Bill Bryant, host of “Kentucky Newsmakers” on WKYT-TV in Lexington, Ky., mentioned our own John Y. Brown, IV on his political news segment yesterday. Bryant referenced the “Why We Lost” piece JYB4 penned this week.
Take a look:
WKYT 27 NEWSFIRST
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This was a pivotal election. On Tuesday, we learned that the large expansion of the federal government that took place in President Obama’s first term will likely continue without a Republican president or more conservative House or Senate to intervene. Whether Republicans like it or not, Obamacare is here to stay. The same is true of Dodd-Frank Act and many other expansions of federal power that took place under this President. Likewise, whoever was elected president in 2012 was destined to play a major role in the budgetary reforms that are needed to bring our country to long term financial solvency and short term fiscal sanity. With President Obama, we can expect to see heavier tax hikes and military cuts and much smaller domestic spending cuts than we would have under a President Romney. Entitlement reform will be hard to achieve in any meaningful way with a President who is already on the record as opposing raising the retirement age, cutting benefits (even for the wealthy), or having any sort of market based changes within the various systems.
The easy impulse is to find blame (the devastating storms, the power of incumbency, an Obama friendly media, etc.) that will relieve us from the harder (but also more rewarding) task of asking ourselves honestly where our party came up short. What was it that made swing voters break towards President Obama instead of Governor Romney in the final days of the campaign? Most commentators tell us that it was because Republicans came off as too extreme on social policy like immigration, abortion and other hot button social issues. These extreme positions, the argument goes, caused republicans to lose critical support from minorities, women and youth. I believe there is more than a grain of truth to what those commentators are telling us. Most minorities don’t support Republicans because of issues like immigration but more because they are drawn to the populist economic message that Democratic Presidents typically promote. These segments of voters generally support higher taxes (on the “rich”) and more public services. Read the rest of…
From the Ayurvedic perspective, human beings are not viewed as mere thinking physical machines, but rather as fields of intelligence in dynamic exchange with the energy and information of the environment. Health is a state of vibrant balance in which all the layers of one’s life are integrated—the physical, the psychological, the spiritual.
Based on the Chopra Center’s Perfect Health course, I’ll be teaching a free class at the Festival of Faiths in Louisville, KY this Sunday, November 18, from 11:30am-1:00pm. Come and learn about your own mind/body constitution and discover how to help your tejas burn as brightly as it is designed. This session will be interactive and experiential including lecture, discussion, pranayama (breathing techniques), and meditation. As in any election, there were some predicted results (Obama re-elected, Nate Silver fan clubs popping up), some lovely surprises (20 women in the senate, legalized pot and gay marriage), and some disappointed losers (including every senatorial candidate who mentioned rape . . . who’d’ve thunk?) I know some people feel the saddest for Florida, which ended up not even mattering this year. But my sympathy vote goes to Karl Rove. Whatever you think of him, he has to be a fundraising genius to have gotten $300 million from his donors, but of all the candidates he supported, not a single one was elected. I mean, I disagreed with him on almost every issue, but I never wished this much pain on the man. Not only did Donald Trump publicly shame him via tweet (I don’t know what part of that was more humiliating!), but now he’s even a joke on The Simpsons. What’s Rove supposed to do now? I seriously doubt he has much of a future as a political fundraiser, and after his election night meltdown on Fox News, his punditry career may be shot. So while Rove sorts out his options, he can use this song as his soundtrack . . . (And after this last political song, I will be turning my musical attention to more general current events, the upcoming holidays, and the latest pop culture silliness that gives me an intellectual excuse to buy People Magazine.)
For Gujaratis (the state of India where my family hails from), Diwali also marks the end of the calendar with a New Year beginning the day after the celebration. Think of it like a New Year’s Eve, if you will and presents another opportunity to expel the old and bring in the new. What a fitting time to have the results of Election 2012! (Was it really just a week ago? It feels like it was much longer.)
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What’s the spirit of New York right now? I went on a fact-finding mission in my Timberlands and my construction jumpsuit yesterday. I am an anthropologist of sorts. Anthropologist-matchmaker, if that makes any sense. (usually it doesn’t.) I was hopeful about the state of affairs on human connection. After all, I have gotten buckets of positive energy sent my way on the loss of our house, and meanwhile there are Hurricane victims who are much worse off. So I wake up at the crack of dawn and I’m thinking, like that old Dunkin’ Donuts commercial—“Time to make the dates happen.” But out in the coffeehouses of the city, not so much. The isolation is deafening. We can’t even blame the Hurricane for the shell-shocked nature of New Yorkers these days. Prior to hurricane season this year I was with my 7-year old son in Starbucks, and we were searching for a seat. He said, “I want to sit over there in the Computer Lab.” He was referring to the communal table. Something has gone wrong with our ability to socialize. There is so much opportunity for human connection this week. New Yorkers have been outpouring charitable donations, volunteer labor, blankets and peanut butter& banana sandwiches. There is a palpable energy of friendliness, community and good will. But my findings revealed that noble intentions haven’t translated into an easier time for singles to meet. They should, though. In the blackout of 1965 in NYC, my parents lived at 4thAvenue and 10th Street. My Dad was at NYU Law School and was walking home with a fellow student when the lights went out. He invited the guy over, knowing that my Mom would be there with dinner, and it would be wrong for his friend to have to be alone in the dark. My Mom had been at the gynecologist’s office in the neighborhood and had befriended a random woman in the waiting room who lived uptown and was stuck without safe passage. Needless to say, my Mom (not yet a Jewish mother but obviously in-training) invited the woman over for dinner as well. The two guests met that night and the rest was history. They fell in love and got married. I’ve always loved that story. I was barely a gleam in the doctor’s speculum but that night must have been the start of my matchmaking proclivities. The most pertinent part of the story is that my Mom (Jewish mom in-training or otherwise) would not have invited a random stranger to dinner under normal circumstances. Don’t get me wrong, she is extremely hospitable. But she follows social norms, and it is just not a very socially acceptable thing to do. I believe when you breach social norms and make yourself vulnerable, great things can happen. You can effect change. This is the time. That Billy Joel song is playing in my head. He says,“We lived through a lifetime and the aftermath.” What is the aftermath of a lifetime? I certainly don’t know, but one thing is for sure—the aftermath of a lifetime is even further beyond our control than the aftermath of a hurricane or an election. “This is the time, but time is gonna change.” You can bet that Obama knows this. You can know it too. Imagine you only have 4 years- to accomplish your next goal. Whether that is finding the One, having a baby, starting a business, how might you get started? “Is that a weathervane in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?” Okay, maybe that’s not the best pick-up line in the world. But any pick-up line is better than no pick-up line. And judging from my anthropological findings around NYC this week, a cheesy pick-up line might be just the ice-breaker we need. Or should I say glacier-breaker? “How’d you do in Sandy” or “How’d you weather the storm?” might be a little more socially acceptable. There may be something to be said for some social norms. Trying times can go either way, when it comes to human connection. We feel vulnerable, so we want to go back into the safe shell of workaholism and isolation. Or alternatively, we feel vulnerable so we reach out for the hope that love and connection can provide comfort. Two roads diverged in a taxi line. “Are you going to the Upper West Side too? I hear they have power and Internet there.” It’s so easy to reach out, yet so hard. So when you’re out and about this week, think about the next 4 years, and stretch outside of your comfort zone to talk to a stranger. Get yourself one step closer to your goals. This is the time. Take New York City by storm. 😉 We are proud to introduce our latest “reinvention” expert: Saul Kaplan. Saul is a nationally-recognized recognized expert on entrepreneurship and is the author of The Business Model Innovation Factory and founder and Chief Catalyst of the Business Innovation Factory. Saul’s column will be dedicated to advising members of the RP Nation who are in the midst of, or are considering, a second (or third, or fourth) act as an entrepreneur. Enjoy and learn:
We need to try more stuff. Innovation is never about silver bullets. It’s about experimentation and doing whatever it takes, even if it means trying 1,000 things, to deliver value. Business model innovation requires a lot more experimentation than we are comfortable with today. Tweaking existing business models won’t work. Technology as a sustaining innovation may improve the efficiency of current business models but will not result in the transformation that we all want and need. We need to learn how to leverage technology for disruptive innovation and to experiment with new business models. Geoffrey Canada, the inspiring founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone in NYC, reminds us of the importance of constant experimentation. Everyone wants to know the one thing that makes a program like Harlem Children’s Zone successful. What is the silver bullet that will allow the program to be replicated with ease across the country? We are always looking for an easy answer. There is no silver bullet and it is not easy to transform any business model or social system. According to Canada, at Harlem Children’s Zone it is doing 1,000 things with passion to help those children succeed. It is about focusing on the customer, in this case, the children within 100 city blocks in Harlem and doing what ever it takes to help them secure a bright future. There is no one thing.  Saul’s new book. Click on image to review and/or purchase Business model innovation is all about experimentation. It is about combining and recombining capabilities from across silos until something clicks and value is delivered in a new way. It is never just one thing. It starts with a big idea that gets the juices flowing and attracts others with similar passion to the new approach. The big idea has to be translated from the white board on to a real world test bed to demonstrate that the idea is feasible. Starting small and demonstrating progress is key to building credibility and expanding a network of interested stakeholders. An ongoing portfolio of small-scale experiments to fail fast on those without merit and to prioritize those with the potential to scale is critical. We also must get far more comfortable with hacking capabilities. Capabilities are the amino acids of innovation. They are the building blocks that enable value delivery. Innovation is a better way to deliver value and is often the result of repurposing existing capabilities. Locking capabilities into rigid organization structures and proprietary closed systems gets in the way of unleashing new sources of value and solving many of the important challenges of our time. Innovation is about hacking capabilities. Business model innovation happens when we enable random capability collisions resulting in new and unexpected ways to deliver value. A good example of the power and potential of hacking capabilities is Microsoft’s (MSFT) Kinect. Microsoft introduced Kinect in November 2010 as a product extension to its Xbox franchise. Kinect adds a very cool capability for Xbox game players by getting rid of the hand held game controller and turning players into their own controllers. Microsoft and cool haven’t been used in the same sentence for a long time. Kinect is cool. Microsoft predictably launched Kinect with it’s deeply ingrained proprietary product mind set. You could buy Kinect as a bundle with an Xbox or as a separate component to attach to an existing Xbox for $150. While Microsoft views Kinect as a product the global geek community views it as a capability. To geeks, Kinect is a powerful capability screaming to be hacked and repurposed for exciting new uses beyond its use as an Xbox extension. What a bargain for only $150. It’s a hackers dream. And hack they will. A crowd of makers, programmers, roboticists, and other assorted and sundry geeks are having at it to explore what Kinect can enable beyond Microsoft’s initial intention. It’s only a matter of time before we see new gesture based applications and platforms. How about gesture based health care and education applications to start? Read the rest of… Whew! After all that worrying, there were no fights over vote counts, no major machine meltdowns, no hanging chads, and nothing to do for the legions of lawyers on deck for both parties. It’s a little like the aftermath of Y2K, when the world didn’t end and nothing bad happened other than a few hangovers. Of course there were plenty of positive newsworthy stories, from the increase in women in the senate, to patient voters who cheerfully waited out long lines, to the bipartisan bromance of Governor Christie and President Obama. But perhaps the biggest winner of all was Nate Silver, the NY Times “538” blogger, sabermetrician (look it up, I had to) and expert on psephology (ditto) whose mathematical polling analysis proved 100% accurate, making all his critics look foolish and illogical. Plus his calm analysis throughout the campaign made him a refreshing Dr. Spock in a sea of emotional hotheads. I referred to him as the heretofore unsung star, because after this video he’ll no longer be unsung. This may be the first fan song he’s received, but I doubt it will be the last.
Now, I am not naïve to think women are not strength training in record numbers. Years ago, most women would join a gym and only perform cardiovascular exercises such as biking or running on a treadmill. Although great for the heart, this alone does not create the lean, sculpted bodies women are wanting and displaying today. It was always thought that women should not lift weights because it would make them bulky and look like a man. The traditional routines would consist of high repetitions, usually 3 or 4 sets with 30-60 second rest periods. Cardio usually would precede strength training. Group fitness classes such as Body Pump or “15 minute abs” would have mostly female attendance. In some clubs you would have “Women’s Only,” areas, full of selectorized equipment and cardio. Women are displaying incredible results from strength training but the myth still exists. Keeping all things equal, let’s tackle the reason’s ALL women should strength train.
taking a vacation from my family, taking a vacation from my thoughts, leaving this vacation and going home, losing 24 lbs, buying that thing I NEED, eating a pizza…. So there was a lot of getting somewhere else in order to be happy, it was never right now but rather, a destination in the future.
So what did I do? FOUND A WAY. FOUND A WAY. FOUND A WAY. I had to find a way to be happy in myselfness, even if only for some brief, genuine, constructive (“constructive” does NOT include the deceptive lie of colored sugar and artery clogging fat found in cake and other processed desserts, and bacon) minutes throughout the day. Read the rest of… |
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