Russ: Good morning! This is The Businessmakers Show, heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com. And this is that show about those that most positively affect our lives, about those that are going to bring us back, that are going to correct the economy.
John: I think that they are the only ones who can.
Russ: That's right. And here's our lineup for this morning. First up for the AFLAC Businessmakers Flashback, early this week, I sat down with technology fan and enthusiast, Kenn Sterns, and we talked about the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas earlier this month. And, then, for our featured guest segment this morning, I headed up to Kansas City, Missouri a few days ago to the headquarters of the Kauffman Foundation, the epicenter of championing entrepreneurship, where I sat down with Judith Cone, Vice-President of Emerging Strategies. A real cool session. But first... That's right. It's time for The BusinessMakers School of Business, and this isn't your ordinary school of business.
John: In a way, it becomes real world information that people can take away from the show right away and put into practice.
Russ: Right. And we kick it off each Saturday morning with the quote of the day.
John: The quote of the day.
Russ: And this is a quote from 16 years ago from Ross Perot.
John: Oh! Ross Perot.
Russ: Yeah.
John: Okay.
Russ: So, here he goes: "Most new jobs won't come from our biggest employers. They will come from our smallest. We've got to do everything we can to make entrepreneurial dreams a reality." All right. Okay. All right, and that brings us to this week in business history. So, as our chief history officer-
John: Chief History Officer.
Russ: There you go.
John: All right. Okay. This week in business history, 1781, the Articles of Confederation were ratified by the 13th state, Maryland.
Russ: And that was a pretty big deal. Right?
John: Well, it was. That was actually the first attempt at setting up a national government-
Russ: Right.
John: -after the Revolutionary War was over.
Russ: Right.
John: Eventually, it was dismantled in favor of the Constitution that we are in now.
Russ: Okay.
John: Okay. Later on, in 1850, this week in business history, the inventor of the box kite is born. Lawrence Hargrave-
Russ: Well, I had a box kite.
John: -was born in 1850.
Russ: Did you ever have a box kite?
John: I never got into the box kite. The regular kite looks easy to put together. The box kite is, you know.
Russ: But it flew so well.
John: Which, by the way, he never really applied a patent to any of his inventions.
Russ: Okay.
John: But the important thing about the invention, the framing used is still duplicated in many airframes-
Russ: Wow!
John: -in airplanes that are being used right now.
Russ: Cool!
John: Okay. This week in business history, in 1880, W.C. Fields-his real name is William Claude Dukenfield, a Philadelphia actor, is born.
Russ: Wow!
John: Well, he was a very funny comedian.
Russ: Yes, he was.
John: And he also got in the habit of drinking about a quart of gin a day.
Russ: It helped him be funny, right?
John: It helped him to be funny and helped him-
Russ: To not live very long.
John: -to be dead, too.
Russ: Okay.
John: All right. My favorite story is he's in the hospital bed before he died-
Russ: Yeah.
John: -and he's reading the Bible, and a friend of his, I think it was his agent, comes in and says, "Bill, you've never been a religious man. What are you doing reading the Bible?" He said, "Looking for loopholes." Alright. This week in business history, in 1920, the former Ford Motor Company executive, Henry Leland, launches the Lincoln Motor Company.
Russ: Whoa! So he left Ford, and he's going out on his own.
John: Yeah. That happened a lot-
Russ: Yeah.
John: -back in those days.
Russ: Well, it probably happens a lot today, really.
John: Well, it should happen.
Russ: Yeah.
John: This week in business history, in 1922, this is great. The Eskimo Pie is patented by Christian Kent Nelson of Iowa.
Russ: Wow! Important invention!
John: And, by the way, he's not an Eskimo.
Russ: Okay. He's not?
John: No.
Russ: But he still could call it an Eskimo Pie.
John: Yeah. He's a schoolteacher-
Russ: Yeah.
John: -and he owned a candy store.
Russ: Yeah.
John: And, he says he inspiration for this Eskimo Pie when a young toddler came in and was unable to decide whether to spend his money on ice cream or a chocolate bar.
Russ: Wow!
John: And, he eventually got it right.
Russ: Another one of those idea triggers there.
John: Idea trigger-
Russ: Cool.
John: Okay. This week in business history, 1941, Neal Diamond is born.
Russ: Whoa!
[Music: "Coming to America" by Neal Diamond]
Russ: Great song! That also happens to be Mr. Larry Mays, former guest on The BusinessMakers, his favorite song.
John: This week in business history, in 1958, the Lego Company patents their design of Lego bricks.
Russ: Wow!
John: And their still compatible with the bricks you buy today.
Russ: Right.
John: I love Legos!
Russ: You played with Legos?
John: Oh, yeah!
Russ: Yeah.
John: They were great!
Russ: And very successful company, too.
John: Very successful company. Right. This week in business history, in 1962, the Twist, a dance we are all familiar with, was declared impure and banned from all Catholic schools.
[Music: "The Twist" by Chubby Checker]
Russ: Now, can you imagine that? The Twist looks pretty innocent compared to what you see at dances these days!
John: Just look at a couple of MTV videos.
Russ: Right.
John: Those dances are pretty incredible.
Russ: And the Twist. Oh. Wow!
John: This week in business history, in 1964, there's an album called Introducing the Beatles. It's released in the US.
[Music: "I Saw Her Standing There" by The Beatles]
John: Five years later, they break up.
Russ: Wow!
John: You know.
Russ: So, five years after that. It's amazing, now, how short they lasted, in retrospect.
John: Well, I know, but they had an interloper named Yoko Ono.
Russ: Yeah. She kind of messed up the formula, right?
John: Yeah. Right.
Russ: She did.
John: Okay. This week in business history, in 1965, Noah and Joseph McVicker receive a patent for Play-Doh.
Russ: Wow! Remember how that stuff smells?
John: I know. It was great!
Russ: Yeah! I know! I think there was a lot of kids that-
John: Why-
Russ: -ate Play-Doh.
John: Why could something that smelled so good taste so terrible?
Russ: Yeah!
John: Okay. This week in business history, in 1978, Jimmy Carter issues his Executive Order on Intelligence, which bans domestic surveillance and political assassinations.
Russ: Now, aren't there quite a few people that say that's when our intelligence started to deteriorate quite significantly?
John: I think you'd be right on that.
Russ: Yeah.
John: Okay, and it was one of these do-gooder things that-
Russ: Yeah. Yeah. It sounds good.
John: It sounds good. Yeah. We don't want to assassinate any political-
Russ: Right.
John: -but, you know what we have to do now?
Russ: Right.
John: We have to invade the country.
Russ: Right. Right.
John: Get a couple thousand of soldiers wiped out-
Russ: Right.
John: -and countless citizens-
Russ: Right.
John: -in Iraq just to get Saddam out of the way-
Russ: Right.
John: -and he ends up being executed anyway.
Russ: Right. I heard former Secretary of State Jim Baker talk about this one time, and he said that's what changed the landscape. We don't have nearly the intelligence anymore.
John: No. That covers a lot of areas.
Russ: Yes.
John: Not having any intelligence.
Russ: Yes, it does.
John: This week in business history, in 1984, Apple Computer unveils its Macintosh personal computer.
Russ: Well, yeah. Wasn't that a Super Bowl ad?
John: Well, yeah.
Russ: Yeah.
John: That was a great-That's one-
Russ: Yeah.
John: -of those-
Russ: Yeah.
John: -iconic ads.
Russ: Right. Wow! And that's interesting that it happened. See, that was 84-16-24 years ago, and now, we've got this concern with Steve Jobs and his health. Sheesh!
John: I know.
Russ: Okay.
John: All right. This week in business history, in 1986, the 25th space shuttle, Challenger, explodes 73 seconds after liftoff. That's the one that had the teacher in it. Christa McAuliffe, and do you remember where you were at that time?
Russ: I absolutely do, man.
John: Where were you?
Russ: Well, I was running a computer land operation, and it just blew me away because we had started become complacent, thinking they're going to go up every-
John: Oh yeah.
Russ: And then, here's this famous one with a teacher on board, and jeez!
John: I know. I know. Unbelievable. I was having lunch with a Pittsburgh bigwig.
Russ: Wow!
John: I was running the Pittsburgh Business Times.
Russ: Okay.
John: This week in business history, in 1993, Sears announced it's closing its catalog sales department after 97 years.
Russ: Now that was sad to me. I grew up in a small Texas town, and the Sears catalog was your exposure to the world.
John: I know, and I'll tell you, one of the great things about the catalog, it was some of the best advertising copy.
Russ: Really? Wow!
John: All right. This week in business history, in 1996, the 23rd American Music Award goes to Garth Brooks for playing-
[Music: "Low Places" By Garth Brooks]
Russ: All right! So, you ended up on a high note this week, man.
John: In more ways than one.
Russ: Yeah. That's right. Cool deal! Great history lesson!
John: Thank you, sir.
Russ: As usual.
John: Okay. I appreciate it.
Russ: And that brings us to navigating business jargon. This is our vocabulary lesson.
John: Yeah.
Russ: Where we take new words, new techno speak, new acronym, new jargon and share with you this word and the meaning.
John: Okay.
Russ: And the way that we have to do this, by contract, is a contest where I say the word and John uses his intellectual skills to guess the meaning.
John: Hey. Isn't it great?
Russ: Yeah. He doesn't know the word, but he's quite good at guessing these-
John: Yeah.
Russ: -and I'd almost bet on him this morning.
John: Okay.
Russ: You ready?
John: Uh, no, but go ahead anyway.
Russ: All right. Here's the word: newszak.
John: Newszak.
Russ: Newszak.
John: Okay. Well, there's like muzak, where it's just kind of music that kind of plays and plays and plays and plays, and you don't even notice it.
Russ: Let me give you a little hint, too. Where does it play?
John: It plays in the offices.
Russ: Sometimes. Originally, it was in a special place that carried-
John: In elevators.
Russ: There you go.
John: That's right.
Russ: Okay.
John: So newszak is the same thing, because a lot of these elevators have these news sites.
Russ: You've got it, man! We've got a winner. Everybody hold your calls.
John: That's two in a row.
Russ: That's right.
John: That's two in a row.
Russ: It's the flat panel TV screens carrying news-
John: Right.
Russ: -and financial information.
John: Uh huh (positive).
Russ: Newszak.
John: Newszak.
Russ: Cool. All right, and that brings us to dumbest moments in business history. Do you have a dumb moment to share with us this morning?
John: You know, the Super Bowl's coming up next week, and Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia were playing in new stadiums.
Russ: Yeah. All of them were.
John: And, it's part of the attempt by local governments to get the taxpayers to rebuild their downtown.
Russ: They seem to be doing that everywhere.
John: I know, and it looks pretty. You know?
Russ: Yeah.
John: Baltimore's got Harbor Place and a couple of downtown stadiums. Pittsburgh-
Russ: Right.
John: -has a couple of downtown stadiums.
Russ: Right.
John: And the problem is, it doesn't work.
Russ: Okay. That is a problem.
John: Okay. If you can't tell, the proof is in the pudding-
Russ: Yeah.
John: -by looking at the population declines, and Philadelphia's population has declined about 4.4% throughout the 1990s, and the US Census Bureau shows that Pittsburgh's population has just been surpassed by Toledo, Ohio.
Russ: Ah. No.
John: They've lost half of their population since the 1950s.
Russ: Wow!
John: Here's the point: You can't manufacture prosperity-
Russ: Right.
John: -from the government's side.
Russ: Right.
John: You just can't spend taxpayer-
Russ: Right.
John: -money and expect things to happen.
Russ: Right.
John: I think these are very clinical results of what happens when you do that.
Russ: Right.
John: Now, shift to right now. We have President Obama, who, a lot of people think is he is going to put a lot of money, taxpayer dollars, into the private sector-
Russ: Right.
John: -in order to grow the economy.
Russ: Right.
John: And we have little laboratories out there, called cities, that have tried to do the same thing.
Russ: Right.
John: Which have turned into dumb moments.
Russ: Right.
John: We just hope we don't have another one, which will be much-
Russ: On a national scale.
John: -bigger on a national scale here.
Russ: So, if you've got a city, and you know the population's declining, you really should back off than end up taking taxpayer money and trying to bring it into downtown.
John: Well here's another example of this thing going haywire. Remember in Minneapolis, when that bridge collapsed-
Russ: Oh, yeah.
John: -that goes across that river.
Russ: Yeah.
John: It's a federal bridge-
Russ: Yeah.
John: -but the state's involved.
Russ: Right.
John: The infrastructure went bad on it and the city was saying, "We don't have enough money. We need to go to the government." At the same time all of this is going on, they're spending about a billion dollars in taxpayer money building a new baseball stadium.
Russ: Wow.
John: They have money for that.
Russ: But not the bridge.
John: But not the bridge.
Russ: Yeah.
John: And, you know, people got killed on the bridge.
Russ: Well. Okay. There you go.
John: Okay.
Russ: All right, but before we wrap up The School of Business, it's time for that very popular PKF Texas Entrepreneur's Playbook. So, let's welcome Greg Price-
John: Here he is.
Russ: -on the piano.
John: You know. He's always on time.
Russ: He is, man. Just like clockwork.
John: Here he comes.
Russ: Have a seat.
Russ and John: A one, and a two, and a-
[PKF Entrepreneur's Playbook]
Russ: And that wraps up The School of Business. You're listening to The BusinessMakers Show, heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com. Stay tuned for the Flashback, a review of the Consumer Electronics Show, and then, our featured guest, Judith Cone, Vice-President of Emerging Strategies with the Kaufmann Foundation.
