Category: Excellence

Enjoy Ron Culberson's insights on a variety of topics

Do A Benihana

Our kids enjoy the food and live cooking at Benihana so we periodically stop in for a little Hibachi Chicken and fried rice.  The cooks are always entertaining and it makes for a nice change in the dining experience. However, our local Benihana is a bit different than most.  The majority of the chefs are […]

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Civility in College?

I had the pleasure and the privilege of speaking to two college classes yesterday at George Mason University.  The professor, Leslie Morton, teaches the only class on “Civility and Professionalism” in the country.  USA Today featured her class earlier this year. The cool thing about this class is that it gets young adults excited about […]

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Kim Kardashian is No Cricket

I used to think that crickets weren’t worth more than a lot of noise.  But an article in USA Today reported that male crickets are actually quite gallant and will sacrifice their safety to protect a female partner.  I think Kim Kardashian could learn a lot from this report.  Her 72-day marriage seems to put […]

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Is Zappos the New Southwest Airlines?

For years, I have touted the culture of Southwest Airlines because they very effectively combine excellence with fun.  Most organizations feel they must be serious to achieve their important mission.  Southwest proved they can do both – and be successful at both. Now Zappos has come on the scene and CEO Tony Hsieh is really […]

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Does That Solve the Problem?

Alcohol-related injuries are on the rise in Australia so the owners of some bars are, get this, installing rubber sidewalks outside their bars. Really? This is comparable to building more cemeteries in response to an increase in alcohol-related deaths. When I worked in quality improvement, we understood that the symptoms were an indication of a […]

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A Good Deed A Day…

Once when my daughter was young, we went to a McDonald’s for dinner. There was a homeless man out front. I explained to my daughter that he didn’t have any money and that we could buy him a meal to help him through the night. My daughter said, “Why can’t he go up to one […]

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Common Sense Helps Us Do Business Well

What happened to common sense? I once met the manager of one of the nation’s largest airports. I asked him what his job was like. He said, jokingly, “If it wasn’t for the passengers, it would be a great job.” I get what he’s saying but today, it seems like we have forgotten that the […]

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Making Remodeling Fun

My friend and fellow Rotarian Bob Benedict, owner of Northwood Construction, has created a great way to not only get the word out about his company, but to make someone’s remodeling experience more fun. It’s called Worst 2 First Remodeling and will give someone a free remodeling of their powder room – if it’s judged […]

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Treehotel Is Not For the Birds!

OK, so this new Treehotel falls into the category of done well and really fun.  The Treehotel in Harads, Sweden was built, literally, in the trees.  The six treerooms are located in unspoiled nature just outside this small town of 600 people. Here is a short description from their website: The idea behind Treehotel is […]

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For an Honors Student, Not So Smart

At least seven students on Long Island were charged with participating in an SAT scam recently.  Allegedly, a college sophomore (and clearly a smart student, by the way) took the SAT’s for other high school students and charged them $1,500-2,500 for the service.  Not only did he get caught, but the high school students who […]

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