Decisions at the Fulcrum

In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, I explore Kahtoola, a specialized outdoor brand tackling a deceptively simple challenge: navigating a world where the ground is perpetually frozen. The interplay of ice, packed snow, refrozen slush, shaded hardpack, pavement, trails, slopes, and varying speeds shapes the complex connection between foot and surface. Their offerings, including MICROspikes...

I travel to Idaho to look at how Idaho Central Credit Union (ICCU) grew from a small credit union with 22 members and less than $300 in assets to the largest credit union in Idaho. The appealing story is that ICCU discovered one clever maneuver, but the more useful and more authentic one is that ICCU established a culture capable of duplicating itself over and over...and over. I examine ICCU using...

At Iowa 80, the world’s largest truck stop, visitors immediately see vastness. The expansive parking lots seem to stretch endlessly, while an array of signs beckons from every direction. The fuel lanes, gleaming chrome, vibrant lights, diverse food options, showers, repair bays, and retail aisles can initially feel like a sensory overload. This episode takes a juncture to hit the brakes and explor...

On October 30, 2025, a significant disruption unfolded for YouTube TV subscribers as the entire Disney suite of networks disappeared from their screens. Iconic channels like ABC, ESPN, FX, and National Geographic were suddenly inaccessible, following a breakdown in negotiations between Disney and Google over a new carriage agreement. This two-week standoff left viewers unhappy and placed immense p...

In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, we explore the intriguing journey of chili crisp and the brand Fly by Jing, which has made a delightful Sichuan chili crisp available in U.S.-American kitchens, transforming a simple jar into a vessel of cultural storytelling. More than just a condiment, chili crisp embodies the rich flavors and memories of Chengdu, inviting us to explore how a distinct...

If a smartphone company asked you to do something incredibly unexpected, they would exclusively urge you to maintain your phone. In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, we look at Fairphone, a Dutch smartphone company that developed its brand around repairability, modular design, replaceable parts, and a subtle disruptive premise: a device does not have to be treated as disposable when the ba...

World War II is frequently taught within a clear framework: democracy defeated fascism, justice accompanied victory, and the conflict ended with surrender and trials. However, the history of the Asia-Pacific battlefield confuses the story being given. In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, I talk with Jenny Chan, Director of Pacific Atrocities Education, about stories that are still underrep...

What happens to a package after you are finished with it? A bottle, a cardboard sleeve, a mailer, a charger box: all of these seem minor independently, until we enter the maze of bins, collection systems, producer obligations, recycling markets, municipal capacity, and public behavior. In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, I visit Sweden 🇸🇪 to look at the Extended Producer Responsibility sy...

In this episode, I look at two management-leadership approaches while visiting the grocery store. Beneath the florescent lights, right next to the bakery display, and between the BOGO beverages and cart return, I want to test one often cited framework in an applied setting.  Using the managerial grid developed by Blake and Mouton, this episode compares and contrasts "country club management" with...

Part 2 shifts from the Macondo well to the public narrative explaining the crisis . The crisis split into two halves as soon as oil started to flow across the Gulf: communicative and industrial.  How the well collapsed became as important as making sense of what sort of crisis was unfolding. Was the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe a rare occurrence, a technical malfunction, a safety culture failing,...

In the first part of our Deepwater Horizon episode, I delve into the disaster prior to its emergence as a public narrative. I start by recalling the Exxon Valdez incident, then transition to the Gulf of Mexico, where offshore drilling has ventured into deeper waters, navigating more intricate technical landscapes and grappling with a challenging interplay between expertise and uncertainty. On Apri...

Coffee is a bean, a stimulant, and a social routine. It is also a global commodity that becomes meaningful only when people give it rituals, tools, prices, places, and habits. In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, I explore Vietnamese coffee culture and Starbucks’ careful entry into Vietnam. I begin with the phin filter, condensed milk, coconut coffee, egg coffee, robusta beans, and the eve...

In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, I explore the neon logic of today's supermarket aisle, where food has become a continuous commentary on societal unease. Nestlé's Vital Pursuit, aimed at those who use GLP-1 drugs, seems to be another neat health launch: fewer portions, extra this, more of that buzzword, and happy-sounding reassurance on the container. This episode investigates how a fo...

In this interview episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, Dr. William Hoffman speaks with founder and CEO of Mightylicious Carolyn Haeler about the decisions that emerge when necessity, taste, and enjoying food are immediate and abrupt. What began with a celiac diagnosis became Mightylicious, a quest to make the best gluten-free cookie consumers ever tasted.  Carolyn Haeler reflects on her path from...

In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, we trace Slice from its 1984 debut inside Pepsi’s lemon-lime strategy to its slow disappearance from the American soda aisle. We begin in the fluorescent chill of the cola wars, where Pepsi decides that Teem no longer has enough force in the market and launches Slice with a sharper promise. It would have fruit and offer a contemporary vocab for soda. Fr...

What makes a smooth, thoughtful, and worthwhile experience? In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, I speak with Vance Morris, who has expertise in customer experience consulting, Disney tourist attractions, and entrepreneurship. Together, we examine the choices that determine what visitors truly recall: the greeting, the wait, the script, the recuperation, and the sense of being respected. W...

In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, I zoom into Zoom and go from the train station platform to the teleconferencing platform that became ubiquitous during the early 2020s. This episode opens in Logan, UT, at Utah State University, and I cover early interest and delivery of distance education by train. From there, I cover Zoom during the COVID-19 crisis, a series of fulcrum points in which...

Organizations now have an unlimited variety of methods for assessing their consumer base, such as analytics dashboards, surveys, and metrics that offer valuable information. But what happens when these tactics take the place of live conversations? In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, William Hoffman speaks with Jake McKee, a long-time community strategist whose career has focused on assist...

Peanut butter has a remarkable ability to play well with ingredients from jelly to chocolate to chili pepper. Reese's peanut butter cups, which have been a mainstay in lunchboxes, grocery aisles, and snack racks for more than a century, are the perfect example of this quality. However, very recently, some fans commented that the taste was not what it had been, and this was highlighted in a letter...

Ice cream has a knack for comfort, trust, and pleasant moments. Yet, as you step into an ice cream establishment, the atmosphere shifts to metallic sounds, machine hums, moisture gathers on the chilled pipes, and water droplets sliding down the edges. This episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum explores the account of the 2015–2016 Blue Bell listeria outbreak, considering it as an enduring reminder o...

What does a grocery retail chain look like when supply chain management is the infrastructure? In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, we go to Valencia, Spain!🇪🇸 When we look closely at Mercadona, we'll see restraint with reliability as a mature way to coordinate. Mercadona rebuilt grocery retail in Spain around routine, comprehension, and learning by considering supply chain design as infra...

There was a time when a protein powder didn't pretend to be a personality type, thanks to history doing its irritating job. Inside a compostable wrapping, it offered no intensity, calmness, or equitable harmony. It was only a coarse, chalk-like implement for those who viewed eating as an administrative task. So how did we get from a few bars in the latter part of the 1980s and early 1990s to today...

There are state flags everywhere, but they are seldom investigated. In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, I focus on Maryland's state flag, a quartered design that seems to be contrasting a lot with itself. The tension was a decision though about a state sense of place and identity. Let's be clear: The Civil War was not a conflict of equal moral standing, and acknowledging division or later...

Part II of the DuPont episodes begins after the armistice following World War I. The episode begins in November 1918, when the explosions cease, contracts disappear, and a munitions-based firm determines what to become afterwards. This episode follows DuPont's postwar shift from an explosives firm to a materials empire, beginning with nylon. Nylon was that material in American department shops. We...

In this episode of Decisions at the Fulcrum, we look at BrightSide Produce, a produce distributor that works in impoverished parts of San Diego County, and discover that food availability isn't only a matter of supply, demand, or good intentions. It's a complex situation with coordination, not optimization. Let's follow BrightSide Produce through forecasting discussions, uncertain delivery traject...