An expose of bad businesses and their unethical practices

Okay, this is where I begin by telling you why I'm here blogging for itsbadbusiness. I guess you could say its because I'm fiercely discriminating. Heck, if I had been able to write from the day I was born I probably would have filled out a satisfaction survey on my  way out of Brooklyn Jewish Hospital.

It's forty some-odd years later and I could write a book about good and bad business practices. Maybe that's the true purpose of this blog.

To kick things off, I'll tell you that my first official brush with bad business, while working for a company, came just as I entered the work world. During my very first week of work at my very first  "out of college job", I was asked to cover up thousands of dollars missing from Research and Development (R&D). I was told to attend a budget review,  held by a bunch of high level execs who wanted to know how the money had been used to develop new products. Now I can't swear that the money went to pay for anything as interesting as cheap booze or loose women, but I can tell you it wasn't used to pay for any serious research.

So, in to that review I went, a lamb to the wolves, with a five line rehearsed speech about how our lab had been investigating the effects of all kinds of deleterious radiation and the like and, and, .....and who knows. It was over twenty years ago - but I still feel uneasy about lying to those bosses, some of whom went on years later to get into some hot water over their own wrong doing. Funny the things you remember. 

Don't get me wrong, despite the bumpy career start I'm not terribly jaded. Most companies do most things right and that's why it's interesting to examine the ones that just plain get it wrong. Here at itsbadbusiness we'll be talking about  the businesses that lie, mistreat their employees, market junk, support terrorism, pollute the environment , scam innocent people or just plain forget to smile at you when you go through the check out line.

To deliver my analysis I'll draw on my formal education in Science (BS), Business (MBA), and Organizational Dynamics (MS) - along with my experience as an Engineer, Management consultant,  HR Professional and published writer. We'll stay on top of the news, reexamine some bad business classics and analyze examples ranging from heinous to hilarious. We'll try to keep it on the level - entertaining and intelligent.

Aside from that I'm 5'6 and a red head, but enough about me.