Last week’s issue of the Business Journal included a little story that was a great reminder.

The article, headlined “Ailing Amgen’s Alums Poised to Fuel Boom in Biotech Industry,” was about how the woes of biotech giant Amgen Inc. could end up spurring a biotech community. That’s because some of the workers leaving Amgen could start their own businesses or go to work for other biotech firms.

One former Amgen executive, who has started a biopharmaceutical company in Calabasas and who has recently hired an Amgen executive, was quoted as saying that with all the talent that’s leaving Amgen, “you could do five, six, seven management spin-outs.”

Yeah. Maybe 10 or 12. And maybe those startups would spawn others and we’d get a thriving little biotech industry.

The story was a great reminder that so-called bad news in the business world does not always lead to a bad result. In fact, it often leads to a new beginning. You see this play out all the time.

For example, last year the Business Journal did a package of stories called “L.A.’s Hidden Industry.” It was about how the Los Angeles area has several hundred businesses that make various medical devices. In fact, the L.A. area has more medical device jobs than any other metropolitan area. Why? It turns out that many such businesses were created because of the near-demise of the aerospace industry in Los Angeles. That industry’s high-end engineering and precision manufacturing translate exactly to medical device manufacturing.

Likewise, the announcement last week that Burbank eventually will lose NBC Studios is no great development for Burbank, but there’s a very good chance the 34 acres left behind will be re-purposed into something else. And I dare say there’s a fair chance that the “something else” will end up as good or even better for Burbank.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand that transitions hurt. When any company downsizes or goes out of business, it is painful for many individuals. But it is good to remember, amid all the dour headlines and somber newscasts about downsizings, that today’s pain may lead to something greater tomorrow. That’s how evolution works.

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If you hire people, you know that job seekers say the darndest things.

And sometimes they do some pretty wacky stuff, too, according to a national survey that was released recently. The survey, developed by Accountemps, asked executives to name the strange things that job seekers said or did during their interview. Among the responses:

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One candidate said he should be hired because, “he would be a great addition to our softball team.”

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A woman “sang all of her responses to interview questions.”

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Another guy said the company had nice benefits, which was good because he planned to take a lot of time off in the next year.

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One person “said he had no relevant experience for the position he was interviewing for, but his friend did.”

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And my favorite: “One person brought his mother to the job interview and let her do all of the talking.”

Charles Crumpley is editor of the Business Journal. He can be reached at

[email protected]

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