It’s an off election year, meaning it’s time for city council elections. After a slow filing start, Kalispell has contests in three of four wards, and Columbia Falls wound up with six candidates for its three slots. These will be “nonpartisan” elections to select folks who will find the best way to fix our potholes, […]

For almost three years, since the economy tumbled and layoffs spread across the Flathead Valley, you have read a series of bleak headlines here and elsewhere. There were false starts, and perhaps this is another one. But signs that the local job picture may be brightening locally is, for a change, worth talking about. True, […]

John Nance “Cactus Jack” Garner was vice president under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He observed that the vice presidency was about as satisfying as “a pitcher of warm spit.” Cactus Jack also declared that New Deal-era Montana U.S. Sen. Burton K. Wheeler possessed the single most important attribute of a senator: “guts.” We now have […]

One of the things I help business owners figure out is how to tell their story (and why they should bother). Sometimes, business owners don’t have a story, or at least, they think they don’t. Many times, the work people do is a means to an end, or at least it seems that way on […]

In 2005, less than a quarter of Whitefish voters went to the polls for city elections. By 2007, Whitefish held a mail-in election and turnout more than doubled. Compared to Kalispell, where one in ten locals voted, the 2007 Whitefish turnout was a wild success. In the 2007 election, hydrologist John Muhlfeld bested a commercial […]

Once again the time has come to welcome over 80 million students back to school across the nation. The Flathead Valley community ushers in approximately 10,000 kindergarten through twelfth grade students through our doors this month. Students return to school anticipating success; and it is the intent of all of your local schools to provide […]

Last time (in the context of being trusted, and what a business must do to re-establish trust), I talked briefly about vendors who announce products years before they plan to ship it, including firms that never ship what they’ve announced and taken payment for. On occasion, early announcements are a legal requirement for some businesses. […]

Through the vast gassy clouds of sturm und drang from Washington, DC, comes a glimmer of good news: Twin bills in the Senate and House, both entitled the “Wilderness and Roadless Areas Release Act.” This short-and-sweet legislation, (HR-1581 and S-1087) covers Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management holdings that “have not been designated as […]

A narrative is emerging from Montana’s 2012 U.S. Senate race that contrasts with the last general election when dozens of new lawmakers were swept into office riding a wave of Tea Party support. Instead, the early plotline for this contest pitting incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester against Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg is focused on the […]

Over the years here at BiP, we’ve had a few conversations about vendors who lost the trust of their customers – as well as some who earned it in magnificent fashion. Earning, retaining and regaining the trust of your customers is central to what Business is Personal has been about from the beginning. We talk […]

After crafting a lackluster compromise to retire national debt obligations, Congress is on recess. Lawmakers will return to Washington in September for another couple weeks of work. But if the 1st Session is any indication of accomplishments, the public should not expect much help from the 112th Congress. Americans are hungry for work and better […]

I have a dream. A dream where Congress and the President are on perpetual vacation. Most Americans might be outraged that President Barack Obama is spending well over $50,000 a week eating designer ice cream cones on Pleasure Vineyard while Congress watches the country economically implode from behind the wheel of a golf cart, but […]

Montana’s U.S. delegation responded with a series of predictable prepared statements following Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade the credit rating of long-term U.S. debt. Glaringly missing from those responses were the politicians’ opinions of a ratings agency whose own approval rating deserves to be as bad as that of Congress. That’s not to say […]

Health, education, welfare … the federal government spends more than $630 billion annually on hundreds of social programs. How many of them work? No one knows. And that’s a problem. Most federal programs have never been evaluated for true effectiveness. And most evaluations that are conducted – and there are many – aren’t worth the […]

In a distant past, my business was rather dependent on a product from a particular outside-the-valley company. As good as it was, this product had a rough life, as it was passed from one company to another. Unfortunately, none of the owners anywhere along this trail seemed to have an inkling of customer relationship skills. […]