At the library was the movie Countdown to D-Day a 2004 movie staring Tom Selleck as Dwight Eisenhower. The movie takes place the 90 day preparation for the Allies to Operation Overload which was the beginning of the end of World War II. In the movie, there are plenty of prima donas to deal with and that including the other generals. The Ike portrayed by Tom Selleck came across as a highly sincere, thoughtful, and good general. One would think the toughest part of the preparation is knowing that the people sent into battle many will not come back. In the movie, Ike would tell his generals go over the plans to ensure the least number of lives will be lost. The lives lost will affect no only the lives they could have lived but the families they leave behind. The actions in the film showed Ike thought long and hard about his approval.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, while most companies do not put their employees into life and death circumstances, it is great to know that the senior management is thinking about the junior employees in their decision making. A classic example is it relatively easy to close a plant for strategic and corporate reasons, but what happens to the community when it is closed. The people there did nothing wrong, it could have easily been past managements did not invest into the plant. When a company considers the affects and tries to do something to mitigate them, then you can reasonably take for granted it is doing all the other things well. Doing the same things, means the larger items can have assurance of being done right.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.