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very week, reporters around the continent write great business stories that don't make it onto your screen or into your local paper. And every week I scour newspapers around the continent to identify five of those great stories to enrich your weekend reading. This week I'm pointing you to stories about women in construction, learning about customer service, and Home Depot's 30th anniversary.

And now, here are four great local business stories from this past week.

From the Toronto Globe & Mail: Defying convention is typical for Judith Athaide
"When completed in a year, and fully occupied in 2012, the Bow will be the tallest building in Western Canada – the tallest in Canada outside Toronto's banking canyons. Designed by star architect Sir Norman Foster, it will be a twisting banana-shaped tower built on a skeletal framework of diagonal steel nodes – a rare eccentric in Calgary's boxy skyline. The building is about as unconventional as Ms. Athaide, who two years ago was consulting to the energy industry when EnCana, a client, urged her to be its eyes, ears and voice at the Bow."

Wally's Comment: The story if Judith Athaide is fascinating all by itself. Here's a woman who was a Pakistani living in Mumbai and went to Canada to go to law school. She would up in business school because it had a shorter line than other schools where she could qualify for law school. But she fell in love with business. So now she's a mechanical engineer who loves business who and who has never overseen a construction project. To make it a little harder, the one she watches over is one of the most dramatic on the continent. Oh yeah, the building's a great story, too.

From the Arizona Republic: Father, daughter build family business
Kim Knochenhauer knows she is a woman in a male-dominated industry. She's OK with that. Knochenhauer, 27, has worked in construction at McCarthy Building Cos. for six years, rising quickly to the position of assistant project manager. Building and planning come naturally to Kim, the first woman in a fourth-generation construction family to pursue the career."

Wally's Comment: There aren't a lot of women in the construction industry. I have no idea how many of them are the second generation in a construction company. There are lots of things here that get me interested: family business; women in non-traditional industries; and making a go of it in construction, especially now.

From the Kansas City Star: Customer service is a lesson — or a nightmare
"I’ll never forget the time my mother took me shopping for my first suit. I was 14 and needed a three-piece jacket, pants and vest for a teen dance and a family wedding. We had hardly set foot in the clothing store when we were greeted by a salesman who led me to the suit rack, helped pick out the best fit and advised me on coordinating a shirt and tie. In short, he made this reluctant, disinterested young shopper feel like a million bucks."

Wally's Comment: This is a great piece with good insights into the shopping experience, what it takes to make it good, and what we can learn from it and teach to our kids.

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Home Depot turns 30
"Home Depot’s founding is corporate lore – a classic story of turning lemons into lemonade. Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, fired from hardware chain Handy Dan, got their revenge by creating Home Depot, a warehouse hardware concept. The first two stores opened in Atlanta on June 22, 1979. Over the next three decades the company grew into the nation’s second-biggest retailer behind Wal-Mart. As the chain turns 30 on Monday, Marcus is not bashful about burnishing the legacy."

Wally's Comment: What a long strange trip it's been. First, Marcus and Blank created one of the fastest moving and most successful retail companies on earth, based on a strong culture of service and laser focus on the customer. Then they retired. The board handed Home Depot over to Bludgeon Bob Nardelli. He decided that making the company more productive required uprooting the culture that had made it successful. He also thought that being rude to shareholders was the best way to manage a public company. Now it looks like Home Depot is on the way back.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.