Lowe's Companies and SIFE become Partners.

We have become a corporate partner with SIFE. So you ask, what is SIFE? SIFE is a nonprofit organization that gives students the tools to learn the free enterprise system in a real working situation. SIFE challenges students on more than 800 college campuses nationwide to take what they're learning in the classroom and use their knowledge to better their communities. Guided by faculty advisors who are named Sam M. Walton Free Enterprise Fellows in honor of the late Wal-Mart founder, SIFE Teams establish a variety of community outreach programs that teach free enterprise. For example, they teach concepts such as budgeting, accounting and supply and demand. They help budding entrepreneurs get their plans off the ground and mentor at-risk students, inspiring them to reach for their dreams. A member of my team is driving the relationship and we expect great things to come from this relationship over the next few years. Stay tuned for more news as we approach the Charlotte Regionals coming up in April.

What not to do on a long flight!! Don't do unto others, what they do unto you.

This won't come as a revelation to most, but today I was on a US Air flight from Charlotte to Denver and it really hit me what the airline industry does to flyers everyday in this country. (See attached photo to emphasize my point) Airline seats are small enough to start with, so who came up with the idea to allow airline seats to recline. If you really need to sleep it's one thing, but come on, who can really sleep on an airplane to start with. Most people get into one of these seats and as soon as they get the okay they pop the button and lay their seat down. Have you ever really noticed what this does to the average flyer. You go from having about 18 inches of useable space to less than a foot of space in which to navigate during the flight. You can't really open up a laptop, you can't eat or drink, but still people obliviously lay those seats down not even thinking of those wiery travelers behind them. Next time, I ask you to think twice. This photo was taken without a flash upon a US Air flight, so no FAA regulations were violated and no flight attendants were injured during this photo shoot.

Where are things going in 2008?

In 2008, I guess it is almost any one's guess. With oil over $100 a barrel and a Presidential election in November, it could be a wild ride this year. At Lowe's, we are optimistic from a recruiting standpoint. We have consolidated all of our recruiting functions under one central recruiting umbrella. This includes corporate, field, distribution and my baby, college recruiting. We are looking to collaborate further in the way we support our internal business partners and concentrate our our core competencies. For more information on what we are doing, visit us at www.lowes.com/careers or email me at markclark@lowes.com. Happy New Year!!