How do customers and prospects look at you vs. others in your industry? For example: What are your competitors best known for? Why do customers choose them rather than everyone else in your industry – including you? How does your competition’s “best known” thing compare to what you’re best known for? Why do customers choose […]

As a former student of Flathead Valley Community College and the University of Montana, and a current student of the University of Great Falls, I was appalled by the decision to limit adjunct facility hours. I personally know the majority of the 25 adjunct teachers who are currently teaching more than 10 credits. These teachers […]

Stop Dark Money is a grassroots effort to change the law and require everyone who spends money on the political process to disclose who they are. I did say change the law. Right now it is perfectly legal to form a 501c(4) organization and spend money on politics without disclosing. Money from one or two […]

Former Gov. Brian Schweitzer said he wouldn’t take sides in the Democratic primary for Montana’s U.S. Senate seat in which his former lieutenant governor and former adjutant general are squaring off. But he wouldn’t stop there either. Instead, he readily took credit for what has become an intra-party dispute. “I guess I’m responsible since I […]

By Tim Baldwin Political strategists call Montana’s U.S. Senate race one of the most important in 2014, and conservatives see the potential to change federal politics starting from Montana. Demonstrating this race’s importance, Steve Daines chose to run for this seat while perhaps jeopardizing his U.S. House seat. So, is Daines the Republican primary “shoe-in” […]

As commissioners for Montana’s forest counties, we know firsthand that the sharp decline in timber harvests and timber jobs since the early 1990s has been devastating to our communities. Our forests are at greater risk of burning, our remaining mills are struggling to survive without a predictable and productive timber supply and many of our […]

I’m back from a working “vacation” visiting my Mom on the Washington coast. Basically, while Mom is low-maintenance, her house isn’t. Even after 20 years, the Evergreen People’s Republic still fascinates and amazes me. Between Spokane and Pugetopia, I usually take the back way through the scablands and wheat country, but one thing never changes: […]

Recently, a couple of real estate transactions provoked me to write about surprises. In that piece, surprises were not a good thing. Yet sometimes, surprises are exactly what you want to deliver. So how do you decide which surprises are good and which aren’t? You need to find a difference to choose a good one […]

The entire state of Montana and the Blackfeet tribal members are well aware of the turmoil in the Blackfeet Nation Trouble has been building for the past three and a half years, and no clear resolution seems to be in sight. Various groups, individuals, the divided Blackfeet Tribal Business Council and newspaper analysts all differ […]

Americans are quite accustomed to the hyperbole and Machiavellian maneuvering employed by politicians to get their way. Over the years, however, we have demonstrated a definite intolerance for being blatantly lied to. Richard Nixon may have been forgiven for his involvement in the Watergate scandal had he admitted to it instead of lying about it. […]

I just returned from my annual fall vacation – each year I squeeze in a few days of sunshine in Mexico before the snow falls. But on Nov. 3, when my plane touched down in Kalispell, white already blanketed the valley. So began the quick transition into winter. And three days later I was hiking […]

By John Fuller The National Security Agency has been caught spying! Imagine that. There have been two schools of thought about the revelations that the NSA has been listening to the conversations of U.S. citizens and foreign leaders. The first says that spying is a sovereign right of nations, everybody does it (wink, wink) and […]

John Henry “Gatling Gun” Parker had earned his moniker by providing the covering fire for Teddy Roosevelt’s immortal assault on San Juan Hill. Nearly 20 years later his six-feet three-inch frame made him an easy target while charging at the head of his command, the 362nd U.S. Infantry. As the heroic Parker went down with […]

Voters in Columbia Falls, Kalispell and Whitefish chose four newly elected women to help run their cities. In Whitefish, newly elected Pam Barberis helps with local agriculture advocacy. Jen Frandsen grew up on a farm and helps organized the Whitefish Farmers Market. Jenny Lovering was the top vote getter in Columbia Falls and also director […]

Frustrated with the rate of change or accomplishment of new work in your business? I had a conversation recently that might help. Ann: Sometimes I think some of us are un-coachable. Mark: Reminds me of “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” It’s huge for those who teach and/or coach – you have […]