By Jonathan Miller, on Sat Jul 13, 2013 at 9:00 AM ET
If you’ve been following the legislative actions taken surrounding the Farm Bill in Washington, DC, this past month, you’ve seen some of the very worst about our current political system — deep hyper-partisan divides, bills passed without thorough discussion, secret power plays on behalf of special interests, yadda, yadda, yadda.
But one thing happened last week that represents the very best of American politics — the bi-partisan passage in the U.S. House of an amendment that would allow colleges and universities to grow hemp for research purposes in states where hemp production is allowed by state law (like Kentucky, Colorado and about a dozen other states.)
The amendment was co-sponored by Reps. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.); and here in the Bluegrass State, it has the support of a broad partisan and ideological coalition, including conservative Senator Mitch McConnell, Tea Party champion Senator Rand Paul, and progressive icon Congressman John Yarmuth.
The lead advocate for hemp legalization in Kentucky is Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, and I was lucky to join him in Washington recently for high-level meetings on the bill with senior Obama Administration officials and even House Speaker John Boehner. (Click here to read about our efforts.)
Comer was thrilled about the recent development, telling WPSD-TV, Paducah, “It wasn’t that long ago that people told us we wouldn’t even get a sponsor for the bill in the state Senate. Now we have a state law for regulating hemp production, and one house of Congress has passed legislation to allow colleges and universities to grow hemp. This has been an amazing journey. And we’re not finished.”
So, please help us get across the finish line. Sign the petition below, and contact your Senator ASAP. Click here for an easy link.
U.S. Senators, Support Hemp Amendment to Farm Bill
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Jul 12, 2013 at 3:00 PM ET
This afternoon (generally in the 6:00 PM EDT hour on most NPR stations), Friend of RP, Mark Nickolas will be appearing on National Public Radio’s “Marketplace,” discussing his critically-praised new short film, “The Story of the Wall Street Bull.”
Nickolas, who singlehandedly started Kentucky’s political blogosphere, has become a documentary filmmaker, and his new short film on Occupy Wall Street is up for a Smithsonian In Motion award.
Watch the film below, and vote here to support Mark’s effort. (The film is listed as “The Story of the Wall Street Bull” and is in the ‘Arts’ category. You’ll see when you click on the link.)
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Jul 12, 2013 at 10:00 AM ET
Friend of RP, and the man who launch Kentucky’s political blogsophere, Mark Nickolas, has embarked on a documentary film career that is already getting broad national attention. His short film on Occupy Wall Street is up for a Smithsonian In Motion award.
Watch the film below, and vote here to support Mark’s effort. (The film is listed as “The Story of the Wall Street Bull” and is in the ‘Arts’ category. You’ll see when you click on the link.)
What if New York City’s famous charging bull could talk? Mark Nickolas’s short film, My Life in the Canyon of Heroes, answers just this question. The clever film traces the history of the Wall Street bull from the perspective of none other than the animal himself. With the voice of a friendly middle-aged New Yorker, he recounts his life, from his birth as a defiant piece of guerrilla art, up through his murkier days as the Occupy Wall Street movement’s symbol of financial greed and excess.
The short is nominated for Smithsonian magazine’s In Motion video contest, along with 24 other finalists. The contest recognizes videographers that “explore and document the world around us.” Voting is open to the public, and the grand prize winner will be announced on July 15, 2013.
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Jul 11, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
How to stay relevant even when you’re not.
Oh come on. You’ve wondered this too. It’s like trying to avoid excessive amounts of cellulite on our personality or wrinkles on our reputation. And, yes, it matters.
I had no interest to read the article. We all have a pretty good idea of who the “most powerful celebrities” are.
Obviously, Oprah tops the list. And it’s fair to assume Lady Gaga, Madonna and Justin Bieber are all in the mix near the top.
OK. Yawn.
But what about a list of “The Least Powerful Celebrities” in the world?
That would pique my interest. Maybe it’s age; maybe practicality or maybe fear. But increasingly I’m more interested with the secrets of maintaining my status as my skills and energy levels decline.
I would be interested to know how some celebrities have found ways to succeed at remaining celebrities while being on the brink of irrelevancy and without any apparent influence.
I know that doesn’t sound like the most exciting late night infomercial pitch.
Or does it?
Think about it….
“Have you spent your career trying to establish yourself in some area and finally broken through? But now see age and agism start you on the downhill course toward obscurity and professional oblivion? What can you learn from Cuba Gooding, Vanilla Ice, Kato Kalin and Nik Wallenda? The surprising answer is “More than you might think.” What are their secrets to staying in the public mind despite nearly half the public believing they “may have died” several years ago? What is it that they do to differentiate themselves from those who have already transitioned to merely “former celebrities” with no power? How do they successfully get invited to appear on QVC and Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice show while their less savvy borderline celebrity peers phase out of the public mind?
Now that is a pitch that I’d be interested in hearing more about. And be willing to buy the book, CDs and DVD set.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Jul 10, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
The calculus of bad customer relations.
Company A estimates if they make it maddeningly difficult to get through to a customer service representative and have a nearly incomprehensible policy for refunds when a failure occurs … it will take approximately 3 hours of waiting and wading through annoying delays, hold times, and numerous representatives saying, “I understand your situation, John, and if it were up to me I would refund your money, but it is out of my hands and the rules require me to…..” —-Company A estimates that after 3 hours a rational customer will give up. And they are correct.
Giving up is a “rational decision” because 3 hours of anyone’s time is worth a lot to them. Probably more than the money in question, even if it is a several hundred dollars. Just do the math. Would you let someone have 3 hours of your life if it required you getting increasingly frustrated in return for the “chance” of getting $200? Probably not.
Plus, to persist for longer than 3 hours with multiple different customer service representatives trained to say “no” 258 ways in the same language as they wear you down to demoralizing defeat requires one to be, well, a certifiable ass. A jerk. And that’s very hard –in fact, almost impossible– for some people.
But we never get too old that we can’t occasionally surprise ourselves.
And sometimes that can include surprising ourselves in unusual ways. Like the fact that despite repeated past failures at successfully being an ass, finding out that deep-down inside us there is an “inner ass” just waiting to come out.
And further surprising ourselves that sometimes, in a few select and rare situations, making an irrational decision about our time and money is actually the right thing to do. And feels better than the “rational decision” of giving up.
And no, it’s not the “principle of the matter.”
It’s the value of reminding ourselves–and others on remote calls with customer service operators from parts unknown–that we can if we really, really, really want to— still stand up for ourselves. And sometimes that we will, despite logic to the contrary, do just that.
===
Business 101 lessons aren’t typically fun to be reminded of or interesting to re-learn and rarely ever are profound. They do, however, tend to be essential to business success.
Like this fairly uncomplicated rule of thumb.
Nothing in business relationships is more upsetting and disappointing than poor customer service.
Nothing in business relationships is more appreciated and valuable than good customer service.
No product or service is easier or cheaper to provide than good customer service. (The only requirement is the organization treat customer satisfaction as the top priority)
No product or service is more costly to skimp on or more difficult to remedy than poor customer service. (The only requirement is the organization not value customer satisfaction)
I suspect that no business miscalculation has caused more organizations to fail than skimping on giving time and priority to customer satisfaction.
The “soft stuff” truly is “the hard stuff.” And at the core of every business relationship isn’t an inanimate piece of technology or clever algorithm or new system or decision tool. But rather a human being who is free to take his or her business elsewhere at anytime for any reason. And will.
In case you missed his posts over the July 4th weekend — what could you have been doing that’s more important, The RP didn’t repeat as a World Series of Poker finalist this year.
(Read all of his daily reports– Part 1: Leaving for Las Vegas, Part 2: The WSOP Begins, Part 3: Next!, Part 4: Taking a Mulligan, Part 5: Beware of Three Jacks, Part 6: BadLuck Jonathan)
But in his inaugural piece as an official Contributor for Newsweek/The Daily Beast, The RP shares a story of a more halcyon time, a year ago this weekend, when he made an incredible run at the World Series of Poker. Here’s an excerpt:
A year ago this week, the Jackson Five saved my life at a Las Vegas casino.
OK, unless you’re a fellow poker nerd, don’t take me too literally.
But my own impossible story, of a middle-aged amateur winning big on the green felt of Sin City, may help explain why thousands of my fellow wannabes are flocking to the 44th annual World Series of Poker this weekend for its globally celebrated main event.
It’s also why millions more will be tuning in to ESPN to watch the only “sport” in which an unpracticed, out-of-shape math geek can compete on the game’s biggest stage with the world’s preeminent professionals
Like many men my age, I’ve always been fascinated with poker. Never an exceptional athlete, poker presented me a unique opportunity to leverage my theretofore un-hip math skills in a competition that oozes of machismo and swagger. In pop culture, poker is played in rustic saloons by pistol-wielding studs named “Tex” and “Slim”; in the real world, it presents an ideal boys’ night of whiskey swigging, cigar chewing, and even a little extra-cash-winning.
But competing for big money? Flicks like Rounders and The Cincinnati Kidtaught that those contests were the province of practiced professionals, wiseguys, cheaters, and almost as often the unsuspecting novice “fish” who were swallowed by the poker sharks at their tables.
I had the pleasure of speaking at the 2013 Amplify Festival in Australia. Now that my jetlag has subsided I’m able to reflect on what was a wonderful event hosted by AMP, a leading financial services company in Australia. Congratulations to AMP and Annalie Killian, the festival’s remarkable curator, for catalyzing a week overflowing with inspiration and insight. More companies should consider hosting similar innovation immersion events open to employees and the local community. It was an easy invitation to accept for this innovation junkie. They had me at the event’s theme, Shift Happened Transformation Required!
One of the highlights of my trip down under was meeting Lucy Marcus, provocateur and global expert on corporate governance best practices. Lucy is a force of nature in and out of the boardroom and I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations on the oversight role of the board of directors for a company’s innovation agenda. We agreed that the board of directors has an important role to play and Lucy asked me to appear on her ‘In The Boardroom’ show on Reuters TV to share my top five board innovation imperatives for the board. The short video of our conversation below also serves as proof that we actually were in Australia. Check out the Sydney Harbor in the background!
5 Innovation Imperatives: Inside The Boardroom
Read the rest of… Saul Kaplan: Innovation in the Boardroom
The RP didn’t repeat as a World Series of Poker finalist this year.
(Read all of his daily reports– Part 1: Leaving for Las Vegas, Part 2: The WSOP Begins, Part 3: Next!, Part 4: Taking a Mulligan, Part 5: Beware of Three Jacks, Part 6: BadLuck Jonathan)
But in his inaugural piece as an official Contributor for Newsweek/The Daily Beast, The RP shares a story of a more halcyon time, a year ago this weekend, when he made an incredible run at the World Series of Poker. Here’s an excerpt:
A year ago this week, the Jackson Five saved my life at a Las Vegas casino.
OK, unless you’re a fellow poker nerd, don’t take me too literally.
But my own impossible story, of a middle-aged amateur winning big on the green felt of Sin City, may help explain why thousands of my fellow wannabes are flocking to the 44th annual World Series of Poker this weekend for its globally celebrated main event.
It’s also why millions more will be tuning in to ESPN to watch the only “sport” in which an unpracticed, out-of-shape math geek can compete on the game’s biggest stage with the world’s preeminent professionals
Like many men my age, I’ve always been fascinated with poker. Never an exceptional athlete, poker presented me a unique opportunity to leverage my theretofore un-hip math skills in a competition that oozes of machismo and swagger. In pop culture, poker is played in rustic saloons by pistol-wielding studs named “Tex” and “Slim”; in the real world, it presents an ideal boys’ night of whiskey swigging, cigar chewing, and even a little extra-cash-winning.
But competing for big money? Flicks like Rounders and The Cincinnati Kidtaught that those contests were the province of practiced professionals, wiseguys, cheaters, and almost as often the unsuspecting novice “fish” who were swallowed by the poker sharks at their tables.
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Jul 5, 2013 at 8:49 PM ET
Goodluck Jonathan & Badluck Jonathan
For the past few days, I’d been thrilled to see that “Goodluck Jonathan” had been trending all over the world. Of course, I assumed that the global poker fan base had been united in supporting my entry in the World Series of Poker’s “Little One for One Drop” tournament.
Well, it turns out instead that the international community had been appealing to Nigerian ruler Goodluck Jonathan to cancel his planned executions of death row prisoners.
Oh, well.
I really could have used that good luck. Because as I explained in my last post, I was in real big trouble entering Day 2 of the tournament. While I was thrilled to have made it so far, due to an unlucky experience with three Jacks, I was left with only 950 chips. With blinds rising to 300/600., that would mean I would have to go all-in almost immediately.
It turned out that my chance came on the very first hand. Sitting on the button, the table folded around to me. I looked down at a 9 and a 8. Pretty lousy hand, but with only two players left to call me, I had a decent chance of tripling up.
I got one caller. Perfect.
He turned over an 8 and a 5. Excellent. I had a 70% chance of winning.
The dealer turned over the flop and then the turn (the 4th card). I was still ahead, and had a 90% chance of winning.
Then the dealer turned over the river. A 5. Ugh.
I lost, and was busted out of the tournament.
In all, however, it was a terrific ride. And being knocked out, I had the free time to do some interviews of poker pros for my second WSOP-related piece for Newsweek/The Daily Beast. When I got to sit down with both Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari — one of the hottest players in the game — and T. J. Cloutier — a legend, whose book, Championship No Limit and Pot Limit Hold ’em, taught me how to play tournament poker — I felt like I had won a bracelet.
Of course, I didn’t cash in either tournament I played. But in both, I finished in the top 15%. I’m not among the poker elite. But those finishes, combined with my final table last year, will keep me coming back for more.
So, back to the real world. Stay tuned for my series of pieces on the WSOP in Newsweek/The Daily Beast. And be ready for my next poker adventure, wherever it should take me.
