THEN: Secretary of State (KY), 1996-2004; Candidate for Lieutenant Governor, 2007
NOW: JYB3 Group (Owner) -public affairs consulting firm; Miller Wells law firm (Of counsel)
Full Biography:link
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Jun 27, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
Peanut butter and honey sandwiches on toasted grain bread and I have been going strong now for 47 years….and have yet to tire of one another.
There’s not many foods that I can say that about. Except spaghetti and possibly fresh squeezed orange juice (which I was tricked into liking as a boy because one of my father’s friends– George Baker—told me it would grow hair on my chest after I asked him how he got so much hair on his chest (and back) when he took off his shirt at the pool when I was about 8 years old. I thought it looked manly and was something I’d like to have on my chest and back. Finally, after several years of drinking lots of fresh squeezed orange juice and no new hair appearing, I decided he was fibbing to me when I was about 11.) But by then it was too late. I was already hooked on fresh squeezed orange juice and still am.
But peanut butter and honey sandwiches on toasted grain bread are different because I didn’t have to be induced into ingesting them in the hopes of chest hair growth. I just liked the taste of them and still do.
Spaghetti was something I liked naturally, too, without any increased potential for chest hair growth being part of the appeal. But I didn’t like it as much as peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Which makes peanut butter and honey on toasted grain bread a little more special to me, personally.
PS. I finally did get some chest hair in my late teens but only a little. Not sure what food I ate then should get the credit. Probably pepperoni pizza given my age. But I still prefer PB&H and have never missed any chest hairs I didn’t get because I ate a lot of PB&H instead of whatever food (or juice) grows chest hair. It was worth the sacrifice. And my view of the appeal of chest hair has waned over the years. Today when I see a guy take his shirt off today and he has a hairy chest and back I wonder if he wishes he’d a little more PB&H himself.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Jun 26, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
The winning edge?
Some would say it’s preparation . Others would say its knowing your opponent. Still others would tell you it’s who works the hardest. And some would claim its a matter primarily of natural ability
My expertise suggests it’s something. I believe the most significant competitive edge is the love of the game in question.
The individual who has a natural curiosity and enthusiasm for their work, in my view, has the greatest advantage and is a fortunate person. The individual who happily thinks about their work between sandwich bites because they want to and chose to , has an advantage that all the other advantages combined can’t overcome.
And, it seems, the love of one’s work breeds naturally many of the other mentioned advantages that we try to create artificially and distinct from the task at hand
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Jun 25, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
If lottery tickets were plane seats and if being seated in the farthest row back (where there is no recline and you are positioned as a “greeter” for passengers needing the lavatory) and your seat is also in the far corner of the farthest back row.
And if you ended up in that exact seat the last three flights in a row you have been on…..
Well….it would be an awfully rare and potentially valuable lottery ticket .
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Travel tips for visiting NYC.
If you are meeting three male friends who are highly educated and they ask you to meet at MOMA at 5:30pm, you may have troubles if you assume too much.
I assumed that since it was 5:30 they wanted to eat dinner, albeit a bit early.
I further assumed, rather excitedly, that my friends had suggested an Italian restaurant. Pronounced MO-MA. Like Italian, I assumed, for MAMA.
I imagined big homemade meatballs from an Italian family recipe.
Then there is the problem of asking cab drivers to take you, please, to “Moma’s restaurant.” The first taxi driver pulled away without letting me in. I assumed he thought it was only a few blocks away and wanted a bigger fare.
Finally, when my exasperated taxi driver gave up on finding a Moma’s restaurant, he dropped me off at The 21 Club. I asked the kind doorman if there was a “Moma’s restaurant” nearby and apologized for not going to 21 Club. He politely told me one block over. Finally!!
And there I saw my three friends…although running a little late and by this time quite hungry. We were outside MOMA’s–which seemed to be more than just a restaurant (in fact it was big and long and seemed to include works of art as well). “Nice!” I thought to myself.
I asked someone working beside the entrance where the restaurant was. He laughed and said, “Restaurant?! This is the Museum of Modern Art! There’s no restaurant!!” And laughed again.
I alerted my friends they had mistakenly chosen an art museum that lacked a restaurant.
The friend who suggested MOMA’s said, “Oh, I’m not hungry.”
And it was about this time that I put two and two—really more like one and one–together.
We weren’t going to an Italian restaurant with homemade meatballs like I told my wife.
We were going to the Museum of Modern Art. Which didn’t even have a concession stand.
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Airlines should have a SkyMiles-like program for members that rewards them with a free round-trip ticket anywhere in the US every time you miss three flights.
And a free round-trip ticket anywhere internationally if you miss the three flights within a 2 month period of time.
I’m not suggesting rewarding irresponsibility but rather persistence.
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Is there a silver lining to getting re-routed from St Louis, MO airport and instead landing in Kansas City, Mo?
For three of the connecting cities for passengers on my flight it actually works out better for them flying from Kansas City, MO. They deplane and are placed on new and better connecting flight home. Pretty cool and a nice silver lining.
For the remaining passengers with connecting flights, we are flying back to St Louis airport and for eight of the connecting cities, passengers on this flight will still make their connections. Pretty cool. And a nice silver lining.
For passengers flying to Louisville and Baltimore, we have no connection that works for us in Kansas City, MO and we will miss our connection tonight by the time we arrive in St. Louis.
But…if you are from Louisville, KY at least you are not from Baltimore. MD. And that’s pretty cool. And a nice silver lining. And remember, after the merger in 2003 Louisville became the 16th largest city in the US (edging out, you guessed it…. The city with airline passengers who have really lousy luck, Baltimore, MD).
As for passengers from Baltimore, MD on this flight, maybe you’ll find a silver lining next time your flight gets re-routed. And take heart. You are still a larger city than Kansas City, MO. And will be leaving here for St Louis shortly.
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Updating metaphors.In a discussion last week with a top manager he kept referring to “carrots” and “sticks” and how he needed both with his employees to achieve the results his company was pursuing.
I wanted to tell him “Carrots are OK but some employees might want something else instead — like a raise, or flex-time, more involvement in the project and better communication. Or maybe celery or edamame.
Things have changed a lot since the “carrot and stick” metaphor was invented and there are more appealing options and attention-getting threats.
Sticks can still be effective but so can shaming, alienating, lateral transfers, and bad progress reports. Or tasers. Caning can get attention much better than just an ordinary stick. Ask anyone in the advanced economy of Singapore.
Maybe we should update the “carrot and sticks” metaphor by changing it to “Edamame and Caning.” It seems to be a more appropriate and modern version of an exhausted and outdated business metaphor.
Just an idea. From 10,000 feet in the air with nothing to do except offer random and silly thoughts while waiting to get through turbulence that makes it hard to concentrate on anything serious and calls for something silly to distract myself from a bumpy plane ride.
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One if the many reasons I love Louisvlle.
Leaving Kansas City this morning to go home to a city that is more secure about itself, Louisville. A city that others already know is a city and doesn’t have to include the word “city” in its name for fear it will be confused with a state.
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Jun 24, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
Thought for the week
This week I will do something amazing —something that will stun others and impress myself
Ok. I gotta be honest. I wrote the first paragraph two weeks ago and got sidetracked by something.
I found out while getting coffee (which is when I write my posts) that The Summit shopping center go bought and they are trying to thinks of a new name.
No one asked me but I tried to …think up new names but didn’t come up with any really good ones. I figured “Apex” was too close in meaning.
By that time I had already gotten back in my car and then other things happened and, well, I just lost track of time
So back to the doing something amazing thing I was talking about earlier (in this post two weeks).
Hmmm. I am now out of the mood to do something amazing. That thought happened two weeks ago and has run it’s course.
I mean… if I do something amazing this week by accident that stuns others and impresses myself , I am happy to pretend like I planned to do it. I can do that. But I don’t want to try to do something amazing now. I’m not feeling it. Maybe it will come back later today and I’ll amend this post
Maybe my goal this week should be simply to focus better and not get so easily distracted. That’s actually a good idea for me. I’m going to hold that thought for a couple of weeks –like I did the “do something amazing” thought –and come back to it when I have more time.
What about NuLu? That would be a cool new name for the Summit.
Shoot! I just realized I forgot to put Splenda in my coffee and have to go back to the coffee shop now.
I can’t even remember what this post was about ….Oh, yeah, doing something amazing in, like, two weeks. Right? No? Look. I can’t do this now. I have to get my coffee right first
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Jun 21, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
Weird habits I have.
Whenever I buy a hardback book I always–always-pull off the book’s glossy jacket. The book dust jacket feels funny like its something to look at only —not read. More for show.
But after ripping it off and throwing in the wastebasket, it now looks like a book ready to be read. For the substantive and thoughtful person….like me.
And for about 3 days the jacket-less hardback book sits on my desk at the ready–for some real reading.
But about the third day I realize I’m not going to really read the book and check my wastebasket to see if the crumpled dust-jacket is still there. I pull it out and un-crumple it and read the book synopsis. There’s always a great synopsis on the book on the book jacket.
I read it carefully until I know enough to have something intelligent to say about the book if ever asked.
And then put it away on my bookshelf…without the jacket. And crumple and throw it away one more time.
And the oddest thing of all is I still feel like I am a little deeper and more serious –in other words, slightly superior–than people who leave on the jacket and just place the book on their bookshelf. Without ever even reading the dust jacket.
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Jun 20, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
Facebook Reality Check.
If you are a middle-aged male and get a friend request from a 20 year old very attractive woman along with a breathless message about how much she likes your profile picture and would like to meet you and sends you her private email address, be careful.
I don’t respond to these annoying friend request/messages because I’m happily married and tell them so. But I know not all of my middle-aged male peers are in a marriage/relationship and might find this generous invitation appealing. I’d like to offer some friendly peer advice that I can give objectively.
Sure, these young women have tracked down our overweight, under-toned profile pictures on Facebook and find us every bit as irresistible as we know they should. That’s a given. And, sure, they are probably going to keep stalking guys like us, because, you know…we got it going on and they can’t help themselves and are essentially powerless to our feeble and imaginary charms.
So…. as realistic as this offer for Facebook friendship and romance probably seems to you, just remember that no one is as great as they sound on Facebook and she probably looks better in their picture than she looks in person. And may be really hard to talk to after you have a torrid romance. And, let’s face it, you’ll probably end up getting bored and have difficulty hanging out with her 20-something friends. And then there are the awkward Facebook status decisions about whether you “are in a relationship” or not to deal with.
All I am saying is: think it through.
Especially before you respond to her faux personal email by sending a digital picture of yourself flexing your flabby, withering physique.
I’m just saying, as a friend, in the long run, if you are going to strip down and get in bed with anyone today, just stand in front of a mirror and take off your dark patent leather dress shoes, white tube socks and short plaid pants——and get in bed and take a nap alone. You’ll need the energy to mow the lawn later today. You just don’t have time for a tryst with a beautiful 20 year old this afternoon. As much as she is wanting to, it’s probably going to be a pain and keep you from going to CVS to pick up your medications after spending that traditional 30 minutes every Saturday browsing your favorite hardware store. She’s just going to have to deal with that.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Jun 19, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
Socrates admonished “Know thyself.”
That’s tough–especially if you are a shallow person who is more interested in getting to know the popular person sitting in front of you rather than your inner self.
But an even more elusive conundrum than knowing who “we” are is knowing who “they” are.
You know who I am talking about: the extremely quotable and seemingly irrefutable “they”— as in “You know what ‘they’ say.”
Which has been a perennial problem. Everyone seems to know “what” it is that “they” say but NOT who “they” are.
Not anymore.
One of the serendipitous outcomes of the recent NSA scandal is out nation’s cutting edge technology tools has identified a group of six friends in Newark, N.J. who appear to comprise the mysterious and powerful group who seem to have something wise and influential to say about almost everything.
Here is a close up from a secret aerial shot just last week as the group was leaving a MENSA meeting and about to, ironically, opine on the NSA controversy –while also reminiscing about the groups most famous commentary: why we should never “assume” anything because, “You know what they say. It makes an a**….”, well, you remember.
Reaction to identifying the small but internationally revered group has ranged from relief to self-reflection.
One news reporter for a local station said, “That’s “they?” Adding “I see them roller-blading together all the time in the park near my station. They are terrible roller-bladders and can sometimes be really obnoxious. The one one the right has body odor.”
A local mother who often quotes they to her two teenage children spoke for many when she reflected, “I have to admit, they don’t look that impressive close up.”
And then added, “I am going to start thinking for myself more in the future. I don’t trust them–I mean “they” –as much as I used to.”
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Jun 18, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
I wonder whatever happened to this guy?
There are many times I wish he were around to explain something to me–or for me!
Right now I’m having trouble with my cable and having difficulty explaining it to technical support.
I swear I think the UPS guy could probably lay out the entire problem in just a few strokes on a whiteboard and probably never once come close to using using his “outside voice.”
I think drawing must be the key because explaining cable problems using words never seems to get me very far.
I definitely need to get a whiteboard for times like this! Or just find this gentleman to explain all my technical problems to tech support.
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Jun 17, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
I have received three flirty messages from three different fake FB profiles pretending to be a young woman eager to exchange private emails with me.
I finally responded to the last one just now.
“Thanks for your message.
However, another woman sent me an almost identical flirty message yesterday and we got married this afternoon.
And it’s really going well. To top it all off (and no offense) but she is a lot hotter than you are.
Here name is Rebecca Brown and we have “married” now as our Facebook relationship status
Good luck with finding romance. Or amusing yourself pretending to be a young woman. Which is, frankly, a turn off to most women your age and not the most well thought out romance strategy.
But you never know…you just might stumble onto an interaction that will change your life forever doing just what you are doing now. It could happen.
Keep the faith. And keep putting yourself out there until something better than rejections like this one from me start to happen for you.
There’s more than one fish in the sea. And more than one profile to fake private message on Facebook. Somewhere out there there on FB tonight there is a soulmate for you who as we message is writing a really funny trolling message under a fake name and profile just like you. And you two are destined to meet someday and fall in love. Someone who “gets you” and will love you just the way you are. And that is no laughing matter.
By John Y. Brown III, on Sun Jun 16, 2013 at 12:39 PM ET
Here’s to father’s who kick a** and take names — every day, as dads. Here’s to fathers who are men’s men and the modern version of Father Knows Best but who also have a metrosexual side when they need it.
Who make boatloads of money but still have time to go door-to -door with their daughters to help sell Girl Scout cookies and coach their son’s soccer team and make dinner for their wife’s scrapbooking club the second Tuesday of every month.
Here’s to the fathers who are as loving as they are strong and never complain or ask for praise but just keep on being a grown-up –and daily–version of Prince Charming, Assuming Prince Charming is middle-aged and moved to suburbia and worked his way up to partner at a medium-sized accounting firm. And teaches Sunday School and is trying to persuade his wife to take dance lessons together because it “sounds fun.”
Happy Big Daddy’s day to all those arse-kicken’ super pops!
And just a regular old Happy Father’s Day to other 99.997% of the reat of us dads out there. And just a reminder that the 0.003% making the rest of us look bad by comparison , are on the verge of a nervous break down and could crack any day now.
So hang in there. For us, today is more of a Happy ‘Lil Daddy’s Day. We’re pretty good dads, all things considered, but fall short of the exhausting ideal. And that’s OK. We kick a** in our own way and deep down we know they know that.
Just don’t hope for more than a tie today and a pleasant Lil Daddy Day card. And pat yourself on the back. And don’t mention they got you the exact same tie two years ago.
Spaghetti was something I liked naturally, too, without any increased potential for chest hair growth being part of the appeal. But I didn’t like it as much as peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Which makes peanut butter and honey on toasted grain bread a little more special to me, personally.
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