Ideas

The Wisconsin Department of Administration announced Monday it will deposit $108.7 million in the state’s rainy day fund, the largest amount ever allotted to the fund. The deposit will bring the fund balance to $125.4 million.

Business confidence in future growth prospects turned downward in 2012's fourth quarter, according to the latest Business Outlook Survey conducted by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce.

Over the past few weeks, I've worked with several senior leaders who are trying to overcome their natural tendency to over direct their employees. They realized they were trying to help their direct reports by solving their problems for them. Once they realized how undermining their actions were, they started working on being better coaches, who held their managers accountable, rather than doing their jobs for them.

There is a dearth of ethics in the current business culture. The National Business Ethics Survey results have shown that employees' perceptions of senior executives and supervisors declined last year.

In July, I wrote about Terry Leahy's book, “Management in Ten Words.” The 10 words are: truth, loyalty, courage, values, act, balance, simple, lean, compete and trust.

Are you willing to challenge conventional thinking? It takes courage, and it's not easy.

MillerCoors, the Milwaukee Bucks and the BMO Harris Bradley Center announced a 10-year sponsorship renewal that maintains the brewer's status as the team's exclusive beer sponsor and a major supporter of the arena.

Oak Creek-based Master Lock LLC has unveiled the Master Lock Vault, a free mobile smart phone application that enables consumers to safely store and organize a wide range of personal information, including account passwords and log-ins.

Menomonee Falls-based Alto-Shaam Inc., a manufacturer of commercial food service equipment, plans to expand by adding a 20,000-square-foot addition that will connect a 100,000-square-foot building and a 140,000-square-foot building at W164 N9221 Water St., Menomonee Falls.

Vernon Hills, Ill.-based Rust-Oleum Corp. plans to install a new aerosol spray-paint filling structure on the rear portion of its Pleasant Prairie facility at 8105 95th St., in the LakeView Corporate Park.