It is the people. The people in our industry are like those in all other industries. Lots of good people. A few great people. A few bad guys. Like other industries, when the pressure is on there is lots of drama. The drama is all related to the individuals involved and rarely inherent to the work. In speaking to a few friends from the now collapsing financial world, I realize that we have it good. We do not have, in addition to the human drama, the complexity of the industry or the hopes and fears of the nation attached to our industry. What we do have in common is the same ratio of a few great people, lots of good people and a couple bad ones. We have more time to learn the essential human nature of our people without as many distractions.

 A wave of innovation is coming to the service industries. In similar ways to technology industries there are breakthroughs and more evolutionary innovations. I see more trends towards a more fluidity of labor (merging of blue collar/white collar, part/full time, permanent/temporary, work/hobby) The change will be driven by the real time availability of internal company schedules via the web in coming years. Consider the possibilities, in every town with its workers there could be a more optimal more satisfying arrangement than straight job positions if only the internal company needs were open and available for the world to see.

For many nonsense questions and comments the only answer is no answer; unless you are the recepient of a no response answer yourself.  After much thought there are but only two reasons for the non answer. Firstly, there is the much larger ”I will not dignify that question with a response” bucket. Then there is the much smaller pile of “I have been caught and I have no response but no response” The two are quite different and distinct. With study, the no-answer is the most definitive of all replies as to the veracity of the sender.