George Steinbrenner was a brilliant businessman in life and in death. He bought the Yankees, along with others, in 1972 for $8.7Million (reportedly he put in less than $200,000 cash). The value of the Yankees today is estimated at $1.5 Billion, obviously largely through his efforts over the past 38 years.

But he was also brilliant in death. By dying in 2010 he slipped through the one year when estate taxes were eliminated, saving his heirs $500 Million in taxes! Good timing. So once again, George knew how to both make money (and save it) for his family.

But George was an enigma. So here’s an easy pop quiz:

True or False?

1. George was a wonderful man who was generous and kind.

2. George was an ugly bully. Crude, rude and brutal.

Answer: True for both.

I had a small first hand glimpse into both of these sides. For those who haven’t it seen it, the story of how ”The Boss”  kicked me out of his office is an interesting one and gave me some first-hand insight  into the two Georges. But even his shoe planted in my behind didn’t diminish my respect for his passion for winning. The story is a re-run of  January 3, 2010 Struming. Here it is….

The day “The Boss” Kicked Me out of His Office

January 3, 2010

“The Boss” was and still is George Steinbrenner. Not Springsteen or Diana Ross (do people still call her that anyhow?) And, yes, George once kicked me out of his Yankee Stadium office. Yet I still love the Yankees. It’s an interesting story…….

The year was 1983. I was a Management Supervisor at BBDO/New York working on the Campbell Soup account. I was recently promoted so Campbell Soup was a particularly important assignment. I remember the day Dick Bonnette, my boss at the time, said that Tom Clark, BBDO’s President, recently had a meeting with Lee Iacocca and Lee’s buddy, George Steinbrenner, and Lee suggested to George that BBDO had a lot of smart marketing people who could help him with the Yankees. I was one of those “smart marketing people”. When I was tabbed for the assignment, I was in heaven.

The Yankees account, whatever it was going to be, was not going to be a big one monetarily. It paled in business importance to the Campbell Soup account. But to me, broth and egg noodles couldn’t hold a candle to Yankee Stadium and Monument Park.

In March 1983, we went to Fort Lauderdale to the Yankees spring training home during that era (that’s where they trained before they moved to Tampa) to meet with George. When we met at his trailer by the field, George was extraordinarily gracious. He fell all over at himself offering coffee, donuts, etc. He had two of his senior front office people in the meeting along with our team– Tom Clark, BBDO president, Arnie Semsky, the BBDO Worldwide Media Director, Dick Bonnette, a senior BBDO exec and yours truly. We talked about Yankee merchandise, Yankees Magazine, overall Yankees marketing. Short of playing center field for the Yankees, I felt like I had reached the zenith of my career. I took copious notes as I was the person to make the ideas come to life. It would be my pleasure.

Then I recall the second part of the meeting when George dismissed his execs and introduced his daughter, Jenny. George explained that he had recently purchased a couple of city magazines in the Tampa area and Jenny was to be their publisher. He asked softly whether we might consider looking at these publications for BBDO clients. We said we would and Tom Clark felt Lee Iacocca/Dodge would surely run a page or two of advertising in the future. That would be easy. My sole focus was on the Yankees.

That day I also recall walking past Dave Winfield and George made a major point of commenting what a “fine young man” Winfield was. (I remembered this because years later George was suspended from baseball for paying $40,000 to a small time hustler, Howard Spira, whose job was to dig up embarrassing info on Winfield).

Be that as it may, I focused the bulk of my energies and time during March 1983 on Yankees ideas and marketing programs. I met back in NY with some of the Yankees brass and prepared a detailed marketing presentation to be given to George when he returned to New York after the team came north.

I recall going to Yankee Stadium for a meeting with George in April 1983 (how cool was that!) along with Bonnette and Semsky and we were ushered into George’s palatial office on the mezzanine level. Big glass windows overlooking the field, a humongous chair in the shape of a baseball glove. It was the most incredible office I’d ever been in.

Then “The Bad George” burst into the room. He was abrupt, maniacal and had a crazy look in his eye. No “would you like another donut” today. Then out of the blue he blurted, “Where are the 12 pages each month you guys promised that you’d run in Jenny’s magazines”. We were dumfounded. He had no interest in us working for the Yankees. He wanted BBDO clients’ money and lots of it. Like it was yesterday, I remember him stammering “If you don’t have those 12 pages each month that you promised, then the meeting is over. I don’t need you to do work for the Yankees. Anyone would be willing to do work for the Yankees. No pages? No meeting. Good bye.”

Then as quickly as he came in, he left. The whole “meeting” was no longer than two minutes. I packed up my presentation and we were gone. Back to Manhattan to our office to meet with Tom Clark, our President, who wasn’t at our butt kicking. “Did we miss something in Ft. Lauderdale?” I remember asking Tom. “George has the impression we promised 12 pages every month in his city publications”. No, obviously we missed nothing.

There were no more meetings and presentations. No Yankees account. No games. No meeting the players. No Monument Park. Just a bitter taste of what working for George must have been like. I can’t imagine the abuse he must have heaped on his employees every day.

Did I disavow the Yankees the day George planted his foot in my behind? Not even close. I was and still am able to separate the “ugly George” from the one who wanted so badly to win the World Series every year. Truth was that his ugliness in the 80s hurt the team. The merry-go-round of managers and front office leaders created a divisive atmosphere. Free agents were reluctant to sign with the Yankees and, despite a handful of premier players during that era (Mattingly, Winfield, Henderson, etc), the Yankees went through a 14-year playoff drought from 1981 to 1995. I knew then as I know now that George’s commitment is winning at all cost. As a fan, I couldn’t ask for more. His passion back then was too great and led to wrong headed, impetuous decisions and bad results.

Today George is no longer the lion he was when he was younger. His health is failing. His trips to NY are few. He wasn’t even able to attend the 2009 World Series. But I do recall his ceremonial drive around Yankee Stadium at the conclusion on the 2008 season, the final season at the old Stadium. There was Jenny was on his arm, 25 years older than I remembered her. We all get older. The world changes, but one thing remains the same: The New York Yankees continue to be the premier franchise in all of sports and we have George Steinbrenner to thank for that.

 Yes, George I’d like another Boston Cream donut. Boston and cream should always go together in the same sentence.

“Do more, feel better, live longer, hide the truth”.

The first three phrases are part of the theme line of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). I added the fourth phrase. As a former ad guy, I’d have rejected the theme line– too long & not memorable. But it’s accurate.

I know I am not a pharma expert, but as a diabetic I have spent much time understanding the disease and its treatments. However, I am (humbly) a pretty sharp marketer; I know deception, half truths, and shady PR when I see it. I am aggravated and upset by the actions of GSK and its corporate predecessor, SmithKline Beecham, in regards to its diabetic drug Avandia.

Avandia (Rosiglitazone) is an oral medication used by Type 2 diabetics and is a member of the thiazolidinedione class of drugs. Thiazolidinediones act as insulin sensitizers. They reduce glucose, fatty acid, and insulin blood concentrations, critically important for diabetics. I was an Avandia user. It was and continues to be effective an effective drug for its objective.  

So what’s the issue?

As reported in 2007, there are significant heart risks to the users of Avandia and GSK knew about these risks and chose not to tell us. Since cardiac and stroke issues are the leading cause of death among diabetics, and diabetics are 2-4 times more likely to experience these than the population at large, this was no small oversight. This was act of deception at the highest levels.

As a type 2 diabetic whose father was a Type 1 diabetic who died at age 46 of a heart attack, on a personal level this is information I would have desperately wanted to know when I was taking the drug. If I had known, I wouldn’t have never taken the drug, and that’s just what GSK feared. While Avandia is an effective drug in glucose control, there are many other effective drugs, so in essence GSK put people’s lives (including mine) at risk, while burying the knowledge that it had of the cardiac issues.

In the July 13, 2010  New York Times is a lead business story titled, Diabetes Drug Maker Hid Test Data on Risks, Files Indicate. It was reported that SmithKline as far back as 1999 secretly began to do a study on Avandia and whether it was safer than Actos, a competing product. The results showed clear information that Avandia was far riskier than Actos. What did they do with these results? Nada. They buried them and worse yet it has spent the next 11 years covering up the data. “These data should not see the light of day”, said an exec in an internal email.

GSK is probably celebrating yesterday’s  F.D.A. advisory panel’s decision not to yank the drug entirely. Of the 33 members, 12 members voted to withdraw Avandia, 10 voted to restrict its sales with enhanced warnings, 7 voted for enhanced warnings only, and only 3 said the drug should continue to be sold with no changes, and one member abstained. GSK no doubt “celebrated” that a minority of the panel voted to withdraw the drug entirely, but the reality is that 30 of the 34 panel members recognized that GSK didn’t represent the risks fairly. The final step is that the F.D.A. will soon rule based on this split panel.

How does this work that corporate America puts profits before the health and lives of people? When did we become the Roman Empire? Was it always this way and I’m just catching on? Something is deeply wrong that Toyota can bury data that shows its cars sometimes unexpectedly accelerate and kill its passengers, and GSK can knowingly sell products hiding the knowledge of increased cardiac risks to its users, are then they both run ads about how they much they “care”.

How’s this for a new GSK theme line:

GSK. Profits before People   

At least it would be truthful. It’s shorter and more memorable too.

George Steinbrenner and a group of investors purchased the Yankees in January 1973 from CBS, which owned the team during the 1965-1972 seasons. The CBS era was dismal and was marked by the decline of a great franchise. Unfortunately it was also the era of my youth and many of my early Yankee memories were of marginal players on bad teams—Roger Repoz, Steve Whitaker, Bobby Cox (great manager, lousy player), the list of marginal players was endless.

Steinbrenner raised the bar. His goal was always clear—win a World Championship every year. While obviously 29 other baseball teams stand in the way of that goal, the Yankees have won 7 Championships during his reign. George wanted to win so badly that he was maniacal and often made many impetuous bad decisions (some good ones as well). Regardless, his objective was clear—win.  

I met George on two occasions and George couldn’t have been more different each time—the first time he was kind, gracious and communicative, a truly wonderful person. In the second meeting he was abusive, ugly and rude. I suspect he was genuine in both meetings. George actually kicked me and my colleagues out of his office in 1983 (Read about it in an earlier Struming)

The Day the Boss Kicked Me Out of His Office.

Regardless, my respect for him, his goals and the Yankees never wavered. Every passionate Yankees fan owes George Steinbrenner a debt of gratitude. He wanted the New York Yankees  to win–every game, every season, every year. A fan couldn’t ask for more. Thank you, George.

Bob Sheppard had been the Yankees public address announcer since 1951. His first game, on April 17, 1951, was also the debut of my boyhood idol, Mickey Mantle, who claimed to get shivers every time Bob Sheppard announced, “Playing Centerfield, #7, Mickey Mantle, #7. His first year was also the last for Yankee great Joe DiMaggio.

Bob Sheppard had a 56-year run as the Yankees P.A. announcer and his last game was in September of  the 2007 Yankees season. He was too ill to appear in the closing of the old Stadium or the opening of the new Yankee Stadium. His style was one of precise enunciation, and he was the antithesis of flamboyance. His grace was one of the many things that have made the Yankees an extraordinary franchise. There is already a plaque for him in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium.

Bob Sheppard also had a “second job” which only lasted 50 years, as P.A. announcer for the football Giants from 1956 to 2006. Alas, his words “Unitas to Berry, first down” are words also etched in football history and the minds of the Giants fans who attended the famous overtime 1958 NFL Championship game, “The Greatest Game Ever Played”, between the Giants and Colts at Yankee Stadium.

In his field he was the best that ever was, and Yankees fans and Giants fans will miss him. But as all Yankees fans know, one player has continued to use a recorded Bob Sheppard announcement:

 #2, Derek Jeter, #2.

Here’s the official Struming analysis of the Yankees first half:

Reasons to be hopeful

1. Starting pitching–The most important element of a successful playoff team are 3 great starters. CC, Andy & Hughes have each won 10 games, 30 collectively, against just 7 collective losses.  They each have a chance to win win 20 (CC will). In any case three strong starters are essential for a deep playoff run: see Yankees 2009. Best threesome in baseball.

2. Mo–Mariano Rivera was, is, and continues to be a relief god. He’s not perfect (see today’s 9th inning) but he’s close. Not a lot more to be said other than I pray he can pitch until he’s 70. He’s the best reliever ever, hands down.

3. Cano–Breakout season for Robby. This is what we thought he’d do when he batted .340 in 2007. No reason to think he’ll slump in second half. He’s a legitimate MVP candidate.

Reasons to worry:

1. Bench–What bench? We have none. Rookies, cast offs, weak sticks. We need to pick up some bench talent shortly. Hinske & Hairston played important bench roles last year. We need new 2010 pick ups.

2.  Relief piching (except for Mo). Very inconsistent. Joba is not an 8th inning stud. The rest of the pen is hit or miss at best. We miss Acevas–get well soon.

3. Teixeira.  Half the season and Tex is still hitting .243 (and that’s with a recent surge). That’s .047 below his career batting average. It’s not “still early” anymore. His RBIs are Ok (53), particularly given his weak average. Tex has  to  get a few more  hits. But we love your glove everyday. We still remember Jason “manos de piedro” Giambi.

4. Jeter and A-Rod. Jeter is now 36 and A-Rod will be 35 later this month. I know they are both all stars (again) but their batting averages of .281 and and .276 respectively are far below their .300+ averages. And A-Rod modest home run total is surprising, though he’s still among the RBI leaders.

So what can we expect in the second half? Here are my predictions:

1. Robby will continue to rock

2. A-Rod will start hitting more homers.

3. New bench players will be found

4. CC will dominate and win 20+

5. The relief staff will continue to be a problem, but the Yankees will muddle through, but Mo will continue to be brilliant.

….And most importantly, Joe Girardi will be wearing #29 next season (please). Do you agree? Your thoughts are appreciated.

Struming update: The “big 3″ pitchers won 4 games in the past week and now are 34-7 going into the all-star break. CC now is 12-3 after a slow start and has won 8 in a row. Tex is breaking out of slump and now is hitting .254 with 60 RBIs, but still far below his lifetime average. Jeter and A-Rod (70 RBIs) are still far below their lifetime averages as well hitting only .274 and .269 at the break. And the Yankees are now 56-32, and in first in the AL East by 2 games over the Rays, and 5 games over the Bosox. Lastly every Yankees fan (and Giants fan) mourns the passing of long time public address announcer, Bob Sheppard. See new Struming: Clear. Concise. Correct.

I know I’m supposed to be deeply disappointed that we lost (I am—but just a little) and be proud of the team’s efforts, but I still don’t get soccer. I tried to get excited about the  World Cup. I certainly can’t get away from SportCenter’s coverage of it, but I not ashamed to say that I find soccer boring. I know that makes me sound like an ugly American who only cares about America’s sports, and maybe that’s true. I know soccer is the world’s game and the World Cup really is a big deal. I get that. But I am bored by games with virtually no scoring and am not enthralled by the competition. I know my disappointment on our ouster lasted only 15 seconds after Ghana scored the winning goal.

Part of my disinterest comes from the fact that I actually listened to Saturday’s game on the radio. Big mistake! I was sitting on the beach in Belmar, NJ (right next to an AVP professional volleyball tournament which was interesting) and my buddy said, “I know the Yankees don’t play until tonight, so can we listen to the soccer game? He got me. He was wise enough to know that even a mid-season Yankees game would be far more interesting to me than soccer, but the Yankees didn’t play until 7pm (BTW, when will A.J. Burnett remember how to pitch again?)

So I grudgingly said “yes, sure we can listen to the soccer game”. Ugh. It was painful to listen to. The British announcer was hard to understand and those damn vuvuzela horns were awful. It sounded like a swarm of bees surrounded the players. (Those horns are banned from Yankee Stadium—good!). Listening to the broadcast and the vuvuzelas, I had a mental image of Joba in the playoffs against Cleveland in 2007 with a swarm of midges around him. Furthermore, listening to hours of what sounded to me like inaction was torture. I know I was bored out of my mind because I snuck a few minutes of the Mets game on the FAN, and my “love” for the Mets rivals my feelings for the Red Sox. Honestly I would have listened to a Bosox game too if it were available on a local station.

I do know that the soccer fields of America are jammed every Saturday morning in the fall with kids and their parents’ minivans. I also know that as a marketer that the demographics of the U.S. are changing and that the growth of the Hispanic population may increase the level of interest in soccer as well long term. But don’t hate me for wishing the World Cup to end quickly. I’ve had enough. The Yankees are in first place and NFL players report to their respective camps in less than a month. That’s a whole lot more interesting, at least to me.

Want to get Strumings automatically?  Click here

“I don’t understand Twitter. It scares me”.

“What a waste of time!”

“It’s for kids”

“What would I tweet about?”

“Twitter users are narcissists”

I have heard all of these and more. (Ok, there’s a little truth to the last one). But the issue for the Struming du jour is whether Twitter can have a meaningful role in a well crafted social media strategy. Notice that I started with social media strategy which needs to be driven by the overall business strategy. Twitter can play an important role in an integrated strategic social media program.  And if you’re not serious and still want to tweet, go ahead anyway and let the world know that you had Cheerios for breakfast, but in that case most of us won’t care.  

But let’s assume you are serious about how a social media program can help position you, your products and services. There are those who are more advanced in understanding social media strategy, but over the past year I’ve come to more deeply appreciate its power in marketing. Social media is a marketing tidal wave. First and foremost, social media is not just about “selling stuff” or just reconnecting with high school friends. It is about two-way communication which can aid sales. Obviously if you are in business you want to generate revenue. But if you want to get involved in social media the way to do so is to give first. Communicate–give information, thoughts, ideas, knowledge. Give freely and often.

Then resolve that every social networking platform is not for you and that there are mass platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace, etc.), and niche ones as well. But let’s assume that you want to venture into Twittersphere as part of a business strategy to position yourself and/or business as thought leaders in your industry. This is a good use of social media. If you want to get inolved on Twitter, then start by listening. Follow people in your industry, see how they converse, ask yourself what do you find interesting and valuable?

Realize that Twitter is a bit of an alternative universe with its own rules and etiquette. Learn them. It’s not as intuitive as other social media so it takes a while to figure it out. I’m still learning, but as a communicator I like the brevity of expression that comes with the 140 character limit (less, if you want to attain the coveted retweet). But its growth is phenominal, and yes, there are many “users” who open an account, have virtually no followers, and then are frozen about what to do. But one thing’s for sure: it is not a fad, it reaches millions of people and it is an opportunity to listen. If you are a service provider, listening to what others are saying about you is a must.

So start listening and then start sharing thoughts and ideas of value. Build a group of people you want to follow and then over a period of time you too will develop a following.  After you’ve shared meaningful information and thoughts, it’s OK to tell us you had Cheerios for breakfast and I might even care whether you had the original or Honey Nut.

I welcome followers at http://twitter.com/LonnyStrum  I will gladly follow you as well, and hope we can share thoughts of value. PS: I like Honey Nut Cheerios.

Want to get Strumings automatically?  Click here

Answer: Referrals. (This was not a trick question—shame on you if you got it wrong).

LinkedIn is a great way to connect and reconnect with business people, provide and get recommendations, network at the highest senior business levels, and generate referrals. It’s been called  “networking on steroids” (without the 50 game ban)

LinkedIn now reportedly has more than 50 Million users who are affluent ($140,000 average annual income), median age in their early 40s, and primarily hold middle/upper management positions. If you are a senior executive in a professional service firm—communications agency, architectural firm, law firm, accounting firm, etc. having a well crafted LinkedIn profile with hundreds of connections can be an invaluable  tool for building business.

How so? Here are five really good reasons why:

1. Allows you to connect with “old business friends”. For those of us who have been around a few years and worked with some interesting people who you really liked but lost touch with during our careers, LinkedIn is a treasure. It’s awkward to call someone who you haven’t communicated with in 10-20-30 years but somehow “connecting with” them on LinkedIn seems somewhat benign, and many old friendships and business relationships have been rekindled from a LinkedIn connection.

2. Opportunity to post your status. This will keep everyone up to date on what’s going on. This can include update on projects, links to articles, blog posts, etc. This helps postion you as a thought leader, and provides a reminder for others to reach out to you.

3. 2^nd level connections are the key. Obviously there are no 2nd level connections without your primary connections but because “you don’t know what you don’t know”, LinkedIn allows you visibility to people your connections know. The math is overwhelming—each first connection can provide an additional 150-200 connections. Really useful. So next time you want to meet someone, find out if someone you know knows them, and if they do and it’s appropriate, ask them to introduce you.

4. Groups. You can join professional, academic, interest groups that you want and join in conversations on topics. It’s another chance to show your smarts (but easy on the selling please) and might provide more connections.

5. Who’s searching you? There’s a feature which allows you (some) visibility to those who viewing your profile. Valuable insights.

I realize many business professionals have “social media phobia” or mistakenly think social media is just for kids. If that’s you, accept your fears and judgements are misplaced and incorrect. Get involved in LinkedIn, give and network. It won’t take much time but if you are wise and proactive, you will create more opportunities for you and your business as a result.

Want to get Strumings automatically?  Click here

Everything.

I believe that ultimately the biggest threat to our national security is our continued dependence on foreign oil. It wreaks havoc on our economy, creates foreign wars (Iraq) we have no place being involved in, puts us at the mercy of foreign oil cartels, and provides fuel for terrorists hatred of us. It can, and has, brought the U.S. economy to its knees and is a bigger threat as every year passes.

This sounds like a plea for more off shore drilling where we can have greater control of our destiny. It is not. Obviously the BP fiasco is a testament to the “benefits” of off shore drilling–just ask the people of the Gulf Coast.

But lest we blame others, we, the American public, should be disappointed in ourselves—we have seen the signs of the severity of the problem for years, but have not demanded action. I am old enough to remember the two shortages in the 70s, waiting on lines for hours for those few open gas stations in order to fill up our tanks (and being able to do so only on designated days based on license plate #). But when the lines were gone, we quickly forgot about the problem. Even just two years ago when gas prices rose to $4+ a gallon, the public was again sensitized to our oil addiction, but subsequent falling prices took the steam out of the public’s concern.

As it relates to the cars we drive,  auto manufacturers over the years have grudgingly increased the fuel efficiency of vehicles they have sold. Interestingly, the non-domestic manufacturers grew more rapidly as a direct result of their understanding of the issue of the American public’s interest in more fuel efficient vehicles, while the domestic manufacturers needed to be dragged along. But again we should blame ourselves for the lack of progress on this front as well–do we really need oversized and fuel inefficient Hummers and SUVs, and if the American public desires such vehicles, shouldn’t those that do pay a steep price for that luxury?

So here’s a plan:

1. Create a $1 a gallon national gasoline tax. Gas prices would jump to close to $4 a gallon overnight. Yes, I obviously know this hurts the economy which is struggling to rebound, but only a rapid jump in gas prices will force a charge in our  behavior, while providing funding for alternative energy programs. By the way, this would personally stink for me. I am a consultant who drives to clients constantly.

2. Mandate an average 40 miles-per-gallon efficiency for all new vehicles within 5 years. Obviously this will change the marketing strategies for auto manufacturers. By the way, didn’t we just bail out GM. How about a little support as a quid pro quo?

3. Create a heavy tax, $25,000 for any vehicle purchased which gets less than 40 miles-per-gallon. This would be a tax payable immediately on purchase/lease of the new vehicle. Wouldn’t  that make someone think twice before they purchased an inefficent gas guzzler? And if they still did, OK there’s more $ for alternative energy funding.

4. Invest the tax dollars generated by the $1 federal tax and the “gas guzzler” tax into R&D of alternate energy and public transportation.

There may be serious flaws in these suggestions. Perhaps people far smarter than I have better ideas. But the problems that exist need big solutions, not marginal programs that hardly put a dent into the issues. Most importantly, we need decisive action. Our national security is at stake.

What do you think?

What makes rivalries great is the passion we have for one side or the other. The pleasure of victory is enhanced by the defeat of the hated opponent. But sometimes a rivalry is merely rooting for the opponent of the “hated” team—I would put Notre Dame football, Yankees baseball, Duke basketball on the list. Love or hate ‘em you, if you are a fan of the game you can’t help but be more interested if these teams are involved, and perhaps your “favorite team” du jour is merely the opponent of those hated teams.

Rivalries exist in business as well particularly among service firms. Obviously they have little universal awareness, but when a professional service firm comes up against the same rival often, the competition heats up and the passion to beat out the competition is at its highest. I think this is good, because rivalries bring out the competitive nature in us all. And competition is good–see May 31 Struming on competition. http://www.strumconsulting.com/strumings/competition-is-good/

For those of you who are sports fans, and I suspect most Strumings readers are, here’s my official unscientific ranking of what I believe are the greatest sports rivalries:

1. Yankees-Red Sox

2. UNC-Duke men’s basketball

3. Army-Navy football

4. Lakers-Celtics

5. Ohio State – Michigan football

Each of these rivalries have history, passion are captivating and I suspect will continue in the years to come. Interestingly though rivalries exist in the NFL and NHL, I don’t think any NFL or NHL rivalry matches the ones above, at least none stand the test of time.

I would enjoy hearing any thoughts you have on rivalries you think I have missed. I’m also  particularly interested of your motivation in the workplace when your firm comes up against your hated rival in the big pitch. Your thoughts are always welcome.

Strum on……