About DHughes

Straightspeak’s purpose is to be a catalyst for conversations that make a difference, conversations that foster and elevate thinking. Conversations that change perspective. "Amid the noise and haste” straightspeak is a colloquium for thoughts and knowledge that stimulate the mind. Enjoy! And share.

How’s your paycheck? Does size matter?

By |2016-12-10T00:41:14-05:00June 20th, 2012|Categories: business, social|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

 Compare it to Apple's Tim Cook at $348 million or WWP's Martin Sorrell who didn't get his $10.5 million or a lot of rich CEOs in between How much is $348 million? (graphic: NYT) Wow! And we thought times were tough. Somewhere between the 99% and the 1% there was supposed to be a tempering of the ghastly Read more...

In the flotsam of the digital avalanche, Warren Buffett is still buying newspapers. What’s going on in media?

By |2016-12-10T00:41:14-05:00June 20th, 2012|Categories: business|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

No, that's not Warren Buffett but the Buffalo News is his newspaper and Stanford Lipsey is the publisher. They do look a little alike. (photo: bbannon/NYT) Just when you thought you had media figured out Not only is Warren buying newspapers but he owns the Buffalo News – a ghost of its former self – in a city that has lost Read more...

Masters of the uterus, repent! The Dark Ages are over

By |2016-12-10T00:41:14-05:00June 19th, 2012|Categories: politics, social|Tags: , , , , , , |

16 years after its debut, The Vagina Monologues is packing them in everywhere, including State legislatures (photo: wikipedia) What is it about women, politics and vaginas that don’t fit? If ever the cliché, “Politics makes strange bedfellows,” was considered a truism, it was proven last week in the Michigan State Legislature. If ever men needed to be reminded Read more...

Marketing with product placement: When subtle can go viral

By |2016-12-10T00:41:15-05:00June 13th, 2012|Categories: business, social|Tags: , , , , , , |

Three-time Superbowl champion, Tom Brady goes on a rant (see short video below) If you want funny, get truly funny people to create your spots If you haven’t seen the Tom Brady promo that has gone viral then check it out. Some great advertising lessons embedded in this one. Comedic writing has to be done by great comedic Read more...

We know where the insanity is. So where’s the outrage?

By |2016-12-10T00:41:15-05:00June 12th, 2012|Categories: politics, social|Tags: , , , , , , , |

When it comes to guns, why does insanity trump outrage? It’s actually fairly simple. Insanity resides with the minority, outrage with the majority. And it’s much easier to organize and voice the views of a minority than it is to get a majority to do anything. Not because the majority of us don’t want to do Read more...

$85 or your life – pay attention and stop walking the talk

By |2016-12-10T00:41:16-05:00May 15th, 2012|Categories: business, social|Tags: , , |

This is one time “walk the talk” is a bad idea I am not sure we need a study or poll to tell us this but there is one that says, “ Texting while walking can be a distraction.”  Reality tells us even more: It can get you killed. In the town of Fort Lee, New Jersey (across Read more...

Talk to the animals, they’ll tell you the truth

By |2018-01-16T13:59:41-05:00May 4th, 2012|Categories: social|Tags: , , , , , , , |

(photos courtesy Joel Sartore, all rights reserved:  http://www.joelsartore.com/galleries/the-biodiversity-project/) We're killing each other and one of us knows why– and doesn't care Go ahead, look them in the eye and tell them you don't give a good damn about them or their habitat, their life, their future. Because it's the truth. Except for a handful of humans, the rest of us Read more...

Erectile dysfunction could save your life, in more ways than one

By |2016-12-10T00:41:26-05:00February 22nd, 2012|Categories: social|Tags: , , , , |

Over 50 million men – 50 million – in United States and Canada have erectile dysfunction so it is obviously not a minor problem. It's a big problem – and it gives a whole other meaning to "size matters." ED is a disease like diabetes or hypertension or coronary artery disease and just like these diseases, it can Read more...

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