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Here are five choice articles from the business schools, the business press and major consulting firms to start off your work week. I'm pointing you to articles about deli-style training, social media and retail inventories, a "new establishment," BP's crisis management, and recipes for disaster.

From Fortune: How to hire, fire, and inspire Deli-style
"My first day of training started at 7:30 a.m. with two kinds of hash, fresh pineapple, melons, muffins, and bagels. The next day we noshed on make-your-own deli sandwiches and rich brownies. Yet I wasn't at a cooking school; I was at a two-day seminar on how to hire, fire, and inspire those around me. The sponsor was ZingTrain, the training arm of Zingerman's, a gourmet deli in Ann Arbor with its own candy company and bakery, and a cultlike following. One thing was clear: I wouldn't leave hungry. "

Wally's Comment: Zingerman's is a legendary deli. Now, like Disney and SRC Holdings, it's also in the training business.

From the Toronto Globe and Mail: Tweet to Lululemon: Smaller sizes, please
"Christine Day has discovered a new way of managing inventory at her Lululemon stores: social media. Instant feedback on Facebook and Twitter is helping the chief executive officer of Lululemon Athletica Inc. to figure out what items are hot with customers, and which ones are duds."

Wally's Comment: I've seen loads of articles abouthow retailers are using social media for marketing and damage control. This is the first article I've seen about how a retailer is using the feedback that social media can provide to adjust product offerings and stocking levels.

From Irving Wladawsky-Berger: The Emergence of a “New Establishment”
"Several events in the last few years - including the election of Barack Obama as US President, the rise of the Tea Party movement, and the SEC charges against Goldman Sachs - have convinced me that there is a profound changing of the order underway in US society.   We are seeing the emergence of what, for lack of a better term, I will call a New Establishment."

Wally's Comment: Here's your "think piece" for this week. This is a thorough explanation of one way that our world might be changing, even as we speak. Print it out, find a good reading space, and give it the time it deserves.

From Wharton: BP's Slippery Slope: The Dangerous Disconnect Between Rhetoric and Reality at a Time of Crisis
"Its logo implies beauty, sunshine, a concern for "green" and a love of nature. However, the recent events off the coast of Louisiana raise major questions about BP's stewardship of the environment and its commitment to behaving in ways that are consistent with its emphasis on social and environmental responsibility. In 2007, we wrote about how BP's handling of the explosion at the Texas City, Texas refinery in 2005, in which 15 workers lost their lives, was at odds with the company's efforts to construct an image of a green and socially responsible corporation. Three years later, we find ourselves writing about BP again. Here is how we see matters to date: BP's response to the disaster has made a bad situation worse."

Wally's Comment: Every business and project should have a disaster plan. There are several good models, including the critical incident planning that public safety agencies do.

From the NY Times: Recipes for Ruin, in the Gulf or on Wall Street
"AS the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico follows on the heels of the financial crisis, we can discern a toxic recipe for catastrophe. The ingredients include risks that are erroneously thought to be vanishingly small, complex technology that isn’t fully grasped by either top management or regulators, and tricky relationships among companies that are not sure how much they can count on their partners. For the financial crisis, it has become clear that many chief executives and corporate directors were not aware of the risks taken by their trading desks and partners. Recent accusations against Goldman Sachs suggest the potential for conflicts of interest among banks, investors, hedge funds and rating agencies. And it is clear that regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission, an agency staffed primarily with lawyers, are not well positioned to monitor the arcane trading strategies that helped produce the crisis."

Wally's Comment: The president of BP, in one of his several less-than-stellar moments, said that the Deepwater Horizon disaster was "one in a million." Probably not. Richard Thaler, professor of economics and behavioral science at the University of Chicago, discusses realistic assessments of risk, regulatory challenges and much more in this article.

For more on prediction, check out Carl Bialik's "Near Misses Are a Hit in Disaster Science" from the Wall Street Journal. You may also enjoy my post titled: "Who's in Charge?"

If you enjoyed this post, you may want to check back on Wednesday when I select five excellent posts from the week's independent business blogs. Last week I highlighted posts on giving advice (or not), innovation, execution, the competitive edge of smaller companies, and management theories.

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.