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I Read, I Observe, I Blog

Proposed legislation targets physician-owned hospitals, says the Wall Street Journal.

And Apple Computer reported strong first quarter profits, surprising analysts and handily beating Wall Street's expectations. Timothy Cook, Apple's COO, said he leads 35,000 "wicked smart" employees who "...were put on the earth to make great products..." (Full disclosure: I'm writing this on one of those great products (MacBook Pro), downloading music from a great service (iTunes), listening to that music on another great product (iPod Nano) while planning to buy even more (an iPhone and a 24" iMac.))

Meanwhile, Microsoft announced plans to lay off 5,000 employees. In making the announcement, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, engaged in typically opaque execu-speak, saying "...we'll manage expenses and continue to invest in long-term opportunities to deliver value to customers...and we'll emerge even stronger..." I doubt I'm alone in not knowing what he just said.

But I do know that, in an uncertain economy, one company - the one with a vision of wicked smart employees making great products - is growing. The other - where the CEO sounds like some PR flack's ventriloquist dummy - is shrinking.

I doubt I'm alone in seeing THAT correlation.


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