How We Handle Comments Here…With Respect

How We Handle Comments Here…With Respect

The Faust Baseline™Purchasing Page – Intelligent People Assume Nothing micvicfaust@intelligent-people.org It’s time to explain something that usually goes unsaid. Not because it’s complicated.Because most places no longer practice it. This space operates on professional respect.That shapes how we write.And it shapes how we respond when someone leaves a comment. First, a clear boundary: We do…

When Composure Becomes the Baseline

When Composure Becomes the Baseline

The Faust Baseline™Purchasing Page – Intelligent People Assume Nothing micvicfaust@intelligent-people.org Lately I’ve been thinking about composure, not as a personality trait or a tone choice, but as something structural. Something that either exists in a system or it doesn’t. You can feel it almost immediately. When pressure shows up, does the thing hold its shape,…

Why Big Change No Longer Arrives Like a Storm

Why Big Change No Longer Arrives Like a Storm

The Faust Baseline™Purchasing Page – Intelligent People Assume Nothing micvicfaust@intelligent-people.org There was a time when change came fast and loud.You could feel it building. You could point to a moment when the air shifted and say, there—it’s happening. That kind of change used to arrive like weather.A front moved in. Pressure built. Something finally broke….

Skills Require Deliberate Attention for a Reason

Skills Require Deliberate Attention for a Reason

The Faust Baseline™Purchasing Page – Intelligent People Assume Nothing micvicfaust@intelligent-people.org Anyone who’s ever run heavy equipment learns something fast. You don’t multitask. If you’re sitting in a dozer, a loader, or under an overhead crane, your world narrows. Not because you lack imagination—but because everything moves with consequence. Steel has weight. Momentum doesn’t negotiate. Mistakes…

Why Quality & Pride in Work Should Matter

Why Quality & Pride in Work Should Matter

The Faust Baseline™Purchasing Page – Intelligent People Assume Nothing micvicfaust@intelligent-people.org I was raised around people who cared how a thing was made. Not because anyone was watching.Not because there was a bonus for it.But because turning out sloppy work was something you carried with you. You didn’t need a meeting about it.You didn’t need a…

The Instrument I’d Want in My Possession

The Instrument I’d Want in My Possession

The Faust Baseline™Purchasing Page – Intelligent People Assume Nothing micvicfaust@intelligent-people.org When I was younger, I learned something without anyone ever sitting me down to explain it. The things that matter most are the things you don’t have to go looking for when trouble shows up. You either already have them…or you don’t. Nobody taught me…

We Need a Sextant This Year …The Faust Baseline

We Need a Sextant This Year …The Faust Baseline

The Faust Baseline™Purchasing Page – Intelligent People Assume Nothing micvicfaust@intelligent-people.org This year doesn’t feel like one where maps are much help. Too many of them don’t match what people are seeing with their own eyes.Too many of them assume calm where there isn’t any.Too many of them were drawn for a world that doesn’t quite…

My Interpretation: Where the Country Actually Stands.

My Interpretation: Where the Country Actually Stands.

The Faust Baseline™Purchasing Page – Intelligent People Assume Nothing micvicfaust@intelligent-people.org There’s a difference between what people say and how they function. Most commentary today is built on surface attitudes—tweets, clips, outrage cycles, and performative certainty. That layer is loud, distorted, and profitable. It is not where decisions are made. The real country operates underneath that…

Wisdom Is Accumulated Knowledge With Purpose

Wisdom Is Accumulated Knowledge With Purpose

The Faust Baseline™Purchasing Page – Intelligent People Assume Nothing micvicfaust@intelligent-people.org Wisdom is not intelligence. It is not education.It is not the ability to explain something well or speak convincingly about it. Wisdom is accumulated knowledge with purpose. The order matters. Knowledge by itself is neutral. It can be used well or badly. It can be…

What Never Needed to Be Explained

What Never Needed to Be Explained

The Faust Baseline™Purchasing Page – Intelligent People Assume Nothing micvicfaust@intelligent-people.org There was a time when you didn’t need a briefing for ordinary things. You learned by watching.You learned by being corrected once and remembering it.You learned by noticing when to speak and when not to. No one sat you down to explain why you didn’t…