Announcer: It's a fact, when it comes to those who most positively affect out lives, today's innovators and entrepreneurs top the list. During the next hour, we will turn the spotlight on people who make businesses happen with their creativity, determination and inspiration. This is The BusinessMakers Show, with your hosts Russ Capper and John Beddow, a publisher with American City Business Journals.

Russ: Good morning. This is the BusinessMakers Show heard here an online at theBusinessMakers.com. That's T-H-E-BusinessMakers.com

John: This is a great moment for us every week because the way that the entrepreneur class has kept the economy from totally sinking -

Russ: You bet.

John: - has been quite remarkable.

Russ: Absolutely.

John: And the stamina it takes to succeed in this kind of a marketplace right now really is allottable.

Russ: Absolutely.

John: Yeah.

Russ: And here's the entrepreneur class that we have lined up for this morning. First up for our Aflac BusinessMakers Flashback, we are going to share defining moments that lead to significant success stories. That's right, we filtered our 500 plus start-up stories and selected our favorite defining moments. And then for our featured guest segments, we have Brian Tippens, Director of HP Global Supplier Diversity. But first... That's right it's time for the BusinessMakers School of Business. Perhaps the most valuable thing that we offer to our listeners, right?

John: Yeah, 'cause we don't have much else. [Laughter]

John: Alright.

Russ: Alright, and we kick off the School of Business each Saturday morning first with the quote of the day.

John: Quote of the day.

Russ: And today's quote is by Mr. George Will.

John: George Will.

Russ: Of ABC.

John: He's from - well yeah, he's a great columnist.

Russ: Yeah, right.

John: I do think though he's a little too stiff for my liking.

Russ: He is pretty stiff. [Laughter]

John: And he's got a little bit of that gifted superior being syndrome thing going -

Russ: Well he does, he does.

John: But he does make a lot of sense -

Russ: That's right.

John: - most of the time.

Russ: That's right.

John: Yeah.

Russ: And, but we have no rules or regulations on who we choose to -

John: No, and I was just commenting on the guy, you know -

Russ: - share a quote, okay.

John: - that's all.

Russ: I think you'll like this.

John: Everyone's entitled to my opinion, okay.

Russ: [Laughter]That's right.

John: Alright.

Russ: Alright, here's his quote. "The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised."

John: I know.

Russ: That's cool

John: There's a positive side to being a pessimist -

Russ: Absolutely.

John: - and he proves it, okay.

Russ: Alright, and that brings us to this week in business history. What happened during this last week in May in business history?

John: Well, we're gonna start in 1686, and you know, ever since we've been doing this, for year and years and years, I'm constantly amazed at how the person's last name is given to the invention -

Russ: Right.

John: - of what he invented.

Russ: Absolutely, yeah.

John: In this case in 1686 - my goodness guy - a guy named Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit was born in the city of Danzig.

Russ: Okay.

John: Later moved to Amsterdam, and he is best known for his work on the thermometer.

Russ: You bet.

John: Now he didn't invent the thermometer. There were tons of thermometers out there, going back all the way before Julius Cesar even got assassinated. But what he did is he made the thermometer better by using mercury, which gave it a more even reliable temperature measure, and then he also used the Fahrenheit temperature gradiation system as opposed to Celcius which came along a few years after Fahrenheit's did. Everybody in the world uses Celcius except the United States -

Russ: Right.

John: - it uses Fahrenheit.

Russ: Yeah.

John: And I think Fahrenheit's a better measure to begin with because I don't understand Celcius.

Russ: [Laughter]That's right. Well do you think there might be a little bit of friction between the Celcius family and the Fahrenheit family?

John: I think it's like the Montagues and the Capulets, alright.

Russ: Wow. That's a nice little adjunct to this morning's history lesson.

John: Well I'm full of adjuncts.

Russ: Boy, you are.

John: And I tell you, if you don't have a good adjunct, you shouldn't be doing this.

Russ: [Laughter]That's right.

John: Okay, later on in 1785, this week in business history Benjamin Franklin announces his invention of bifocals.

Russ: Well my goodness, and we're probably both wearing them today, right?

John: Yeah, I know. But, you know, in keeping the name of the person, they should have been called Franklinfocals -

Russ: [Laughter] Yes they should have.

John: - but they're bifocals.

Russ: Alright.

John: Okay. This week in business history, 1896, Dow Jones begins with an index of 12 industrial stocks; 1896.

Russ: Wow.

John: Well this week in business history in 1900 the Associated Press News Service forms in New York City.

Russ: Whoo.

John: And it's still around to this day.

Russ: That's right.

John: This week in business history in 1911, the first Indianapolis 500 auto races were run the brick yard, okay.

Russ: Wow, that was probably cool to see man.

John: You know, I was surprised when I was doing research on the Indianapolis 500, that one of the winners was World War I flying ace, Eddy Rickenbacker.

Russ: My goodness.

John: He actually raced in the Indianapolis 500.

Russ: Wow.

John: Yeah, yeah.

Russ: Cool. Another adjunct right there man, that's cool.

John: Another adjunct yes, yes, okay. This week in business history in 1915 Thomas Edison invents the adjunct.

Russ: [Laughter] Okay, great.

John: No, actually he invented the telescribe which was used to record telephone conversations -

Russ: Very interesting.

John: - all the way back in 1915.

Russ: I know, I know. And it's still controversial technique, you know. In some states, it's okay to record conversations as long as one person knows.

John: One person knows.

Russ: In some states, it's not legal under any conditions.

John: Yeah in some states, that one person doesn't even have to have anything to do with the telephone conversation.

Russ: [Laughter] That's right.

John: This week in business history in 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco opens to vehicular traffic. Now they're very specific about vehicular traffic. I wonder what other kind of traffic was using it before they opened it to vehicular traffic.

Russ: Maybe they let people walk across or horses, you know, riding a horse..

John: Maybe they could walk across, horses. Who knows.

Russ: Yeah.

John: This week in business history in 1946, the patent was filed in the US Patent office for the H-Bomb.

Russ: [Laughter] Yeah, right.

John: This week in business history in 1954, IBM announces the vacuum tube electronic brain. It could perform 10 million operations in an hour.

Russ: Well yeah, that's a lot less than your BlackBerry can perform today. [Laughter]

John: I know. I mean the average laptop is probably 10 billion operations per second or something like that.

Russ: However, in 1954 that was huge man.

John: But the thing was the size of, you know, several large rooms, right?

Russ: Yeah, you bet.

John: Plus it had those vacuum tubes which, you know -

Russ: Everything heated up. It heated up the whole town.

John: That's why they had to air condition the room.

Russ: Right

John: They still have to air condition the room a little bit, but nothing like then. This week in business history in 1961, JFK sets goal of putting a man on the moon before the end of the decade.

Russ: What a step that was -

John: Yep

Russ: - and it was bold of him and it's what motivated us to do it.

John: I know, I know, and the thing is he said that - he actually announced it twice, once in Rice Stadium in Houston and then I think there was joint session of Congress or a speech he gave to the American people.

Russ: Right.

John: Or something.

Russ: Right.

John: Okay, this week in business history in 1966, the Beatles release "Paperback Writer".

[Music: "Paperback Writer"]

John: Okay, this week in business history in 1971, the rock group Iron Butterfly disbands.

Russ: Ah, how sad.

[Music: "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida"]

John: Okay, now you all know that's the song "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" which is also the national anthem of Hertsa Gavenia in Slovakia.

Russ: [Laughter] Sure, sure.

John: This week in business history in 1972, White House plumbers break into the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate.

Russ: Well, it was witnessed by Forrest Gump.

John: Well he didn't witness it. He saw the light go on, remember?

Russ: Okay, yeah.

John: He was in the hotel across the street and saw the light go and call the police. But it eventually brought down the Nixon administration.

Russ: Yes it did.

John: This week in business history in 1976, in the judgement of Paris, wine testers rate wines from California higher than their French counterpart. There was a movie -

Russ: Yes.

John: - Bottle Shock -

Russ: Yes, great movie, yes.

John: - and not only did they win that contest, but they've won several others since then, and it really helped save the California wine business.

Russ: Right, and kind of shocked the French wine business. [Laughter]

John: That's an argot the title Bottle Shock.

Russ: Right, there you go.

John: Okay.

Russ: Alright.

John: Last but not least, this week in business history in 1990, this involved an organization called the Resolution Trust Organization.

Russ: Right, right.

John: Federal Agency temporary. An actual temporary federal agency that's put together to help save the savings and loan business -

Russ: Yeah.

John: - and they put up a whopping $130 billion to save the savings and loan business.

Russ: Which is chump change nowadays.

John: Ah, it's a rounding arrow.

Russ: Right, right. [Laughter]

John: Alright.

Russ: We used to think that was a huge disaster.

John: Yeah, I wish the current troubles now were only costing that.

Russ: Absolutely. Well, and that wraps up this morning's history lesson.

John: I've run out of adjuncts.

Russ: Well, there was a bunch of great adjuncts. Good history lesson as usual.

John: Alright, well, okay, well - onward and upward.

Russ: Alright.

John: Okay.

Russ: And that brings us to this morning's Jargon Challenge Round.

John: Yes.

Russ: This is that vocabulary lesson where I go out there and find a new word, acronym, or techno speak -

John: Or you make it up.

Russ: Or I make it up.

John: Okay.

Russ: And therefore John has no idea what word I'm gonna select, nor in the surface what it means.

John: And this is not a jive either.

Russ: No it's not.

John: Okay.

Russ: It's not.

John: Alright.

Russ: Not unlike the rest of our show that is jive. This is not.

John: Yeah, your right. Okay, alright.

Russ: Yeah, okay. [Laughter]

John: It's hard to separate the jive from, you know, the good stuff.

Russ: That's right.

John: I mean, the serious stuff.

Russ: There you go.

John: Okay.

Russ: And I say the word -

John: Yes.

Russ: - and then John guesses the meaning.

John: Well attempts to guess -

Russ: Attempts to guess.

John: - because I don't know the word.

Russ: That's right.

John: I really don't.

Russ: That's right. No wagering please.

John: Yeah. Void where prohibited by law.

Russ: This morning's word's a noun -

John: Okay.

Russ: - and here it is. Peaknik.

John: Peaknik. Okay, picnic is when people go out and have a meal outdoors -

Russ: Yeah.

John: - and then have fun. Bring the kids and play softball. A peaknik -

Russ: Maybe I should spell it for you.

John: Okay.

Russ: P-E-A-K-

John: Oh, okay

Russ: N-I-K.

John: Okay. Peaknik.

Russ: Yeah.

John: Alright. Well beatnik is a guy who is kind of a counter-culture, you know - I mean, kind hip -

Russ: Yeah.

John: - you know, spouts a lot of poetry, drinks a lot of coffee, reads a lot of Jack Kerouac.

Russ: Yeah, okay.

John: A peaknik is someone who is, you know, kind of counter-culture, kind of hip, but he hits his peak so often that he's considered mainstream because he's an innovator.

Russ: [Laughter] Wrong. It was a good effort though. I mean, because I always leave the door open to the opportunity that you're gonna improve the official meaning, and therefore your meaning will become the official meaning. But you didn't do it today.

John: Alright, okay.

Russ: Peaknik has to do with peak oil.

John: Ah!

Russ: And a peaknik is a person who believes that the world's oil reserves will soon peak and that subsequent oil shortages will devastate civilization.

John: Oh, okay.

Russ: Yeah, it's a real optimistic person. [Laughter]

John: Pessimistic. He may be pleasantly surprised -

Russ: That's right.

John: - 'cause they keep finding more of the stuff.

Russ: That's right. Alright, and that brings us to Dumb Moments in Business. What do you have for us this morning John?

John: Well, this is a reason why there's such mistrust about corporate executives -

Russ: Okay.

John: - even though it's mostly unwarranted, okay, in my opinion. Most corporate executives I think work hard.

Russ: Right. But there's some bad apples.

John: And there's some bad apples -

Russ: Yeah, absolutely.

John: - and the General Motors Chairman and Chief Executive Ed Whittaker recently aired some commercials on TV touting and bragging about the fact that they've repaid their $6.7 billion in federal loans, which is not entirely accurate. He's parsing his language, and nobody likes people who parse their language once you've found out you've been parsed, okay.

Russ: [Laughter] Right, right.

John: Now GM of course, has $6.7 billion in federal loans. That's what they paid back, but what was underplayed in the commercial was that the taxpayers are still on the hook for $43 billion. Those taxpayers own 61 percent majority stake in GM, which means the government owns 61 percent of GM, and that wasn't even brought up anywhere.

Russ: Totally paid back is the loan and it made it sound like to, you know, the rank and file consumer listening, "Oh wow, they're back, they paid it all back," which is not the case.

John: Okay.

Russ: And before we wrap up this morning's School of Business, it's time for the very popular PKF Texas Entrepreneur's Playbook.

John: And here's somebody who doesn't deceive anybody. This guy helps people through probably the roughest times they have in their life and that is when they're putting a business together, how do you run it and how to do you put the financial control, and how do you make the money work for you?

Russ: He knows what he's talking about.

John: Here's Greg Price.

Greg: This is Greg Price with PKF Texas' Entrepreneur's Playbook.

It pays to work smarter, not harder. According to a recent study by the IBM Institute for Business Value, organizations that are significantly outperforming their industry peers also happen to utilizing innovation and technology to do things differently.

So when we talk about work, are we are talking about the things we do in our offices, with our co-workers. Our, has it evolved to something broader and more encompassing that sometimes escapes the reaches of our mind. Is work now defined to be a broader set of characters, which includes but is not limited to: employees, partners, vendors, contractors, and an increasingly scalable and reliable network of smart devices and interconnected systems, which care little for geographic location, time zone or distance of its participants?

I recently traveled to Turkey and met with several business contacts and customers from around the world and we all agreed that the world is indeed getting smaller. And in that context, our collective success is tied to our individual successes. And yet, some of the very leaders of many of our global organizations lack the fundamental understanding that we are in a global, innovative world, moving faster and faster towards one economy.

IBM's study was conducted over several months and they surveyed more than 275 executives around the world. They have identified 15 approaches to accomplishing work in a more collaborative, dynamic, and connected fashion. In the coming weeks we will talk about some parts of this survey.

However, their analysis surfaced several key findings:

1. Leading organizations use smarter working practices far more extensively than their lower-performing peers. And they're doing so to fuel growth, not just drive efficiency.
2. Across organizations, the three most pronounced capability gaps blocking greater agility are: process and skill reconfiguration; broader and more embedded collaboration; and integrated, real time information for decision making.
3. The most dynamic, collaborative and connected companies have widely adopted specific technologies that make smarter working practices viable.

How do you rate your organization in working smarter?

To read and comment on the PKF Texas' Entrepreneur's Playbook, visit my blog, fromgregshead.com. And be sure to check out the new mobile ready website at PKF Texas.com - PKF Texas, The Fit That's Right!

Russ: Alright, and that wraps up this mornings School of Business. Stay tuned in for the Aflac BusinessMakers Flashback, where we are going to share defining moments that lead to successful start-ups. And then that is going to be followed by our featured guest segment where I sit down with Brian Tippens, Director of HP Global Supplier Diversity. You're listening to the BusinessMakers Show heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com.