Last year, we hired someone to run our small business, and we paid him very well. However, he was always coming in late, taking Fridays off, calling in sick, having car trouble and dentist appointments, etc. He was an exempt employee, so we kept paying him as if he was there all the time. He quit and we don’t want to have the same problems with the new hire.

If you are like me, you hate being stuck in traffic. But most of us don’t have a hired driver and public transportation isn’t always convenient.

Carmakers are working on what they think is a better idea — let the car do the driving.  Autonomous vehicles sound very Jetson-like. But as futuristic as it sounds, many vehicles already on our streets rely on computers. 

The single biggest strategic advantage you have when it comes to outperforming your competitors is a highly effective team. A great team wins. Now let’s examine what teams look like when they are not working well:

Roseville City Manager Rob Jensen oversees the Capital Region’s only full-service city, a task that comes with managing a $500 million budget, 15 departments and over 1,200 employees. We sat down with him to talk about the challenges and opportunities facing one of the area’s fastest-growing cities.

My boss is a gossiper. I’ve worked at this company for two years.The first year it wasn’t bad, but she gradually started to say negative things to me about my colleague. As I started to hear more, I couldn’t handle it. I told HR the truth and was advised to speak with my boss’s immediate boss. Our team includes only four people, and I feel my boss will know who complained. 

In August 2016, the City of Sacramento made the pledge to become a Fab City. Joining 14 cities around the world — including Barcelona, Paris and Shenzhen — Sacramento’s 50-year commitment makes it the first city on the Pacific West Coast to honor the MIT-spearheaded proposal, the Fab City Initiative.

Our whole team at Comstock’s is grateful for the past year of growth in our web users, paid subscribers and retail sales. We want to thank long-time readers for your continued support, and our new ones for helping us grow and evolve. You continue to show us that our message has teeth, and you drive us to always seek to do better

On the plane to Hawaii, pictures of dolphins and clear blue beach water tempt eager travelers. Flight attendants’ uniforms include plumeria flowers in their hair. The tangible experience of aloha begins 10,000 feet above sea level, long before anyone’s snorkels touch the Pacific Ocean. Hawaii is not only a draw for beach-goers. It’s also a delicious destination for vacationers like me: food adventurers in search of what the locals grow and eat.

Clearly, Sacramento is home to a lot of artistic talent and our holiday traditions are brighter because of it. And we’ve been fortunate to have venues to host these performances. These aged facilities have served Sacramento well for a long time — perhaps too long.

Over the last few years, a growing number of states and cities have created offices designed to foster job growth and economic development by helping private sector companies with innovative ideas find their footing. We sat down with Diane Parro, chief innovation officer for the City of Davis, to talk about the city’s role in this process.