Beyond the Bottom Line: Business Lessons from My Investment Club

By Chris Cochran

I’m definitely a creature of habit, and I appreciate routine when it’s to my benefit. In another of those “boy, time flies” moments recently, I was thinking about some of the consistent things in my life and realized one of the most consistent things has been my active participation in a traditional, community-based investment club for the past 16 years. I thought I’d been in it for maybe five to 10 years – but the math said no, 16 years. The club has existed for almost 30 years, and a couple of the original members are still there – others come and go depending on personal and financial needs.

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What Venus Williams Taught Me in 1.5 Hours

By Chris Cochran

With the summertime North American hardcourt portion of the pro tennis tour now in full swing, I’m getting eyeballs deep in watching live tennis matches at what are reasonable times of the day for me — no having to get up at 3 a.m. Pacific to catch a live match from Europe or Australia. But the Tennis Channel calls to me throughout the workday, so I compromise by leaving the TV on mute and just checking in when I go to refill the coffee cup.

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Terminate for Convenience

By Chris Cochran

Boy did I go down a wormhole the other day. Mea culpa.

As a former federal government library manager and Contract Officer’s Representative (COR), under Democrat and Republican administrations, I was responsible for organizing competitive bidding solicitations for information services, products, and specialized research databases; evaluating proposals, and managing contracts once they were in place. The decision to acquire a product was based on historical and current needs of agency staff – my internal clients – and the budget situation. Budgets for those products were submitted annually, approved or denied or adjusted as needed from monies appropriated by Congress and approved by the president, and contracts were reviewed annually to make sure the service provider was delivering the products and services we paid for – that the U.S. taxpayer paid for. Just as an informed public is ideal, an informed government and informed government staff is ideal, too.

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Spending Time in My Content Garden

By Chris Cochran

I caught up recently on a great program from AIIP 2024 Symposium – the annual conference of the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP) – that I couldn’t attend in person. Luckily for me the program was recorded and available for viewing after the event – I didn’t miss out on anything except maybe the opportunity to ask questions at the real-time presentation.

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On the Bookshelf: Brain Surgery for Suits

By Chris Cochran

One of the public libraries near me maintains an entire aisle for its “friends” group’s ongoing used book sale, outside of the special events a couple of times of year where they essentially create a pop-up store to bring out the used book “big guns” – the collectible editions they’ve received, oversized art and photography books, or items pertinent to the local area. But the ongoing aisle sale is still chock full and gets re-stocked regularly.

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On the Bookshelf: Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry

By Chris Cochran

One of my professional development goals is to have a business book of some kind in the reading mix at all times. Mostly I’m successful at that – although there may be a couple of days in between finishing one book and starting the next. One of my organizational development consultant friends would probably suggest I come up with a quarterly reading “plan” to help facilitate this goal.

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“Never Oversell, But Always Over Deliver” – A Small Business Owner Chat

By Chris Cochran

There are 33.2 million small businesses in the United States according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which combined account for 99.9% of all U.S. businesses — employing close to half of the U.S. private sector workforce. It’s a good bet most people know at least one small business owner. If you’re also a small business owner like me, you’ve probably worked with other small businesses, too. In my business, I strive to help my clients solve their information puzzles with targeted business information research.

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The Courts and AI: A Bumpy Road in 2023

By Chris Cochran

For the sake of argument, let’s say 2023 was the year we were introduced to generative AI and ChatGPT, along with the myriad of other generative AI products from the big tech players. It was also the year we were introduced to any number of warnings of the social and economic effects of generative AI, “deepfakes” were moved into the mainstream, and dire predictions of AI-induced workforce reductions rumbled through the labor markets. Cecily Mauran over at Mashable.com gives us a good take on AI and the internet in 2023.

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Taking A Closer Look @ … Department of State Investment Climate Statements

By Chris Cochran

The U.S. government (USG) compiles enormous amounts of information each year, documenting the history and the health of the United States – statistics covering the economy, population, industrial production, mortality rates, and consumer demand among many other data points. This information is freely available and easily accessible if you’re patient, know where to look, and know how to extract the information you need.

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Beyond Madoff: Due Diligence Lessons that Stand the Test of Time

By Chris Cochran

I keep going back to an excellent Mintz Group article from 2010 that I’ve used (and shared) many times over since it was first published to demonstrate some due diligence traps that can have serious impacts on businesses and investors. It’s a great supporting document when a client questions the time – and expense – a background check or other due diligence investigation is taking. The article, “Beyond Madoff: Eight Lessons from Recent Due Diligence Background-Checking Gone Wrong,” bubbled up in my thoughts recently as I continued reading installments in a seven-part series the Wall Street Journal has been publishing for subscribers on financial crimes that “rocked” the U.S.

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