Monkeying Around With Distribution

—Kenneth G. Kraetzer

Loved the phrase/concept "long-term plans de jour", but, alas, should that not be "du jour", as in "soup du jour"? Arrrggh!

—Dan Imler

Capitalism has greatly rewarded the risk-taker. The hero of the average "rags-to-riches" story also happens to be a renegade risk-taker, so why not rationalize away common-sense in the name of going down the road-less-traveled. Since successes and failures can simply be a matter of circumstances, some poor decisions are rewarded—which adds fuel to the "stick-to-your-vision-and-you-can't-fail" fire. Perhaps, visionaries and naive people have some of the same characteristics: having the wherewithal to cause a reaction, but lacking the preparation—or willingness—to handle the equal opposite reaction. Anticipating the equal opposite reaction is risk-management. Coincidentally, marketing, in its purest form, is also risk-management.

—Rob Stanton

Your "What Did You Expect?" column couldn't be more on target from my perspective. From government to industry, celebrity to the least known of society, we all tend to act in what we perceive to be our own best interest but are unwilling to accept the results of those decisions should they not work out quite as rosy as we expected. The result—a horrible deterioration not only of the truth but also of individuals willing to pursue the truth. Rather, barricaded positions to deflect responsibility onto somebody else has become the accepted response. I think the State Department did know Hamas would win but then we would have to explain why we've been giving billions to a thug for years. If we want better decisions in business, we better weigh the potential downside of decisions and make sure we can take the heat if things don't go as planned.

—John Norton

Come on Denny. You've done it again. Comparing the abduction of a reporter doing her job to GM failures ... is ludicrous. You know better.