"It is impossible for ideas to compete in the marketplace if no forum for
  their presentation is provided or available."         Thomas Mann, 1896

Letter from the President

April 1st, 2003

John Hathaway-Bates
President & Executive Director

No long letter this month, just a request for a little help - and a short note on what I found curious.

Twenty plus years ago 36 of us began The Business Forum and it grew because everyone involved took the time to introduce their friends and colleagues to the concept.  So now, after the few setbacks we suffered for a couple of years, we are back to holding several luncheons a month once more, from Seattle on the Canadian Board to San Diego on the Mexican Border, and therefore we need to basically start again to build our list of contacts and decision makers.

A lot of our friends have of course retired over the years, some have moved into another dimension, and many have changed positions, organizations, telephone number, address or email address.

Therefore we need everyone who knows about us, reads the white papers on our site, or attends our meetings to take up the challenge and do for us today what others did for us twenty years ago. -- Spread the word and help us and those who need information and might want to network with their peers --  recommend our site and organization to a friend or colleague -- or forward our emails on to your peers when your receive them, or bring an associate with you to one of our luncheons.  It will all help us to grow and therefore provide an even better program.

As for the note:  as the man said there are "lies, damn lies and statistics" in that order of spreading misinformation.   I find it is the same with surveys that design and load the questions in favor of their own point of view and then claim to have touched the people's soul with the very predictable answers they produce.  One such survey that is presently appearing on the website of the League of Arab States caught my attention lately.  In asking for your opinion it gives you three choices to the following question:

In your viewpoint, what is the reason behind USA current stance in Iraq?

The choices you may choose from are as follows:  

1.   Consolidating the American existence and interests in the region

2.   Influencing the balances in the region

3.   Dividing Iraq and weakening its power

Strange that they did not include at least one choice saying something like "Freeing the Iraqi people from the rule of a despotic dictator and defending the World from terrorists", don't you think?

But before you write it off as something typical only to the Middle East or Arabs, take a look at some of the surveys on American and European sites.

My very best wishes,

Hope to see you at lunch soon,

President & Executive Director

You can email me at  john@bizforum.org
You can telephone me at        310-550-1984 
or Fax me at                                    310-550-6121

Previous Letters from the President

April 2001
May 2001
June 2001
July  2001
August 2001
September 2001
October 2001
November 2001
   December 2001   
The Etiquette of Formal & Business Dining

January 2002
February 2002
April 2002
May 2002
June 2002
July 2002
August 2002
September 2002
October 2002
November 2002

December 2002

 A tongue-in-cheek treatise on the many benefits that a country gains simply by being founded by the descendants of populations who were most often raped, pillaged and looted by the Vikings.

---

January 2003
February 2003
March 2003

The New Crusade

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