Month: January 2012

Apple recently released a report listing its major suppliers and detailing labor conditions among those suppliers in China. Conditions at Chinese factories, which have led to numerous suicides, had already been documented by others, from the New York Times to performance artist Mike Daisy. Apple, the second-largest company in the world by market cap, appears finally to be acknowledging problems:

• 62% of suppliers weren’t compliant with working-hours limits.
• 32% weren’t compliant with hazardous-substance management practices.
• 35% failed to meet Apple’s standards to prevent worker injuries. (Source: Wall Street Journal)

It’s good to see Apple making an effort to monitor and improve working conditions at its factories. But the company needs to do more. Those of us who own Apple products must insist that they do. As a result, we need to expect – no, we need to volunteer – to pay higher prices. Why? Continue reading ““Dear Apple, I insist that you raise your prices…””

Everyone has a gift to give. I truly believe that. When my grandfather, LeRoy Oesch, died last week in St. Louis at the age of 96, it seemed fitting to think about the gifts he gave to those of us who knew him. To me he offered two: the gift of hard work and the gift of generosity.

When he was a young man growing up in the Great Depression, there were times when he was the only one in his family who brought in a paycheck. Paid work was hard to come by in the 1930s, and what he earned had to help put food on the table for a family with 11 children. Continue reading “Hard Workin’ Man”

It’s surprising to me how few companies know how to apologize. The problem isn’t limited to the executives of corporate America, of course. I believe it’s endemic to our society, and perhaps no more clearly than among those who should be our role models. From Barry Bonds to Brett Favre, from Bill Clinton to Anthony Weiner, our public figures seem to prefer denial (some might call it lying) to acceptance of responsibility (at least initially). And when they do apologize, as Netflix CEO Reed Hastings did – sort of – that admission of responsibility so often comes across as insincere.

But criticizing corporate executives (and celebrities) is not the focus of this blog post. Instead, I want to use this space to highlight and celebrate one company that in my opinion got it right: FedEx.

This video achieves what I believe are the 7 essential steps of a true apology Continue reading “How to Apologize? See FedEx.”