Russ: Good morning. This is the BusinessMakers Show, heard here and online at TheBusinessMakers.com. And this is that show that champions entrepreneurship, that champions innovation. And we're talking about the private sector there, too, man.

John: I know. The dwindling private sector.

Russ: Yep.

John: Well, in some cities, the public sector is growing –

Russ: Sure.

John: While the private sector is declining.

Russ: Yeah.

John: You don't see a lot of layoffs in the government these days.

Russ: And here's our lineup for this morning. First up for the Aflac BusinessMakers Flashback, we're just going to roll back to Wednesday, when the BusinessMakers Overtime Show does this cool, cool thing that we wanted to share with you, and that is their link of the week. We're talking about the BusinessMakers Overtime. That's Katie Laird and Esther Steinfeld.

John: Now you talk about a bunch of go-getters –

Russ: Man.

John: – those two women are really –

Russ: Man.

John: – they're on fire.

Russ: That's right. And this flashback was from their live appearance at the Coffee Groundz Coffee Shop. And then for our featured guest segment, last week, Rice University hosted the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers, and I got to sit down with Jeff Sandefer, serial entrepreneur, former venture capitalist, veteran entrepreneur educator, and now, along with several other entrepreneurs, started their own business school. That's the Acton School of Business –

John: Oh, Acton. They're great.

Russ: Acton. Totally.

John: Named after Lord Acton.

Russ: They are totally focused on entrepreneurship.

John: Yeah.

Russ: And Jeff Sandefer is co-founder and master teacher at the Acton School of Business.

John: And let me just say one more things before we move on.

Russ: You bet.

John: A lot of people probably, if they're listening to this on the radio, aren't getting this full conversation –

Russ: Right.

John: – which they need to get.

Russ: Right.

John: So I tell everyone, and I suggest to all you –

Russ: Right.

John: – that you go to TheBusinessMakers.com –

Russ: Right.

John: – website, where you'll get the expanded lesson plan –

Russ: Right. Right.

John: – for the School of Business.

Russ: Right. You get the expanded one, and the transcribed version.

John: And the transcribed version.

Russ: On the radio, they have trouble showing that transcript, you know.

John: I know. I'm holding it up to the microphone right here. Can you see it there? There it is.

Russ: But first... That's right. It's time for the BusinessMakers School of Business. Now I think we kind of compare with the Acton School of Business, actually.

John: I think so. Well, you know, our basic philosophy is that the government that governs best governs least –

Russ: That's right.

John: – and that's a quote from Thomas Jefferson.

Russ: There you go.

John: And in order for this country to succeed from an economic standpoint, it – the creators have to have the license and the freedom to create –

Russ: Right.

John: – to do what they do best.

Russ: Perfect -

John: And that's what – and that's why I think this is still the best place on earth to survive –

Russ: Right.

John: – and to grow a company.

Russ: Right. Yeah. There you go.

John: All right.

Russ: All right. And we kick off the School of Business each Saturday morning with the quote of the day.

John: Quote of the day.

Russ: And this morning's quote comes from H. L. Mencken.

John: Oh, famous journalist from –

Russ: You bet.

John: – Baltimore. I used to work at the same newspaper, the Baltimore Sun.

Russ: Wow. Wow.

John: Of course, not at the same time –

Russ: Because he was already gone.

John: Right. He was portrayed in that movie Inherit the Wind –

Russ: Wow.

John: – about the Scopes monkey trial.

Russ: Now he was the guy that supposedly gave it the moniker of the monkey trial.

John: Right. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting.

Russ: Okay. Here's his quote. It's pretty cool.

John: All right.

Russ: "Under democracy, one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule."

John: Right.

Russ: "And both commonly succeed and are right."

John: Yeah.

Russ: I think he's – I think he's right.

John: P.J. O'Rourke has something similar –

Russ: Yeah.

John: – in one of his quotes. He said that, "The difference between Republicans and Democrats is Democrats promise you that government can do everything. Republicans campaign usually on the fact that government doesn't work – "

Russ: Right.

John: " – and then they get elected and prove it."

Russ: Great. Great. All right. And that brings us to this week in business history. So John, tell us what happened on this last week in October in business history?

John: Okay. This week in business history, in 1858, okay, this is before the Civil War.

Russ: Yeah.

John: Okay? Macy's is a hit.

Russ: Wow.

John: All right. This guy Roland Macy, he was a failure, business failure. Failed about seven times – Russ Caper: Yeah.

John: – in various things. But in 1858, he founded his department store and called it Macy's.

Russ: Well, finally.

John: And today's, it's one of the largest department stores in the world.

Russ: Wow. Finally got it right.

John: Finally got it right.

Russ: Okay. Cool.

John: This week in business history, in 1881, now this is after the Civil War –

Russ: Right.

John: – after the Battle of Little Bighorn –

Russ: Right.

John: – in 1881, Pablo Picasso was born, and later becomes probably the most influential artist of the 20th century, although he was born, you know –

Russ: Right.

John: – in 1881.

Russ: Right.

John: I think what hurt his career from a financial standpoint –

Russ: Yeah.

John: – was he gave away a bunch of paintings –

Russ: Yeah.

John: – anyway, to Kate Winslet, who was on the Titanic.

Russ: And they went down.

John: And they went down, all those paintings went down. Okay?

Russ: I didn't even realize he knew Kate Winslet.

John: I was surprised she didn't try to save those paintings instead of Leonardo DiCaprio. And he had various phases where he changed his style and all that.

Russ: But from an early age, he was hitting home runs, wasn't he?

John: He wasn't a baseball player. I think he was just an artist, you know. He probably would have struck out a lot.

Russ: Okay.

John: All right. But right after the day he was born –

Russ: Yeah.

John: – was the shootout, the gunfight, at OK Corral, the Earp brothers against the Clanton/McLaury gang in Tombstone, Arizona.

Russ: Man, you are connecting the dots.

John: I know.

Russ: I don't think most people realize that the day after Picasso was born –

John: There's a hit – there's a – I know. There's a continuum in life, you know.

Russ: Yeah. Yeah.

John: And the gunfight itself was portrayed in a number of movies, the most famous, The Gunfight at OK Corral in 1957, starring Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp –

Russ: Yeah. Yeah.

John: – and then there was Tombstone, and then Wyatt Earp in 1994.

Russ: And I assume you had a favorite?

John: Yeah. I saw all three movies. I would say Burt Lancaster was the best Wyatt Earp, although that movie did the worst portrayal of the gunfight.

Russ: Now how do we know? Were there –

John: Well, there were eyewitnesses.

Russ: Okay.

John: And I saw a documentary on the whole fight between the Clantons and the Earps, and they had a reenactment of the gunfight. You'd be surprised how many shots were fired that did not hit anybody.

Russ: Really?

John: I mean, they were terrible shots back in those days.

Russ: Now the –

John: Of course, you're – you know, the blood – your blood's running. The adrenaline's going.

Russ: Yeah.

John: You know, you're not going to aim and point –

Russ: You're going to spray them, man.

John: You're just going to shoot at anything that moves, you know, and use –

Russ: Now the Earp brothers were on the law and order side, were they not?

John: Well, they were –

Russ: Or is it questionable?

John: They were questionable characters, to say the least.

Russ: Yeah. Yeah.

John: And of course, we all remember Hugh O'Brien, who played Wyatt Earp –

Russ: Yeah.

John: – in a TV show.

Russ: Yeah. That's right.

John: And –

Russ: That's right.

John: – he was a clean-cut guy. Okay. This week in business history, at 2:35 in the afternoon of October 27, 1904, the Mayor in New York takes control of the inaugural run of the City's new innovative rapid transit system called the subway.

Russ: Wow.

John: Yeah. And have you ever ridden on the subway?

Russ: Why, yes, I have.

John: Everybody rides on the subway.

Russ: Yeah. Yeah.

John: Man, it's a good way to – it's the best way to get from midtown Manhattan to the US Open Tennis tournament.

Russ: It is.

John: You take the – I think it's called the L train. And you get out there in about a half an hour –

Russ: Yeah.

John: – and it's really nice. New York is one of those rare cities in the United States where that kind of mass transit actually works, because of the population density.

Russ: Yeah.

John: Which is becoming less dense due to the tax policy of a certain mayor.

Russ: That's right. But it's massive what it took to build something like that –

John: I know. It's amazing. Okay. This week in business history, in 1955, the movie Rebel Without a Cause opens, and that starred James Dean, who had died in a car accident several weeks earlier. In other words, before the movie came out.

Russ: Right.

John: And it's a sad thing that James Dean died.

Russ: Right.

John: Don't get me wrong. But it really probably helped ticket sales –

Russ: Right.

John: – I would think.

Russ: In any –

John: It's kind of like an artist, like Picasso.

Russ: That's right.

John: Who dies.

Russ: Yeah.

John: His art's going to be much more valuable because there's – you know, they know there's –

Russ: It's over.

John: – not going to be –

Russ: He can't make anymore.

John: He can't make anymore. Right.

Russ: Right. So – but I mean, like James Dean, he was like just two or three movies, wasn't he?

John: Yeah.

Russ: And that was it. I mean –

John: But I got to tell you, I never did see East of Eden.

Russ: Yeah.

John: I didn't like Rebel Without a Cause.

Russ: Yeah.

John: I thought this tortured teenager schtick was just getting tedious, you know.

Russ: Yeah.

John: But the movie Giant –

Russ: Yeah.

John: – I thought was the best.

Russ: No. I loved Giant. Yeah.

John: I know. It was based on some wildcat Texas oilman –

Russ: Yeah. Yeah.

John: – type. So –

Russ: I think it was actually based on a real guy, Glenn McCarthy.

John: Yeah. Glenn McCarthy.

Russ: Yeah.

John: A lot of people it's Glenn McCarthy.

Russ: Yeah.

John: And one of the last scenes James Dean is in, he's an older man, he's a drunkard –

Russ: Right. Right.

John: – and gets in some fist fight with Rock Hudson. That's a great movie.

Russ: Right.

John: I just love it.

Russ: All right. Okay.

John: This week in business history, in 1955, Bill Gates is born, who later starts a little-known company called Microsoft.

Russ: So he's turning 54.

John: He's turning 54.

Russ: Wow.

John: I think he's done okay for himself.

Russ: Well, yeah. I think he epitomized the way that capitalism is supposed to work, and help the unprivileged, and to help – because he takes his money and he does incredibly good things with it compared to government agencies.

John: I know. Right. It's more efficient.

Russ: Yeah.

John: It's more efficient.

Russ: Yeah.

John: And –

Russ: And he studies it, and puts thought into it.

John: And I – you know, I admire his – the way he stood up to the government in that antitrust thing.

Russ: Right. Yeah.

John: Okay. This week in business history, in 1966, the Monkeys were certified gold in 1966 with The Last Train to Clarksville.

[Music: "The Last Train to Clarksville"]

Russ: What a manufactured group that was.

John: That was – and they were good.

Russ: Yes, they were.

John: I liked them. You know, the one guy, Mickey Dolan –

Russ: Yeah.

John: – was in a TV show called Circus Boy back when I was a little kid.

Russ: Really? And then – and then there was Nasmith, you know.

John: Yeah. Right.

Russ: He was just like a musician that got a job, and got famous, and –

John: I know. Well, you know, he discovered basketball, you know, and then –

Russ: Yes. And then he became a rock –

John: – became part of the Monkeys. Yeah. Right. Okay. This week in business history, in 1973, Gladys Knight and the Pips, one of my favorite groups. I love that group.

Russ: Oh, yeah.

John: Okay? I love Gladys Knight. What a –

Russ: Oh, yeah.

John: What a soulful, melodic voice she has.

Russ: Oh, yes.

John: "Midnight Train to Georgia," number one song in 1973.

[Music: "Midnight Train to Georgia"]

Russ: And you know that part when they're doing – about the train, and all the Pips go (hooting noise).

John: Yeah. Well, I want to know, what is a Pip.

Russ: I'm not sure. It's one of these guys, is what it is.

John: I know. We'll have to look it up on Wikipedia, and –

Russ: I'm sure it's all attributed to singing background –

John: A pip –

Russ: – for Gladys Knight.

John: All right. This week in business history, 1980, the tough times in Detroit.

Russ: Yeah.

John: Okay? GM posts an incredible loss of $567 million. Just horrible times, because the quality, the lack of quality in the US auto production, was really catching up to them, and the Japanese were coming in here, creating huge market share opportunities.

Russ: Right. Right.

John: But it was like in mid-1980, Ford for the first time in their history actually out-earned General Motors.

Russ: Wow.

John: One of the mistakes General Motors made, in my estimation, is they took their luxury, big luxury cars –

Russ: Yeah.

John: – and downsized them.

Russ: Yep.

John: And they all looked alike. They all shared the same engine, and Roger Smith –

Russ: Well, yes.

John: – really gummed the whole place up.

Russ: Well, they – yeah. That was when they even sort of talked about planned obsolescence, and we want these things to wear out so people will buy new cars.

John: Yeah.

Russ: And the Buick looked like the Chevy looked like the Pontiac. I mean, geez.

John: Little do they know, they were planning their own obsolescence.

Russ: Yes, they were.

John: Unfortunately, the taxpayers are trying to still keep them propped up.

Russ: Yep. That's right.

John: Okay. This week in business history, in 1984, this is rather prophetic, you know, if you've read the book 1984.

Russ: Right.

John: An infant receives a baboon heart in a heart transplant. Okay? The infant known as Baby Faye had a deformity that is almost fatal, called left heart syndrome. But her health was restored with a baboon heart.

Russ: Momentarily.

John: She – yeah. Right.

Russ: But weren't there a lot of people back then that knew that this wouldn't work?

John: Hey, everybody says things don't work until they do.

Russ: All right. That's true. All right.

John: I mean, that – that's a good quote. You can quote me on that, one of these days.

Russ: Okay.

John: Everybody predicts that the new things are never going to work until they do.

Russ: That's right.

John: And then they deny they ever said it.

Russ: That's right.

John: Right. Okay. And finally, this week in business history, in 2005, George Ballas, the inventor of the Weedeater, and it was because of him that we had the Frost/Nixon interviews.

Russ: Yes.

John: Okay?

Russ: Right.

John: The series of interviews that was portrayed later on in that Ron Howard movie that was not very accurate.

Russ: Right.

John: But still, it was because of his foresight –

Russ: Right.

John: – and the fact that he was probably the only sponsor that would sponsor that, because, you know, Richard Nixon was not a popular guy back then.

Russ: Right.

John: But he was a guest on the BusinessMakers Show –

Russ: That's right.

John: – in 2005, one of our first guests.

Russ: Exactly.

John: And we asked him about that.

Russ: That's right. That's right.

John: People want to know how he got to sponsor the Frost/Nixon interviews, just go to the archived interview –

Russ: That's right.

John: – and he'll tell you all about it. Right?

Russ: That's right. That's right.

John: Okay. And that's it.

Russ: That's it. All right.

John: That's a 30. All right?

Russ: Okay. Good history lesson. And it was good that you ended it on such a positive note, on George Ballas. I mean, we had a lot of people write in on that interview, man.

John: I know. Well, they should. Yeah. Because it was – it was a ground-breaking – because before that, the only way you clipped your weeds or trimmed, you had to get down on your hands and knees with one of those clipper things, and you had to squeeze it. You know, and it was like an elongated pair of scissors.

Russ: That's right.

John: All right.

Russ: All right. And that brings us to navigating business jargon.

John: Yeah.

Russ: This is our vocabulary lesson, where we find the new words that are happening all the time out there, the acronyms, the technospeak, just jargon in general, and –

John: I know.

Russ: – you know it's just bubbling up every day.

John: It's just a – it's just a wonderful jargon world out there, isn't it?

Russ: It is. It is.

John: I'm so happy and proud to be part of it.

Russ: You bet. The way that we present this is in contest format.

John: That's right.

Russ: Where John is the contestant and I am the judge and the selector of the word. Right?

John: Yeah.

Russ: Okay. And today's word is kind of special, because it was input by an audience member.

John: An audience –

Russ: Yes.

John: Who is the audience member?

Russ: Michael Baxter is his name, and he's a regular listener, and he inputs all the time. And –

John: All right. Okay.

Russ: You ready?

John: Yeah.

Russ: From Michael Baxter. Here's the word.

John: Okay. All right.

Russ: Faceboob.

John: Faceboob. Okay.

Russ: Faceboob.

John: Boob.

Russ: Yeah.

John: Okay. We all know what Facebook is.

Russ: Yes, we do.

John: All right. Facebook is the social media medium, I would say.

Russ: Yeah.

John: Faceboob is someone who gets on Facebook and acts like an idiot, and posts all sorts of ridiculous things, and says crazy things, and, you know, that's what a Faceboob is.

Russ: Boy, am I – I wish I had Michael on the phone to ask him if he's going – I think we – I think he would give you a winner on that.

John: All right.

Russ: So we're going to – Faceboob, according to Michael Baxter, is someone who spends way too much time on Facebook at the expense of their job and their family –

John: Oh, yeah. Right.

Russ: – and anything productive. So it's very similar to what you said. So that's why we're going to make you a winner this morning.

John: All right. Okay.

Russ: All right. And that brings us to dumbest moments. Do you have a dumb business story to share with us this morning?

John: Yeah. This is from Arnold from California.

Russ: Arnold.

John: Okay. He just signed an environmental exemption bill to pave the way for the construction of a new football stadium for Los Angeles.

Russ: Oh, and so they don't have to abide by the regular environmental rules?

John: Right. Right. He signed –

Russ: Because it's sports. It's professional sports.

John: Yeah. The State House – the State House, you know, went along with it, and they okayed it, and he signed it into law.

Russ: Okay. Right.

John: Now the thing is, it's – there's no football team in Los Angeles.

Russ: Right.

John: They're going to have to go get one.

Russ: Right.

John: And they might be able to do it. LA's a big market and everything, you know.

Russ: Yeah. Yeah.

John: And I understand Jacksonville is – they're not doing well financially, and maybe they'll move there.

Russ: Okay.

John: But that's not the point.

Russ: Right.

John: The point is, there's an economic base –

Russ: Right.

John: – of commerce that really needs an environmental exemption, and those are the farmers in California that are having all their water diverted that could be used to irrigate their land, to make it profitable and grow crops –

Russ: And they're not getting it –

John: They're not getting it –

Russ: – because of some environmental –

John: – because there's a little fish called the smelt, and somehow, if they let the farmers have the water, the smelt's going to be affected negatively.

Russ: Does the football stadium affect the smelt?

John: I don't think they care. Okay? So what – I think that the farmers really want to get –

Russ: Yeah.

John: If they want to get the exemption, then they ought to start a California Valley Football Association and start – you know, don their helmets and start playing football.

Russ: Get out there.

John: Get out there and start playing football.

Russ: Start blocking and tackling, and they –

John: But just – this is –

Russ: – get an environmental exemption.

John: This just goes to show you how the environment can really hurt the economy.

Russ: Yeah.

John: And you look at the numbers in California, the most recent numbers I've found before we did the show here, and it was August 2009, and it's 12.2 percent unemployment. That's a preliminary number, but it's probably pretty close.

Russ: Yeah.

John: So, California is in no position to be picking winners and losers here. You know, based on some wacko environmental – some little fish.

Russ: Yeah.

John: I mean, I think the people are more important than the fish.

Russ: I do, too.

John: All right. Okay. That's my –

Russ: I get the point, and that qualifies. All right. And before we wrap up this morning's School of Business, it's time for the very popular PKF Texas Entrepreneurs Playbook. So let's welcome Mr. Greg Price on the piano.

[PKF Texas Entrepreneurs Playbook]

Russ: All right. And that wraps up this morning's School of Business. Be sure and stay tuned in for the Aflac BusinessMakers Flashback, when we roll back to the BusinessMakers Overtime show of Wednesday, when Esther Steinfeld and Katie Laird shared their link of the week. It's a cool listening piece. And then for our featured guest segment with Jeff Sandefer, co-founder and master teacher of the Acton School of Business. You're listening to the BusinessMakers Show, heard here and online at TheBusinessMakers.com.