A few weeks ago the CEOs of the big three U.S. automakers gave a clinic in how to bungle communications during times of crisis. Their arrival in Washington D.C. by private jet to ask Congress for financial assistance spoke much more loudly than their empty words about the importance of the auto industry’s health to the nation’s economy.

Those three CEOs and others like them could learn something from the next CEO of the United States. Whether or not you agree with Barack Obama’s politics, you have to give him credit for understanding the power of combining words with actions.

In the best of times, actions speak louder than words. In difficult times, actions practically scream. Just ask the CEOs of the big three American automakers.

Last week, while asking Congress for government bailouts, the trio received tongue lashings by finger-wagging legislators who couldn’t understand the request in light of the fact that each of the CEOs traveled by private jet to Washington D.C. Not only had the executives failed to foresee what one congressman called a “delicious irony,” but they offered no apology or explanation when it was brought to their attention.

If you are annoyed by people who begin declarative statements with “At the end of the day,” you are not alone. Oxford University, which publishes the Oxford English Dictionary, puts the phrase at the top of its list of most irritating expressions.

Researchers at Oxford use a huge database to monitor the use of words and phrases in books, periodicals, in broadcast media and online so they know what to include in the dictionary. Along with new useful words, however, the database also identifies words and phrases that are overused, abused and just plain annoying.

After a nearly two-year grueling campaign, Americans finally chose a new president. Now the real work begins.

The winner of the election has a list of daunting tasks ahead of him: an economy on life support, an unpopular and expensive war, our largest generation aging with a health-care system ill-prepared to care for it and a nation that seems more politically divided than ever.

RICHMOND, Va. – Media General (NYSE: MEG) announced today that it has purchased Richmond.com, an award winning local news and entertainment portal, from TWG Portals, LLC of Richmond. Terms were not disclosed.

Richmond.com has approximately 2.7 million monthly page views and partnerships with a number of Richmond area businesses and organizations. This includes the Retail Merchants Association, Central Virginia Regional Multiple Listing Service, Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Richmond Partnership of Virginia and the Richmond Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. The Web site currently has more than 120,000 unique visitors per month who use its local search, tools and content to seek, explore and find all things Richmond. According to Scarborough Research, Richmond.com has an 8.8 percent share of the Richmond online audience.

It could become a sign of the times -- HHHunt has suspended its plans to build Branner Station on 1,614 acres southeast of Chester. Just approved last year, Branner Station called for 2,449 single-family homes, 1,331 condos and townhouses, 908 apartments, 300 assisted living units and 470,000 square feet of office and retail development.

More than a third of employers plan to increase communication with employees about pay and benefits in the next 12 months as businesses learn to cope in a new economic environment, according to a new survey.

An entire industry of surveys seems to have popped up in recent weeks in response to the financial crisis that has now spread from the U.S. to other parts of the globe. This poll was conducted in mid-October by the human-resources consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide.

Thalhimer/Cushman & Wakefield Alliance is pleased to announce the sale of approx. 0.384 acre of land situated at the corner of 10th and Canal Streets in Richmond, Virginia.

AH Richmond Tower I, LLC purchased the land from James Center Development Company c/o CSX  for $3,000,000 and plans construction of a high-rise office building to be known as the Williams Mullen Center.

Despite the malingering economy, commercial real estate sources are reporting more activity at the Watkins Centre -- partially driven by a traffic count of 70,000 vehicles a day going by on Route 288 and Midlothian Turnpike and the future growth of the area.

At last week's meeting of the Western Chesterfield Business Alliance, it was reported that a full service Hilton hotel is headed to the Watkins Centre. In the office park located in the southwestern quadrant, possible tenants include a cellular company looking for 100,000 square feet and two medical firms from Washington, D.C. and Texas wanting 80,000 square feet.

Business leaders are staying mum at a time when employees need to hear from them most about the impact of the financial crisis on their companies, according to a recent survey.

The survey conducted in the first week of October by the global public-relations firm Weber Shandwick found that 71 percent of respondents felt their company’s leaders should be communicating more about the economic problems. More than half have not heard anything at all on the subject from company leaders. The rumor mill, however, is alive and well, with 74 percent saying they had heard from co-workers about the issue.