"Historians judge the past in the light of the present.
​"We can envision the future out of our knowledge of what has taken place in the past and what is going on about us now."

Tom Watson, Interview with Merryle Rukeyser, The Review, 1937

Business, Political, Spiritual and Fiction Articles

Date Published: June 1, 2021
​Date Modified: January 11, 2022

These are articles outside of Pete's usual focus on IBM. As he studies the history of Corporate America and some of its greatest industrialists, he also studies the historical context and the industrial and political leaders of the day. Sometimes, he writes about these events, leaders and human relation practices.

He, like Ida M. Tarbell and Ray Stannard Baker, would also like to find a way to communicate his beliefs and his love of life through fiction. Ms. Tarbell wrote The Rising of the Tide: The Story of Sabinsport, and Ray Stannard Baker was known as the fiction author David Grayson. This is Pete's Ol' Men Talkin' Series. If you want to understand Peter E. Greulich's viewpoints and character this landing page and the articles it links to will take you there.

​If you prefer to read specifically about IBM, select the "21ST CENTURY IBM" or "20TH CENTURY IBM" or the applicable menu item above.

The stories in this section can be accessed from the "ARTICLES" menu above or ​by selecting one of the menu buttons below which are supported with additional descriptive text.

 Corporate 101, Business, Political, Spiritual and Fiction Articles

1. Corporate 101 Articles

History is full of examples of "how to" and "how to not" run a corporation.

​It seems many of these stories have been lost to time and are not being researched and taught in business schools or discussed in our day-to-day business interactions.

The economic history of America is the history of capitalism, and economic capitalism is not singularly about capitalists (those who provide funding) but rather about the history of the interactions of the four major stakeholders in a corporation. Through supportive, sustainable, stakeholder communities the odds of success are improved; conflict within stakeholder communities can lead to disastrous business results.

​These are some of those Corporate 101 history lessons.

---

2. business articles

The lives of America's greatest industrialists provide insights into not only how to start, build and maintain a growing business, but their lives also bring new insights into how these industrialists—both men and women—handled themselves on a day to day basis.

​These business articles cover topics like: (1) the difference between capitalist-minded and industrialist-minded chief executives; (2) the top five qualities former chief executives looked for in their employees; (3) one rule to follow to run an ethical business; (4) how the shareholders and fellow businessmen treated Henry Ford when he raised his workers' minimum wage to $5.00 for an eight-hour day; (5) how the Gillette business model came into being; and more.

---

3. Political Articles

Peter F. Drucker called business a "social community." Politics is business and business is political—of the people. Peter E. was a political science major in college, and his degree served him well in his traversing of the internal politics present within any large organization.

Drucker was absolutely right, and because of that a truly, great business has human relation's policies—procedures "for the people."

This landing page has political witticisms that are as true in business as in politics and an eclectic set of articles such as: (1) The American Heartland Stands Strong Against Covid; (2) America, the Home of the Brave, Tolerant and Forgiving; and (3) a review of Woodrow Wilson's The New Freedom—as applicable in 2021 as in 1912; and more.

---

4. Spiritual Articles

Emerson wrote long ago:

"There is a certain heat in the breast, which attends the perception of a primary truth,  which is the shining of the spiritual sun down into the shaft of the mine."

Sometimes in the reading of materials from so long ago, truths seem to become self-evident. ​

Some of these articles could be easily classified as "political" or "business" but there is a common awareness in these: a heat in the breast that feels like a light shining down the shaft of a deep, deep mine. We seem to need another spiritual awakening in our country. May we find it again in my lifetime.

---

5. Fiction articles

One of America's greatest non-fiction authors, Ida M. Tarbell, published only one fiction book in her lifetime: The Rising of the Tide: The Story of Sabinsport.

​In this work of fiction she takes on the profession so many associate with her: muckraking.

She wrote: You're spoiling for a fresh turn with the muck rake. You can't make a garden with one tool. You must have several. I'm serious. You're like the men in the mines that will tackle but one job, always swing a pick. ​The muck rake did its job in Sabinsport for some time. You've got to pass on to the next tool.

This author asked himself how he could, like Ms. Tarbell, discuss topics that are "too sensitive" for today's "unsocial media." What is the next tool after a decade of muckraking the IBM company and its 21st Century leadership.

Pete's answer: The Ol' Men Talkin' Series.

These old men don't use twitter, but they are amazing producers of twitter fodder: one-liners of wisdom and insight learned over a combined millennia of hard knocks, great loves found and lost, knock-down, dragged-out battles fought but always—when won—won through respectful disagreement.

​Listen in on their discussions at Rudy's 360. It is a breakfast-home away from home and a reenactment of an old Texas settlers’ tradition, a gathering of old men discussing life with all its twists and turns.