The Republican Party has consistently opposed Obamacare (as costing more), stimulus spending (as increasing inflation), etc., none of which has happened in spite of seven years of their warnings. Their main problem is that they don't have the character to admit that they are wrong. They don't have enough character to rethink their deeply held assumptions.

Our infrastructure of bridges, roads and ports has been given a D-level rating by many civil engineer societies. The government should shift some money from the Defense budget and hire companies to fix our infrastructure. As for non-construction workers, we need to do job retraining in those growing areas where more skilled workers will be needed.

Many great ideas need refreshment and deeper analysis. "Freedom," for example, is a great idea but it has become a cliché.

Leaders such as Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Franklin D. Roosevelt and others promulgated a vision and a moving story of how their people could achieve a great purpose.

I admire firms that have achieved a real differentiation from their competitors. Nike is all about mastering sports. Apple is all about creating technologies to make life easier and better. Audi is is all about introducing new technologies to make automobiles safer and better performing.

There is no such thing as a commodity. It is simply a product waiting to be differentiated.

The key to branding, especially for smaller firms, is to focus on a limited number of issue areas and develop superb expertise in those areas.