Author: Scott Westerman

The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running.Running has been an important meditation practice for much of my adult life. There is no high like a runner’s high. When the endorphins are flowing, new ideas seem to flow with them. And a regular commitment to cardiovascular activity has…

Friends!Your kind words for my humble Monday Motivator have been truly inspiring. Writing these short essays each week is a labor of love for me.I have enough of these tomes down on paper to fill a small book and will be publishing them under the title “The Spartan Life”.Most authors seek quotes from famous names…

I’ve been seriously reconnecting with my running these past few weeks. The cooler fall mornings have arrived and with tools like RunKeeper and an iPod GPS, the real time feedback you get is great.That’s if you can get out of bed, get stretched and get out the front door.We’ve created a society that expects improved…

School starts at MSU on Monday. The dorms are brimming with kids who can’t wait to get rid of their parents. Text books are flying out of the bookstores and tomorrow begins a brand new year of enlightenment, inside and outside the classroom.For my business friends, you too are probably deeply ensconced in budgets by…

The Michigan State University Alumni Association Service Excellence Tour kicks off with an inside look at Zappos.com. Join us as we take you behind the scenes at one of the most innovative, fun and profitable on line retailers in the world.

Video by MSUAA’s Dave Brown.

VIDEO: Take an HD Video Tour of Brody Square with MSUAA’s Dave Brown For those of us who had a meal in the Brody cafeteria anytime before 2010, your next trip to what is now known as Brody Square will blow you away.Until now, Snyder Phillips set a high bar for academic cuisine with the River Trail neighborhood at…

“Good art is art that allows you to enter it from a variety of angles and to emerge with a variety of views.” – Mary SchmichIt was somewhere during the mid-1980s when our company became hip to diversity. In those days, diversity was all about removing barriers for women and “people of color”.We brought in…

“Competition is .. not an act of oppression or abrasion – I’ve worked with my best friends in direct competition.” – Diane SawyerOne of my earliest football memories is being a boy scout usher at Michigan Stadium on the day when Michigan State came to town. Then as now, the U of M regular season…

None of us has gotten where we are solely by pulling ourselves up from our own bootstraps. We got here because somebody bent down and helped us. – Thurgood MarshallFor my friend, Frank Eliason, the four words “How can I help” transformed him and in the process, also transformed our concept of exceptional customer care.At…