By Bridget Ingebrigtsen While perusing my company’s bookshelf for a good book to read, Patrick Lencioni’s “Getting Naked” grabbed my attention for obvious reasons. Published in 2010, I’ve heard about it but not as often as Lencioni’s other books like “Death by Meeting,” “Three Dysfunctions of a Team” and “The Advantage.” I figured that maybe [...]
By Courtney Westlake Constant listening and learning from the leadership are essential to building and bettering a company. So has been the mentality of Sarah Phalen, as she has concentrated on continual communication across the branches and departments of Illinois National Bank (INB) as president and CEO. Over lunch at Café Brio, Phalen told me [...]
By Thomas C. Pavlik, Jr. Sometimes, I think Texas got it right – their legislature only meets every other year. Ours, of course, meets much more often than that. What do we have to show for it? Check out these new laws that will take effect in 2014. Cell Phones and Driving. You’ve probably already heard about [...]
By David A. Kelm Christmas decorations are going up in neighborhoods and at area businesses as nearly everyone is getting ready for shoppers, family and festivities. From simple white twinkly lit wreaths to massive computer-aided, musically-timed, “Christmas Vacation” light shows, traditional holiday lighting is getting phased out and replaced by energy efficient LED (light-emitting diode) [...]
By Douglas L. Whitley The Illinois Chamber of Commerce recently released its latest public policy research document entitled “The Impact of Judicial Activism in Illinois: Workers’ Compensation Rulings from the Employer’s Perspective.” The report recognizes that while progress has been made legislatively toward improving Illinois’ workers’ compensation system, there has been little attention directed towards the [...]
By Joe Natale Not that I’m one to make much of a fashion statement, but I recently picked me up a pair of navy blue suede shoes. I was not particularly in the market for blue suede shoes, but considering the soles of my shoes were splitting, I had to do something, especially since I [...]
By Brant Mackey Recently it was my pleasure to visit the Sangamon CEO class as a guest speaker. I spent more than 30 minutes attempting not to bore them with tips to better connect with the media in Springfield. In this case CEO stands for Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities. The program is a partnership between the [...]