Commentary
Why Boeing Needs a Union
In this day and age, does Boeing need a union? Thats the question top management at the largest commercial aircraft manufacturer in the world, as well as governors of states like South Carolina, would like to ask folks in the Puget Sound region. Usually, debates about unions are framed around issues like fair pay, workers…
Virgin on Business: Heres to the Underachievers
As a means of measuring who was most successful at being a success, Americans have compiled endless lists of the biggest, fastest, richest, winningest and best, and handed out endless awards to confirm those who had achieved it. But success is looking a bit shopworn lately. Threadbare and dusty. It hasnt completely lost its allure,…
Final Analysis: A City’s Sign Language
Elsewhere in this months issue, some pretty clever people weigh in on how they would brand Seattle if given the opportunity. Some suggest that trying to brand a place is a bad idea. Especially a place like Seattle, which is appealing on so many levels that youd have to be comatose to be unaware of…
Letters to the Editor
ANA MARI CAUCEIm an avid reader of Seattle Business magazine and enjoyed Washington CEO as well. As a 1973 graduate of the University of Washington, I couldnt have been more pleased to read your Editors Note in the June issue in support of interim UW President Ana Mari Cauce for the permanent position. Applause on…
Editor’s Note: Building Trust
In the 1970s and 80s, when the rise of japanese industry led to huge layoffs in United States businesses from automobile assembly to semiconductor manufacturing a strong anti-Japanese response contained dark warnings of an incipient Japanese takeover and featured members of Congress taking sledgehammers to Japanese cars on TV. The United StatesJapan trade war was…
CEO Adviser: A Bankers View
As a banking lifer, I have spent most of my career in the private sector helping Washingtonians achieve their financial goals. But, in 2013, my career track took a detour, and my business skills were tapped in a new way as CEO of the Washington Department of Revenue. Im now back in banking, sharing with…
Virgin on Business: Branch Banking Isn’t Dead Yet
Novus ordo seclorum the new order of the age. It says so right on our money, and in the conventional wisdom of technological progress. When that new order arrives, the old ways of doing things, like being ruled as a colony, are supposed to retreat into obsolescence and obscurity, sometimes gradually, other times quickly and…
Letters to the Editor
AFFORDABLE CARE ACTThe article Doubt of the Benefit by Patrick Marshall [May 2015] is outstanding. Seattle Business took the time to really understand the complex nature of employee benefits and where they come from and what is at stake with the Affordable Care Act. Congratulations on leading the way on the topic while the other…
Final Analysis: Power from the People
What constitutes a great company to work For? Don't ask the Mariners.
What makes a company a great one to work for? Its the people. Sure, the free lunches and the Friday beer parties are nice. And who wouldnt want unlimited vacation time and fully paid health insurance for the whole family? Still, if you dont have the right people, youre toast. Take the Seattle Mariners. Please….
Editor’s Note: Getting It Right
Nearly 120 years ago, the klondike gold rush ushered in an era of prosperity that transformed Seattle. A town damaged by the fire of 1889 and then the financial panic of 1893 found new life as a supplier to the thousands of prospectors. New wealth, new residents and transformative projects such as the Lake Washington…
Commentary: Building Consumer Trust in a Changing Online World
Working for Starwave Corporation during the early stages of the commercial internet in the 1990s, I wrote one of the first privacy policies for the popular ESPNet SportsZone online service. The site had rapidly gained an international audience. We gathered in a conference room with chips and soda to celebrate our first million hit day….
CEO Adviser: Read the State Constitution
Washingtons constitution, which is far wordier and more unwieldy than its big brother, the United States Constitution, contains some features that business executives and investors ought to know. Reflecting the populist movements mistrust of both government and corporations, it contains provisions that are designed to create a trustworthy, transparent government while also limiting the power…
Virgin on Business: Boatbuilding with ‘Vigor’
There was a maritime industry around these parts long before anyone thought of such concepts as distinct industries. Building boats and doing stuff with them catching fish, getting around was a basic part of life, and remained so after more boats showed up bearing settlers, who proceeded to build even more boats, for fishing, trade…