Reasoned Audacity . . .daily commentary on public policy, business, and culture. READ MORE »
Thank you (foot)notes:
Be sure to follow Your Business Blogger(R) and Charmaine on Twitter: @JackYoest and @CharmaineYoest
Jack and Charmaine also blog at Reasoned Audacity and at Management Training of DC, LLC.
Hat Tip: VoluntaryXchange.
Alert Reader Robster sends this along. This has been in circulation for a while and deserves a continued audience in these troubled times in our move to socialism.
Fascism - You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them, and sells you the milk.
Communism - You have two cows. Your neighbors help take care of them [maybe] and you share the milk.
Capitalism - You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.
SOCIALISM [Share the Wealth]: You have two cows. The government takes one of them and gives it to your neighbor.
SOCIALISM -- BUREAUCRATIC: You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. They are cared for by ex-chicken farmers. You have to take care of the chickens the government took from the chicken farmers. The government gives you as much milk and eggs as the regulations say you should need.
SOCIALISM -- PURE: You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. You have to take care of all the cows. The government gives you as much milk as you need.
See a quick reference to Seth Godin's Purple Cow and Parody
Credit: The Capitol Net
You Have Two Cows
The Smartest Cow
AIG Explained with Two Cows.
A Tale of Two Presentations.
A Tale of Two Wheelers.
What if Earle Wheeler was more like Elmer Wheeler?
Your Business Professor
Jack YoestYour Business Professor opens our lesson with a story from November, 1965, as told by Charles Cooper who remembers the most important sales presentation of the last fifty years -- .
Charles Cooper was a young staffer assisting his boss, Earle Wheeler who made a presentation to the Big Boss.
The Big Boss had to decide between two strategies, one from Earle, who had wisdom and judgment and experience.
The another strategic was from Robert who ran an academic team of whiz kids.
The Big Boss had to choose between nearly opposite recommendations from Earle and Robert.
Although the pitch by Earle Wheeler was done almost a half century ago, Charles Cooper remembers it as if it were yesterday. Cooper was the young man who was holding the flip chart.
The Big Boss was about to make the biggest mistake of the last 50 years...
Why? Because Earle Wheeler could not sell like Elmer Wheeler.
Sales Training
Persuasion in Business, Government, Non-Profits and War.
Well-run organizations have decision makers and influencers who are sales professionals at every level. People who persuade.
They sell to customers, superiors and peers. They are 'salesmen' who work to control events - both inside and outside the organization. Salesmen in business development who are account managers.
Who: Professionals and life-long students in management or in business development - sales, fund-raising, leadership.
What: The seminar will equip the attendee with background on how to manage and how to sell both tangibles and intangibles -- To sell ideas, and products, and services.When: Wednesday, March 18, 2009, 11:00pm to 12:15pm
Where: Northern Virginia Community College,
Alexandria Campus, campus map
The new Bisdorf Auditorium, room 196
3001 North Beauregard Street, Alexandria, VA 22311 street mapWhy: Increase sales, Increase funding,
Sell an idea, Save the world.Cost: No Charge. Register here at JYoest@NVCC.edu. Space is limited.
Jack has developed a simple three step method to sell; to persuade:
The Push: gently encourage the client -- overcome inertial.Jack Yoest, Adjunct Professor of Business at NOVA and President of Management Training of DC, is a former Armored Cavalry Officer in Combat Arms. For over 30 years he has managed software, health care and international human resource management companies. His experience spans the military, Fortune 500, government, start-ups, non-profits, media and academia.
The Pitch: the seller must always be in the debt of the buyer -- never the reverse.The Promise: selling is a long term relationship -- love the client.
Suggested class reading:
Selling your skills, Do You Have An Incompetent Manager? From The Washington Post.
Management_Time__Who_s_Got_the_Monkey___HBR_OnPoint_Enhanced_Edition_.pdf Harvard Business Review. How not to sell in the office.
One Minute YouTube Introduction: Office Politics: Someone is always selling, Someone is always buying.
Come to this class.
Thank you (foot)notes,
See George Mason University, History News Network The Day It Became The Longest War.
Parking info at the jump.
Save the Date: 18 March 2009
Helen:
GARDENING WITH CONFIDENCE™Every business should have a mission statement to help focus staff, benchmarks, resources, results.
Every business could benefit. Every silo, in the business; on the farm.
Even your garden.
A business going to seed, so to say...
My favorite 'plant manager' is Helen of Raleigh who runs the premier gardening business in central North Carolina. She writes for Better Homes and Gardens and blogs at Gardening With Confidence™.
Helen is also a Garden Scout and Stylist. In her work as a field editor for Better Homes and Gardens and their Special Interest Publications such as Country Gardens and Nature's Garden, she scouts great gardens for their publications.
When a garden is chosen for publication, Helen works with photographers to style the photo shoot.
Just as every manager needs a business coach, every gardener needs a gardening coach.
Who knew?
Helen helped create this market niche. She is in great demand as a Garden Coach.
In her former career as a Vice President of an environmental company she learned how to shovel manure.
Good management training.
Carrying a rifle in Pakistan didn't hurt either. (Working for an environmental client. Really.)
Here is Helen's gardening mission statement,
Helen's Haven is a sustainable, wildlife habitat, created to attract and feed birds, bees, butterflies
and for the enjoyment of friends, family, and visitors to educate, enjoy,
and to understand we are the earth's caretakers, so let's take care.
If you have a garden statement, send it along to Helen. She will be posting the collection.
Thank you (foot)notes:
For the backstory see, Women, Work and Family: One VP's Solution,
"How do you it all?" Accomplished women with kids constantly get this question.Helen Philbrook, married and mother of three, from Raleigh, NC, has the answer.
Your Business Blogger(R) recently sat down with Helen and her husband David to learn the secret.
She's a former Vice President of an environmental testing firm, and perhaps the world's first female "Smoke Stack Sniffer."
Full Disclosure: Helen is the sister of Your Business Blogger(R)
Nobel laureate Milton Friedman said that a cultural prerequisite of capitalism is the holding of truthfulness as a common virtue. When you can trust a merchant's word, says Friedman, "it cut[s] down transaction costs." Without adherence to common moral principles we must substitute external controls to govern business behavior; efficiency demands a framework of standards and accountability.
Even the 18th-century atheist philosphe, Voltaire, recognized this problem. Though he believed Christianity was an "infamy," much like Christopher Hitchens, Voltaire wrote that "I want my attorney, my tailor, my servants, even my wife to believe in God...then I shall be robbed and cuckolded less often."
So. If you are not a Jesus-lover, it is still good (and safer) to do business with 'em. Less chance of getting cheated.
The Fools for Christ are easier to spot during Christmas.
They run ads like this.
Thank you (foot)note,
Hat tip to Don Wildmon with the American Family Association for pointing us to David Green, CEO of Hobby Lobby.
See The Nativity Story. One family. One journey. One child who would change the world forever.
Human Resources: 2 Things To Count On At Christmas.
The Commonwealth of Virginia is a terrific state to do business.
Alert Readers and my students well know the bias of Your Business Blogger(R) has toward Virginia -- a talented labor pool, low taxes, and a right to work state (re: employees don't have to join a union).
Virginia has had a business friendly culture since the county's founding. A few decades ago the beliefs were memorialized.
A Code for Virginians
Developed by a special committee of the Virginian State Chamber of Commerce and adopted by the membership in annual session at Roanoke on April 9, 1942
Preamble
Virginia was the scene of the first permanent English settlement in the New World. In its colonial legislative halls the fundamental principles of a new democracy were developed. Here the pattern of a government for a free people was evolved.
Patrick Henry sounded the keynote of the Revolutionary War. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Deceleration of Independence. George Washington led the army that made the formation of the United States a possibility. James Madison fathered the Constitution. George Mason's Virginia Bill of Rights. Here in Virginia was launched the struggle for freedom that gave birth to a new government conceived and fostered by the sons of its soil.
It is fitting, then, that we who enjoy and seek to preserve the benefits that our forefathers provided for us, should reaffirm our faith in the principles upon which this nation was founded. We should pledge our support and dedicate ourselves, our institutions, our organizations, and our individual businesses to the principles whose adoption has brought our nation and our people to be the exemplars and leaders of the civilized world.
Since a system of free enterprise is not based upon any fundamental human right, the obligation rests upon our conduct of business that under this system the public welfare is best served.
To Virginians and Virginia institutions has come the opportunity to raise anew the battle cry of freedom, to crystallize into fulfilling action the tenets that have made of this a promised land. They who gave to us this priceless heritage will not sleep if we who now enjoy it let it slip from our grasp.
[Free enterprise may not be based on an enumerated right, but capitalism is Biblically based. The Commandment Thou shall not steal is a protection for private property and that property can only change hands -- legally -- with a willing buyer and seller.]
That we may express our faith in and pledge our support of our system of private enterprise the following code has been adopted by the Virginia State Chamber of Commerce to be displayed by all its members and proclaimed to the people pf this state and nation.
1. Business in all its forms, in all its activities, must command the respect, confidence, and support of the public and its own personnel. to this end it must keep its own house in order. only through the adoption and self-enforcement of ethical standards of conduct can business justify the right to freedom of action. By this means business can minimize the need of governmental regulation.
[Any human behavior needs to be protected from evil. Many cultures use government. We are blessed with self-government with self-regulation...enforced not with brute government, but with 'intermediating institutions' -- associations between citizens and government.]
2. The privilege of doing business in Virginia is freely acquired. It is a license to serve which imposes obligations upon business to deal fairly, openly, and honestly with the public, the employee, the investor, and the government.
[Virginia has low taxes and low barriers to entry to open a business.]
3. Laws regarding business should be based on the principle of guaranteeing freedom of action to all. They should prevent the abuse of power. Fulfillment of the statutes in spirit as well as in letter in an obligation of business.
[President Jefferson said that the purpose of government is to restrain evil -- not to do good.]
4. The freedom enjoyed by individuals in a democracy imposes commensurate obligations, applying equally to those engaged in business, professional, and governmental activity. All business enterprises, enjoying rights guaranteed to persons, must recognize the same obligation as are required of the individual.
5. The foundations of our established form of government rest upon the preservation of the fundamental, inalienable rights of the individual expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia Bill of Rights, and the Constitution of the United States of America. These rights can best be preserved under a system of free enterprise.
Bank Managers of the 1800's would not recognize today's Banking-Finance ethics let alone the bailouts. "Bankers' Hours" would not come until over a hundred years later.
Huddleston & Bradford was a bank that transferred large sums of money -- in safes on trains in London.
Edgar Trent was the bank owner and published "Rules for Office Staff" in 1854.
1. Godliness, cleanliness and punctuality are the necessities of a good business.2. The firm has reduced the working day to the hours from 8:30 to 7p.m.
3. Daily prayers will be held each morning in the main office. The clerical staff will be present.
4. Clothing will be of a sober nature.
5. A stove is provided for the benefit of the clerical staff. It is recommended that each member of the clerical staff bring 4 lbs. of coal each day during cold weather.
6. No member of the clerical staff may leave the room with out the permission from Mr. Roberts. The calls of nature are permitted and clerical staff may use the garden beyond the second gate. This area must be kept clean and in good order.
7. No talking is allowed during business hours.
8. The craving of tobacco, wine or spirits is a human weakness, and as such is forbidden to the clerical staff.
9. Members of the clerical staff will provide their own pens.
10. The managers of the firm will expect a great rise in the output of work to compensate for these near Utopian conditions.
There is no mention of tattoos or body piercings.
The "near Utopian conditions" are actually enjoyed today. All staff these days are warm, well-fed, granted tobacco consuming smoke breaks and counter-consuming healthcare.
Even without unions.
We are so lucky today.
Thank you (foot)notes:
The Great Train RobberyAlert Readers know that Your Business Blogger(R) does not work on Sundays. It is indeed a Biblical injunction but taking a real day off per week is physically and spiritually a goodly habit to live by.
So Charmaine and I attempt to do nothing productive on the Sabbath day of rest (not that we are all that productive the remaining days...). We read for pleasure that day. My current "Sunday Book" is an early publication (1975) by Michael Crichton, The Great Train Robbery. Terrific read. Yes, it might even be better, if that were possible, that his later books.
Be sure to catch Your Business Blogger(R) discussing completed staff work on YouTube.
The easiest tactic to sell anything is to find Pain. Maximize it, magnify it, monetize it.
We Are The Change, election night 1988
There is some economic Pain in the American people. Obama promises to heal this nation and heal this pain with Change.
Change from Capitalism to Marxism. To "spread the wealth around."
As Wes Pruden writes in A game-changer by Obama, we are at the close of the biggest sales and marketing pitch in history. Pruden reports,
To redistribute wealth, you first have to confiscate it from those who earned it with hard work, and the way to do that is with confiscatory taxes. Then you give it to those who didn't earn it.
But do the American people really want to change to a new economic system? A centrally controlled economy? A Change to Marxism?
Even with a half-billion dollar marketing campaign and its extension in the compliant main stream media and a single quarter of negative growth, the voters have still not bought the Barack bill of goods. Pain as bad as it's been in decades.
Barack Obama has trouble selling this Change to more than 50 percent of the public.
This means that there is still hope for capitalism in our country. Hope for our 200 year-old tradition.
Every new presidential candidate runs on some version of change. Your Business Blogger(R) joyfully attended the Election Night victory party on November 8, 1988.
The theme of the celebration? "We Are The Change." And this was from Reagan to Bush. (A Republican rockin' party...no alcohol was served 'til after 8pm.)
The word "Change" has come to mean a bit more in this campaign season in the Obama sales pitch.
We enjoy an orderly transition of power every few years. Let us pray that change is only in political individuals.
Not in an economic tradition.
This week, I asked my college business class when the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith was written.
"1930...?" guessed one of my better students. This was as far back as she would dare recede into ancient history. Not the 200 years to 1776.
Two hundred years of tradition that unleashed the individual's spirit to create and to provide and to enrich. Centuries of building an economic powerhouse that dominates the world. Created by American Exceptionalism.
Quin Hillyer writes at The American Spectator,
There is something special about this country. The United States is exceptional. We are blessed by the good Lord, and in turn we have done more, far more, than any other people to spread freedom across the globe, and prosperity across the globe, and human rights across this great good Earth. We are a particularly good people...
Benjamin Franklin wondered if we, a good and virtuous people, could keep a republic, a system of government that would enable the system of capitalism.
Obama promises a change to Marxism. Other changes are sure to follow, if he is elected.
Thank you (foot)notes,
Hillyer continues comparing McCain to Obama,
We are a particularly good people -- and John McCain understands all this and believes it with every fiber of his being, down to his very marrow, in a way that is deeply spiritual in nature.
There is nothing fake about McCain's belief in American Exceptionalism. His belief in this is as genuine, and as deeply felt, as is a son's love for his father. He will defend this country, fight for this country, with every last breath in his body...
So there you have it: John McCain as a patriot firmly rooted in the American traditions of free enterprise, limited government, strong defense, personal accountability, and a decent respect for the cultural standards of the broad middle of the American public.
Those are the constituent elements of American exceptionalism -- and to his great credit, John McCain is an American exceptionalist, and an exceptional American.
Charmaine has been quoted by a number of outlets on Google's recent policy decision to accept ads from pro-life supporters
ABC News Google OKs Religious Groups' Abortion Ads
Google Agrees to Place 'Factual' Abortion Ads; Groups on Both Sides Question What That Means
By KI MAE HEUSSNER
Sept. 18, 2008--
As part of an out-of-court settlement with a British Christian organization, Google agreed Wednesday to display anti-abortion ads purchased by religious groups.In April, The Christian Institute took legal action against the Internet search giant when Google did not approve an abortion-related ad with the text:
UK Abortion law
Key views and news on abortion law from The Christian Institute
www.christian.org.ukAt the time, Google said its policy did not permit the advertisement of Web sites that contain "abortion and religion-related content."
Arguing that it was being treated differently because of its religious beliefs, the institute filed a lawsuit against Google under the U.K. Equality Act 2006, a law that prohibits religious discrimination.
Instead of continuing to fight the case in the court, Google reviewed its abortion ads policy and agreed to revise its policy....
Stateside, religious and anti-abortion rights groups are hailing Google's decision as a victory for both free speech and people of faith.
"We really applaud Google for making the right decision and standing by freedom of speech. It really was outrageous to censor The Christian Institute," Charmaine Yoest, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit, anti-abortion organization Americans United for Life (AUL), told ABCNews.com.
Yoest said AUL had not attempted to purchase abortion-related ads on Google. But she said she had observed discrimination when attempting to purchase ads for print campaigns.
"They raise the rates -- that's usually the kind of discrimination [we see]," she added.
Thursday, September 18, 2008 12:05 PM
By: Jim Meyers
Facing a legal challenge, the Internet search giant Google has relented and agreed to accept pro-life ads for the first time.
In April, The Christian Institute -- a British organization -- took legal action when Google did not approve an anti-abortion ad.
Google said at the time that its policy did not allow ads for Web sites containing "abortion and religion-related content."
Also see It Wasn't Easy...BUT Google Agrees to Pro-Life Ads
Charmaine is Acela-ing to NYC this morning to appear on FOX this afternoon at 2pm. A train is faster than a plane on this route.
Charmaine in St. Paul for the RNC convention at the Xcel Energy Center
The topic is still evolving, but the bookers, media set-up pros, and Your Business Blogger(R) is predicting a Palin debate...not about Biden.
(Unless the interview is on Biden's loss of his first wife and child in a tragic car accident decades ago when Biden was first elected as young 29 year-old senator. Biden accuses the other driver of drunk driving. Which is not true. The car accident was ruled, well, an accident. Biden is slandering the other driver.)
When Charmaine was in St. Paul for the GOP platform committee meetings and the convention, she did a number of media spots. The most interesting was her interview on FOX's Strategy Room hosted by Shepherd Smith, who did not want to talk about abortion. Not at all. He got so miffed, he walked off the set.
Read Charmaine's dispatch at the jump. About the oddest thing she's ever seen.
Update: hit time is 2:20 and topics concern the financial crisis and People magazine -- more at the jump.
A good friend sent this along and boy is it surprising...not because of the content, but because of the source.
It came from a professor in the academy.
Which proves that not all academics are leftists.
Father/Daughter TalkA young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so
many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat,
and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of higher taxes to
support more government programs, in other words redistribution of wealth.She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch
Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she
had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that
her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he
thought should be his.One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher
taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The
self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth
and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing
in school.Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA,
and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was
taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left
her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even
have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends
because she spent all her time studying.Her father listened and then asked, 'How is your friend Audrey
doing?' She replied, 'Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are
easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular
on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the
parties and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because
she's too hung over.'Her wise father asked his daughter, 'Why don't you go to the
Dean's office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who
only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that
would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily
fired back, 'That's a crazy idea, and how would that be fair! I've
worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard
work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I
worked my tail off!'The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, 'Welcome to the
Republican party.'If anyone has a better explanation of the difference between
Republican and Democrat I'm all ears.
Thank you (foot)notes,
Here are some instructions that Your Business Blogger(R) would have -- not with daughter Dreamer, but with the knuckle heads wandering thru our front yard...Mr. Yoest's 10 Simple Rules for Dating My Daughters
Watch the 90 second clip. Students: this is not a substitute for class attendance. But it is good to know what the professor thinks...
Comments disabled due to DoS attack, please email here.
Your Business Blogger was visiting mom over Thanksgiving. I told her about the good work by the good guys at the Business & Media Institute.
I explained to her about the bias that the media injects into business reporting: talking down the economy, business men are evil monsters and Republicans don't care about the little guy (customers).
"For example," I begin, reverting to consultant/professor mode, "the economy is on fire--"
"What?" mom interjects.
"The economy..." I stop. It is a smart son that does not lecture his mother. "Mom, do you think we are in a recession?"
"Yes!" she cries. "People are unemployed, inflation has everything so expensive and people are losing their homes!"
Oh no. CNN got to her.
Read my article over at Business & Media Institute, CNN's 'Recession Watch' Continues, with New Definition of Recession: Morning show focuses on negative Christmas shopping predictions as indicator of economic health, despite strong job growth. And read how CNN got it wrong.
The Alert Reader will note that Black Friday sales are up 8 percent over same day last year. That is explosive growth -- ignored or minimized by the main stream media.
The main stream media will do anything to talk down the economy to try to get Hillary elected.
According to the White House Fact Sheet for October, statistics that CNN ...should have considered:Real GDP grew at a strong 3.9 percent in the third quarter of 2007
October 2007 marked the 50th consecutive month of job growth.
The economy has six years of uninterrupted growth.
Real after-tax per capita personal income has risen by 12.7 percent, an average of $3,800 over the last seven years.
Mom did not believe the numbers. She believes what she sees on TV. Too much CNN. Not enough FOX.
Your Business Blogger has a piece up at the Business & Media Institute. Be sure to read for the surprising (to liberals) ending.
CNN's 'Your $$$$$' Scours the Nation for Recession Hints
Co-hosts prod guests about the R-word, select states with bad news.
By Jack Yoest Business & Media Institute 11/7/2007 10:37:09 AMThe national economy continues its strong performance, but “Your $$$$$” co-hosts Ali Velshi and Christine Romans were looking hard for bad news.
In October, 166,000 jobs were added, twice the expected growth rate. General growth as measured by the gross domestic product was estimated at a robust 3.9 percent for the most recent quarter.
That meant CNN didn’t find a national recession and had to look for trouble on the state level.
“There are some states...where people are feeling all the elements of a recession already,” Velshi said. Earlier in October, Velshi told viewers “the bottom line is to most Americans, a recession is what it feels like to you.”
Velshi gets lost in the economic forest. Read the entire article and learn what the rational economic family does when living in high cost states.
Charmaine will be giving a presentation on The Politics of Parental Leave: Is Paid Parental Leave an Effective Means of Promoting Gender Equity in the Workplace? at the New America Foundation.
Start: 11/15/2007 - 12:30pm to 1:30pm
at New America Foundation
1630 Connecticut Ave, NW 7th Floor
Washington, 20009
New America Foundation
From the New America Foundation web site,
U.S. political candidates are beginning to produce work and family policy positions in response to what most Americans feel - that work and family balance is a major issue facing American families. Women in particular struggle with such balance and with achieving equality in the workplace. Several bills have been introduced in Congress to mandate paid parental leave to help women achieve better balance and more equality. But is this approach best for women as a whole?Dr. Charmaine Yoest of the Family Research Council served as the Project Director of the Family, Gender and Tenure research project at the University of Virginia. The research is the only study of its kind to examine the effectiveness of paid parental leave in the United States.
The University of Virginia
Dr. Yoest's experience as a researcher, policy advocate and mother of five give her an important perspective on this current debate. Join the New America Foundation's Workforce and Family Program for a provocative discussion on paid parental leave.
Be sure to visit and let us know what you think.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Charmaine did her dissertation on the Family Medical Leave Act, titled: Empowering Shakespeare's Sister: Parental Leave and the Level Playing Field.
More on the New America Foundation at the jump.
Your Business Blogger has a piece up at the Business & Media Institute. BMI, as alert readers noticed, was mentioned and cited by Rush Limbaugh today -- on particulary good article.
It wasn't mine.
Rush was talking about Dan Gainor, my editor at the Business & Media Institute: Advancing the Culture of Free Enterprise in America. Rush Limbaugh discusses BMI’s special report Fire & Ice.
See more on Dan here. And be sure to watch him each Thursday afternoon on the new Fox Business Network
By Jack Yoest Business & Media InstituteCNN’s “Your $$$$$” is ready for a spike in gas prices. It just hasn’t happened despite predictions.
On October 20, the show’s guest Peter Beutel, president of energy risk management firm Cameron Hanover, predicted a 20-cent increase in the price of a gallon a gas. How soon? In the next week.
It didn’t happen.
Read the article here and let me know what you think.
Your Business Blogger has an article up at the Business & Media Institute.
CNN Presents the Fear-Based Economy:
Time's Karen Tumulty questions Reagan's economic record.,
“You know, Ron Reagan’s fiscal record was not so great…” claimed Karen Tumulty, national political correspondent for Time magazine. Tumulty was a guest on CNN’s ‘Your $$$$$’ October 13, providing political analysis on the economic policy proposals of the presidential candidates.The segment was titled “Fear Factor.” Christine Romans, began with the observation that there is a political party that believes, “government needs to expand its reach to protect citizens from catastrophe.” No, Romans assured us, “We are not talking about terrorism, we are talking about the economy.”
Read the entire article and let me know what you think. Did president Ronald Reagan have a poor fiscal record? And did he really win the cold war?
Or is this simply a liberal bias from the main stream media?
Watch Charmaine on CNN,
Charmaine Yoest, Vice President for Communications at Family Research Council, appeared on CNN Headline News October 16, 2007 to discuss a proposal at a middle school to dispense contraceptives to its students.
Watch the clip here. Please forgive the click thru the FRC site.
If you will be in New York City on October 18th, let's visit. Your Business Blogger will be a panelist for the iNetwork2Networth event organized by the iConcept Media Group.
Inc. Magazine is a sponsor
Current sponsors include: Inc. Magazine, The New York Observer, and the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce.
And be sure to come to The Washington Briefing.
Your Business Blogger has an article this week at the Business & Media Institute,
CNN Doesn't Mention Pro-Union Guest Was Union VP
Author's former job explains her adoration of unions, but she is unopposed on 'Your $$$$$.'
The AFL-CIO reports that only 12 percent of the work force belonged to unions last year and the hosts of “Your $$$$$” are not happy.
Hosts Ali Velshi and Christine Romans told viewers why labor unions are good -- and business was not -- on the September 2, pre-Labor Day broadcast. To help, they brought in Beth Shulman, author of “Betrayal of Work: How Low-Wage Jobs Failed 30 Million Americans and Their Families.” Shulman was introduced as a “labor consultant” rather than the more accurate former vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union...
Read the article and let me know what you think.
Thank you (foot)notes:
The Business & Media Institute (BMI) is a division of Brent Bozell's Media Research Center. BMI is headed and edited by Dan Gainor. More at the jump.
Your Business Blogger has an article at the Business & Media Institute, CNN on Sub-Prime Mortgage Problems: Where is Personal Responsibility? 'Your $$$$$' has a new name, but keeps up the anti-business theme.
CNN’s “Your $$$$$” is the hip, fast-moving replacement for “In the Money.” But don’t bother to Google “Your $$$$$.”It’s not easily searchable. You get millions of results, but none obviously about the program.
That’s a basic starting point for any business with an online presence. It’s an early indicator there are other basics in Business 101 that CNN are missing.
Read the rest of the story and let me know what you think.
Thank you (foot)notes:
The Business & Media Institute is a division of Brent Bozell's Media Research Center.
The biggest complaint of the blogosphere is that the writing has no accountability, no third party oversight.
Except the carnivals. And the best business carnival in the business is The Carnival of the Capitalists.
Submissions, as the Alert Reader will know, are self-selected by the author, and edited and vetted by the carnival host. Not every article submission is accepted.
My friend Anita Campbell leads this week's carnival with about the best collection of podcasts todate. This is an essential resource for anyone considering podcasting or who might want to be a guest on radio and podcasts -- and who needs a list of the better podcasts. Anita Campbell presents 100 Small Business Audio Podcasts posted at Small Business Trends Radio | Small Business Information. Anita demonstrates here what is best about the blogosphere. (Full Disclosure: Your Business Blogger has written for Anita Campbell.)
Wayne Hurlbert tells us in Management techniques: Delegating responsibility,
As a company grows, the number of responsibilities grow right along with it. Not only do the number of departments expand, but their size and scope increases as well. Taken together, managing all departments and staff within the organization becomes too much for any one person. No one possesses the time or skills required for each and every job in the business. Delegation of responsibility is essential. It is here that problems can arise that can hurt the company's performance.
Douglas Galbi at purple motes has a thoughtful piece television serves couch potatoes
Don't rush the lawyers if you have been wronged. Read this counter-intuitive, yet practical article by Carmen Van Kerckhove at Race in the Workplace with What to Do If You're Experiencing Racial Discrimination At Work,
Think twice before reporting racial discrimination to your company's human resources department. Why? Because it's not always the most effective strategy.Read on for a step-by-step guide on what to do if you believe your supervisor is discriminating against you because of your race...
See Jason Koeppe’s Strategic Internet Marketing Blog and A Step By Step Guide For Choosing the Right Keywords - StrategicSiteMarketing.com,
Effective keyword research is underrated. Really. And not just in its benefit and importance as it relates to SEO and online search marketing. Thoroughly understanding what keyword phrases your target audience is using to find you (your product or services) is literally invaluable. This knowledge is one of the best weapons you have in your business building arsenal and this weapon can be used both online and off. We’ll come back to that thought a bit later. For now, let’s dive right into how to effectively choose the best keywords for search marketing...
Nickel does the numbers in How to Make Money in the Stock Market (Revisited). The numbers are compelling. No charge.
Here are some youthful capitalists who are starting really early with their business plans: 5 Of The Youngest Entrepreneurs On Their Path To Success And Riches on thedigeratilife by the Silicon Valley Blogger.
Steven Silvers who can manage image better most anyone has Vick story prompts greyhound racing industry to defend itself earlier than usual. posted at Scatterbox by Steven Silvers,
The American Greyhound Track Operators Association rushes to spin some distance between the controversies surrounding its own industry and the nation’s new interest in illegal dog fighting.
David Kam presents The Importance of Logo posted at MarketingDeviant.com.
Gustav S submits 10 Reasons why only 4% of the population achieve their goals posted at success-is-in-you.com.
Ian Welsh has a Biblical reference Reaping What You Sow: Hedge Fund and Housing Bubble Edition posted at The Agonist,
What's happening to the housing and financial markets right now is the entirely foreseeable consequence of past deliberate policy decisions by the Fed and the Bush administration. The reason a bail-out is finally occurring is because the people who matter are getting hurt.
Kurt Brouwer has Subprime and Stocks? What Happened? posted at Fundmastery Blog,
Financial markets around the globe have been weak and jittery in recent weeks. The following discussion is meant to give you some background on the subprime lending mess and how it spread throughout the financial markets.
Dax Desai writes What does the potential Fed rate cut mean? posted at Dax Desai, where he explains the effect of the potential Fed interest rate cut on investments.
Pawel Brodzinski presents 15 Ways to Be a Good Boss posted at Software Project Management,
Want to be a leader who will be followed by the team? Want to have employees working willingly on your success? Want to be a good boss?
Some website owners assume that Google keyword search rankings directly affect sales. So a #1 position will be better than a #2 or #3 position. What counts is the bottom-line result and many other factors come into play in determining that.
Politicians are trying too hard to pressure the Federal Reserve. If they aren't stopped now, we'll have a much harder time stopping them in a few years when they try to use an inflation tax to balance the budget.
Peter has Decide For the Success of Your Home Based Business posted at Make Money Online.
Read the Millionaire Mommy Next Door with How to Treat Affluenza: Spend Less and Live a Happier Life posted at Millionaire Mommy Next Door,
The number of "very happy" people peaked in 1957, and has remained fairly stable or declined ever since. Even though we consume twice as much as we did in the 1950s, people were just as happy when they had less. 86% of Americans who voluntarily cut back their consumption feel happier as a result.
wilson ng presents The Challenge of Providing Choice posted at Reflections of a BizDrivenLife,
Some people want a variety of choice, while some people want quality pre-selected information. Whether you are selling products or ideas, how many alternatives do you provide? Here is a short article on how the number of offerings affect decision-making.
Chief Family Officer presents Great Debate over at AFM: To Sell or Not To Sell? posted at Chief Family Officer.
FMF submits What I'd Do with a High-Paying, Unrewarding Job posted at Free Money Finance and read how he's handled bad job situations
Alvaro Fernandez outlines The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Brains posted at Brain Fitness Blog with some tips to keep our brains sharp.
Good news for health insurance costs: Insureblog's Henry Stern reports that prices are moderating, and explains why.
Leon Gettler has original reporting with an Interview with AXS-One chairman and CEO Bill Lyons posted at Sox First,
An interview with AXS-One chairman and CEO Bill Lyons on why companies struggle with their electronic documents and how email is the new legal Chernobyl.
Nina presents Gay Affluence: fact, fiction, or somewhere in between? posted at Queercents,
Gay affluence is a myth and perhaps the most misunderstood fact about gays and lesbians. We are not wealthier. Or are we?
Rob May writes What Dasani Bottled Water Taught Me About Better Blogging posted at Businesspundit, A case study of Dasani provides insight into why blogging requires more than just quality posts.
Matthew Paulson presents Long Term Care Insurance: When It Makes Sense, When It Doesn’t. posted at FinanceIsPersonal.com.
Where are interest rates headed? James Hamilton of Econbrowser concludes that the Fed has abandoned its 5.25% target for the fed funds rate, and, when it goes back to targeting, will pick a lower value, in Whee!
Charles H. Green presents It's a Dog Eat Dog World, Isn't It? posted at Trust Matters,
In an emerging business world that throws everyone together in constantly permutating ways, that old competitive nature we prized decades ago is becoming a bit of a millstone.
Babak presents Bond Market Screaming For Rate Cut - Fed Listening? posted at Trader's Narrative.
Marlon J. Broussard presents The True value of Money in Our Age | MoneyBlog posted at MoneyBlog,
The point is not to just point out the fact that a dollar is only worth 4 cents (about the exact cost of printing, regardless of the denomination), but to shed light on some things you need to be mindful of...
How would you like to live in crushing, abject poverty? Does the idea of living and sleeping on the streets of a major American city sound appealing to you? Would you like to grow old and penniless, spending your final days on this Earth barely getting by on the meager checks sent to you by some large government bureaucracy? Well, my friend, do I have the program for you.
The customer, in fact, is not always right, but good customer service is treating her as though she is. Making the customer feel appreciated, even when they are not pleased, is the goal.
Next week's carnival will be celebrated on September 3, 2007 at the Geek Practitioners Blog.
Newt has a plan to find each illegal immigrant. It just might work.
Notice: This is not a presidential endorsement of Gingrich by the Yoest's or the Family Research Council.
Full Disclosure: Charmaine has been published by The American Enterprise Institute, What Do Parents Want?
When a person of note is covered by the media in Your Nation's Capital, three questions are asked by the victim:
1) Is there a picture?
2) Is it above the fold?
3) Is the story running on the weekend?
Lurita Alexis Doan If the newspaper publishes a picture of the person above the fold, then the media outlet is creating the "legs" that the story will take. The media outlet is helping to make the story, the story. And bleeding will follow. Because...
If it bleeds, it leads.
Lurita Alexis Doan, the top executive of the General Services Administration came to DC to make a difference after making a buck. In her old position running a for-profit technology company, she was most familiar with selling to the government and creating wealth and generating jobs.
She knows how to create wealth with efficient and effective management. But there was one skill set her new job in Government required that few for-profit businesses cover in management training:
Multiple points of accountability.
It was not enough for Doan to lead the billion dollar agency, manage her staff, boss and peers, and customers. She also had to manage the press, the public perception, and now, as we have all read, she must deal with the initiative-killing-congress in the person of Henry Waxman.
Representative Waxman is accusing Lurita Doan of a laundry list of offenses, but the most interesting is violating the Hatch Act.
Alert Reader Tom Commented,
Please accurately present facts, in particular the provisions of the Hatch Act. You clearly omit the prohibitions relevant to Ms. Doan's violation: that no employee may engage in political activity while on duty or in a government office. The Hatch Act prohibits far more than the 3 actions you list...
Lurita Doan's Hatch Act "violation" is no worse than driving down Constitution Avenue with a Bush bumper sticker.
Your Business Blogger knows a bit about the line that separates public service as a govenment appointee receiving a government paycheck, and electioneering.
Lurita Doan has been coloring well within the lines of The Hatch Act. At least much better than Your Business Blogger.
Because, unlike Lurita Doan, I inadvertently fudged the line. At least according to the Richmond Times Dispatch.
A number of years ago I sent out an invitation to friends to attend a fund raiser, from my spacious government office. Your Business Blogger,
Used a government computerFund raised for a particular candidate
In an election
I goofed. As RTD's Tyler Whitley quickly wrote. But it was not above the fold, there was no picture, and the article was mid-week, but, thankfully, small. I was a dummy and got off light.
Doan is innocent and being condemned under The Hatch Act.
The Hatch Act of 1939 is arcane; difficult to understand and frightfully easy to misinterpret. Think IRS regulations.
But, there was no attempt on her part of using the agency or anything else to compel employees to do any partisan activities.
She made a statement that 6 people apparently heard and 30 people did not.
It was not her meeting, it was set up by her White House liaison and she was not aware of its contents beforehand. She readily admits she should have asked more questions. Of course, these are political appointees and they are allowed leeway in meetings at government buildings. She should have understood the nature the meeting before attending or making any statements. She has since taken steps to make sure all meetings are vetted through counsel and through her ethics staff.
No, Doan is not in violation. This is simply a witch hunt on the part of Democrats to get to the White House. And Democrats imply that only the GOP is being political. Lurita Doan has been caught in the middle of participating in this meeting and possibly making the statement on helping candidates -- remember: Doan does business, not politics. But, she certainly has not advocated or pushed the GSA employees to do anything in an election.
An election that is still a year and half away.
The issue is more than any confusion over The Hatch Act. The Democrat attack machine sees Lurita Alexis Doan as a two-fer:
1) A George Bush appointee, and
2) A business person.
The liberal media and liberal Democrats don't care for either.
Dan Gainor
Director Business and Media Institute I had lunch the other day with Dan Gainor, pictured at left, below the fold, who is the The Boone Pickens Free Market Fellow and Director of the Business and Media Institute -- a part of Brent Bozell's Media Research Center. I ask him about the liberal bias -- the media bias against businessmen. "Nearly every businessman is shown by Hollywood to be a crook, or worse," says Gainor. Portraited as monsters. Or hypocrites, like, say, a church-going thief. As he writes in Bad Company: For the American Businessman, Primetime is Crimetime,
One enduring American cultural image is the man in the gray flannel suit. A businessman, with briefcase in tow and tie crisply knotted, who left the family for an honest day's work and eventually returned home worn and weary. But TV long ago abandoned that icon and replaced it with the stereotype of corporate evil.
And Democrats believing this script -- and all that flickers for truth in Hollywood -- hate Bush, hate capitalism, hate businessmen.
Lurita Alexis Doan knows how to make money in the Free Market and is on the Bush management team. Making Doan the (immediate) target.
Capitalism bested communism. But Capitalism and Business will have a bigger challenge with liberal Democrats like Henry Waxman in Congress.
Thank you (foot)notes:
See Christopher J. Dorobek's take at the jump.
See Lurita Alexis Doan: Good Management Meets Bad Politics
And How To Cut The Federal Budget at a Government Agency by Lurita Alexis Doan
Did Doan understand The Manager’s Mission? Bob Novak indicates that Doan clearly does not enjoy the support of her management molecule: Boss, Peers, Staff, Customers. See Hatch Act Hatchet Job.
Testimonial Two-Step has more on DC tactics.
Also see NewsBusters for exposing and combating liberal media bias.
Starting a(nother) company?
Your Business Blogger has assembled a few from scratch and was putting together Management Training of DC, LLC.
But I really dreaded all the lawyer and government bureaucracy hassles. Again.
So I bought LegalZoom. Goodness, they are good.
Alert Readers know that Charmaine and I have very simple tastes: We simply require the best of anything.
LegalZoom was a pleasant surprise. Fast, Easy, Cheap, with Follow-up.
Go buy them. You will be pleased.
Incorporation, LLC, DBA, Copyright, Trademark, Divorce, Wills, Living Trust, Power of Attorney, Prenuptials, Immigration Services, Name Change, Patents.
I got the LLC.
Go try their site and service and let me know what you think.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Full Disclosure: Your Business Blogger has a financial interest in LegalZoom's success. And I didn't have to talk with a lawyer.
Looking for a job? Vist College Students Advisor for a tutorial: Good News About Jumpstarting Your Job Search brought to you by the Carnival of the Job Search ~ 5th edition.
Carnival of the Capitalists is hosted this week by Gyaan Sutra. Must read for business leaders is Sunk costs: Know when to pull the plug, by Wayne Hurlbert;
When faced with a sunk cost situation, learn to identify it as an ongoing drain of company resources. If there is no possible remedy, cut the plan adrift, and start over with a new idea.
Your successful and creative company must understand sunk costs, and know when to pull the plug. Admit your mistakes, and move on to a different plan entirely. Your business success depends on it.
See Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office? Although I would like to see a bit more on negotiation skills for Women. At Carnival of Careers in Middle Age #2.
And drive on over to Ask Patty (about cars). Car Carnival. Cool. Read The Seven Biggest Driving Mistakes By Kristin Bailey Murphy
Evil HR Lady has answers for human resource management,
Mistakes can lead to success...
Really.
"Why am I evil? Well, I'm not, but that's the perception of all of us in HR. Need to fire someone? Come to HR. Need to explain to someone why, even after working their rear end off all year, that their annual increase is 2.7%? Come to HR. Need to come up with new mountains of paperwork? Come to HR. So, come join me on the Evil Side. Oh, and send me your HR questions."
See her edits and editorials at Carnival of Human Resources #5, and be sure to read Delegation as a Leadership Style, From Susan M. Heathfield, and her Tips for Effective Delegation. With good advice. If every manager delegated properly and treated his desk like a pyramid, Your Business Blogger would have fewer clients.
Or maybe all managers should be sociopaths.
See The Carnival of Australia and learn what ANZAC Day is. Aussies are allies.
And bookmark The Integrative Stream, who is hosting the Carnival of the Capitalists. (I will 'roll 'em, as soon as the Panzer Commander unlocks by blogroll...) William Crawford has,
been a software developer, a manager, a Chief Technology Officer and an author of books about enterprise computing. In 2006-2007, I spent a year working on Healthcare Information Technology policy issues at the United States Department of Health and Human Services, in the Office of Policy at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the largest healthcare payor in the world.Right now I’m focused on industry liaision activities for the Harvard Medical School Center for Biomedical Informatiocs, and am an MBA candidate at the Sloan School of Management at MIT. I’m also an SM candidate in the MIT Biomedical Enterprise Program, which focuses on bringing together management and scientific professionals to create innovative biomedical businesses. You can never have too many graduate degrees.
And while at the Carnival visit Wayne Hurlbert, who reminds us in Preventing mistakes: Creativity to the rescue
"All business owners and managers make mistakes. In fact, if no mistakes are made, nothing is being done in the business at all. Literally.Fear that one's mistakes leads to immediate dismissal simply locks down the company. No one will suggest any new ideas, and will revert to covering the backs and keeping their heads down. Entrepreneurs should welcome innovation and fresh, creative ideas. Forward thinkers and innovators should be rewarded and encouraged to seek new solutions to the organization's problems. Mistakes will be made. The key is to keep the errors small, and to learn from the experience."
Wayne gets it right, as usual. Benefit from his wisdom, which is interesting, since he makes few mistakes. Read him.
I usually recognize a mistake... the second time I make it.
The Honorable
Lurita Alexis Doan
Chief Executive
General Services Administration Why is Congressman Waxman so unhappy with Lurita Alexis Doan, head of GSA?
Is it contracts, campaignings, competence?
Your Business Blogger recently sat down with Lurita Doan. She was really quite at home with the intense blood sport that passes for politics. (She's from Louisiana.) (And works academia.) We discussed her management style and her goals in government.
Doan came to Your Nation's Capital to save money in the giant GSA. And to make a difference in the business of government. Rob Bluey reminds us in TownHall.com that,
"The agency oversees nearly $66 billion in federal spending -- more than a quarter of the government’s procurement dollars. It has 12,300 employees who are spread out in offices around the country.So what do GSA employees do with all that money? The GSA is the world's largest landlord with more than 8,300 government-owned or leased buildings. It is responsible for a fleet of 170,000 vehicles, making it the world's largest purchaser of new cars. The computer infrastructure it oversees is valued at more than $100 million. The agency is the world's largest credit card service, and believe it or not, the world's largest conservator of art."
Jimmie Stewart as
Jefferson Smith in Frank Capra's
1939 film classic
Mr. Smith Goes to WashingtonLurita Doan came to Washington, DC to serve out of passion for her country. But unlike Jimmie Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Mrs. Doan came with a plan.
Lurita Doan placed herself in the Waxman cross-hairs by breaking rice bowls in the bowels of government.
So Chairman Waxman takes a day off from surrendering to the jihadists in Iraq to hold hearings. He gets a three-fer:
1) Ignore the War on Islamofascists
2) Berate a cost cutting manager, and
3) Smear Karl Rove
Ignore, Berate, Smear. Not a bad day for Democrats.
Following is Doan's memo on How to Cut the Federal Budget at a Government Agency.
Your Business Blogger could have used such a guideline during my tour of duty in government and my feeble attempts to rein in costs to save tax payer dollars (the goal of most Republicans).
The government, the country needs more Lurita Doans. And fewer Henry Waxmans.
HOW TO CUT THE FEDERAL BUDGET AT A GOVERNMENT AGENCY
BASIC GROUND RULES
1. Make a decision not to cut salaries or benefits (PC&B) if a t all possible. The agency should make the commitment to value the skill sets and labor of its employees as its most valuable resource. This kind of cut should be considered only as a last measure, after all other options are exhausted and that commitment and understanding must be shared with the Agency’s employees, so that they know their personal lives are not at risk. This allows employees to focus on the true goal which is to cut the budget thereby improving efficiency and value to the American taxpayer.
2. Budget cuts should be employee driven in order to release the entrepreneurial energies of the employees who will find better ways to do the same things.
3. Each office within the Agency is accountable for achieving the desired cuts. At GSA, we proposed a 9% cut, but targeted non-performing programs.
4. Additional targets were : unnecessary travel, overseas travel except as it directly related to job performance, promotions above GS-15, hiring of GS-15 or higher, volume travel to conferences—often times limiting the number of attendees at conferences, consolidated purchasing[strategic sourcing]/
5. Each office and each employee at GSA was told that there were “no sacred cows.”
6. Each office was given a timeline / timeframe in which to provide the CFO the targeted cuts.
7. The Budget Process at GSA was collaborative, but by no means consensus driven.
8. I asked that we base the budget cuts on non-performing programs...
Your Business Blogger once partnered with a former McKinsey Consultant, a brilliant mind with a Ph.D. in Math from Columbia. I once wondered aloud why McKinsey, indeed all big business seemed to be confused conservatives.
If you are in business, doing business, creating wealth -- you must be a Calvin Coolidge conservative GOP'er. Right?
"Silly knave," says my elder, better business partner. "Businesses always start out conservative -- but turn liberal as they get bigger." Then he launches into correlations and matrixes and standard deviations, proof theorems for the evolution from small government business conservative to big government business liberal elite.
Someone should write a book, I thought. And warn us.
Someone has.
Tim Carey has written the Big Ripoff.
Tim Carney
Tim's thesis is that Big Business actually embraces and welcomes Big Government regulation to install barriers to entry to hinder smaller competitors.
Big Government has become the enabler of, and provided of a competitive advantage for Big Business.
Liberal elites in business are more interested in protecting a current position than in encouraging innovation, especially if the new ideas come from outside the company. (Goodness, Big Business doesn't care for innovation inside their companies.)
And like true progressives these days, the author, the topic, the debate is blasting at the Conservative Political Action Conference. CPAC 2007 in Your Nation's Capital.
CPAC 2007
Big Ripoff
by Tim Carney
Published by Wiley
Tim was a panelist at CPAC debating America's Business Elites -- Do They Really Believe in Free Enterprise.
After Tim's compelling presentation, it is clear that Big Business Elites are not good for business.
The plaque reads
For your part in the successful
delivery of the first
North Slope crude
to the Benicia Refinery...
token sample 4 August 1977 "Exxon, the sign of the double cross," quipped one leftist wag. The oil energy giant is often maligned by anarchists, non-capitalists and environmentalists. No matter what a Fortune 500 does, it will be maligned by socialists.
And now the tree-spikers/tree huggers are even madder. Or are celebrating. It is sometimes hard to tell the difference.
Two items:
1) Exxon recently stopped its discretionary funding of a left-leaning think-tank. And,
2) Acknowledged that the temperature has risen.
Steven Mufson at the Washington Post quotes Ken Cohen, spokesman for Exxon,
"There is increasing evidence that the earth's climate has warmed on average about 0.6 degrees centigrade in the last century," Cohen said in a recent e-mail. He said "the risks to society and ecosystems could prove to be significant, so despite the areas of uncertainty that do exist, it is prudent to develop and implement strategies that address the risks."
Risk. Part of any strategic plan is risk analysis and how to best mitigate any downside. If there are external environmental factors that would affect the profitability of the company, Ken Cohen would like to know about it first: to keep from losing money and to make money. If danger is coming, the company has to know. Exxon is not a hobby or a charity.
Well, maybe part of Exxon is.
Ken Cohen also runs Exxon Mobil's Charitable Foundation. An organization that gives, gives money away.
What kind of corporate monster is this? The Alert Reader will not know from the Main Stream Media.
There recently has been questionable reporting and media miscues on Exxon which seem to be common-sport for the mainstream outlets. Exxon, like any well loved (red-state) American institution, suffers from corporate ad hominem attacks. I've seen better reporting on blogs, such as Right Angle, Heritage, or The Club for Growth and The Corner at NRO.
Do people really hate Exxon as The Washington Post implies? And if the oil giant is really, really disliked as the MSM and lefty blogs suggest, is there is a measure where we can guage the guilt?
So I ask Ken Cohen on a recent conference call, "How many people own Exxon stock?"
He didn't know.
And it might not be knowable. Cohen says that the Exxon stock is "widely held" and is a popular energy stock held by "every major stock fund" in America. Cohen says that there are about two and one half million individuals who own a single share or more. And half of the Exxon stock is owned by institutions, such as a mutual fund. Where a single investor might own only a piece of stock.
What Cohen does not know, but we can only guest, is that millions and millions and millions of Americans have invested in the success of ExxonMobil by buying the stock. I am one of them.
Exxon is a winner not only in the stock market but also in the market place -- at the gas pump. The world has a number of competitive substitutes to fuel up our giant SUV's -- BP, Shell, Chevron Mobil and we all like Exxon.
Exxon Mobil The American public buys what Exxon is selling. We buy the stock; we buy the gas.
Exxon Mobil in 2005 had sales of over $370 billion. But oil is not how all this money is made. The talent to turn oil to gold comes from the deep well of Exxon Mobil personnel ingenuity. It is not the natural resource, but the human resource of a talented head-count. The company has some 14,000 scientist and engineers world-wide. These smart people make Exxon Mobil the largest energy supplier in the world. And will keep their company on the cutting edge of energy development if the earth warms or cools in the future.
It's not big oil; it's big ideas.
Peter Drucker called himself a social ecologist. He believed that the best companies in the near future would be "Post Capitalist." I believe Exxon is part of this future.
1) Exxon reinvested nearly 210 Billion Dollars over the last 15 years back into its business. This nearly matches its earnings. Employees like this. More at the footnotes.
2) Exxon has paid a dividend on its stock for 100 years. It throws off so much cash that it purchases its own outstanding stock. Investors like this.
3) Exxon keeps prices relatively low. Consumers like this.
4) Exxon scientists have written 40 papers for peer review journals. The academy likes this.
5) Exxon has donated $100 million to climate change programs. Stanford University likes this.
Ronald Reagan once said that the real value of (show) business was knowing the difference between critics and box office. Global warming critics will continue to have no effect on the Exxon box office of capitalism.
Thank you (foot)notes:
The conference call was arranged by Rob Bluey of The Heritage Foundation.
Full Disclosure: The family of Your Business Blogger has a financial interest in the continued success of Exxon. My father retired from the Navy, was by bored teaching school and went back down to the sea in ships and worked on the Exxon boats.
This is an unpaid blog post.
Exxon's reinvestment of earnings back into its businesses -- self-funding intrapreneurs, is uniquely American and universally, globally misunderstood as compared to other international company strategies. It is the common belief that the Chinese, say, have long horizons and invest for the long-century long-term. Waiting patiently for profits. This, of course, is a lie. I was rudely awakened to the brutal, short term, take-it-all-now mentality of working with Chinese managers on the mainland. They would quietly tell me that they wanted the money today, because the government might take it tomorrow. Uncertainty grabs the quick buck, and hides it away in profit taking. The American Exxon Mobil looks to the next century, not the Chinese counterpart.
One of the reasons the liberals hate Exxon is because of the oil giant's political donations. Just as conservatives do not like Starbucks for theirs. I can't live without gasoline. But I can live with out coffee...
Waitaminute...let me think about this...
The plaque above was presented to Your Business Blogger's dad.
What is, perhaps, Ken Cohen's real worry? Numerous state-by-state laws on weather warming. There is no telling what Tacoma Park, Maryland would do. Cohen says, "One thing heavy industry cannot live with is a patchwork quilt of regulations."
See the lefty Lawyers, Guns and Money. Robert Farley was not at the same conference call. I am not sure he is even on the same planet.
Bring it on quotes The Guardian article, as if that were real journalism. The Guardian hates America. Liberals the world-over loath America.
Your Business Blogger knew Exxon before the marriage to Mobil; any Mobil omission is not a slight.
A carnival to manage debt
And is expertly hosted by Debt Consolidation Lowdown.
Carnival hosts get paid only in kind by your kind clicks. Please visit. The site is owned by BizNicheMedia.
Dad & The Dude
prepared for war
September 11, 2001
photo credit:
Charmaine Yoest, Ph.D. Just after 9am on 9.11, I was doing what all business owners were doing: selling something. I was on the phone with a client. Making a pitch to attend a series of seminars, with CNN on in the background. I was a bit distracted by the live feed of a burning building.
While making 'the ask,' it was clear that my customer was not aware that we had just been attacked. I wanted to say something, like, Turn on your TV and stare at real pain. It just didn't look real. I continued instead with the conversation. Your Business Blogger is not normally so focused. In denial, perhaps. Disasters are not normally good for business.
There was work to be done. My next class was on September 19.
And I didn't want the customer on the other end of the phone distracted until the sale was closed. Then we could go to war.
The deal done, I noticed my boy, The Dude, was concerned that the attacks would continue down to us in Charlottesville, Virginia. "We got to get ready!" he shouts and scampers around digging up my old uniform, boots, saber and his grandfather's bayonet. (Old soldiers never die, they just file away. Apologies to MacArthur.)
The Dude spent the rest of the morning marching outside our front door. Looking out for terrorists. It must have worked.
Charlottesville was not attacked.
But we were affected. Everyone was. But I wasn't sure that the bank was going to delay getting their money over a pesky act of war. I still had to earn a living.
How would the war affect business? Not the macro, but mine? I had a seminar and clients coming into town in little over a week and the world was on fire. Would anyone show up? Would anyone care?
We North Americans do business like we do war. We win. Donald Trump becomes Victor Davis Hanson. At 8 am on 19 September 2001, 86 professionals showed up and got down to business. A packed room.
The free lunch helped.
Even my business partner, Faisal Alam, came down from New York City to join us. He is Muslim.
The country was mourning, but on the move.
I started with a minute of silence in remembrance of those lost in the World Trade Towers.
Then we all got back to work. Each making the world a better place. Even with a war on.
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Basil's Blog has open trackbacks.
California Conservative has Open Post 9.11.
Your Business Blogger
in a central China
university amphitheater When Your Business Blogger was consulting in China, I visited a large university (redundant: there are no small Chinese universities) and had a conversation with a post-grad working on international contract law. His English was better than my Chinese.
In every Chinese town there is an "English Corner," just as every major American city has a "Chinatown." These corners in China are where the locals gather to practice speaking English.
The inverse parallel is, of course, that the Chinese speak English in both China and America, and the Americans speak English in both China and America.
Anyway, I asked the student what he wanted to do with his advanced degree. Without prompting, he says, "I want to work for Wal*Mart. It is big and powerful."
"Powerful?" I ask.
"Yes, more powerful than some countries."
And Wal*Mart is getting powerful in China. To make the move to world-wide acceptance, Wal*Mart is assuming the triple-threat position: Unions, Communism, Homosexuality.
Alert Readers will recall that Your Business Blogger is was an enthusiastic cheerleader for the Bentonville World Dominator. The Penta-Posse et. al. consumed $4,328.37 in consumable goods in the 12 trailing months at Sam's Club.
The embrace of Unions and Communism are in China, of course. As a compromise to get sales. The embrace of Homosexuality is here in the U S of A as a compromise... to get more sales?
A source close to Wal*Mart who preferred to be off-the-record, emailed Your Business Blogger:
...the [homosexual] chamber that Wal-Mart has joined is simply that -- a chamber of commerce -- and organization of businesses. And, as I said, Wal-Mart is a member of dozens of them. Wal-Mart isn't trying to make a political statement by joining. And it's certainly not ascribing to any particular agenda.
But Wal*Mart/Sam's does fit a particular agenda because of the particular demographic. Wal*Mart shoppers have lots of kids, and those parents of lots of kids are conservatives: Liberals don't breed. Which gives us the Roe Effect. Allan Carlson, President of the Howard Center wrote in The Weekly Standard that,
IN THE INTERNAL POLITICS OF the Republican coalition, some members are consistently more equal than others. In particular, where the interests of the proverbial "Sam's Club Republicans" collide with the interests of the great banks, the Sam's Club set might as well pile into the family car and go home.
Go home, stay home. Indeed. Dr. Carlson reminds us that,
...when push comes to shove, social conservatives remain second class citizens under the Republican tent. During the 2004 Republican convention, they were virtually confined to the party's attic, kept off the main stage, treated like slightly lunatic children. Republican lobbyist Michael Scanlon's infamous candid comment--"The wackos get their information [from] the Christian right [and] Christian radio"--suggests a common opinion among the dominant "K Street" Republicans toward their coalition allies.
Conservatives are maligned from the right and the left.
Tony Perkins, the President of Family Research Council, says:
In an apparent concession to the heat from the radical left, Wal-Mart has entered into a new partnership with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC).... Recently, they described efforts to defend traditional marriage as an attempt to "write discrimination into the Constitution..."
The NGLCC also advocated attaching a pro-homosexual "hate crimes" amendment to legislation intended to protect children from violent sex offenders. Their advocacy delayed the legislation for several months.
What demographic is Wal*Mart pursuing? What new market segment? Do the boys in Bentonville really think boy-toys from the Tenderloin will truck to Sam's for the two-gallon jar of pickles?
"Dee Breazeale, vice president of divisional merchandise for SAM'S CLUB Jewelry will serve on the organization's [National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce] Corporate Advisory Council," reports 247gay.com.
As if. As if any homosexual would buy jewelry from Sam's.
Goodness, even I wouldn't buy the jewelry from SAM'S.
Oh no, I do have something in common with gay men!
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Full Disclosure: Charmaine Yoest, Ph.D., is the Vice President of Communications at The Family Research Council and is the wife of Your Business Blogger. And I have a mail box on "K Street" in Washington, DC.
A Lady's Ruminations has more: Sickening news.
The Bleechers has the Christmas story.
Starling Hunter, Ph.D. has all the news on Wal*Mart.
So here's the typical mom in America today: baby on knee, small business down the street, with rifle in Pakistan.
This week's column in Small Business Trends has highlights -- and I'm not talking hair -- of a typical mom. Yes, women have always been producers -- breeding babies and businesses since Eden, but this is something each generation has to discover for itself. See Women's Future in the Small Business Labor Force.
Helen, second from left
with rifle "consulting" in Pakistan
"How do you it all?" Accomplished women with kids constantly get this question.
Helen Philbrook, married and mother of three, from Raleigh, NC, has the answer.
Your Business Blogger recently sat down with Helen and her husband David to learn the secret.
She's a former Vice President of an environmental testing firm, and perhaps the world's first female "Smoke Stack Sniffer." She's run a number of start-ups.
But Helen says she's now "followed her passion to gardening." Her company Tiger Lily's is an award-winning firm that gives her what she needs most:
Flexibility.
She was well-prepared. Helen has an M.S. in Environmental Engineering and Science, studied Garden Design in London, and completed a series of international consulting assignments. In a male-dominated business. Where she learned:
Negotiation.
The greatest challenge women face in business is learning to negotiate.
But she also negotiates with her clients. Hard. She establishes upfront contracts with the explicit understanding that her family will come first.
Helen, Vice President
She is an advocate of "sequencing" for women -- marriage, children, work. Helen says a woman can always have an "ambitious career." After the kids are in school. She knows she will anger feminists.
She has advice to young women starting out. Where the fear is that they will get behind the power curve. "Not so."
Helen says, "Your career is still waiting for you."
After your children.
Was this helpful? Please comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Full Disclosure: Helen is my sister.
No Speed Bumps has Women in Engineering.
Alas, a blog has Homeward Bound.
Basil's Blog has Breakfast.
Nicola Horlick
Nicola Horlick is a Brit who is a mother of five (plus another daughter who died of leukemia a few years ago).
She is also a top money manager at Bramdean Asset Management in London who has just opened a new division of her company, specifically targeting female customers -- "Bramdiva."
Here's the interesting claim: Nicola says women are better money managers.
This article in the International Herald Tribune cites several studies and experts on this question, and concludes that men have a testosterone-driven approach to money management that leads them to take risks that don't pay off in the long term.
Women, alternatively, are steadier and don't "churn" accounts to generate fees or for the appearance of action.
Super-successful male money managers, like Warren Buffett, succeed because they employ the "feminine" approach.
I believe Buffett would appreciate that assessment.
Cross post from Reasoned Audacity.
By Neelakantan hosting from India. He has,
A blog on business in India, with a global outlook. Business, Economics, Marketing, Offshoring, Management and Globalization analyzed from a streetside perspective. Also occassional humour and philosophy and anything else that interests me. Because nothing is permanent...only interim.
Nothing is permanent? Not even that insta-launch from Glenn Reynolds today? Goodness.
In any event, I'd wager on rising blog rankings from our bud from Bangalore.
And while at Interim Thoughts be sure to read Gongol's take on gas rebates. Good Stuff.
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Thank you (foot)notes:
And be sure to buy Brian Gongol's 10 Big Answers. I did.
With host duties preformed flawlessly by Scott Allen.
And while you are there, be sure to visit David Porter with his article on The FHA Modernization Act.
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Be sure to sign up for Scott Allen's free newsletter.
Dane Carlson And edited by Dane Carlson. For Free. At no charge. Visit his site and click through his sponsors.
And while visiting Dane, check out Jim Logan at Direct Response Marketer who has a short article on screwing up a presentation.
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Thank you (foot)notes:
More on Dane at the jump.
Years ago, Your Business Blogger held a (most minor) position in the local Republican party. It was an election; votes were taken. I didn't buy any votes.
But I'm buying now. Vote for Your Business Blogger in the Carnival of the Capitalists. A lucky voter for me gets a t-shirt from the Jollyblogger. Vote here. And leave me a comment. 
Jotzel Jotzel has the best articles on Capitalism this week.
And while you are there, visit Lipsticking for an post on Yvonne Talks Gender on the Net.
In any debate between women -- she said/she said, my money's on what she said -- visit Lipsticking.
Now.
Please vote for me at Jotzel. Please, I'm buying.
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Carnival of the Capitalists is the creation of Jay at AccidentalVerbosity and Rob at BusinessPundit.
Brent Bozell
MRC's Founder...at the Media Research Center's DisHonor Awards. Your Business Blogger and Charmaine attended last night's fund raising dinner with 960 of our closest DC friends.
Typical rubber chicken talk-a-thon? Nope. Steak at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Humor and hand-held noise makers. Real Laughter.
Brent Bozell, with his master of ceremonies, Peabody Awarding winning Cal Thomas, had terrific material to work with.
Poking fun at the liberal media bias. With actual footage of the nincompoopheads that bring us the news. The Goliaths.
The Army of Davids was in the audience.
Media Research CenterThere were multiple categories. Nominees included Andrea Mitchell, Chris Matthews, Nina Totenberg, Jack Cafferty, Keith Obermann, Nancy Giles, Rick Kaplan, David Gergen, Ted Turner, Harry Smith, Mary Mapes, Kathy Griffin, Alec Baldwin, Rosie O'Donnell.
Oddly, none of the nominees were in attendance.
The presenters included Tony Blankley, Larry Kudlow, Mark Levin, Brent Bozell.
The winners were Chris Mathews, Rosie O'Donnell, Ted Turner.
The West's Last ChanceHigh class swell swag was to be had. Courtesy MRC: copies of Tony Blankley's new book.*
Ted Turner's award winning interview was his political analysis. Critical of the USA, and fawning of North Korea and Kim Jong-il. Oppression, torture, starvation north of the 38th parallel? He didn't see any. "I saw thin people...riding bikes," lectured Turner.
Odd to hear an American hating southern accent. Well, his and Jimmy Carter's.
Conservatives have a liberal sense of humor. Mark Levin said, "...Rosie O'Donnell went to charm school...on a football scholarship."
Tony Blankley mused that CNN's AAron Burr Brown believes all conservative policies and programs are delivered from "the anus of satan."
Larry Kudlow comma Capitalist, as he always introduces himself on CNBC, rolled the Chris Matthews clip. This is where the host of Harball says, "We've got to get out of our American skin...the North Vietnamese were ...objectively the good guys..." in the Vietnam War. This is what passes for journalism. And is failing.
Stan Evans bemoaned the lack of liberal's grammar. "Brokeback Mountain?...It's not Brokeback -- it's BROKENback Mountain..."
See the video at the Media Research Center.
The evening closed with A Tribute to the American Military. Some cried. Out loud.
Brent Bozell is a class act. Who loves America.
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Thank you (foot)notes:
* I picked up a few extra copies of the Blankley book. Leave me a comment on liberal bias and the benefit of blog reading and I'll mail you a FREE copy. Include mailing address, will not be published. While supplies last.
The DisHonors Awards have been held since 1999. More at the jump.
Soldier's Angel has more on the media bias.
Visit Pundit Review for real analysis.
Full Disclosure: Brent Brozell has said nice things about Your Business Blogger's wife and one of her appearances on Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect.
Milton Friedman
Trusting TransactionsThe biggest challenge my American female clients have is learning effective negotiations.
They should spend a month in East Asia.
Most retail shoppes in that part of the world are modest mom and pop store fronts. Where evey price is negotiated.
Designed to extract the last yuan in consumer surplus.
Shopping in this environment is exhausting for Your (western) Business Blogger. Different cultures. But when in Rome...
So I ask one of my local clients his opinion on the custom of haggling over everything. Everything.
I thought he would wax nostalgic on the old style interaction of true competition: buyer vs seller. The best pricing equalibrium of quantity demanded with quantity supplied. A romantic Asian metaphysical transcendence of commerce.
Did he like the East Asian pure sales process...?
He hated it.
(Your Business Blogger can be such a dope.)
He said:
Everytime you buy something it takes so long to reach an agreement...it takes too much research for little items
Another local said the non-stop haggling was "draining."
So why does this system continue?
Lack of trust. It is all buyer beware in Mandarin.
There is no trust in a fair offer. And,
There is every expectation to be cheated.
Nobel laureate Milton Friedman spoke to this. He said that a cultural prerequisite of making money is the holding of truthfulness as a common virtue.
When you can trust a merchant's word, says Friedman, "it cut[s] down transaction costs."
Without adherence to common moral principles we must substitute external controls to govern business behavior; efficiency demands a framework of standards and accountability.
But there are modifications a-coming. Large retail shops in new malls have established set price policies.
Large international retailers coming to East Asia, such as Wal*Mart, have set prices. And they are reintroducing old traditions from the world over.
There is an ancient Jewish tradition of the prohibiting of "differing weights" for commodities. Established known weights would be used with a fair scale to measure items, grain to gold. A dishonest merchant would use a lighter or heavier weight to tip the scales for unjust enrichment.
Different prices for different people. Which is frightfully inefficient.
East Asia loves speed. Loves making money. Loves making money fast.
To get rich is glorious.
East Asia will tolerant no wasted motion.
So.
Honesty is not only the best policy. East Asia is a bit more pragmatic. And a bit more demanding:
Honesty and trust make for good business.
Read the above-the-fold headline story. And to get this growth the government wants to:
...raise personal income by scrapping [some] taxes.
Is this another evil plot hatched by George Bush and Karl Rove?
Cooked up by the the Rascally Republicans wanting to reduce taxes?
Nope.
The headline is not from capitalists in the good ol' US of A.
The headline is from the communists in East Asia.
The communists.
Goodness.
Jiao Xiao Yang has the byline in China Daily on 16 March. The government's leadership would not be happy with the mere 12% GDP eye-popping growth.
It is not enough that 50% of the world's concrete is poured in China. Or that 40% of the world's steel is consumed in China.
To get even more growth, the communists want to cut taxes.
Something the communists in our own Congress won't do.
Let us put the Democrats on a slow boat to, well, China.
Thankyou (foot)notes:
The US economy needs 3% growth to keep even with population growth. China needs only 0.6% growth to keep even and maintain existing standards of living.
The Sons of Thunder...is a common prayer in East Asia. Done with incense by devout and cultural Bhuddahists.
Your Business Blogger was a bit curious about this superstitous nature when visiting an ancient temple.
Until.
Until, I remembered a nifty BMW advertisement a few decades ago:
Every man should plant a tree, raise a son and drive a 12 cylinder car
What may be superstition 4,000 years ago,
Is called marketing today.
Full Disclosure: Totally unrelated to the BMW advertisement, Your Business Blogger has planted a tree, is raising the sons of thunder, but has never owned a 12 cylinder car. Unless a 1957 Chevy counts.
Rush Limbaugh
credit: Jack Yoest There are only two items that matter in radio:
Ratings
Revenue
Charmaine was on NPR's Talk of the Nation this week in the 2 to 3pm EST slot. NRP up against Rush Limbaugh.
Who wins in that capitalist competition?
NPR is a public service; subsidized by your tax dollars. Rush Limbaugh is paid through outrageous ad rates by advertisers. Who clamor to get the ears of millions of eager listeners.
NPR can't command an audience for money-making ad rates. Your tax dollars keep this public service sounding off.
National Public RadioSo why does no one listen to NPR? A brief review of Charmaine's gig will suffice.
The talking heads on the show were:
1) The Host; a liberal
2) A USAToday reporter; a liberal
3) Adoption Agency representative who does lots and lots of homosexual adoptions; liberal
4) Think tank expert; a liberal
5) Think tank expert; a conservative
In the sense of fair play, the liberal notion of egalitarianism, each participant, including the hostess gets equal time.
Charmaine gets 20% of talking time. The conservative point of view.
Liberals get 80% of the air time.
So when Limbaugh goes with his tag line/punch line of "I am equal time," this is what he means.
But the media bias is more than packing a panel. Liberals commit sins not only of commission but of omission. To wit:
There is no mention that guest Rob Woronoff, think tank "expert," is the Program Manager for the LGTQ, Youth Services, for the Child Welfare League of America. And that he is not a scientist. He's an activist.
(I understand Lesbian, the Gay, T for trans-gendered. But what on earth does the 'Q' stand for? Other?)
Charmaine was the only one on the panel who knows her way around multiple regression. She was never addressed as Dr. Yoest.
Listen to Charmaine and learn why liberals are losing.
Limbaugh is entertaining.
NPR is propaganda.
Rush Limbaugh gets 20 million listeners a week.
Talk of the Nation gets 3. Million.
Ratings and revenues.
Rush wins.
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Thank you (foot)notes:
More on Rush Limbaugh at the jump.
Don Surber has best Thursday articles.
Update: Willism has numbers.
From The Wall Street Journal
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Hat tip for the file from Big Picture.
Ideologic, LLCAward winning Ideologic, LLC is expertly hosting The Carnival this week.
And while you are there, be sure to visit Eidelblog and read a terrific summary of the mess Maryland is making with Wal*Mart. This Blue State will continue to loose jobs, population and, I pray, congressional seats.
Perry Eidelbus, Der Eidelblogger, from Westchester, New York reminds us that the purpose of business is not charity. And, indeed the purpose of government is not charity.
Charity is the test of the human heart.
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Read more on Ideologic at the jump.
More on Wal*Mart.
Other People's Money is the often maligned method to fund a venture. But to Get Things Done a leader must not only manage the money -- the budget, but get things done through people: management.
What is the First Rule In Management?
The good manager does not manage his time. He does not manage his people.
Nothing should sit on your deskHe manages Other Peoples' Time.
And Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling will follow.
Keep the ball rolling.
No paper should rest on your deskThe manager manages other peoples' time -- as well as other company assets -- talent and treasure.
I would submit that managers worry less about managing their own time; their own "to do lists" and focus on the subordinate's time.
So where does OPT-IN start?
The Manager's Desk.
Piles of paper are decisions not made. You, Gentle Manager get paid only for your experience, wisdom and judgment. Start with your workspace.
Think of your desk as a pyramid with the apex pointing up. Paper does not rest on your desk, nor your boss's desk.
Paper is never allowed in horizontal file piles.
Whenever a memo or an email attachment comes to you, it will slide off -- back to whoever carried it in. It will have your signature on it, an action to be taken (by someone else), filed or destroyed (by someone else). You will not let it rest on your desk -- even as you think about.
Do, Delegate or Destroy. Don't put that memo on the corner of your desk.
Paper should breeze off your deskEmpty inbox. Not Paper; not electronic.
I would suggest the Biblical reminder that, Today has enough trouble of its own. Do not carry today's worries -- today's paper -- on your work space for tomorrow.
Managers: Do not let the sun set on a piece of paper on your desk. Or an email in your inbox.
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Thank you (foot)notes:
The Management would like to thank Baby-Boo and The Dancer for volunteering for this article.
This week's host duties are performed flawlessly by Joseph Weisenthal at The Stalwart. Mr Weisenthal has a well done blog with almost 900 visitors a day.
Impressive.
Carnival Editors, as you know, are not paid. But lend their time, talent and treasure to making the world a better place.
Because of the COTC, Your Business Blogger found, Countries, Individuals, & Production, by Chris Rossini at Market Place Monitor about China.
Chris reminds us that people do business, not countries, not companies.
I would add that it really doesn't matter if the product is computer chips or potato chips. Or in which direction the transaction flows. A good deal enriches both parties. Both companies, both countries, both peoples.
Chris writes on China's steel. I would submit that the PRC very much wants to do business with the USA.
English is now the second official language of China. As I write, there are more people in China learning English than there are English speakers in America.
China did $160 billion in Feb 05 in exports to the USA -- we are China's largest export partner.
Bloggers like Chris Rossini help us to learn more about doing business the world over.
Good work and good business.
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Thank you (foot)notes:
The Frugal UndergroundAnd has outstanding self-selected best posts from some very bright business writers.
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Be sure to visit Jeff Cornwall at The Entrepreneurial Mind, for his thoughts on Sweden and Capitalism.
GoogleIn Chinese there is no word for "privacy."
Google's business practices in China are under question. In having a different product for different counties. I am not so sure Google is departing from a sound business theory. I think Google's strategy deserves a case study. On doing business in different cultures.
Yoest, Faisal Alam in
New Delhi, IndiaYour Business Blogger was in India working with North American and Indian managers. Having thrown off our British rulers, we still shared a common English language.
But cultural communication was another matter.
American managers were frustrated that Indian executives and staff were not always truthful.
Or so it seemed.
If a supervisor (of any nationality) would ask an Indian subordinate a closed question such as "Does the report include the budget from Bangalore?" The Indian subordinate reply always would be 'yes.' Even if the answer was 'no.' Accompanied by a side-to-side movement of the head -- which corresponds to the up and down affirmative head nod in America.
Was the Indian employee lying to his superior?
It depends on cultural perspective.
(Yes, yes I know -- Alert Readers know well that Your Business Blogger subscribes to Timeless Truth: Truth is not relative.)
But the Indian culture is one of deference and respect for authority. It is not within the languages or culture to say "no" to the boss. Immediate compliance -- obedience -- is something every boss, in every culture really wants -- but American's seldom openly admit.
The culture is different. Where change to USA standards should not be forced.
Supervisors working with Indian subordinates should only ask open ended questions. A question allowing something other than 'yes' or 'no.' "Show me the line item for employee taxi expenses for Bangalore."
The USA manager should understand also that the Indian manager will seldom say 'please' or 'thank you' to a subordinate.
Additional questions are time consuming. But necessary to do business across cultures. And to respect differences in culture and tradition.
I think we should ask more questions. And take the first step.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." says China's Confucius.
A single step from a single person. Countries don't do business. People do business.
President Nixon meets with
China's Community Party Leader,
Mao Tse-Tung on
February 29, 1972
Nixon went to China. Google went to China.
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Thank you (foot)notes:
In Chinese, in The Common Language (Mandarin) there are no words for "private" or "privacy" as we understand in English.
Mark at Mark My Words has commentary.
The COTC is vetted, edited, posted and free. See Andrew Hughes, host duties performed flawlessly this week at Any Letter.
While at Andrew's site, visit 16 Volts by Ilkka Kokkarinen with Some elementary marital economics:
Would you calculate the value that your car provides to you by adding up how much the same trips would have cost if you had used a professional limousine service, concluding that your car provides you hundreds of thousands of dollars of value each year? Probably not.
It took me 10 years and a million dollars in opportunity costs to help Charmaine get her Ph.D.. (And proving that money can buy happiness.) Under Kokkarinen's outline of an absurd scenario, I could deduct this as an expense.
Anyway, Ilkka provides much the same content as Charmaine's dissertation at a fraction of the cost. Kokkarinen could also do this in Finnish.
Brian GongolAnd visit Is Socialism Good For Environment?
For more about our talented host, Andrew Hughes, see the extended entry.
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Charmaine blogs at Reasoned Audacity and FRCBlog.
Winner Business
Blogs Award 2005The Award Winning PHOSITA is hosting the 121st Edition of the Carnival of the Capitalists this week.
Read summaries of outstanding posts.
Free.
And be sure to check out PHOSITA's recommdentation, at the end of the column, on David Wolfe's Ageless Marketing:
Nearly two decades ago I went out on a neurological limb in my book Serving the Ageless Market.... psychiatrist Louis Kopolow, who wrote the foreword, cautioned me ... because I was not a brain scientist, but simply a marketer who loved reading about the brain and mind.
Good read.
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Our talented hosts prove that Oklahoma is OK:
New ideas are the fuel of progress and the foundation of success. Dunlap, Codding and Rogers' scientific and legal expertise, coupled with your entrepreneurial spirit, enables us to protect your ideas so that your technological enterprise will thrive in today's competitive marketplace.Dunlap, Codding & Rogers is a group of highly dedicated professionals with diverse scientific and legal acumen. The philosophy of the firm is simple: Listen and respond to each client's unique needs; Provide our clients with the highest quality, timely, reasonably priced legal services, and Help our clients create a robust intellectual property portfolio, vigorously pursued and properly grounded in both science and law. Our innovative firm culture results in the consistent acquisition of quality intellectual property assets that are highly valued by our clients and their peers. With experienced, dedicated professionals specializing in all engineering disciplines, life sciences, computer software including Internet systems, licensing, and litigation, DCR's breadth, as well as depth, will help you identify and protect all of your intellectual property; after all, innovative ideas really are your greatest assets. Now, more than ever, your future depends on the protection of these assets.
Founded in 1957, Dunlap, Codding & Rogers, P.C. is Oklahoma's largest, oldest and most versatile intellectual property law firm. Our professionals continue to meet the needs of both national and international clients, while offering unique pricing advantages over most large metropolitan intellectual property law firms. With offices in Oklahoma City and Washington D.C., DCR is large enough to provide depth and experience in any scientific and technology field while maintaining our roots: Personalized, pragmatic and responsive legal representation.
Patent BaristasPatent Baristas is hosting with outstanding links and analysis.
The counsellors at Patent Baristas point us to gapingvoid and top 10 reasons why nobody reads your blog. I like #2:
2. There's nothing in it for them.Yeah, people really want to spend the short time they've been given on this Earth to find out what an unemployed managing consultant dork has to say. Dream on.
(No, I'm not just a dork; I'm a sociopath. I've got gapingvoid businesses cards on order in order to prove it.)
Also visit Rofasix and Why Is Discrimination Against Wal*Mart OK? Read his sound advice at the end.
Was this helpful? Please comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Our tatented hosts from Patent Baristas:
Barista Stephen Albainy-Jenei is also a patent attorney and Member of Frost Brown Todd LLC. When not serving up patent chat over a cup of java, he's handling a diverse intellectual property practice in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and chemical fields for leading universities, research hospitals and research institutes, as well as biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies ranging from start-up to Fortune 500 companies. He works closely with biotechnology and emerging growth companies to brew up successful new business models, execute strategic intellectual property protection and litigation, and structure and negotiate technology transactions.He is designated as one of "America's Leading Business Lawyers" in intellectual property by Chambers & Partners. In addition, he has been designated a SuperLawyer Rising Star.
Prior to joining Frost Brown Todd LLC, Mr. Albainy-Jenei was Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Director of Intellectual Property for the University of Cincinnati, ultimately serving as the Acting Director of Intellectual Property and University Patent Officer. He is admitted to practice in Ohio, the US Patent and Trademark Office, and the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. He has an MS degree in physiology and was a PhD Candidate (ABD) in pharmacology and cellular biology. He received a JD from the University of Cincinnati College of Law.
and:
Barista Karlyn Schnapp is also a patent attorney and senior associate with Frost Brown Todd LLC and a snappy dresser. Her area of concentration is patent prosecution, with her practice concentrated in the areas of chemistry, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. She also practices in the area of intellectual property licensing. Dr. Schnapp represents a variety of clients including corporate researchers, university researchers, entrepreneurial start-up companies and individual researchers. She is admitted to practice in Ohio and before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Prior to joining Frost Brown Todd, Dr. Schnapp achieved the rank of Associate Professor at Northern Kentucky University, where she maintained an active research practice generating over a quarter of a million dollars in external grants. She has given technical presentations in the U.S., Canada, South America and Europe and has published 15 papers in peer-reviewed journals.She has a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Cincinnati and a JD from the the Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University.
Be sure to visit the Carnival, hosted by WordLab. This is a must visit article.
The true challenge in business today is not only getting information, but presenting the data in a format that is immediately understandable.
This is hard work and can only be done by professionals.
See how WordLab did it. Simple. Easy. Clear.
It takes time and talent to formulate and construct such a usable matrix.
And see Political Calculations with Your 2006 Paycheck. Calculate your net take home. Within a few bucks when I worked it. Free. Terrific public service. And great exercise for the kids. (We should teach them early to hate high taxes.)
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Thank you (foot)notes:
The blogosphere and business is indebted to The Carnival of the Capitalists.
A few years ago, Your Business Blogger was researching the on-line bio's of university professors.
They were mostly Crooked Timber commies. But what surprised me was that they were not, well, circumspect.
One tenured professor even had the image of Karl Marx in the place for his picture. His hero. I guess.
So what's a Red State kind of parent to do?
The Young America's Foundation has some options.
The YAF published its annual list of the top ten conservative colleges. They are, in no order: Christendom College, College of the Ozarks, Franciscan University of Stubenville, Grove City College, Harding University, Hillsdale College, Indiana Wesleyan University, Liberty University, Patrick Henry College, and Thomas Aquinas College.
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that parents want their children to:
avoid going to a school that's going to tell them Che Guevara is a human-rights icon.
The YAF also advises to avoid these courses and campuses where:
Amherst College in Massachusetts offers the class Taking Marx Seriously: "Should Marx be given another chance?"Students in this course are asked to question if Marxism still has any "credibility" remaining, while also inquiring if societies can gain new insights by "returning to [Marx's] texts." Coming to Marx's rescue, this course also states that Lenin, Stalin, and Pol Pot misapplied the concepts of Marxism.
And:
Harvard University's Marxist Concepts of Racism examines "the role of capitalist development and expansion in creating racial inequality" (emphasis added).Although Karl Marx didn't say much on race, leftist professors in this course extrapolate information on "racial oppression" and "racial antagonism."
And for those businessmen reading this (who didn't inherit their money):
Duke University's American Dreams/American Realities course supposedly unearths "such myths as 'rags to riches,' 'beacon to the world,' and the 'frontier,' in defining the American character" (emphasis added).
The wealth creation of American business is "myth" to most in the academy. Let us be very careful where we send our kids.
Was this helpful?
Consider a free eMail subscription
Thank you (foot)notes:
Hat Tip to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Where the articles are as good as the pictures.
Pictured in
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Christopher Carfi from Social Customer Manifesto is running the show. Be sure to visit Eideblog who has a compelling article on Wal*Mart.
Ben Franklin's Print ShopExcept for maybe that "whoring across Europe" part.
Anyway, Tom McMahon reminds us that this January is the 300th birthday anniversary of Benjamin Franklin. And they are celebrating in Philadelphia.
So I packed up wife and Penta Posse and headed to The City of Brotherly Love to check out the B F deal.
Philadelphia City Hall
Credit: Charmaine
And perhaps learn a lesson for business.
It happens that Franklin and Your Business Blogger have a couple of things in common: we both started businesses; we both served in government.
But Franklin was able to cash in, well beyond today's politico-turn-lobbyist-turned-consultant.
Two dates on Ben's lengthy resume stand out. 1729 -- buys the Pennsylvania Gazette. 1737 -- Appointed Postmaster of Philadelphia.
Then retires. Rich.
It appears that these two positions are connected with Franklin's personal wealth generation. And the country profited as well.
Franklin's printing press was dependent upon selling newspapers which were depended upon news from the distant colonies.
So Franklin set up a Postal Service to move mail. As the post workers traveled far and wide, they transmitted much more than letters:
Information. The Gazette got news. The colonies got mail. Franklin got Benjamin's.
That funded Ben's interest in kites and keys.
And the country was made a better place.
That's a business model.
Was this helpful?
Consider a free eMail subscription
Thank you (foot)notes:
Visit The Strategy of Bingo. The Excitement of Chess.
And, coincidentally, Justice Sunday III is being held this Sunday.
From First Things:
Franklin never forgot that people act through self-interest. In his multifarious-and quite invaluable-schemes for public improvement he always attempted to gear public progress to private interest. For him, a stable, free, and progressive society required contented, hard-working, and optimistic citizens, and necessary to both goals was widespread prosperity.
Bling has BF as first Blogger.
Philly Future has a thought.
Stories of Faith
and Courage from the
Revolutionary War.UPDATE: Jane Hampton Cook has a terrific new book. Her work was featured in a recent Newsbusters article. Fun read: Benjamin Franklin Would Have Made Smart Use of the Blogosphere.
Be sure to visit Josh Cohen's Multiple Mentality and read some of the best business content in the business.
And he's not afraid to unmask his sitemeter. (Re: Josh's got traffic.)
Daily Dose of OptimismAnd while there check out his Editor's Choice: Daily Dose of Optimism, How Business Journalists Could Make My Life Easier.
Where 100 words is better than 800 words.
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Coyote BlogThe Coyote Blog is hosting this week. Be sure to check out the ACME ads.
You can always trust ACME. What branding can be.
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Coyote Blog is the work of Warren Meyer, a small business owner in Phoenix, Arizona.
Tony from the Gill Blog is hosting this week. A review of the best in business for the past week. Go visit
Was this helpful? Do comment.
Consider a free eMail subscription for this site.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Carnival of the Capitalists.
Rob May at BusinessPundit has a great piece on Peter Drucker at the Carnival.
The Carnival of the Capitalists is up with a compelling new face at Gongol.com by Brian Gongol. A must see site visit. Learn what good web design looks like. Content and links are good too.
Jack Yoest Read More »
Charmaine Yoest Read More »
Click here to Subscribe to Reasoned Audacity's RSS Feed:
Sex Trafficking PPT
"Achieve maximum effect
by exhibiting
Reasoned Audacity."
- Ranger Handbook
© Jack & Charmaine Yoest, All rights reserved.
