President’s Letters

Is there life after high school?

September 3, 2014

Coming back from hockey practice last week one of my daughters made the mistake of asking me what I did in high school. I got a little carried away with...

Fifth Business

June 25, 2014

My wife’s book club might be the best club I sort of belong to. I read about every second book and eagerly attend the semi-annual meetings where they bring the...

Gravel or Canvas?

March 31, 2014

I owe this thought to my father and Quartet’s newest employee. My father worked in the food industry for most of his career and put himself through night school with three...

Cultural Erosion

December 31, 2013

It’s early December again and again I know what will likely happen. I’ll work way too hard and enjoy the season way too little. Sometime between Christmas and New Year’s...

Dodgeball Days

September 29, 2013

One day my wife called me at work to discuss yet another wild holiday idea and I guess I wasn’t paying much attention. When she pointed that out, I replied...

Talking to the Animals

June 28, 2013

We’ve done something about communication at Quartet that I think you’ll get a kick out of. Our staff wear lapel pins that are one of four animals: a monkey, a turtle,...

Quartet’s Big Switch

March 22, 2013

The Big Switch is a book that draws parallels between the electrification of North America and today’s cloud computing trends. Read it. It is way better than it sounds and...

Evolution of the Servant Leader

December 13, 2012

The servant leader oxymoron embodies Quartet’s development challenge. The conflicting demands of being both a servant and a leader are difficult to manage, frustrating and often lead to compromise. This...

Cost Savings – First Things First

June 28, 2012

Quartet’s approach to IT cost savings is simple, but works. We put “First Things First” as my father used to say. We start by lowering costs compared to what you...

Mobile Device Services

March 7, 2012

We launched Wireless Wolf services in May and argued that by managing mobile devices better, we would allow companies to save money and time. The response has been fantastic, but...

Back to the Future

September 13, 2011

There are lots of pithy little sayings that summarize adolescent challenges. I’ve written about them before. They apply to people and companies; both can be brimming with potential, but conflicted...

A Journey from “Pride” to “Humility”

June 2, 2011

We’ve had a culture shift recently that might resonate with business owners. For years “pride” was a cornerstone of Quartet’s culture. Pride in our company and pride in our work....

The Perfect Storm

March 20, 2011

We saw such a surge in special projects over the summer that we ran out of capacity. We have traditionally taken on special projects to even out the ebbs and...