myself in the quiet days of late November, I couldn't help but reflect on the countless individuals I’ve known over my five decades of business experience. They were all great mentors, although I never labeled them as such. To me, they were just friends or someone I knew. This informal mentorship, often undervalued, holds a profound value. The word “mentor,” like “networking,”  is overused in the business press today. It's a term that's lost its true meaning in the sea of articles and online resources. The notion of mentoring has been formalized online and in print, and I can't help but feel that this has diluted its value. Eag...

“The important thing is the obvious thing that nobody is saying” --Charles Bukowski. The obvious, the important thing, often threatens reputations, feelings, and identity. Who else grew up hearing, “We don’t say that here.” When it comes to politics, our tendency to not say the obvious thing is apparent from city council and county commissioner meetings to the White House. I visited my favorite library to understand what happened with the election last month. I checked out The Populist Explosion: How the Great Recession Transformed American and European Politics , published in October 2016.  Its author,  John B. Judis, defines populism as a political ideology pitting "the people" against "the elite." Populist leaders mobilize a broad base of support by appealing to the frustrations and anxieties of ordinary people against a perceived corrupt and self-serving establishment. Ironically, over the last couple hundred years, those populist leaders were themselves part of...