David La Piana

I try to keep this blog away from politics, but the unfolding drama of the Democratic party primaries is just too weird to avoid consideration. When Senator Obama made his speech on race relations a few weeks ago I was so taken aback I could hardly think what to say. Americans, let alone American politicians, do not talk honestly about race. I thought maybe we were entering a new era of serious, thoughtful consideration of the role of racial differences in our society. I also thought that Obama may have overestimated the American public’s, or at least the media’s, ability to think deeply about this issue.

With the recent Rev. Wright spectacle, I think my concern was well-placed. Forget the fact that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of African Americans listen to him. They may not agree with him, but they listen. Meanwhile, our media would have us believe that you can only listen to people with whom you agree—100% on every issue. Considering someone’s ideas is tantamount to an endorsement. Thus, since Senator Obama has listened to Rev. Wright for twenty years from his pew, he must agree with everything his pastor says, no matter the topic.

I wonder why there is not a similar uproar in response to comments by Senator McCain’s religious advisor that were demeaning across an entire ethnic and religious swath. The difference, I believe, is race. Gone are the days when a White power structure can deny an African American candidate the ability to campaign. Gone too are the days of naked appeals to notions of racial inferiority. But the beliefs underlying those bad old days are still with us—dressed up and made presentable for public consumption, but there nonetheless.

Pundits are shocked that African American pastors tend to congregations that are both mad as hell and know who to blame for both their current condition and their collective history of unspeakable oppression. They are shocked that the African American community is rife with rumors about government plots to harm them, despite a very clear history, starting with slavery, and continuing through Jim Crow, Tuskegee, and even today in the inferior schools their children may attend. They are shocked that a minister to such a people would see some bit of truth in applying the biblical phrase “as you sow, so shall you reap” to the terrorist menace we now face. Yet, since the Second World War, who has toppled more sovereign governments (Chile, Guatemala, and Vietnam, for starters), invaded more tiny or neutral countries (remember The Bay of Pigs, Grenada, Panama, Vietnam, Cambodia, The Philippines, and oh yes, Iraq) than our own often misguided country. Cannot a true American patriot try, as Senator Obama says, to further perfect the union? Has “My country right or wrong” become our motto?

Maybe the Obama candidacy must be destroyed because some Americans are still not ready to say aloud truths that are so self-evident as to be taught to our school children: colonization wiped out the Native Americans; African American slaves were an essential part of our founding and our economic model for two hundred years; our government sometimes acts in morally indefensible ways by starting wars, conducting medical experiments on its own citizens (e.g. Tuskegee-syphilis and the CIA-LSD experiments); and African Americans today still experience health, wealth and equity disparities that are unconscionable in our wealthy society. Let’s say it all aloud, and the truth shall set us free.

A longstanding tradition at La Piana Associates is our twice a year multi-day all staff retreat.

Given our virtual set up, monthly in person 2 day staff meetings and these retreats are the glue that holds us together—in addition to thousands of emails. The retreats began when the firm was small and they usually took place in hotels. Since we have grown, that option has gotten too expensive, so we carpool up to Tahoe, rent several houses, and spend our days and evenings together imagining the future.

This week’s retreat will focus on reviewing the impact of the reorganization we started more than a year ago, the functioning of our new management structure, our growth trajectory, and the integration of 3 new staff members who have joined us since the last retreat in October 2007.

In between we cook all our meals together, which is quite a production with nearly 20 of us in attendance, and take a long break one afternoon for a good hike.

Viva la retreat!

This year marks our firm’s ten year anniversary. In addition to planning celebrations in San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Honolulu, I will reflect on how the firm has evolved in a series of blog entries.

La Piana Associates, Inc. was officially launched on July 1, 1998. The late 90s was bursting with paradigm shifts in the workplace. While some trends were merely passing fads of the collective millennium fever and dot-com decadence, other paradigm shifts in the workplace, such as telecommuting and team-based management, had lasting merit.

La Piana Associates has always been a virtual firm, with full-time consultants working out of their homes. This approach reduces the firm’s overhead—especially considering the Bay Area real estate market’s peak since 1998. The virtual office also allows us the flexibility to better serve our clients, both locally and nationally.

This model was so successful that as the firm grew, I even hired an executive assistant, our first support staffer, who worked from her home, a half hour drive from mine.

While we built the firm virtually, we also held in-person staff meetings regularly, to help foster team-building and forge the unique collaborative culture that defines La Piana Associates today.

In the early days, staff meetings were held around my dining room table. I live in a small house with a very small dining room, so this didn’t last long.

As the firm grew, we moved staff meetings to Bill Coy’s house—he has a big dining room. This served us well for years.

But meeting clients in my living room lost some of its charm and Bill’s dining room table soon reached capacity.

Since 2004, we have rented a modest office space in a converted warehouse in Emeryville, home to Pixar and Novartis, among others. We learned the space had once housed a factory for Jelly Belly Jelly Beans. Some would say that we are in good company.

Today, we internally recall the firm’s history as three phases: the days of David’s dining room table, Bill’s dining room table, and now, the Emeryville office table.

While the meeting table we share as a firm has changed throughout our ten year history, our innovative approach to collaborative teamwork and personalized client service remains constant.

In follow up to my recent screed about the potential FAA decision to let people use cell phones in flight.

I read with interest in the NY Times the other day that three congressman (two Democrats and a Republican) are introducing a new bill called HANGUP which would banc such an intrusion on our limited peace and quiet while airborne. 

A coach seat on a transcontinental flight has got to be the most expensive piece of real estate in the world – recently $989 for a 2 square foot piece, so the least we can ask for is not to have to listen to our neighbor yelling at his ex.

These guys have my vote!!