In general, great companies prefer to grow organically, as Wall Street likes to say. That is, from the inside out, by finding new markets or by taking market share from their competitors.

The notion that employees and companies have a social contract with each other that goes beyond a paycheck has largely vanished in United States business.

For chat-room tyros who expect to make their first million day-trading by age 27, paging through the Sunday newspaper with a pair of scissors just to save a couple of cents on Cheetos seems so, well, old economy.

Also, most people read fiction as an escape - and I wonder whether my books aren't a bit too grounded in reality to reach the widest possible audience.

Sergeant Bergdahl may have broken any number of military laws.

Even so, sometimes I wish I did have a little bit more flair in my language.

In general, great companies prefer to grow organically, as Wall Street likes to say. That is, from the inside out, by finding new markets or by taking market share from their competitors.