Tricky treats

This week’s Fortune magazine is out with a story titled “Ten New Gurus You Should Know,” about what the magazine says is “a new generation of big thinkers emerging with radical ideas such as how to use nature as an innovation tool” to help troubled businesses. Near the top of the list: Patrick Lencioni, a 43-year-old business consultant from Lafayette, California, who has worked for Southwest Airlines and Oracle. He writes books “which feature fictional characters facing up to organizational problems.” A big client, notes Fortune: the San Diego Chargers. … Speaking of the stumbling football team, owner Alex Spanos is famous here for handing out goodies to favored politicians in the form of generous campaign contributions. In his hometown of Stockton, Spanos does that too, but he ups the ante when Halloween comes around. According to a report by Stockton’s KXTV, guards at the Spanos mansion in an upscale neighborhood hand out hundreds of giant Snickers bars to children, rich and poor, whose parents drive them in from miles around to collect the loot. The downside is that neighbors living in the vicinity can’t keep up with the hordes and complain they run out of treats before the evening is over.