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Citicorp Faces the World: An Interview with John Reed
John S. Reed, chairman and CEO of Citicorp, has never been reluctant to make waves. During his 25-year career with the most powerful bank in the United States, Reed has engineered radical change in a major operating group, built a lucrative new business from scratch, and played a high-visibility role in the pivotal issue of […]
Noel Tichy and Ram Charan
From the Magazine (November–December 1990)
John S. Reed, chairman and CEO of Citicorp, has never been reluctant to make waves. During his 25-year career with the most powerful bank in the United States, Reed has engineered radical change in a major operating group, built a lucrative new business from scratch, and played a high-visibility role in the pivotal issue of Third World debt. Reed made his first real mark at Citicorp in the early 1970s, when he overhauled the company's back office. Later, he was the architect of Citicorp's consumer bank—a global empire of credit cards, retail branches, and home mortgages that will earn more than $1 billion in 1990.
Reed, now 51, became chairman on September 1, 1984. His ambition is clear: to create the world's first truly global financial institution. Clear too are the tensions and challenges under which he operates.
Citicorp may be the only U.S. bank with the potential to become a dominant global force. It is not only the largest bank in the United States, with assets of more than $230 billion, but also the ninth largest in the world, the only U.S. bank among the top ten. Chase Manhattan, the second largest U.S. bank in terms of assets, ranks only thirty-second in the world.
Despite its scale, Citicorp operates under considerable financial constraints. Its precarious balance sheet, with $4 billion of loan-loss reserves mainly on Third World debt, limits its capacity to acquire large, healthy institutions in the United States and Europe. On nearly every commonly accepted financial ratio, Citicorp lags most of its smaller domestic rivals—as well as some larger foreign competitors.
Reed faces human and organizational challenges as well. Many of Citibank's operations are world-class. Its consumer bank is a model of nearly seamless global enterprise—perhaps the best model anywhere. It has 35 million outstanding charge and credit cards around the world and more than 700 branches in Europe. Citicorp's commercial banking and finance activities in the developing countries are well positioned and extremely profitable, as are its worldwide businesses both with other financial institutions, organized under the Financial Institutions Group, and with multinational companies, under the World Corporation Group.
On the other hand, the JENA corporate bank—a sophisticated lending, trading, and deal-making organization in the interlinked markets of Japan, Europe, and North America—has struggled. It has experienced growing pains and strategic setbacks, including an aborted effort to become a major stockbroker in London. Along with other lenders, it has experienced a series of embarrassing reversals on high-profile transactions in LBOs and commercial real estate in the United States.
In this interview, Reed explores how he is reckoning with these tensions. He sketches an alluring set of strategic options that can revolutionize the structure of global banking. He elaborates on the management lessons of Citicorp's consumer bank. He promises a thorough overhaul of the corporate bank and describes his role in the change process.
The interview was conducted at Citicorp's New York headquarters by Noel Tichy and Ram Charan. Mr. Tichy is a professor at the University of Michigan's School of Business Administration and director of its Global Leadership Program. Mr. Charan is a Dallas-based consultant who advises companies in the United States, Europe, and Asia on implementing global strategies.
HBR: Citicorp may be the only U.S. financial institution that can be a global leader in both consumer and corporate banking. How do you evaluate your competitive position?
John Reed: Global competition in banking is strategic as opposed to tactical. Competition among the top 30 players around the world is about occupying space. It's about positioning yourself wisely over time, not wiping out the other guys on specific products. I approach competition a little like the Chinese board game Go. You see where other players have put their chips, figure out why, and decide where to put your chips.
When Walt Wriston became chairman in 1970, we were the third largest bank in the United States after Chase Manhattan and Bank of America. When I took over from Walt in 1984, we were number one. You can't point to any one reason; Walt just occupied space in the global marketplace more effectively than our competitors. Our commitment to the consumer bank was one dramatically different play. The rest of the industry thought we had made a mistake. They weren't competing with us because they thought we were wasting a lot of energy on a business that would be a dead end. It turns out they were wrong.
This is quite different from the manufacturing world. One of the things that strikes me about industrial competition is how real, how visceral it can be. I'm on the board of United Technologies. Pratt & Whitney knows when General Electric sells a jet engine; every sale for GE is a sale that Pratt didn't get. I'm also on the board of Philip Morris. I was very impressed by what Philip Morris did after it bought Miller Beer. It asked: What are the most popular beers? It found them, adopted a very savvy strategy to confront them head-on, and increased its market share from less than 5% to almost 20% in just a few years. One-on-one competition clarifies your alternatives. You can measure what your opponent is doing, then choose to compete on that basis or to try something completely different. The business we're in isn't like that.
As you look around the world, who is occupying space most effectively?
The French banks are doing well. They aren't taking any business from us, and I'm sure their execution isn't perfect, but they are developing an effective strategic posture that will make it difficult for me to occupy space in their marketplace. Deutsche Bank is a formidable competitor. I don't think their acquisition of Morgan Grenfell, the British investment bank, will be financially fruitful, but I certainly noticed it. On the other hand, the Japanese banks are heavily domestic. They haven't concentrated on occupying space in the way we use the phrase.
How do the dynamics of global competition affect how you think about strategy?
It creates lots of options for the future. There's no secret about what we're trying to accomplish. We want to occupy much more space, both domestically and outside the United States. We want to build a more diverse business engine, with broader channels of distribution that embrace on-line information technologies. If we're successful, the institution I leave behind will have a more robust, and therefore more predictable, business.
The real questions are in the strategic how-to category. Two of the alternatives I've been imagining would involve big changes in the institutional structure of banking. One scenario is to evolve toward a structure similar to the energy business. I'm no expert on the oil industry, but it strikes me that competitive success has a lot to do with long-term positioning. Do you own part of the North Sea when it's worth owning, and are you out of it when it's not worth owning? That's why Shell and Exxon and Chevron are willing to do joint development, own fields together, make bids together. They don't see themselves in head-to-head tactical competition.
You can think about similar relationships in banking. We could web the world together. Imagine a scenario in which 10 or 12 international banks—much like the 5 or 6 giant oil companies—share the capital and risk associated with different parts of the business. The most effective way for us to become a big corporate bank in Germany might be to own 10% or 15% of one of the big German banks' corporate business. Since it might be hard for that bank to replicate our presence in Asia, we could swap 5% or 10% of that business in return. Somewhere else, we could go to a wholesale bank and say, "How would you like 25% of our consumer business in exchange for a piece of your corporate business?" This relationship could become very stabilizing, a better capital structure for the whole banking industry.
I'm not saying we will go this way. I've thought about it, but since I'm not sure many of my industry colleagues would agree with me, we might not be able to pull it off.
What's the second alternative?
My guess is that that the legal barriers between industry and banking in the United States will eventually dissolve. Giant industrial companies have immense capital. They could absorb a bank and essentially add no capital. The accounting would be complicated, but that's how it would work. There could be a large efficiency gain in having industry and banking use the same capital. After all, capital for a bank is used only in the event of potential bankruptcy; other than that you never touch it. So there are billions and billions of dollars of benefits.
These kinds of arrangements do raise some real social issues, like the perception of concentrated power. Some people might not like the idea of a big manufacturer owning a big bank; they'd worry that problems on the industrial side would destroy the bank. I've talked to the Fed about the idea; they don't like it very much. You've got to be careful. But Ford already owns $110 billion worth of financial assets, including a bunch of institutions with government insurance. They're in the federal safety net.
What's driving these kinds of strategic alternatives?
There is intense global pressure on the ten big players, in ways that people haven't fully identified yet. Our financial resources are limited right now. We're squeezed on a number of fronts, and so are lots of other people. Some of the squeeze is artificial. I don't believe the bulk of the $4 billion we have reserved for loan losses is needed; it's there to some extent for perfume. But because it's there, we can't touch it, and we don't want to go off and raise new money with it there.
You have to ask two questions: Is the banking industry short of capital? Does the industry need new ways to share and balance risks around the world? If the answers are yes, then you search for some new models.
Given these forces, what are Citicorp's advantages as you work to build a more diverse business engine?
Our most important advantage is our globality. There are few companies in the world that are truly global; we are the only global bank. Globalization has been firmly entrenched here at least since the 1920s. For 70 years, people have come here knowing they work for an international bank. Citibank lost money in the United States during the Depression; it was the dividend from the Shanghai branch that kept us going. We didn't get thrown out of China until 1950, and it was the Korean War, not the coming of the Communists, that made the difference. We've never closed our branch in Managua.
This global quality struck me as soon as I joined the bank in 1965. The colorful characters, the people with the most energy, seemed to be the international bankers. We had a cadre of people—and still do—called International Staff (IS), who were the transmitters of our culture around the world. IS people were permanent expatriates, the bank's foreign legionnaires. They had to be prepared to go any place, at any time, no questions asked—have your bags packed and don't tell us that your family doesn't want to go. In the 1950s, IS people even had to ask the bank's permission to get married, and a number of them were denied that permission. That doesn't happen anymore, of course. Later, when we opened domestic beachheads in places like Atlanta and Miami, we also put in Citicorp legionnaires.
Why is this a big advantage, particularly against rivals who are better financed?
It creates a worldview at the top of the company that shapes how we approach the business. Our global human capital may be as important a resource, if not more important, than our financial capital. Look at the Policy Committee, the top 30 or so officers in the bank. Almost 75% have worked outside the United States; more than 25% have worked in three or more countries. Half speak a language other than English; more than a quarter speak two or more languages other than English. Seven were born outside the United States. Compare that with single-culture competitors who are in a solid position financially.
The Japanese, for instance, are not global in the financial services business. Almost all of their earnings are domestic. They may be fine in commodity banking like foreign exchange, but when it comes to the customer interface, to origination, it's a little bit like computer logic chips—they don't have any. They don't feel comfortable in global-customer or originating interactions. They worry they're being taken advantage of. These are limiting factors, although they could well change over time.
How does Citicorp's global outlook affect how you run the business?
Let's talk about the consumer bank. We started the consumer bank in 1974 on a blank sheet of paper. From the very first day, we aspired to build a global organization. We never said, "Let's start in New York, go to St. Louis, and see what happens." It was "Let's do the whole world."
I still remember getting on a TWA flight in New York with Pam Flaherty, who was on the international side then and who now runs northeast U.S. branch banking, our biggest network. We flew to Belgium and all around Europe. We flew from London to Hong Kong and all around Asia. Then we flew to South America. At each stop, we studied what Citibank was doing, what was relevant to the consumer business, and how it could become part of a new business collective. We wound up identifying 11 countries with significant consumer operations.
We also made an important discovery that drove everything we did later. It became apparent that there were more similarities than differences among customers around the world. People's attitudes about their finances are a function of how they're raised, their education, and their values, not of their nationalities. What works in New York also works in Brussels, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. From day one, therefore, we built the consumer business independent of geography. We didn't distinguish style, business objectives, or anything else around the world—just customer characteristics.
That was 15 years ago. Today Citicorp has the greatest global reach in consumer banking. How do you leverage that presence to keep building on your lead?
To make it work, you need three things: a shared vision and common vocabulary around the world, an organization that can translate global scale into local advantage, and the capacity to transfer local innovations around the world.
The thing that separates us in the consumer business is our shared vision. Most bankers want to make loans, run branches, and sell credit cards, but they don't identify with customers. We do. We don't say, "Consumers need credit cards." We say, "Consumers need ways to buy things easily." That may mean credit cards, checks, or easy access to lots of cash. In Chile, for example, merchants accept checks because if you bounce a check, you go to jail. You don't build up a bunch of credit cards in that environment.
It still amazes me, but the philosophy of the consumer bank—the cultural claim of being a Citibanker—dominates almost everything else. We've institutionalized how we run the business around the world. The level of energy and the approach to problems are uniformly baked in—whether it's branch banking in Hong Kong, home mortgages in Europe, or auto loans in Puerto Rico. Without that shared vision and vocabulary, we couldn't leverage global economies of scale.
What's an example of the power of scale?
Our private bank is a good one. Globality is our most important advantage, even over the Swiss, who have been the world's best private bankers. We have competitors in every country, but we don't have a single, unified, worldwide competitor.
In 1985, we consolidated our private banking operations into a unified global business with offices in 68 cities in 32 countries and nearly $60 billion under management. We even have a private banking operation in Japan, and to the best of my knowledge, there is no such thing as a Japanese private bank. We want to be totally global and totally local. We want every source of market presence and credibility to reinforce the others. In other words, if we can successfully invest the assets of a French customer in France, that increases our credibility with an Argentine customer who is interested in French investments. If a Saudi customer wants to go into Japanese real estate, that customer should believe we know the market as well as anyone and that we have real experts on the ground in Tokyo.
Our uniform presence around the world also lets us do things no one else can do. You want a piece of a paper company in Chile? We can do it. You want to buy into a gold mine in Zambia? We can do it. When people finally recognize that investing in Mexican stocks is worthwhile, we'll be able to do it for them.
We haven't reached our goal yet; we're not even close. This is a fairly new effort, and private banking is a business with long time horizons. In some places, it's very hard to get business from older, wealthy people who have banked with a certain institution for decades. You have to wait for their kids or their kids' kids. But global scale also gives us staying power. We're willing to wait.
What about the third part of your equation, spreading local innovations around the world?
We call this process "success transfer." The term was coined by a Citibanker, Rana Talwar, who came out of our Indian branch system to head up our consumer business in Singapore. He developed a new collection of mutual funds, and they became a great success in Singapore. He had the notion of transferring that success throughout the Asia Pacific region, and it worked.
This has become a way of life in the consumer bank. Eight months after we rolled out our cash machines in New York, we had them in Hong Kong; now we're working on linking all our machines around the world. Success transfer doesn't always work as smoothly as we'd like. We're just now rolling out cash machines in Germany. We wanted to do it years ago, but our people in Germany resisted. They said Germans don't like cash machines and would never use them. Well, we tried them, they're working fine, and we're using our own machines just like everywhere else.
How do you make success transfer happen?
You create the demand for sharing with a strong and consistent drive from the top. In the early days, a few of us were catalysts, flying all over the world and urging people to work together. You create the supply by showing people what has been done elsewhere. Exposing people to success gives them the courage and drive to persist. It's a known fact in the scientific literature that if you tell one lab that another lab has succeeded at an experiment, the first lab is much more likely to succeed as well. The same dynamic works in the consumer bank.
But surely there are formal processes.
It's much less formal than you might imagine. One thing we do is transfer people. Early on, for example, we took people who understood the credit card business in Brazil and moved them to places where we needed them. The branch system in our Saudi Arabia affiliate, which is quite successful, is the work of Danny Li, who came out of our Hong Kong branch operation.
We've always had lots of meetings organized by function or lines of business. We might get all the credit card people in the world together and let them tell war stories—what works in Australia, what's working in Germany. We also carefully track performance around the world. We would take auto loans, for example, and organize a conference to compare revenues, expenses, write-offs, staffing levels, and so on. Puerto Rico was always one of our best markets for auto loans, as were the Philippines and Australia. We would learn from what they were doing and transfer those insights around the world.
But this was never an innovation. It was a natural by-product of the Citibank culture—the global outlook I talked about earlier—and how we built the consumer bank. And it gets stronger every year. I recently ran across some of our people in Germany and France who had just returned from Chile. Apparently, there was a conference in which people from various countries showed off "model branches." That's simply the way we do business in the consumer bank.
Which raises one of the great mysteries of Citicorp. How can you run such a world-class organization on the consumer side and have such problems on the corporate side?
First, let's be clear what business we're talking about. We have a uniquely successful business in the developing and newly industrialized economies, what we've traditionally called international banking—making loans and providing financial services to corporations and financial institutions. If you go to the Philippines, Indonesia, Bahrain, or Turkey, we inevitably have the best, most energized people, and the Citibank name is fantastic. You can say the same things globally about our Financial Institutions Group and the World Corporation Group. These groups are working well the way they are; any changes there are like changing the oil in a car every few thousand miles.
Our big challenge is in what we call JENA business—sophisticated corporate banking and market intermediation in the interlinked economies of Japan, Europe, and North America. That's where the competition has become the most fierce. That's where everything has changed. That's where the world keeps score, and that's where success requires global coordination across markets. Markets in the developing world aren't seamlessly interlinked. If you're in Mexico and you know what's going on in London, you just can't move smoothly between pesos and sterling. Capital within the JENA countries does move smoothly, which makes it a truly global market and a more complicated business.
We take your point. What's the major difference between the consumer bank, which is also a global operation, and the JENA corporate bank?
There's at least one big difference. In terms of what it takes to win, consumer banking is a little like building cars. Success comes when you routinize things to a point where a group of people at the top build the strategy, drive the creative work, and push the new products, while execution takes place relatively effortlessly, through good blocking and tackling. That's what success transfer is all about. It's about implementing new ideas quickly and uniformly around the world.
Corporate banking is more like delivering medicine. Your most expensive person, the doctor, is the guy who deals with the patients. The hospital administrators, the managers, are different from and not necessarily as talented as the doctors. But you can't let the doctors run the hospital. That creates chaos. That's the essence of the management challenge.
In the corporate bank, we don't have common products that we design and sell. We have relationships and transactions that are specialized and unique. Moreover, our professional competence sits down low in the corporate bank, with the people on the front lines who deal with customers and devise the transactions. We can't develop new products at the center and push them out. Good corporate bankers are walking product development departments.
What does that mean in terms of the kind of organization you have to build?
We have to build a smart organization, not just a responsive organization. A smart organization has shared wisdom and perspective, a textured competence that shapes the behavior of individual practitioners. We know how to hire smart people and put them in an organization; that doesn't automatically produce a smart organization.
How do you create perspective in an organization with thousands of professionals scattered across three continents?
Part of it has to do with the kinds of practitioners you value and promote. That's a problem for everyone in corporate banking. You can make such an ethic of management and deal making that you kill off the great bankers.
You can devalue the truly knowledgeable industry experts, the people to whom others look for advice, in favor of people with big, bold management jobs or who are great number crunchers. You really need them all. Today we have to rebuild the bankers. Fred Bradley, who covers aerospace, knows everyone in the industry, and everyone knows him. When McDonnell and Douglas came together, and that was years ago, he was right in the middle of it. When Boeing thinks of doing something, they talk to him; when Airbus thinks of doing something, they talk to him. Now he is not a manager; he probably disappears for days without telling his secretary. He is a banker.
The Morgan impresses me as a place with great customer-contact bankers—not deal makers in the Wall Street sense but people who understand relationships. They'll do deals we won't touch on pricing because they seem to be able to get the returns later or in other ways. They seem to know how to buy into a business and how to be in a position to leverage themselves with customers over time.
How else do you create perspective?
You have to affect values. Are we in business to make money? Are we in business to serve customers? If all you want to do is make money, you do what the Wall Street guys do: convince your customers to do things that generate big fees right away.
That's not our business. It was not our best moment when we financed Campeau. We're not going to lose money; we're well secured. But I would suggest that if your customer goes bankrupt within one year of a deal, then the deal was not good business for you. Some practitioners in the organization wouldn't necessarily agree with that. They would argue that big fees against no losses is a business victory. A smart organization would have said we shouldn't do the deal—even while knowing that if we didn't, someone else would. That's a hard one to pull off, but it's essential as a judgment and it's essential to our success.
We don't have those values fully in place yet. Nor do we have a real vision of what we want the business to be. My sense is that if you put the top ten people in the business in ten different offices and talked to them separately, you'd get ten different views of what we're doing. That's not healthy. That's not how you build a smart organization.
How do you promote those values?
Inject them on a case-by-case basis. I am going to intervene in the corporate business for a short period of time to create a sense of purpose and direction. Lately, I've been spending time on the real estate area because it's under so much pressure. My role is to give people the psychological permission to do what's right, not what's expedient. I will bet you that right now, 90% of the banking institutions in the United States define success in real estate this way: don't let the comptroller of the currency come in and ask you for any reserves, don't increase your write-offs, don't increase your exposure.
That's not a good value judgment. A bank should not manage its real estate business simply to lower its profile. We should assess the business, stick with the customers that we're comfortable with on the projects we feel comfortable with, identify the ones that we don't, and get out of those as effectively as we can. If as a by-product of making such rational business-related decisions we have to take a few more write-offs or book a few more nonperforming loans, that is the price to pay. We should tough it out and accept it—even though the marketplace may punish us and our stock may suffer.
The main point is not whether I am right or wrong. The point is, we are using personal intervention to persuade the organization to respond to a strong message. Somewhere down the road, we'll go out and have a beer. Success will be if we can say, "You know, we played that pretty smart." Failure will be if we say, "How the hell could we have been so dumb to react that way?"
Personal intervention can start the process of changing values. How will you institutionalize the process?
In JENA, we just introduced a new organizational structure and management approach that addresses some of the issues we've been discussing. I think we've come up with a way to deal with Japan, Europe, and North America as a seamless market with no organizational separation that acknowledges geography, a truly global approach to the corporate business. We are going to eliminate the psychological notion that we are a geographically organized bank.
Can you describe the architecture of this new global organization?
It's built around 50 or so distinct units that we are calling activity centers. Three features distinguish an activity center: it has a clear manager, its business thrust is easy to describe, and it draws on dedicated financial and human resources. Activity centers come in four colors. There are trading units such as foreign exchange and government securities. There are customer-contact activity centers, units dedicated to serving the financial requirements of particular sets of customers. There are placing centers whose primary function is to market paper to insurance companies, pension funds, and other institutional investors. Finally, there are product centers, specialized finance operations such as leveraged capital or M&A.
There are two things to keep in mind about this structure. First, the activity centers are well-defined, stand-alone entities. We are describing the language for each of them, and we're keeping it simple—a loose-leaf notebook with 50 pages, one for each activity center. Each page has a description of what the unit is doing, a three-year outlook, and what has to change. We're keeping that notebook alive; it will constitute a living record of performance and development. And we're having monthly reviews for each activity center. We look each manager in the eye and say, "Here's how you have been performing relative to a yardstick of expectations."
Second, the activity centers are not independent lines of business. They have to collaborate extensively. The intersection between the customer people, the product people, and the placement people is very fluid. In the consumer bank, success transfer is a central mechanism for global success. In the corporate bank, we'll succeed only if we can collaborate successfully across borders and disciplines.
How do you think the new structure will affect behavior?
It's a revolutionary change, and we think it's going to be a liberating change. We have a highly talented group of people who are great at doing things but who don't necessarily know how to run things. Why have an elaborate management apparatus? We've gotten rid of two to three reporting layers above the activity centers. We don't want checks and checkers.
We've also cleaned up the financial language. In the past, we collected financial results for a whole bunch of profit centers within the corporate bank. From now on, we are going to produce profits at only the consolidated level; there will be no intermediate P&Ls. This should reduce the political pressures, all the struggles over which group should be allocated what costs. We will have lots of other performance indicators for units within the corporate bank.
Let me make another point. Mike Callen, our sector executive for JENA, is going to run this operation. We're looking at this as essentially two layers of management: Mike and the 50 people who run the activity centers. So he has a very complicated job. We've also named 8 coordinators—very senior, very talented people who play critical roles. They act as player-coaches for various activity centers. They have to be visible in the marketplace. They have to be knowledgeable about what's going on in relevant activity centers, about the level of professional training. But the coordinators are not an intermediate reporting layer. They work alone, they don't have staff, and we don't want P&Ls from any of them.
Go back to the hospital metaphor. Mike Callen runs the hospital. The coordinators are like senior doctors on the most serious cases. They bring in the surgeons, the anesthesiologist, the nurses, and the special equipment to make sure the procedure happens right. Their psychic reward is that they're publicly visible, and they have the clout to pull together Citicorp's global resources to make things happen.
What's the key to making this new structure work?
We're building a 50-person team that feels a common ownership of the business. I don't think it's impossible to get 50 people to believe the same thing. It turns out this is a fairly homogeneous group; most of these people have worked with each other before. We may have events, perhaps three times a year, that bring them together as a way to build trust and teamwork. And we're creating a vision for the business that all 50 understand and buy into—a vision statement that emphasizes the collective success of JENA, which is to serve a defined set of customers. Each month, people will see performance numbers reporting on business across the activity centers.
Does the reorganization mean you have to change how you evaluate group performance?
Yes. We've always been great at managing individual performance reviews. We look at you and say, "You did a good job this year, but we think you're going to do better next year," or, "You're terrible, you've got a year to shape up." We've got that down pat—to the point where people salivate over it, they become hyper. But we haven't been good enough at the more subtle art of evaluating our collective professional competence and organizational effectiveness. How does the team do?
We're putting in a cross-evaluation system much like the ones universities have. Their peer reviews look at the nature of the research going on in a department, the quality of the students, and the size of the department vis-à-vis its intellectual space. It's possible for a university to have too many great Shakespearean scholars, given everything else it has to cover. That is true for us too.
Once a year, then, or maybe every 18 months, we'll have a "visiting committee" that reports on the quality of the people we put up against approximately 40 marketplaces in Japan, Europe, and North America. This peer review assesses the competence and dynamic functioning of a department, not individual players within departments.
We're working on the mechanics; we have some differences on details. But it does help to be CEO when you want to make big changes. We're doing the reviews. We won't like how they're done every time, so we'll change them and get it right.
This new global organization might also require changes in individual rewards and compensation.
Many of our high-bonus professionals are coming off a model that paid out lots of money, and it's been corrupting. This process is going to change. The new system needs a lot of flex. I believe strongly in arbitrary compensation. If you trust someone to make a business judgment, you ought to trust that person to evaluate individual performance without some cookbook recipe. People prefer cookbooks to help them defend their decisions. But what you really want is to decide how big a pot to create based on overall performance, rank your people, pay them accordingly, and be prepared to defend the result in the same way that you defend a business decision.
I want our people to feel they're within a band of fairness on financial compensation and then to think about other things: their job, the quality of their colleagues, the customers they deal with, their sense of organizational pride. Those are the values I'd like the compensation system to reflect.
Let's talk about the transformation process itself. It sounds like you're playing a hands-on role.
We are implementing; we are writing code. It takes a lot to get me into this mode, but once you do, I stick with it.
What persuaded you to get so involved?
In addition to the obvious responsibilities that come with the job, the thing that motivates me more than anything else is personal and professional pride, running a business that just feels right. It's almost like neatness, like lining your socks up in your drawer. No one but you knows your socks are lined up, but it matters. I want to retire saying that I've put together a business of which I'm personally proud. We're pretty well along in many parts of the business, like consumer and international. We can't say that yet on the corporate side. Our revenue momentum isn't anything like what it should be. We are not as good as we can be. JENA should be able to earn $800 million a year for us again, it should be a big business and occupy a lot of key space.
What were the warning signs in the organization?
We started detecting attitudes, a tonality, that I didn't like. We were becoming deal junkies. I got a memo on the Campeau deal that told me we had big fees before it described the transaction. All of Wall Street had the same attitude, of course, and it was hard for me to tell if I was just getting too old for this, that the world was changing in ways I didn't like, or if something was out of kilter.
We've made it clear that we don't want to hear a lot about fees in our memos or our priorities. Doctors charge for their services, but I hope to hell their medical reports don't say, "Patient Smith spent two days in the hospital, and he owes us $5,000." We've also reclarified that every credit will have one set of initials—we call them the senior reporting initials—with clear responsibility for the loans. We have some credits now with so many initials that it is impossible to figure out who the hell did what. That never would have happened ten years ago. It shouldn't happen again.
Any change agent needs a team to carry the changes forward. How are you building your team?
I'm not sure we have a team in the sense you mean. I had only two jobs of any consequence in the bank before becoming chairman, one was running the operating group and the other was running the consumer bank. In both cases, the vision drove the people equation and created the team. I got into situations where I was either forced or asked to become an architect. We went through a learning process, came up with a notion of where we wanted to go, and signed up a set of people to make it happen. As the vision matured, the people changed. What stayed constant was the absolute commitment to building the business.
So given a vision, the team tends to be whatever people can move us down the road at that point in time. At GE, Jack Welch seems to have decided how he wants the company to be run, and he and his team are in the process of inculcating that style in large numbers of people. I have a different approach. I have a clear vision of what we want the place to be—and that's the constant. The team tends to be people we find who can help us move down the road. On the corporate side, I have a vision of what the business is and how it should be managed. We've got people signed up, and we're going to make it happen.
Critics argue that you waited too long to initiate the JENA reconfiguration. Why did it take so much time?
It had to be last. First, there was the need to jump on the foreign debt issue. When I became chairman, our total equity was $5.7 billion, and since then we've taken LDC reserves alone of $4 billion. So this was a top priority. In order to work the cross-border issue, I had to network the chairmen of all the banks, all the ministers of finance, the presidents of all the countries. Getting to know these people personally, so I could deal with them effectively, was very time-consuming. Even today, I will drop this other work to go down to Brazil. They owe us $3.4 billion plus $500 million in back interest. Brazil is the eighth largest economy in the world, a key leader in the group of newly industrialized nations. They should not be a bad debt or a drag on our capital.
There was also a cultural factor. The dominant culture of most banks, and almost all bankers, is corporate banking. I did not come out of that business. So there was a certain humility, a politeness quotient, that may have held me back, especially given the lack of perceived need. When I took over in 1984, the units that we now call JENA had operating earnings of $380 million. Last year, they had operating earnings of $719 million, which seemed like great progress. As I started sensing problems, I started getting involved, but I was slow off the mark.
In some ways, it's easier to go to another organization if you want to make change. You have none of the human ties, none of the politeness factor, and you have more permission to do things. The circumstances that cause you to go into a new place usually give you license to act.
How do you respond to the proposition that Citicorp's financial condition may hamper your organizational agenda?
We're being criticized mainly on our real estate assets and on the capital front. Both criticisms are valid, and I take them to heart. One thing I hate is for people to dismiss criticism. That's a passport to suicide. At the same time, we cannot overreact. We shouldn't play to the bleachers.
I've gone deeply into the credit portfolio and the credit process, and it's fair to say I've been hurt by it. I haven't told the world that, because who cares? But I'm a little embarrassed professionally—maybe more than a little embarrassed—that I didn't jump on it sooner. We were warned about real estate two years ago, we were warned again a year ago, and we pooh-poohed it. Now I'm damn embarrassed because the critics were right and we were wrong. Sure, the market's changed; we didn't know two years ago what we know today. Values have gone down. But the fact is, they're more right and we're more wrong.
The capital thing is also valid. Visibly, statistically, we look a little naked. Now the statistics may not be worth that much—except everybody looks at them, so you have to pay attention. We've made a calculated decision that this is not the time to raise new equity, which frankly is right for the stockholders. We don't lack the capacity to absorb any of the risks we're dealing with. We can, if necessary, liquidate assets and take other steps that would generate the necessary resources to cover any risks we have, even Brazil. The regulators would agree with me on that. However, until we rebuild our capital some more, we're going to take some heat in the stock market. Our credit ratings have been banged around a little bit, but we have to do what we think is right. We are on a trajectory to rebuild the capital, but it is an inch a day, and we have lost some flexibility.
When will it be fair to judge your progress at implementing the changes you are trying to make at Citicorp?
In terms of the institution as a whole, building the kind of global financial organization I would like to lead, we're dealing with a time horizon of six or seven years. Short-term progress will show much sooner. We have lots of work to do; we're building a global business.
A version of this article appeared in the November–December 1990 issue of Harvard Business Review.
Read more on Organizational transformation or related topics International business and Financial service sector


Beautiful product! I loved the work and the experience.
I picked my ring up from the post office today and it's absolutely perfect! Thank you so much! You do beautiful work. Happy holidays and thanks again for getting it to me in time!
Received my ring a week before the deadline. It is more than beautiful!! It's even better than what I pictured it to be! Thank you so much for making our wedding extra special!!!


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Das Airport Race (offizieller Name Internationales Airport Race) ist ein Volkslauf über 10 Meilen (16,09 km) in Hamburg, der seit 1984 ausgetragen wird (in den Jahren 1984 und 1985 über 15 km). Er findet in der Regel Anfang/Mitte September statt. Die Laufstrecke führt einmal gegen den Uhrzeigersinn um den Flughafen Hamburg herum. Des Weiteren zählen ein 5 km-Lauf sowie die Mini Airport Races 1 Meile (7-13 Jahre) und 400 m (3-6 Jahre) zum Programm.

Das Airport-Race ist eines von drei Wertungsrennen zum Laufcup Hamburg, der seit 2000 ausgetragen wird. Die weiteren Wertungsläufe sind der Alsterlauf (10 km) und der Volkslauf durch das schöne Alstertal (Halbmarathon). Alle drei Läufe finden zwischen Ende August und Ende September statt.

Statistik

Streckenrekorde
 Männer: 49:11 min, David Walters , 1986
 Frauen: 58:01 min, Michaela Möller , 2008

Siegerliste
Quellen: Website des Veranstalters

Siehe auch

 Hamburg-Marathon
 Hamburg-Halbmarathon
 Stadtparkmarathon

Weblinks
 Offizielle Website
 Website des Laufcup Hamburg

Einzelnachweise

Stadtlauf
Leichtathletikwettbewerb in Hamburg
Erstveranstaltung 1984

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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'Demon Slayer' inspires Noh-Kyōgen theater adaptation for Summer and Winter 2022
It was announced at the JUMP FESTA 2022 event that Koyoharu Gotouge's hit manga series Demon Slayer (Romaji: Kimetsu no Yaiba) is inspiring a Noh-Kyōgen theater adaptation by the Mansaku no Kai performance group. The performances will be held in Tokyo (Summer 2022) and Osaka (Winter 2022).
Below is the announcement video (with English subtitles) featuring stage actor Mansai Nomura (野村 萬斎).
Noh (能, Nō) is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. It is often based on tales from traditional literature with a supernatural being transformed into human form as a hero narrating a story. Emotions are primarily conveyed by stylized conventional gestures while the iconic masks represent the roles such as ghosts, women, deities, and demons.
Kyōgen (狂言) is a form of traditional Japanese comic theater. It developed alongside Noh and was performed along with Noh as an intermission of sorts between Noh acts on the same stage; therefore, it is sometimes designated as Noh-kyōgen. Its contents are nevertheless not at all similar to the formal, symbolic, and solemn Noh theater. Kyōgen is a comic form, and its primary goal is to make its audience laugh.
Demon Slayer (Japanese: 鬼滅の刃, Romaji: Kimetsu no Yaiba) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Koyoharu Gotouge. It follows teenage Tanjiro Kamado, who strives to become a demon slayer after his family was slaughtered and his younger sister Nezuko turned into a demon. It was serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from February 2016 to May 2020, with its chapters collected in 23 tankōbon volumes. It has been published in English by Viz Media and simultaneously published by Shueisha on their Manga Plus platform.
A 26-episode TV anime series adaptation produced by Ufotable aired in Japan from April to September 2019. A sequel film, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train, was released in October 2020. A second season of the anime series, readapting the "Mugen Train" arc seen in the film and covering the "Entertainment District" arc from the manga, premiered in October 2021.
Original: "Kimetsu no Yaiba" by Koyoharu Gotouge (published by Shueisha Jump Comics)
Director / Cast: Mansai Nomura and company
Schedule: 2022 Summer (Tokyo), Winter (Osaka)
Organizer: OFFICE OHTSUKI
Cooperation by: Mansaku no Kai
#news #stage #nohtheater #kyogen #kimetsunoyaiba #demonslayer
Source: Demon Slayer Noh-Kyōgen official Twitter, Comic Natalie
'Demon Slayer Season 2 - Entertainment District Arc' TV anime reveals first key visual, airs 2021
'Demon Slayer' theme graces the closing of the Tokyo Olympics
'Demon Slayer' TV anime sequels 'Mugen Train Arc' airs Oct 10, 'Entertainment District Arc' on Dec 5

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Born in the heart of West Texas but raised by the whole state Troy Remedy has a sound unique to this era of hip/hop and a voice that commands attention while also showing a reflection of the times. Considered by most as an "Underdog" this motivation bodes well for creating truly passionate songs and is also the title of his 1st single from the upcoming album "My Own Worst Enemy". Quickly gaining notoriety as both an artist and producer the combination of these two help pave the way for this newcomer to shake up the scene and create his own sound that's becoming hard to miss.
Underdog available on I-Tunes Amazon and Spotify.


The annual congress organized by the Spanish Association of Academic and Professional Marketing (AEMARK), held in Barcelona from September 5 to 7, has awarded a prize in the area of Marketing and Market Research at the UMU.
The work, entitled 'The effect of online reviews on consumer behavior at the point of sale', analyzes whether the presence of information on the online reviews of a product at the physical point of sale influences consumer behavior.
The results show that the presence of online reviews and comments at the point of sale reduces the perceived risk of making a purchase decision, in addition to increasing the intention to make unplanned purchases at the point of sale.
Therefore, one of the main recommendations of this work is that retailers should start offering this type of information at the point of sale.
If not, the consumer will look for it in other online sources with the consequent loss of information control.
The teachers responsible for the study are Josefa Jover, Mariola Palazón and Manuela López.


Finacial Reporting And Analysis Solutions Manual - The Different Functions of Financial Accounting and Managerial Accounting - Business requires the appropriation of funds and the analysis of how these funds are and should be used.. Revenue forecast for 2019–21 budget increased by $196 million. OLYMPIA – Washington's projected Near General Fund revenue collections for the 2017–19 state budget have increased by about $163 million, according to estimates released today by the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council.. Financial Management Lower Costs with True Integration – ThinkWare is built upon an industry leading integrated financial management package (Microsoft Dynamics GP). This reduces costs for manual entries to a 3rd party General Ledger package and eliminates any costs for additional software..
one day seminar to enable members gain deep insights of industries they audit, work in or would simply like to learn-committee for professional accountants in business and industry (cpabi). Accounting Services; Accounts Payable; Advanced Academic Services; African American Success Initiative; Alcohol and Drug Intervention Program; Alternative Certification Program. The 785C Mining Truck is engineered for performance, designed for comfort, and built to last. Developed specifically for high production mining and construction applications, the 785C Mining Truck keeps material moving at high volume to lower your cost-per-ton..
NMCC is accredited by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education, the same agency that accredits Harvard.. Cat Large Wheel Loaders are designed with durability built in, ensuring maximum availability through multiple life cycles. With optimized performance and simplified serviceability, our machines allow you to move more material efficiently and safely at a lower cost per ton.. The ACT test is a curriculum-based education and career planning tool for high school students that assesses the mastery of college readiness standards.
The Feds buy time (but not much) by calling in their last reserves. My goal is for you to understand your SQL Server's behavior– and learn how to change it. When I'm not figuring out the solutions to your database problems, you'll find me at. - Pasienter skjønner ikke sykehusbrev. Pasienter skjønner ikke sykehusbrev aftenposten.no 5.3.2012 Helsedirektoratet bekrefter at mange har problemer med å skjønne brevene..
There has been a lot of talk, both positive and negative, about joining Market America as a way of making money. In this review I'll go into the background of the business, and then the pros and cons of what the company is offering.. If you have been denied for a HAMP – Home Affordable Modification Loan Program find out why and reapply. By: Anna Cuevas. Lets take a look Inside the Home Affordable Modification Program to see the possible reasons why you were declined:.


If you work with Windows, Windows Server or Hyper-V you know that before Windows Server 2012 Windows named the network adapters randomly. This was a huge deal if you were trying to automate deployment of servers with multiple network adapters. And of course Hyper-V Servers normally have multiple network adapters. In Windows Server 2012 Microsoft had some different ways how this was fixed. First there is CDN (Consistent Device Naming) which allows hardware vendors to integrate the names so the OS can pick them up and the second one being the possibility of Hyper-V Converged Fabric which is basically making our lives easier by having less network adapters.
Well a lot of vendors have not integrated CDN or you have some old servers without CDN support. Back in May 2012 before the release of Windows Server 2012 I wrote a little Windows PowerShell script to sort network adapters in Windows Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 by using WMI (Configure Hyper-V Host Network Adapters Like A Boss). Now for a Cisco UCS project I rewrote some parts of the script to use Windows PowerShell in for Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Hyper-V.
First lets have a look how you can get the PCI slot information for network adapters, luckily there is now a PowerShell cmdlet for this.
Now lets see how you can sort network adapters via Windows PowerShell.
# (c) 2014 Thomas Maurer. All rights reserved.
write-verbose "Get netadpaters and sort them"
You can also get this script from the Microsoft Technet Gallery or Script Center.


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class="article_teaser__2t5do">The hosts have been in imperious form and are good value to put in another impressive defensive showing against their misfiring opponents this week
Brazil host Peru at the Itaipava Arena on Thursday with Tite's side aiming to extend their perfect record in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying.
The five-time world champions have won all seven of their matches in the tournament and, despite the surreal circumstances surrounding the abandonment of their weekend match with Argentina, La Canarinha will be confident of claiming another victory against Peru.
Brazil vs Peru latest odds
The most recent meeting between these sides came in the semi-finals of the Copa America two months ago, where Brazil triumphed 1-0 and another victory for the hosts is offered at 3/10 (1.30) with bet365.
Peru, meanwhile, are priced at 17/2 (9.50) with the draw available at 15/4 (4.75).
TV channel, live stream & how to watch
UK TV channel
Online stream
Premier Sports 2	Premier Player
The game is being shown live on Premier Sports 2 in the United Kingdom (UK). The Premier Player will be streaming the game live online.
Brazil vs Peru team news
Brazil are without any of their Premier League-based players meaning the likes of Alisson, Fabinho, Roberto Firmino, Ederson, Gabriel Jesus, Thiago Silva and Fred are all missing.
Third-choice goalkeeper Weverton is likely to start once more, with Gabriel Barbosa set to be paired with Neymar up front.
Peru have no major absentees and look set to field a similar starting XI to the one which beat Venezuela at the weekend.
Brazil vs Peru preview
Brazil's dominance of this competition has stemmed from their exceptional defensive record, with the side conceding just twice in seven matches.
Peru, for their part, are the third-lowest scorers, managing just eight goals in their seven games and the visitors look to be in for another difficult evening in the final third.
These sides met twice at the Copa America this summer, with Brazil managing a clean sheet on both occasions, their 1-0 win in the last four preceded by a 4-0 group-stage victory and backing the hosts to record another shutout makes plenty of sense.
Peru have failed to score three times already in the qualifying tournament and against the outstanding team in the competition they are likely to struggle.
Brazil vs Peru tips & predictions
The hosts are offered at 5/6 (1.83) to keep another clean sheet, while both teams to score 'no' is priced at 4/6 (1.66).
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Argentina vs Bolivia: Betting odds, tips, predictions, TV channel & team news


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In 1789 James Stobie, architect and surveyor, simplified the building plan by removing an aisle at the east end and stretching the church 10 feet eastwards. Big infilled arches marking the position of the demolished aisle were found on the south wall when the war memorial was erected in 1920.
Other changes in 1789 included making the south windows symmetrical and a new door and porch on the west gable. New galleries at each end gave extra seating, and the pews were rearranged to face the pulpit, which now occupied the traditional Scottish presbyterian position between the central windows.
The north aisle (1810) transformed the church into a late T-plan, capable of seating 600. It was built privately to accommodate the cloth-printing workers in the Ruthven Printfield Company, which had set up nearby in 1792. Its raked stone flooring and simple wooden pews are distinctive and unusual survivors.
In 1874 the present pulpit and the horseshoe seating in a muscular style with recessed Celtic crosses were installed. The seats in the galleries and the aisle were left alone. The stencilled decoration around the pulpit possibly dates from this period also, a rare survival in Scottish country parish church.
In addition to the marble First World War I memorial, stained glass designed by Oscar Paterson commemorating women who served in the war was inserted in the two central windows in 1920. The earliest monument in the church is a large stone tablet set into the aisle wall, erected in 1631 by Sir James Murray of Tibbermore to his family.
The church requires extensive repair and conservation after prolonged neglect. Planning and fundraising for this project is underway.
Access to the church can be arranged with the local keyholder. Please contact us for details.
Friends of Tibbermore Church
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to find out more about becoming a Friend of Tibbermore Church.
Visiting Tibbermore Church
Tibbermore Church Gallery


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Local MMA fighters set sights on World Championship
MMA Coach Troy Bobb
Local Mixed Martial artists have already begun training in hopes of representing Guyana at the IMMAF World Championships later this year.
Some of Guyana's top MMA fighters have recently returned from the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) Pan American Championships. This was Guyana's first showing at the event.
Through Carl Ramsey and Shenese Bobb, Guyana also received our first male and female medals at an IMMAF event. The ranks brought home two silver medals.
Trevlon Clarke was the third and final member of the team whose bout was ruled a TKO on his part when his match was controversially stopped in the third round.
Despite not medalling at the event, Coach Troy Bobb noted that he was impressed with Clarke's performance.
"There's so much to work on and we have already started to work on it. There's some seriousness we have to put into practice where the ranks have to realise, or the athletes have to realise, well look, this is what we want to accomplish for the next event leading up to the World tournament."
He was at the time speaking from KFC's head office where the team paid a courtesy visit to Marketing Manager Pamela Manasseh, thanking the franchise for supporting the team's participation in the event.
(from left) Shenese Bobb, Pamela Manasseh, Carl Ramsey
Coach Bobb prepared the team for the Pan Am Championship and has already begun working with local fighters to prepare for the World Championships, for which the date is still to be set.
"We're gonna need to push Clarke to go to the extra mile."
"Mat work, we're working on mostly ground work since we got back. We're trying to get the ground work further for the athletes."
Acting Commissioner of Police Clifton Hicken also praised the athletes on their performance when he met with them earlier today.
The most recent World Championships in Abu Dhabi was Guyana's first time competing in an IMMAF event. We were at the time represented by Ijaz Cave and Corwin D'Anjou.
GYMMAF
IMMAF
Pan Am Championships
Shenese Bobb
Carl Ramsey
Trevlon Clarke
Troy Bobb
CM Wendell Meusa storms to victory in Rapid Chess Championship
Keron Sandiford wins Junior Rapid Champion title
Victories for Guyana in Suriname Independence Online Blitz event


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HomeBudget & Tax NewsStossel: In Case of Big Government, Break Rules
Stossel: In Case of Big Government, Break Rules
John Stossel
America has so many regulations that today, often the only way to do something new, to create something great, to prosper, is to ignore rules.
Minutes before SpaceX launched a rocket, the government told the company that the launch would violate its license.
SpaceX launched anyway.
CEO Elon Musk says that the Federal Aviation Administration has "a broken regulatory structure" and that "there is simply no way that humanity can become a spacefaring civilization without major regulatory reform."
But reform isn't likely.
While businesses must constantly adjust to survive, once bureaucrats create regulations, they have no incentive to repeal them, ever. Instead, they add hundreds of new ones every year.
Musk complains that government "can overregulate industries to the point where innovation becomes very difficult. The auto industry used to be a great hotbed of innovation … but now there's so many regulations that are intended to protect consumers. … Regulation for cars could fill this room."
So, Musk broke rules to make Tesla the success it is. He knew he couldn't innovate if he obeyed all of them. He's flaunted the rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, even tweeting that SEC stands for "Suck Elon's … "
So far, he's gotten away with it.
So have a few others.
In my latest video, Adam Thierer, author of "Evasive Entrepreneurs and the Future of Governance," explains why rule breakers are the best hope for innovation.
"When 23andMe came out with genetic testing by mail," he says, "They didn't get a permission slip from the Food and Drug Administration. They just started providing that service."
Once the bureaucrats noticed, they ordered 23andMe to stop offering health insights based on genes.
"The product was off the market for over a year. That stopped genetic testing by other companies, too," says Thierer. "Smaller players saw what the government did and said, 'I don't want that to happen to me.'" This delayed innovation for years.
"Maybe the only way to succeed today is to break the rules," I suggest.
"Yes," says Thierer. "Just to go out and try doing it."
A group of parents whose children have diabetes did that. They developed software that helps people track blood sugar levels.
"Their hashtag is, '#WeAreNotWaiting,'" says Thierer. "What are they not waiting for? For the Food and Drug Administration to approve new insulin monitoring devices. Instead, they built them themselves. These devices were better than regulatory approved devices."
But it only happened because they had the courage to do it without permission.
"Innovations come out of nowhere," Thierer points out. "The problem is law sometimes blocks all of that and says, thou shall not until you get a permission slip. That's the death of entrepreneurialism."
Ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft prospered only because they didn't ask for permission; they just created ride-sharing apps. By the time sleepy bureaucrats noticed and took steps to regulate Uber and Lyft to death, the company had so many satisfied customers that politicians were afraid to crush them.
Some regulation is useful. The alternative isn't zero rules. "If a product is dangerous," says Thierer, "it can be recalled. You can be sued. But don't treat innovators as guilty until proven innocent."
It's easier to see how absurd regulators can be when you look at old regulations.
In 1982, after Sony's Walkman came out, a New Jersey town banned wearing them while walking. "You couldn't wear headphones because they would be a danger to yourself!" laughs Thierer. "Sometimes, laws stop making sense. Governments need to adapt."
COVID-19 persuaded some governments.
Suddenly, it was OK if private companies made virus tests, if nurses and doctors practiced in other states, if doctors used telemedicine without obsessing about stupid privacy rules, if liquor companies made hand sanitizer, etc.
"All sorts of people started doing really interesting entrepreneurial things to try to just help each other out," says Thierer.
"Those laws needed to change," Thierer concludes, "But most changed only because people evaded the system."
John Stossel is author of "Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media." For other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators.com.
Award-winning news correspondent John Stossel is currently with Fox Business Network and Fox News. Before making the change to Fox News, Stossel was the co-anchor of ABC News's "20/20." Eight to 10 million people watched his program weekly. Often, he ended "20/20" with a TV column called "Give Me a Break," which challenged conventional wisdom.
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Stossel: In Case of Big Government, Break Rules July 14, 2021 At 2:35 pm
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Murder on the Dancefloor - �.99 delivered.
New audio version! It抯 the eve of the final of Dance Factor and the competition is tighter than the male dancers� leotards. Crane Breville Cowl decides to host a pre-final bash to relieve everyone抯 tension and invites the finalists and his colleagues to come along, but all he gets for his troubles is a stiletto heel in the head. Host your own party to find out who stepped on Crane抯 parade!
Stories and characters previously published as the boxed game of the same name.
Visit the Murder Mystery Party website to view character bios, costume suggestions and invite your guests!
Want it now? Click here for the original download version.


If you're having trouble absorbing the fact that Jack Nicklaus has turned 50 and will soon be playing on the Senior Tour, consider this: he is now a grandfather. Barbara Nicklaus, the wife of Jack Nicklaus 2d, gave birth to a 7-pound 21-inch boy Friday at St. Mary's Hospital in West Palm Beach, Fla. The baby's name: Jack William Nicklaus 3d.


I think back a couple of weeks. One morning, when the cheery daffodils my husband gave me for Valentine's Day were at their peak, I noticed they were all facing our large kitchen windows. Their Creator made them with a passion for the sun. It's as if they know they need it for their health, their very life.
We earthlings also have a critical need for what that brilliant star provides. I've been learning about light therapy, employed by those who suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) to replace sunlight on short winter days. This is my second winter using it regularly, and it's really helped my moods. The full spectrum light provides what's needed for the hypothalamus in the brain to produce a chemical regulating all the basic rhythms of the body.
Our sun provides light and heat. Yesterday, as I continued to work on this devotional, the bright sun made it easier to see, and provided comforting warmth, especially when I stood near a window. Similarly, when we are near the Lord, we can enjoy spiritual truth, and bask in His tender care. As our spiritual Light, He wants to deepen our understanding, and warm our hearts with joy and love.
Prayer: Lord, give me a passion for the Son. Deepen my longing for You, drawing me to "sit at Your feet." In Jesus' name, Amen.
I could relate to your feelings in this devotional. I've been through some rough weeks here and am so ready for some "sunshine" and Spring to emerge.
I liked the message and how much the light therapy has helped you physically. Then to relate it to our need for spiritual Light "therapy" really made this complete.
Yellow, bright faced daffodils! Now they seem to have it all together!
Lynn: Thank you for your comments. Yes, wasn't that neat that Lisa found that picture of the daffodils with their cheery appeal. The pictures really do enhance the devotionals don't they?
May the Lord provide some special blessings just for you!
Lynn Gray: I'm so glad my devotional gave you a lift today. Comments like yours are a real blessing. God is using people like you to help me see that His promises are really true. That His plan for me is good and that He can use even me to encourage others. For His beloved children, there IS meaning in our suffering.
My heart goes out to you as you face additional health issues. Let's remember that even when the sky is overcast, the sun is still there. And that applies to how we feel when life gets tougher – the Son, our Saviour and Friend, is with us every moment of every day.
HI Lynn Gray – lover of daffodils and of God's light!
Hi again, Beth and thanks for your comments!
I'd say that your hubby may have been nudged by the Holy Spirit to find us "all" some cheer in those daffodils. Then, your longing for light helped you to write and remind us where we must go when we need the solace that leads us to the deeper joy we can only find in Him.
Lynn & Lynn: This has been fun! "A little ray of sunshine" one might say! Tee hee!


Buying a new car can be a wonderful thing. The peace of mind you have knowing your car is fresh and perfect right from the showroom floor is reassuring, For a lot of people, buying a new car is simply too expensive.
Fortunately, many manufacturers offer programs that sell certified pre-owned cars: gently used cars, trucks and SUVs that have been inspected, and typically backed with some sort of extended warranty. As Honda sells wildly popular cars with a well-earned reputation for reliability, it's no wonder that the Honda Certified Pre-Owned program is a good bet if you want some of the guarantees of a new Honda, but at a lower price. Honda dealerships work hand-in-hand with the automaker to ensure buyers of Honda used cars can have the same experience as new car shoppers.
Honda used cars of all varieties can be included in the Honda Certified Pre-Owned program, from the subcompact Fit to the ever-popular Accord family sedan, and from SUVs like the CR-V and Pilot to the Ridgeline truck and Odyssey minivan. Only Honda models that are less than six years old (from date of initial service) and with fewer than 80,000 miles are offered as Honda Certified.
How can Honda certify these cars? After all, they've been out of their control for at least a couple years, during which time any number of maladies can be visited upon the poor car. Crash damage can be repaired, poor-quality replacement parts can be fitted, and substandard repair work can all affect how well a car performs and lasts.
Honda is able to offer these Certified Pre-Owned cars by giving each car a thorough 182-point inspection. Service personnel at Honda Certified Pre-Owned dealerships will take the inspection checklist and verify the car is as good as new. When parts need replaced, only Honda genuine replacement parts will be used. Furthermore, each Honda Certified Pre-Owned car has a comprehensive vehicle history report, which will show a history of registrations, maintenance, and any repairs done prior to Honda inspecting the car. This gives you the assurance that the car is as it should be, and will perform properly as long as possible.
One of the advantages of a new car is the new-car warranty, which in Honda's case is a three-year, 36,000 mile warranty. On Honda Certified Pre-Owned vehicles, however, Honda extends the powertrain (engine and transmission) warranty to a total of seven years from initial in-service date, or one hundred thousand miles. Further, on cars still covered by the original three year/36,000 factory warranty, non-powertrain components are warranted until four years or 48,000 miles. If the original warranty period has expired, those non-powertrain components will be covered for a year or twelve thousand miles.
Those non-powertrain components covered by this warranty include the, fuel system, oil and fluids, electrical sensors, brakes, steering, suspension, the climate control system, electrical components and switches, and the stereo/entertainment system, including navigation system if the car has it.
Honda also offers Honda Care additional-cost packages covering additional years or mileage atop the standard Honda Certified Pre-Owned warranties. Honda Care can cover the pre-owned car up to eight years or 120,000 miles. Furthermore, various Honda Care packages will give the new owner a suite of driver security amenities, including roadside assistance, key lockout service, towing, and rental car coverage. When covered by Honda Care, any repairs will be done by Honda service technicians at Honda dealerships - which is a relief to anyone scared off by potentially-shady repair stations.
As another benefit of Honda Certified Pre-Owned cars, Honda includes a three-month trial subscription to SiriusXM for all cars equipped with a satellite radio. A long road trip, listening to your favorite tunes or talk shows with high-quality, uninterrupted sounds is a great way to bond with your new-to-you Honda.
As mentioned above, buying a certified pre-owned car is a great way to save money compared to a new car, but it means you can't take advantage of the promotions, like low- interest financing or cash back, that come with buying a new car. However, Honda Financial often offers various special offers on selected Honda Certified Pre-Owned cars to finance at a special rate, increasing your savings even more.
Finding a certified pre-owned Honda is easy. A quick nationwide inventory search can be performed at hondacertified.com. While each individual dealership sets their own prices, a quick search will let you compare dealerships across various areas, allowing you to contact dealerships in other nearby locations to see if making a trip is worthwhile.
Every manufacturer handles certified used cars differently, however, so doing your homework is essential when evaluating various certified pre-owned programs. Beware, also, of dealers offering "certified" programs that don't bear the name of the manufacturer - these pre-owned cars don't have the factory-backed warranty that ensures the peace of mind from a program that's run by the vehicle manufacturer.


Jurgen Klinsmann has announced his 23-man roster for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Mexico and Costa Rica.
The team will begin gathering Sept. 1 in Miami and will depart Sept. 3 for San Jose, three days ahead of the match against Costa Rica where it will seek its first ever away win in qualifying against the Ticos.
The United States currently sits in first place in the Final Round of qualifying, collecting 13 points from six matches. There are two scenarios in which the U.S. could qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup following the Costa Rica match. In order for that to occur, the U.S. must beat Costa Rica, Mexico must tie Honduras, and Panama must lose or draw against Jamaica.
NYCFC Looking A Bronx Location For Stadium?


DEBUT—Michael Christie helms the New West Symphony as the group's new music director. The orchestra is launching its 25th season. Courtesy photoGrammy Award-winner Michael Christie, who will make his debut this weekend as New West Symphony's music director, has unveiled the orchestra's 25th anniversary season.


A vivacious story of youth, caught in that ever so precious time between childhood and dreams.
I appreciate the efforts made to make this film more than one that is purely for entertainment value (although it is indeed very entertaining). As opposed to the regular Hollywood romantic comedy, which mainly uses a lot of beautiful scenery, dreamlike grand gestures, and of course Over Gorgeous lead actors to instill the droplets of romance in your heart, this film's underrated and subtle approach made it ever more memorable and beautiful. In fact, it seemed like we were put in a time machine and warped back to the day where we didn't have handphones and computers and kids had to find their own ways of entertainment. And BOY, did they find their own ways!
This film follows the teenage years of Gen-Xers, who as we all know, came of age in an era of two-income families, rising divorce rates and a faltering economy. Many mothers went to work, spawning an age of "latch-key" children who are independant, self-sufficient (and self-entertaining) and displayed a casual disdain for authority. This is apparent in the film, and maybe that's why, as I stepped out of the cinema, I felt like I just woke up from a dream. BLAST TO THE PAST!~ I guess this movie hits closer to home, mainly also because it was SHOT closer to home.
What I'm talking about is the effective use of planimetric shots in the film (I googled this term!) which suggests a kind of childish simplicity, almost like this would be how the characters in the story itself would photographically remember that day.
I have not seen many Taiwanese films, but based on the very few that I have, I must say that their regular drama serials stand a far cry from the quality of their movies.
Great film and although it wasn't nominated for Best Cinematography or Best Picture in the Golden Horse awards, I hope that at least it'll walk away with the Best New Director, and I'm surely keeping my eyes wide open to see more films from this guy, 九把刀, soon!


Silverlakes Equestrian Park is a multi-use sports complex that's been underway for several years, a public/private partnership with Blenheim EquiSports founding partner RJ Brandes at the helm on the private enterprise side. There have been various delays and challenges, but the staging of the Parkside shows is a great first step. The current two show rings and two warm-up rings are "fantastic with fabulous footing," Susan reports.
Eventual phases for the venue include grass fields for jumping and hunter competition and a big indoor arena. If it becomes anything like what Brandes and his team developed at the Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park in San Juan Capistrano, our area's equestrian world is in for a big shot in the arm.
In addition to finding the right venue, Parkside's Betty and Susan are sticklers about being nice to work with and having awesome prizes. Their shows' prize table is stocked with creative, useful things -- horse care products, home décor items, etc. -- and is restocked through the day so that afternoon winners get just as much good stuff to choose from as morning winners.
Susan reports it was a big step going from one- to two-day shows, but all went well in April and she's confident the series will grow steadily. The Parkside shows are sanctioned by the Inland Empire, Orange County and Greater San Diego hunter/jumper associations and perfect for those looking for a lower key, less expensive but still high quality experience than the A show circuit. The agenda includes many divisions and fence heights ranging from .70m to 3'3".
For more info, visit www.parksidehorseshows.com.
Natalie Rooney's Four Star Farm is hosting international speaker and certified instructor April Battles, June 10-12. In her three-day workshop, the emphasis will be hands-on treatment of the root cause of common issues in horses that affect their mental and physical well-being, performance and longevity. Participants are required to view and read materials prior to the workshop.
For more information, visit www.fourstarfarm.com.
Summer is a terrific time to visit or re-visit Return To Freedom Wild Horse Sanctuary in Lompoc. June 11 is a special day for the whole family to enjoy the sanctuary, help out a little with ranch chores, observe the herds and learn about America's wild Mustangs and other breeds and what's being done to preserve their place in the world. The day includes a Native American blessing and drum circle with Pete Crowheart, hay ride tours and wild horse herd observation. Meet Spirit and other Mustang ambassadors. Lunch, light refreshments and snacks provided.
Facilitated by Return to Freedom's biologist, Celeste Carlisle, RTF staff and volunteers.
Monthly tours are underway now through August, on the last Saturday of each month. These are docent-guided walking tours of the sanctuary with some time for quiet herd observation.
Photo safaris are also available. The horses are beautiful, as are the steep, wild hills they live in. In addition to RTF's equine celebrity, Spirit, there is a spirit about the Sanctuary and what founder Neda deMayo and her team have accomplished that leaves an unforgettable mark on those who visit.
Contact RTF to make reservations or arrangements for all events. www.returntofreedom.org.
Giant Steps Therapeutic Equestrian Center capitalizes on its Sonoma Valley location by gathering the region's top food, wine and beer for its first Farm to Table Dinner. The event will raise funds for the well-known provider of therapeutic riding and equine assisted programs for children and adults with disabilities.
The family-style dinner will be created by Stellar Catering and chef Ari Weiswasser, owner and chef of the acclaimed Glen Ellen Star. The venue is the Beaumont Farms property in Petaluma.
For tickets and more information, visit www.giantstepsriding.org.
The Butte Valley Pony Club hosts a Hunter Pace at the fantastic Camelot Equestrian Park in Butte Valley. Along with two warm-up classes, the divisions range from Introductory, with fences up to 2' and no water obstacles, to Training, with 3'3" fence heights and water obstacle included.
Each division offers a singles and a pairs category. A Hunter Pace is a timed event in which riders travel a cross-country course meant to simulate a fox hunt course and strive to finish as close as possible to the recommended time set for the route. These are generally low-key competitions with lots of fun and learning along the way. The Sunday Hunter Pace is expected to be a good follow-up to Saturday's Dressage Rally at the same facility and a BBQ Tri-Tip dinner on Saturday night rounds out the weekend for those who purchase the $15 ticket in advance.
For more info, visit www.camelotequestrianpark.com.
Young horse development is a topic of much discussion in American equestrian sport. Bringing youngsters along on the regular show circuit is expensive and not always the ideal environment. Pollyrich Farms in Solvang offers an alternative in hosting a competition in the Young Horse Show Series. This relatively new program aims "to provide young horses a suitable environment to begin their careers without the pressures of the show circuit." It gets good marks back East but has not had many stagings in the West.
A Young Horse Show offers five divisions: In-Hand, Jump Chute, Flat Class for Sport Under Saddle (all disciplines); Jumping Under Saddle; and Dressage Under Saddle, plus schooling classes in some of those categories. It caters to horses 3 to 7 years of age and those working toward careers in jumpers, dressage, hunters and eventing and there's $2,500 in prize money on offer.
Anneliese Kanow of Three Wishes Farm is presenting the event.
For more info on the Young Horse Show Series, visit www.younghorseshow.com. For more info on the Nick Verlies clinic, call Pollyrich Farms at 805-688-0220.
CPHA Northern California Regional Horsemanship/Child Adult Regional Medal Finals are here already, during the Sonoma Horse Park series show June 17-19. The CPHA Junior & Adult Hunter Seat Medal Finals are later in the summer, down south: August 18-20 during the Blenheim Summer Classic II and the CPHA Foundation Equitation Finals will be held the following weekend at the Del Mar Horsepark during the Showpark Summer Classic.
Also, June 15 is the application deadline for the CPHA Foundation's Dr. Nicholas Karazissis Scholarship for the 2016-2017 school year. Sponsored by the Heidegger Family and the Foundation, the scholarship is open to children or dependents of the CPHA Professional members, working students, or professional members continuting to purse higher education, including trade schools.
For more information, visit www.cpha.org.
The Shea Center for Therapeutic Riding rolls out its calendar of five-day camps in which kids with and without special needs enjoy an introduction to horseback riding in a safe controlled environment. Campers are grouped by age and ability and teachers are equestrian professionals who work with kids everyday.
For more information, visit www.sheacenter.org.


BAC Appliance Center in Englewood, CO is an authorized dealer of Verona Products. Now the Verona heritage of classically designed Italian appliances is available to North American consumers. The Verona brand of hand-made, quality cooking appliances is now available in North America. Exquisitely designed and manufactured in Italy, the Verona name has been the benchmark for durable and beautiful European professional appliances since 1958. Verona ranges, ovens, cook-tops and ventilation is the preferred brand of appliances featured in designer kitchens throughout Europe.
So if you are looking for Verona products in Englewood, Littleton, Greenwood Village, Southglenn, Columbine, Denver, Castle Rock, Lakewood, Highlands Ranch, Centennial and Aurora, or if you have any questions about Verona products, please feel free to call us at 303-789-9945 or simply stop by BAC Appliance Center at any time and we would be glad to help you.


Back body. Flexion for the spine. (Hamstrings for some).
Take a seat and stretch your legs out in front of you. Relax your legs and feet. Slowly round your spine and fold forward. Stop at your first edge, where your body naturally stops. Don´t push to go further. "If you´re feeling it, you´re doing it", as Bernie Clark says. Play with your edges. You don´t have to go as deep as possible. When you feel your spine, and specifically a stretch along your spine all the way up to your neck, stay there. Relax.
This pose is a game changer. Really. When you´re done, slowly roll up and come all the way down to rest on your back. Stay there for a few moments and feel the benefits! This pose can put you in a deep state of relaxation. Game changer.
Stay around 2-8 minutes. Then slowly ease out of the pose and relax a moment before you shift leg.


Productora / Production Company: LIFE & PICTURES, S.L.
She lost the baby. She stares out the window. Every night when he arrives home, an argument. One day she told him, a few black women on the street walked strangely, like dancing, they looked like dark sirens. The women enter the building in front, and never leave. He pays no attention. One night he arrived home and she was no longer there. Now he is just looking out the window, until he finally sees, the young women with a pale plastic skin walking towards the building.
ALEJO LEVIS Cursó imagen en la facultad de Bellas Artes de Barcelona, y dirección en el Institut del Teatre. Su salto al largometraje viene avalado por más de 15 videoclips como realizador, y otros tantos como montador o ayudante de dirección, además de varios trabajos en publicidad para productoras como pirámide, arenashots y propaganda producciones. En el terreno de la ficción, ha trabajado como analista de guiones, guionista, montador y director, tanto para formatos televisivos como cinematográficos. Ha dirigido y escrito el cortometraje "Como jugar a polis y cacos" que ha participado en los festivales de cine más prestigiosos de todo el mundo (Sitges, Málaga, New York…) siendo premiado entre otros en el festival de Tupelo (USA). Su videodanza "Córpora" recibió la subvención que nu2 y la Generalitat de Catalunya otorga cada dos años. "Sirenas" es su más reciente incursión en el mundo de la ficción.
ALEJO LEVIS is already a major name in the world of national video clip. Extended image at the College of Fine Arts in Barcelona, and in the direction of Theater. Her leap to the feature film comes baled for more than 15 video clips as a filmmaker, and as many as a mechanic or an assistant director, as well as several production companies for advertising work as PYRAMID, or ARENASHOTS as an assistant under development. He has directed and written the short film "How to play cops and robbers" that has participated in the most prestigious film festivals around the world. His dance video "Córpora" has participated in all programs, events and festivals devoted to this genre in our country. The short film "Sirenas" is his latest foray into the world of fiction.


Okay, so most people on the planet know about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and the importance it plays in today's online world. Thanks to Google (sorry Bing/Yahoo your results still stink) we are able to type in what we are looking for into a small text box and get back very relevant results for what we are looking for. So, this makes it essential that websites are "optimized" for search engines and the Google SEO Guide was created by Google to help people better understand how they can build websites that is easier for Google to understand. Our SEO company specializes in optimizing websites to rank for targeted key phrases or keywords to help drive traffic to our clients.
Use the Google SEO Guide if you have time and low to moderately competitive keyword targets.
However, we know there are a lot of DIY (Do-it-yourself) types out there that have the time and want to see if they can get search engine rankings on their own. Depending on the competition and industry you need to rank for, you may just be able to get decent rankings by following the Google SEO Guide recommendations. Keep in mind that Google is always changing their search engine algorithms which impacts search engine rankings on an almost monthly basis, so this is where an experienced SEO services firm can help you continually achieve high search engine rankings.
Is everything you need to know about SEO in the Google SEO Guide? No.
You won't find everything you need to do in order to rank highly for competitive key phrases within the Google search engine guide, but it is a great place to start for DIY SEO's if targeting low to moderately competitive key phrases.
Google SEO Guide is a great place to start your SEO adventure.
So, the key to ranking high in Google is to figure out how to "show" Google your site is the most useful and relevant site for your targeted key phrases. The Google SEO Guide gives a very good foundation of the key elements that help "show" Google what your site is all about. So, read it, learn from it and start building a useful and relevant site!
We can help with what the Google SEO Guide doesn't teach you.
If you need the help of an experienced SEO consultant, give us a call or use our contact form to get in touch.