Peter Drucker, arguably the most knowledgeable management expert on earth, made the following statement: "The single greatest challenge facing managers in the developed countries of the world is to raise the productivity of knowledge and service workers. This challenge, which will dominate the management agenda for several decades, will ultimately determine the competitive performance of companies.

All three of these are true; I couldn't have made them up. I was an eye witness to all three and even ate some of number three. If you are a little queasy, you might want to read these accounts a bit later when your system has settled down.

Rat Story #1 ocurred recently after we had constructed our house in rural Veracruz. It was made of adobe mud walls and had cement floors.

Recently I needed some work done by a colleague of mine. I had done a lot of pro bono or free work for him and now I needed him to do some work for me. When the job was completed he presented me with a full retail bill. The work he did was what he had promised -- but nothing more. He had returned my favors by making me pay full price. After paying I began to wonder -- was I missing something here?

About a week later another colleague asked me to do some pro bono work.

The exit interview is an interview given to a departing employee. This is usually done for employees that voluntarily quit instead of those that are fired or laid off.

Exit interviews offer a fleeting opportunity to find out information that otherwise might be more difficult or impossible to obtain.

The following are some thoughts on the exit interview:

1)Interviews can be conducted orally or written.

In the good old days contracts were not the norm. A handshake sealed a deal and one's word was one's reputation. Times have changed. Now many businesses have contracts, lawyers and a more complex method of doing business. But even though the symbolism of a handshake may have lost its significance the elements of trust, integrity and rapport have not.

You probably know that employees make or break a business. In most businesses, recruiting and keeping good employees determines the business' success. In the process of building a solid staff inevitably skilled employees threaten to quit or actually do quit.

It is these skilled employees we are examining here. The employees you fire for incompetence, bad work ethic, poor performance are not the focus here: you simply get rid of a bad employee and do not rehire them.

In aspiring to the quest of a free and inquiring mind I often get exposed to the unexpected and sometimes exotic. Such was my brush with Tepe. I have a few Tepes on my jungle ranch and, along with my jaguar and boa, felt it important to get to know my critters, responsible caretaker that I am and all that touchy feely soft side stuff. The agrarian reform law and my fellow ejido members have legally put me and mi senora in charge of what is allowed and not allowed on our jungle ranch.

It was one of those 'stellar' or rather 'solar' California afternoons. The sky was a deep, dark blue -- a storm having cleared out the skies the day before. We walked through rows of Brussels sprout plants that were beginning to lean with the weight of the sprouts. Surfers were scurrying down to the beach. The waves, ten and twelve footers, were breaking several hundred yards out and rolling in just right.

One of the odd things about our species is that we can reflect on ourselves in ways other animals cannot. As our knowledge of ourselves evolves we find ourselves literally as spectators of our own development. Not only is it fun to watch ourselves but this very act is one of the most interesting aspects of being alive and there is no better show!

One of the interesting new developments in our understanding of the brain and mind is what we can call associative or relationship thinking and learning.

As the nature of our lives evolves and changes we are constantly looking for ways to improve our creativity and production. This is not a new challenge but one that has taken a sudden sense of urgency, especially in the modern business world. One of the strategies for doing this is to step out of our daily routines, block out the world and focus on our 'inner selves'.