The Unspoken Truth About Payday Lenders
[Article published by The Motley Fool; March 8, 2014]
Payday lenders are often painted as the 21st century’s version of the 1950s loan shark—lenders operating outside the reach of the law, inhabiting smoky backrooms, preying on the poor, and lining their pockets from exorbitant interest rates, or even worse.
The reality is payday lenders are regulated, with policymakers feeling compelled to continue adding new layers of regulation and bureaucracy to deal with an issue that is mainly economic. Continue reading
“Veterans gather for adaptive sports at Pineland Farms”
Why Buying a Purely American Vehicle Is Trickier Than It Seems
[Article for The Motley Fool.]
Is it possible to buy a car that’s not manufactured by one of Detroit’s Big Three automakers that’s actually built here in the U.S.? If, like me, you want to keep American workers employed and want to buy consumer products built by U.S.-based manufacturers, which car should you choose? The answer to that question just might surprise you. Continue reading
Facilitation 101
When people come together in groups for what is assumed to be a common cause, it would seem intuitive that objectives, goals, and outcomes would be known. If you’ve ever spent any amount of time in meetings related to partnership and collaboration, you know better.
Facilitation—the art of helping a group move towards common goals—is a key element in the process of collaboration. While collaboration and partnering is often talked about as a desirable and necessary outcome for groups, collaboration doesn’t occur organically.
Individuals come to groups with agendas, limited information or information lacking context. Personalities also affect the group consensus-building process. Lastly, not everyone that pays lip service to collaboration knows what it means. Effective groups require leaving agendas and preconceived notions at the door. Continue reading
Everyone’s a reviewer with Yelp
[Freelanced article written for The Motley Fool]
