Letters from the Global Province

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2004 LETTERS

Being There (December 22, 2004)
"How, we must ask, do we take ownership of where we are now and let it possess us?" To read more, click here.

Ninety Degrees of Uncertainty (December 15, 2004)
"The links we find between the climate and human conduct are pathetic, both because they speak to many terrifying truths, but also because they are as often riddled with error." To read more, click here.

Authentic Conversations (December 8, 2004)
"Better a little straight talk." To read more, click here.

Living Treasures (December 1, 2004)
"Our new heroes are no longer kings, but only subjects who perform their mighty exploits well out of the limelight." To read more, click here.

Thanksgiving Lassitude; The Art of Distraction (November 23, 2004)
"With Thanksgiving upon us, we want to make sure you remove yourself from all the compulsions that have you running in place and, rather, to help you drift off to a planet where you are doing hardly anything at all." To read more, click here.

The Toy Story (November 17, 2004)
"We think the troubles in the toy economy accurately forecast blips or worse in all of business." To read more, click here.

Déjà vu All Over Again (November 11, 2004)
"It used to be that you could send your managers on the fast track to France, the UK, and Japan in order to put some global polish on their shoes. Now you need to dress them in hiking boots, send them into the outback, and make sure they visit all the small countries at the edges of the map." To read more, click here.

In Search of Governing Ideas (November 3, 2004)
"We would look to Iceland, Finland, Dubai, Ireland, Singapore, Australia, and other venues for societal models we should appropriate." To read more, click here.

Where Angels Fear to Tread (October 27, 2004)
"Right now, health is still thought to come out of a bottle and not from the vine. That will change." To read more, click here.

The Kingdom of Happiness (October 20, 2004)
"Happiness has not had us in its grip." To read more, click here.

Brain Mapping and Brain Storming (October 13, 2004)
"As the epidemic of brain and neurological disorders demonstrates, we have problems aplenty at the door, and we need to wrestle them to the ground." To read more, click here.

New Mexico: Asi Es Nuevo Mexico (October 6, 2004)
"What’s needed ... is a mental, not a physical, makeover, whereupon the soul of the place is devoted more to invention than preservation." To read more, click here.

Globe Trotters 2004 and Reinheitsgebot 1516 (September 29, 2004)
"What, we ask ourselves, are the dimensions of the truly global corporation?" To read more, click here.

China and the U.S.: Siamese Twins? (September 22, 2004)
"China and America have more in common than their tightly linked economies. They are plagued by moribund infrastructures." To read more, click here.

SpiceLines (September 8, 2004)
"Once again, no matter how global we are, we demand an essence that says a vintage is special because it is different from anything produced elsewhere...." To read more, click here.

Book Reports: The Quest for Relevance (September 1, 2004)
"It’s hard for arthritic institutions to be globally relevant." To read more, click here.

Why New York's Food (Still) Tastes Better (August 25, 2004)
"[O]ur distribution systems are still full of hiccups, and neither the smarts nor the fresh goods that make for greatness have really crept off the island of Manhattan." To read more, click here.

The Global View from Mount Olympus (August 18, 2004)
"The global imperative demands a reconstitution of all our institutions to a degree we have not attempted since the Civil War." To read more, click here.

Sales: Branding Again (July 29, 2004)
"It simply does not make sense to add more static to the lives of horribly busy people. Instead, we think, you have to put together a repast that is so appetizing and so good looking that people just can’t stay away." To read more, click here.

Bernard Maybeck’s Redwood San Francisco (July 21, 2004)
"If your town lacks for plentiful trees or verdure, then you can rest assured that you have gotten the buildings all wrong." To read more, click here.

The Great Cork Controversy: You're the Tops (July 14, 2004)
"We think there’s a clear argument that says we really need to cherish, encourage, and nurture the top 20%, even if we do a lot of our shopping at Wal-Mart." To read more, click here.

Demonizing Yesterdays; In Praise of Corks (July 7, 2004)
"More and more, in all sorts of competitions (not just athletics), the kings and queens of sport have been thrust to the sidelines, and somebody from out of left field is stealing the crown." To read more, click here.

Black Swans and Red Swans (June 23, 2004)
"The blinders are on. We miss all the meteors coming in from outer space, pretending they are everyday events." To read more, click here.

Irishmen Who Married Up (June 16, 2004)
"Every day we learn of yet more acts of thoughtfulness on [Reagan's] part, which we take to be the moments that really defined him." To read more, click here.

Designing the Outside from the Inside (June 8, 2004)
"Our products, just like our magazines, shopping malls, and new housing developments, are cluttered." To read more, click here.

About This Site (June 2, 2004)
"Occasionally we add new features to the website that you may not spot. Here are a few." To read more, click here.

Webbing, Blogging, Self-Publishing (May 19, 2004)
"We are seeing a rebalancing of the relationship between publishers and writers, and our modern day minstrels and soothsayers have a chance to be heard as never before." To read more, click here.

Tall Trees & Sturdy Men (May 12, 2004)
"In baseball, in nature, in every aspect of the planet, there are still giants if we will hunt them out." To read more, click here.

Enemy of the People: Innovation (May 5, 2004)
"The best antidote for bad ideas is good ideas." To read more, click here.

From a Sow’s Ear To a Silk Purse (April 21, 2004)
"Trust most in companies that can tell their stories simply in an entertaining manner. Most others will disappear in history’s dustbin." To read more, click here.

Heart Attacks and Aftershocks 1984-2004, Part II (April 14, 2004)
"Somehow the onus for managing managed care had shifted from managed care to me, the patient." To read more, click here.

Heart Attacks and Aftershocks 1984-2004, Part I (April 7, 2004)
"Those were the halcyon days. ... There was no managed care to speak of. Health care coverage covered health care." To read more, click here.

Malaysia, MeansBusiness, Philip Greenspun, Vacillando (March 24, 2004)
"These days everything worth knowing or seeing seems to be five miles from the mainstream." To read more, click here.

The Branding of Christmas (March 17, 2004)
"Branding, taken by some to be old-fashioned nonsense, has never been so important. Like a good cowboy, however, you’ve got to pick up the rules of the range." To read more, click here.

Paris the Invincible? (March 10, 2004)
"If we are what we eat, then America is a polyglot nation, embracing many cultures rather than bending them to a government imposed 'norm.'" To read more, click here.

Giving (February 25, 2004)
"Perhaps we want our personal cosmic balance sheet to say we are creative producers, not bankrupt consumers." To read more, click here.

Mailbag and Just Plain Bagged (February 18, 2004)
"Cousin Murray, Ernst, Gene, and Brian, who could all be called hardworking small businessmen, probably could tell us what’s happening better than the economists." To read more, click here.

One of a Kind (February 11, 2004)
"This was supposed to be the era of mass customization, but it ain’t, yet." To read more, click here.

Getting Past the B-Team (January 28, 2004)
"We must look far and wide for our cooks and our leaders, since the more obvious choices are run of the mill types better fitted to be impresarios at chain restaurants." To read more, click here.

Blue Skies: A Few Predictions for '04 (January 21, 2004)
"To some degree, our entertainment mirrors the state of the nation, at least in the corridors of power. Have we run out of ideas?" To read more, click here.

Looking for History and Better Bread (January 14, 2004)
"What market dominant companies want us to forget is that something much better, smaller, and diffentiated actually can exist." To read more, click here.


	LETTERS FROM THE GLOBAL PROVINCE

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	2000 Letters • 2001 Letters • 2002 Letters • 2003 Letters • 2004 Letters • 2005 Letters • 2006 Letters • 2007 Letters • 2008 Letters • 2009 Letters • 2010 Letters • 2011 Letters • 2012 Letters • 2013 Letters • 2014 Letters • 2015 Letters • 2016 Letters • 2017 Letters • 2018 Letters • 2019 Letters • 2004 LETTERS Being There (December 22, 2004) "How, we must ask, do we take ownership of where we are now and let it possess us?" To read more, click here. Ninety Degrees of Uncertainty (December 15, 2004) "The links we find between the climate and human conduct are pathetic, both because they speak to many terrifying truths, but also because they are as often riddled with error." To read more, click here. Authentic Conversations (December 8, 2004) "Better a little straight talk." To read more, click here. Living Treasures (December 1, 2004) "Our new heroes are no longer kings, but only subjects who perform their mighty exploits well out of the limelight." To read more, click here. Thanksgiving Lassitude; The Art of Distraction (November 23, 2004) "With Thanksgiving upon us, we want to make sure you remove yourself from all the compulsions that have you running in place and, rather, to help you drift off to a planet where you are doing hardly anything at all." To read more, click here. The Toy Story (November 17, 2004) "We think the troubles in the toy economy accurately forecast blips or worse in all of business." To read more, click here. Déjà vu All Over Again (November 11, 2004) "It used to be that you could send your managers on the fast track to France, the UK, and Japan in order to put some global polish on their shoes. Now you need to dress them in hiking boots, send them into the outback, and make sure they visit all the small countries at the edges of the map." To read more, click here. In Search of Governing Ideas (November 3, 2004) "We would look to Iceland, Finland, Dubai, Ireland, Singapore, Australia, and other venues for societal models we should appropriate." To read more, click here. Where Angels Fear to Tread (October 27, 2004) "Right now, health is still thought to come out of a bottle and not from the vine. That will change." To read more, click here. The Kingdom of Happiness (October 20, 2004) "Happiness has not had us in its grip." To read more, click here. Brain Mapping and Brain Storming (October 13, 2004) "As the epidemic of brain and neurological disorders demonstrates, we have problems aplenty at the door, and we need to wrestle them to the ground." To read more, click here. New Mexico: Asi Es Nuevo Mexico (October 6, 2004) "What’s needed ... is a mental, not a physical, makeover, whereupon the soul of the place is devoted more to invention than preservation." To read more, click here. Globe Trotters 2004 and Reinheitsgebot 1516 (September 29, 2004) "What, we ask ourselves, are the dimensions of the truly global corporation?" To read more, click here. China and the U.S.: Siamese Twins? (September 22, 2004) "China and America have more in common than their tightly linked economies. They are plagued by moribund infrastructures." To read more, click here. SpiceLines (September 8, 2004) "Once again, no matter how global we are, we demand an essence that says a vintage is special because it is different from anything produced elsewhere...." To read more, click here. Book Reports: The Quest for Relevance (September 1, 2004) "It’s hard for arthritic institutions to be globally relevant." To read more, click here. Why New York's Food (Still) Tastes Better (August 25, 2004) "[O]ur distribution systems are still full of hiccups, and neither the smarts nor the fresh goods that make for greatness have really crept off the island of Manhattan." To read more, click here. The Global View from Mount Olympus (August 18, 2004) "The global imperative demands a reconstitution of all our institutions to a degree we have not attempted since the Civil War." To read more, click here. Sales: Branding Again (July 29, 2004) "It simply does not make sense to add more static to the lives of horribly busy people. Instead, we think, you have to put together a repast that is so appetizing and so good looking that people just can’t stay away." To read more, click here. Bernard Maybeck’s Redwood San Francisco (July 21, 2004) "If your town lacks for plentiful trees or verdure, then you can rest assured that you have gotten the buildings all wrong." To read more, click here. The Great Cork Controversy: You're the Tops (July 14, 2004) "We think there’s a clear argument that says we really need to cherish, encourage, and nurture the top 20%, even if we do a lot of our shopping at Wal-Mart." To read more, click here. Demonizing Yesterdays; In Praise of Corks (July 7, 2004) "More and more, in all sorts of competitions (not just athletics), the kings and queens of sport have been thrust to the sidelines, and somebody from out of left field is stealing the crown." To read more, click here. Black Swans and Red Swans (June 23, 2004) "The blinders are on. We miss all the meteors coming in from outer space, pretending they are everyday events." To read more, click here. Irishmen Who Married Up (June 16, 2004) "Every day we learn of yet more acts of thoughtfulness on [Reagan's] part, which we take to be the moments that really defined him." To read more, click here. Designing the Outside from the Inside (June 8, 2004) "Our products, just like our magazines, shopping malls, and new housing developments, are cluttered." To read more, click here. About This Site (June 2, 2004) "Occasionally we add new features to the website that you may not spot. Here are a few." To read more, click here. Webbing, Blogging, Self-Publishing (May 19, 2004) "We are seeing a rebalancing of the relationship between publishers and writers, and our modern day minstrels and soothsayers have a chance to be heard as never before." To read more, click here. Tall Trees & Sturdy Men (May 12, 2004) "In baseball, in nature, in every aspect of the planet, there are still giants if we will hunt them out." To read more, click here. Enemy of the People: Innovation (May 5, 2004) "The best antidote for bad ideas is good ideas." To read more, click here. From a Sow’s Ear To a Silk Purse (April 21, 2004) "Trust most in companies that can tell their stories simply in an entertaining manner. Most others will disappear in history’s dustbin." To read more, click here. Heart Attacks and Aftershocks 1984-2004, Part II (April 14, 2004) "Somehow the onus for managing managed care had shifted from managed care to me, the patient." To read more, click here. Heart Attacks and Aftershocks 1984-2004, Part I (April 7, 2004) "Those were the halcyon days. ... There was no managed care to speak of. Health care coverage covered health care." To read more, click here. Malaysia, MeansBusiness, Philip Greenspun, Vacillando (March 24, 2004) "These days everything worth knowing or seeing seems to be five miles from the mainstream." To read more, click here. The Branding of Christmas (March 17, 2004) "Branding, taken by some to be old-fashioned nonsense, has never been so important. Like a good cowboy, however, you’ve got to pick up the rules of the range." To read more, click here. Paris the Invincible? (March 10, 2004) "If we are what we eat, then America is a polyglot nation, embracing many cultures rather than bending them to a government imposed 'norm.'" To read more, click here. Giving (February 25, 2004) "Perhaps we want our personal cosmic balance sheet to say we are creative producers, not bankrupt consumers." To read more, click here. Mailbag and Just Plain Bagged (February 18, 2004) "Cousin Murray, Ernst, Gene, and Brian, who could all be called hardworking small businessmen, probably could tell us what’s happening better than the economists." To read more, click here. One of a Kind (February 11, 2004) "This was supposed to be the era of mass customization, but it ain’t, yet." To read more, click here. Getting Past the B-Team (January 28, 2004) "We must look far and wide for our cooks and our leaders, since the more obvious choices are run of the mill types better fitted to be impresarios at chain restaurants." To read more, click here. Blue Skies: A Few Predictions for '04 (January 21, 2004) "To some degree, our entertainment mirrors the state of the nation, at least in the corridors of power. Have we run out of ideas?" To read more, click here. Looking for History and Better Bread (January 14, 2004) "What market dominant companies want us to forget is that something much better, smaller, and diffentiated actually can exist." To read more, click here.