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 Tue Aug 28, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Life lessons. Remedial version.
This morning I was going through my routine at Starbucks:
1) Walk in;
2) say hello to the Barista;
3) order coffee and something to eat;
4) go to condiment bar to pour out 1/8th of my coffee to make room for the cream and sugar;
5) and walk back to car.
As a rule I try to keep all my daily processes to 5 steps or under to minimize chances of leaving out some critical step.
And that has worked well.
Until this morning.
I got to my car and realized I had failed to put in the cream and sugar. The lady in front of me had to re-scan her credit card while I was in mid-order. I made some joke to her about it and we both laughed. But that caused me to lose my mental place in my process chain. I confused step 4 for step 3.
At first I wasn’t sure what to do so I simply said an expletive to myself. After a few seconds it became clear that more needed to be done.
Then a flash a genius.
Obviously, it was too embarrassing to go back into the Starbucks. And as a rule (a second one), I hate to look foolish in front of Baristas or strangers with credit card problems.
So I drove across the street to Speedway and stealthily got a cup and put cream and Splenda in and tossed in a stirrer. I slinked back to my car as the cashier watched to see if I had stolen something. I held up my Starbucks coffee cup as I poured in the cream and Splenda and he finally looked away.
It tasted terrible.
And I learned yet again the important life lesson that it is better to “look foolish (at Starbucks) and be happy” than to “try to look cool but actually look really foolish (at Speedway) and be unhappy.”
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Aug 27, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Can you say this about your wireless carrier?
I figure that I spend at least 100 minutes a month “pretending” to be talking on my cell phone.
I’m not really talking to anyone but only pretending to in order to slip out of a crowded event or avoid talking to someone when I just don’t feel like talking.
And hoping that my phone doesn’t ring while pretending to be talking to a dead line.
And my wireless carrier doesn’t charge me a penny for this 100 hour monthly usage.
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Aug 24, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
What do you believe is the most significant exchange in a TV political debate show over the last 25 years?
As for me, there are a whole lot of answers that come to mind. Serious–in fact, grave–points being made by serous leaders. Important policy being heatedly debated by brilliant minds, new ideas breaking through and the like.
But I would select a very different moment that called out the most popular debate show of this period for what it –and copycat shows like it —really are: much more tv theater playing for ratings than genuine debate seeking out the truth. And the guest did so in a very human and effective way.
I spent a good chunk of my young life voraciously absorbing these tv political debate battles. But eventually I began to tire of them and feel a similar disappointment to when my grandmother explained to me at age 7 that tv wrestling wasn’t all real. I didn’t feel deceived. But did feel disappointed that I was manipulated and didn’t know it.
Give me Firing Line with William F Buckley, Jr. Give me Charlie Rose. Give me Dick Cavett. Give me—a conversation with a friend or family member over coffee that isn’t measured in decibels but is instead an honest exploring of an idea without fear of it leading to a conclusion that is inconsistent with the political narrative I embrace. Give me a conversation in which I learn something new rather than reinforce a comfortable but mundane position I don’t even fully embrace if I were honest with myself.
Give me, in short, an honest moment. Like the video clip below.
And please don’t let Jon Stewart’s politics cause you to miss the non-partisan point he makes. Yes, he does revert to some low brow tactics, but he brilliantly and successfully makes as important a point as any that face our citizenry today, in my view.
We are a divided nation today in part for substantive political policy ideas we disagree on– but also, I believe, in part because we all mimic what we see and have adopted the belief that to engage in political dialogue means we musta eviscerate our “opponents” arguments at all costs–including personal insults and clever debating tactics in order to “win” at any cost. But I can’t help believe that we are all really losing something more valuable as we engage in this corrosive pastime.
This is my choice for most important tv political debate moment in the past 25 years:
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Aug 23, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
The Twitterization of Higher Education
I’m excited for my son who is starting college this fall at one of the nation’s finest liberal arts institutions, Centre College.
I am a passionate believer in the value of a liberal arts education. I think a strong liberal arts education is the best foundation for vocational and civic preparation. Developing and honing thinking and communication skills is the foundation for success in most every job and will help ensure informed civic involvement. And, the liberal arts just makes for a richer inner life. Besides, what other form of education can both best prepare you for the technical tasks ahead and simultaneously help you convincingly rationalize why you are glad you failed if things don’t work out?
The liberal arts just make practical sense.
And I am grateful that our technically sophisticated world waited until a few thousand contemplative years had passed before we began communicating in Tweets, texts, IMing, and Facebook messaging, Imagine if the Platonic dialogues had been a series of cell phone texts between Socrates and Plato.
Or if Henry David Thoreau had Tweeted (and ReTweeted) his reflections at Walden in a series of 140 or fewer character insights instead of writing prose?
Imagine the Federalist Papers being hammered out by Jay, Madison and Hamilton in Facebook posts, comments, messages—complete with “Likes” and links to inspirational quotes and funny pictures. And of course with text acronyms (ROFLMAO, LOL, OMG WTF and the like).
It just wouldn’t be the same. It would still be an education, I suppose, but not convey much that inspires or enlightens. And it would produce a society of Dennis Leary’s– fast talking, sarcastic, misanthropic entertainers. We need Dennis Learys, no doubt about it. But not that many.
I suppose there is certainly irony in the fact that I am putting these thoughts in a Facebook post. Our modern social media is brilliant at forcing us to think quickly and condense richer thoughts into communicable fragments that are adequate to the task. Twitter, Facebook and texting allows instantaneous communication to a mind-bogglingly vast audience. And that provides incredible societal benefits.
Those benefits are primarily for data-driven communications. And that makes our world a safer, higher functioning and more efficient place. But the liberal arts and contemplative life makes our world a more interesting place— and allows us to create a more meaningful life.
I embrace both. Why? The Golden Mean, as the Greeks called it. The often desirable middle between two extremes.
And I learned that as part of a liberal arts education.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Aug 22, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Has this ever happened to you?
Sometimes during the day I find myself realizing –after it is apparent to everyone else involved–that I have made a blunder of some sort.
I may try to fix the mistake in mid-air, so to speak.
But rarely can.
Then my mind races for a plausible excuse for why I did the dumb thing I did. After that usually fails, I try to think of a way to blame it on someone or something else.
It’s about that time I hear a voice in my head say matter-of-factly, “Clean up on aisle three.”
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Aug 21, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Your Inner Jack?
Yeah, c’mon….admit it.
Every guy, deep down, has an inner-Jack Nicholson wanting to get out.
You know what I mean. Some prefer to call it the “wild man” or the “id” (those who fear it call it less flattering names) —but it’s there and is a vital creative life force in all men that is better to be embraced and let out for exercise than contained, condemned, suppressed and ignored.
To hate it is to hate ourselves.
To kill it is to kill an essential part of ourselves.
So, go for it. Give in –at least once this weekend–to your inner Jack.
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Aug 20, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Parenting can feel like a basketball game.
My 18 year old son leaves home this Tuesday for Centre College. I am as proud as can be…but also very sad.
The first 13 years of parenting come naturally and the rules and roles are easily understood. It’s easy for us to feel good about the job we are doing. The next 5 years, however, are a “different kettle of fish,” as they say–a muddled and awkward affair. And we are running out of parenting energy as the relationship changes from parent -child to adult–adult.
I can’t help feeling like I have been in a basketball game that was tied at half-time –where I held my own as a parent—but by the end of the third quarter became a blowout for the opposing team. And for the fourth quarter our job is just to finish the game without the other team running up the score.
And yet, in some bizarre twist of logic, I am wanting this game to go into overtime even though I know my son is dribbling out the final seconds of the clock and I am not trying to steal or foul since it won’t matter.
And when the clock runs out he won’t throw the ball triumphantly into the stands but rather, like a gentleman, let the ball dribble itself for a few seconds before rolling away as he walks off the court.
And I will stay standing on the court looking up at the scoreboard and trying not to cry.
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Aug 16, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Pet peeve from NY visit.
I got irked a couple times listening to seemingly self-deprecating New Yorkers talk about how they were so self-absorbed or narcissistic—as was their spouse.
What bothered me wasn’t that fact but the way they seemed to be saying that sort of “sophisticated” problem happens only to busy city folk. And explains all the syllables and hard to spell word like narcissistic.
I wanted to say, “Ever heard the saying ‘That couple is like two tics and no dog?'”
Pause and then add “Back home we can out self-center and out-crazy you all any day of the week.” And smile smugly in a pleasant but slightly deranged manner.
But I held my tongue. It just didn’t seem as impressive a bragging point as it initially sounded in my head.
Life lessons. Remedial version.
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