Business, Technology & Culture
About
Much of my writing draws on my business experience. I generally cover small business, entrepreneurship and technology – and counterbalance these topics with culture, history and travel. I’ve interviewed start-up CEOs and billionaires. I’ve covered unconventional workplaces, zero-gravity flights, the reward and complexities of ESOPs, and the high-tech restoration of James Madison’s Montpelier.
I’ve written for dozens of regional and national publications, reaching millions of readers.
Areas of Expertise
One of the great rewards of writing is uncovering one story that leads to another; that then leads to yet one more and so on, as the chain snakes through genres. However, most of my work falls into — and overlaps — these categories.
Portfolio
These portfolio clips highlight the variety of interesting people, companies, trends and concepts I’ve been lucky enough to cover as a writer.
Global Hot Spots
From mastering new customs to getting a grasp on an unfamiliar economy, doing business in another country can be tricky–but the risk can be worth the reward. Here’s your primer on 5 hot international markets.
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The Right Time to Sell
Selling a family business means more than just calculating the numbers. Multi-generational business carry tremendous emotional weight.
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Mapping Pronunciations
When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won Iran’s presidency, it raised many questions. But preceding any discussion of the foreign policy implications, the first question on many lips was more basic: how to say the new leader’s name.
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Pricing: The Magic Number
Developing a pricing strategy begins with determining the true value of your offerings to customers. If you doubt that different customers place different values on the exact same product or service, just visit an auction.
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Email by Snail Mail
S.N. Bharadwaj has never seen a computer. That’s not surprising, since he is a farmer in remote Uttar Pradesh. His village has no phones, never mind Internet access. Even so, he is delighted to get emails several times a week from his nephew in Delhi.
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Pulling in Profits
Ask most salespeople to name their rules of thumb, and “know the customer” is likely to be somewhere near the top of the list. That often means collecting reams of news clippings, keeping copious notes on clients’ personal lives, and combing websites.
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It’s All Fun and Gaming
Richard Garriott fell in love with computers as a teenager and developed his first computer game while in high school. It’s a fairly typical story these days. The difference: Garriott’s game came out in 1979.
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The Century Club: How to survive 100 years in business
Ironically, one of the lessons conveyed by older businesses is that their history is just that—the past. And it isn’t all that important to today’s strategies.
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How Now? Virginia Dairy Farms
A few old-fashioned holdouts still sell milk in glass bottles and deliver it to customers’ doorsteps. Is it a niche market—or the front end of another shift in the industry?
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NFL’s Tony Richardson
The average NFL career lasts less than four seasons. As he enters his 13th, All-Pro running back Tony Richardson credits his longevity to an unlikely source: community service.
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Hail the Queen
Whenever a cruise ship is christened, it makes waves. However, Cunard Line’s newest addition to its imperially-named fleet, the Queen Mary 2, has created a tsunami of excitement.
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Catching the Drift
Combining ballet’s grace and the white-knuckle excitement of street racing, drifting is the Japanese equivalent of NASCAR. Will it take America by storm?
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Montpelier Reborn
Today, Montpelier, James Madison’s estate outside of Charlottesville, Virginia is shrouded in scaffolding and tarpaulins. Behind the protective covering, one of the most ambitious restorations in America is taking place.
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Sweet Creams
There are the trips to the beach and the lazy afternoons in the shade, but nothing quite says summer like an eat-it-before-it-melts ice cream cone. And while any cone of the cool, creamy concoction will hit the spot on a hot day, there’s ice cream … and then there’s homemade ice cream.
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Star Attractions
While Vegas enjoys steady exposure from productions that require shots of The Strip and Fremont Street, competing for other films with more generic scenes is a much bigger challenge that pits Nevada against places that may be just across the state line – or half a world away.
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Far Out
Some of the most well traveled rocks on the planet now reside in Jim Schwade’s home. Schwade began collecting meteorites in 1982 and has a collection that trumps many museums.
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Amateur Hour Poker
Once relegated to the backrooms of dark saloons, poker is back big time. Today a whole new generation of players has gone all in thanks to the game’s newfound popularity and accessibility.
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Freemasons: Liberty & Fraternity
Nine signers of the Declaration of Independence were Freemasons. One third of the Constitution’s endorsers were members of the secretive fraternity.
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Fighting Wars, Planning for Peace
At the turn of the 20th Century, the United States was emerging from its frontier days, becoming a major world power. In many respects, what defined the American Century was the work of George C. Marshall. Although he shunned publicity and self-promotion, he was twice selected as Time's Man of the Year, stood atop the U.S. Army, and won a Nobel Prize for his Marshall Plan. (Morgan Reynolds Publishing, 176 pages)
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Passing Through India
It is no big secret that India is the next big thing; increases in economic output are staggering and hardly a day goes by now without India in the headlines. Inbound tourism is also up significantly. I wanted to get a sense of what it's really like on the ground – to truly experience the good and the bad of India. My travel blog catalogs my experiences.
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