Dennis Stevens

GSU EMBA Alumni Society Luncheon

Dennis Stevens — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:32:18 +0000

Last month I presented to the GSU EMBA Alumni Society luncheon. I addressed the concepts covered in my June 2008 Harvard Business Review article , “The Next Revolution in Productivity”, regarding a capability-based view of the business model. I discuss how to apply these concepts to your business in a difficult economy to focus and align all aspects of the organization on key operating objectives and strategic outcomes. The presentation is shown in its entirity on the GSU EMBA Alumni Society website at http://hollywood.gsu.edu/dba/wwwrcb/emba/10.24.08.html.

It is about 45 minutes in length and includes the entire PowerPoint. We will be posting some extracts from it on the Synaptus (www.synaptus.com) in the next month.

We are doing alright

Dennis Stevens — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:53:35 +0000

Headlines are being made today by the greed of executives in the financial district, the obstinate position of the auto unions, and the economic mess that is resulting from problems with the economy. We might think that the world is falling apart. But consider some of the following items.

A black man, Barrack Obama, was elected president of the United States. Despite sharp differences in policy and some controversy around media coverage, this major event didn’t require the deployment of the Army and didn’t involve riots or violence. We conducted ourselves as a civilized society.

J.P. Hayes disqualified himself from the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament for inadvertently breaking the rules.He accidentally used an illegal golf ball for one hole. This incredible act of character will prevent him from making a living playing golf on the PGA Tour next year.

The divorce rate in 2005 (per 1,000 people) was 3.6 — the lowest rate since 1970, and down from 4.2 in 2000 and from 4.7 in 1990 (The peak was at 5.3 in 1981, according to the Associated Press.)

Preliminary crime statistics for 2007 show a 1.4 percent drop in violent crime and a 2.1 percent decline in property crime rates.

So despite challenges in the economy, and examples of individual greed and generally bad behavior grabbing the headlines, I believe our society is pretty intact and that individual character still matters.

Becoming a U.S. Citizen

Dennis Stevens — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:24:14 +0000

My wife became a Naturalized U.S. Citizen recently. It was an amazing ceromony. There are two to three ceremonies a day of around 100 new citizens in the Atlanta office every day. I looked it up and about 1.4 million people became naturalized U.S. citizens in 2007. That’s a little over 5,000 a day. The ceromony was fascinating. There were 110 people being naturalized from 45 countries. You would stand when your country was called by the judge. She called the countries in alphabetical order. I thought it was significant that Israel, Iran and Iraq were called consecutively and they stood together to take their oath. The largest group was from the Republic of China.

The judge pointed out a couple of things. Permanent residents can stay in the U.S. forever. The key to citizenship is the ability to participate in our democracy. People become citizens because they want to be Americans. My wife has been here for 17 years but she wanted to vote in the upcoming election. Each person takes this obligation freely. They are not being forced to become citizens. People all over the world are drawn to the economic and social possibilities that exist here.

We finished the ceromony with the pledge of Alligence. The new citizen’s all performed the pledge for the first time as Americans. It was amazing how many people cried and celebrated with their families. A man smiled through tears at me. When I smiled back he gave me a thumbs up and said merely “freedom!”

Listening to the noise surrounding the Presidential election seems to minimize the greatness of our country. Just seven years after 9/11, it seems that we don’t remember what is special about this country. The freedom we have in this country allows for that bickering and the differences of opinion. But it overshadows the contributions that our ancestors in this country made. It ignores the sacrifices that my fellow Marines and others from the armed services have made, and stand ready to make. And it fails to acknowledge the draw of Freedom and economic opportunity that draws 1.4 million new citizens each year.

My wife’s comment on the way out was that every person born an American citizen should go through the ceremony. I agree.

The Soldier-A Poem

Dennis Stevens — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 17:51:55 +0000

It is the soldier, not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,
who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

It is the soldier, not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the soldier,
who salutes the flag,
who serves under the flag,
and whose coffin is draped by the flag,
who allows the protester to burn the flag.

By Father Dennis Edward O’Brien, USMC

Eight Things I Learned from Coach Girls Basketball

Dennis Stevens — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:12:04 +0000

Eight Things

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: management project)

I did this presentation in March at the PMI Silicon Value Chapter. This was a great meeting with a bunch of really smart people there.

Tiger Woods

Dennis Stevens — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 19:44:18 +0000

Tiger Woods is an inspirational figure. He is proof that with passion, perserverance, and focus on preparation, you can accomplish great things. Not everyone will be the greatest that ever lived at what they do. But each of us can be great at what we do if we pursue it with passion, perserverance, and a focus on preparation.