“Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow.” – Alice Mackenzie Swaim
I love watching the first blooms of early spring. Tulips, daffodils, and crocus have been lying dormant for almost a year. When they make their appearance each April, it reminds me that warmer weather is on the horizon. The promise of more daylight, more time outdoors, and even more flowers.
Every so often, winter ignores the calendar.
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The Berkshire Company / success / inspiration / growth / recovery / strength / nature / problem / challenge
Real life situation: approximately 1 to 2 tons of material has to be moved.
There are no power tools, so the material has to be moved manually.
There’s only one person available to perform the work. Unfortunately, that person is an elderly person with a disability that limits how much they can lift.
Sounds like an impossible problem.
But it wasn’t.
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Leadership / The Berkshire Company / success / positive / inspiration / growth / optimism / strength / professionalism / problem / challenge
Several years ago, I wrote a post about the “Boomer Brain Drain” at the US Postal Service (USPS). The article talked about the growing number of retirements at the USPS, and the need to train replacements. The post is almost evergreen, as the points it makes remain relevant today. It seems we are constantly receiving industry alerts from the USPS announcing the departure of another senior leader.
These changes aren’t limited to the USPS. Each week, my LinkedIn feed includes another peer sharing their transition to retirement. When we send out volume emails, there’s always return messages with the phrase “unknown user”. More and more, friends and contacts are transitioning out of the industry.
At the same time, we are seeing a surge of new people entering the industry. Almost every major trade show and conference reported record numbers of first-time attendees. From young people starting their careers, to others making a change in professions.
Technology / Leadership / mail / The Berkshire Company / success / positive / inspiration / growth / kindness / optimism / strength / professionalism / networking
"To live wonder-smitten with reality is the gladdest way to live." - Maria Popova
As my friends and clients know, I have systems for tracking many of my activities. For books, I have two systems – an MS Access Database and posting on Goodreads. The database allows me to track different categories, quickly organize by title or author, and create the content for a page on my website.
To choose my “top books for 2025”, I narrowed my reading list to only those that I gave a 5-star rating on Goodreads. Many of the books I read were published years ago; sometimes many, many years ago. My tastes range from history to poetry to science to social commentary. And sometimes I read books that involve mail. (Note: I do read fiction, but rarely do any of those books rate 5 stars.)
In alphabetical order by author, here are the thirteen books I most enjoyed in 2025.
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Technology / Leadership / mail / The Berkshire Company / books / reading / learning / success / positive / inspiration / management / growth / kindness / optimism / strength / professionalism / information / artificial intelligence
“Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it.” – March 1736
As we close the 250th anniversary year for the US Postal Service (USPS), we should remember that it is one of the longest enduring government institutions serving our citizens. Almost every day, almost every address in the country receives a visit from a letter carrier. These visits are part of the USPS “obligation to provide postal services to bind the Nation together through the personal, educational, literary, and business correspondence of the people.”
Ben Franklin recognized the importance of an effective and efficient public postal service.
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United States Postal Service / Strategy / USPS / U.S. Postal Service / Leadership / mail / The Berkshire Company / learning / success / positive / inspiration / management / growth / strength / Ben Franklin / professionalism / information
“Reading makes a full man, meditation a profound man,
discourse a clear man.” – October 1738
“Generous minds are all of kin.” – March 1734
Ben Franklin understood the importance of networking. Whether building a printing company, founding a library, or creating a postal service, he was successful because he involved others. Significant achievements are never completed alone, but with the help of others.
The best way to connect with the people who can help you – networking. And how we define success determines how we network. A lesson I learned from my father, Bill Fallon, I’m sure Mr. Franklin would approve of my choice for a role model – Bill had a career at the US Postal Service.
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USPS / Leadership / mail / print / The Berkshire Company / learning / success / positive / inspiration / management / growth / strength / Ben Franklin / professionalism / information
“Keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee.” – June 1735
The print and mail industry is an era of innovative technologies that are transforming the largest and the smallest operations. The rise of cloud-based systems and software-as-a-service remove the obstacles to improved address management, document enhancements, and workflow. Inkjet printing, wide-format equipment, and better finishing hardware continue to drive down costs. In-plant operations and service bureaus have more options to exceed their customers’ expectations.
An option that always needs to considered is changing your operating and customer service hours.
Operations Management / Technology / Strategy / USPS / Leadership / mail / print / The Berkshire Company / learning / inspiration / management / growth / strength / employees / Ben Franklin / professionalism / information / process / workflow
“Diligence is the mother of good luck.” February 1736
Ben Franklin understood that self-improvement is a lifelong affair. He developed a chart to track how well he adhered to the virtues he espoused as essential to a good life. Ben even made a “black mark” any time he failed to live up to his goals.
We can follow the same philosophy for how we manage our operations. We must be diligent in our efforts to find ways to improve our processes. That means we must continue to work on our workflow.
Operations Management / Technology / Strategy / USPS / Leadership / mail / print / The Berkshire Company / learning / inspiration / management / growth / strength / employees / Ben Franklin / professionalism / information / process / workflow
“One today is worth two tomorrows.” April 1757
Benjamin Franklin was a strong believer in personal responsibility. One of the virtues he listed in his autobiography was “Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.”
To “perform what we ought”, we need to account for our actions, and the actions of our department. That means integrating systems that monitor not just every job, but pieces within that job. Just as important as any technical tool is the attitude of the individual performing the work. The team must adopt a culture of accountability.
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United States Postal Service / Operations Management / Technology / Strategy / USPS / Postage Rates / Leadership / mail / print / The Berkshire Company / learning / inspiration / management / growth / strength / employees / Ben Franklin / professionalism / information
“Look before, or you’ll find yourself behind.” January 1735
Benjamin Franklin’s success as a printer, postmaster general, and politician assured his place in history. Yet he was also a scientist and inventor.
He demonstrated that lightning was electrical in nature, and used that information to invent the lightning rod. He studied the Gulf Stream (actually naming it), and charted its course. The Frankling stove improved the efficiency of heating the home, and is still in use today. And some of us of a certain age appreciate his work in optics, including the invention of bifocals.
These discoveries and inventions, now considered basic knowledge in our society, were cutting edge technologies. By pushing the boundaries of what was known, Franklin changed the lives of people in the 18th century, and we still feel the impact in the present.
Operations Management / Technology / Strategy / Postage Rates / Leadership / print / The Berkshire Company / learning / inspiration / management / growth / strength / employees / Ben Franklin / professionalism / AI / artificial intelligence / education
