Roger O Green

The business of Billary

I had an a-ha! moment in Chicago after attending a workshop on family-owned businesses at the ASBDC conference. Family-owned businesses are often dysfunctional, because the role in the family is not made distinct from the role in the family-owned business. The instructor used the example of the business owned by dad and/or mom with the children/employees expected to come to Sunday dinner every week, where the conversation would inevitably devolve into talking shop. The people providing the jobs and the people providing the meal are exactly the same, so the family dynamic interferes with the business dynamic, and disaster often follows.

It occurred to me that two of my favorite TV shows involve family-owned businesses, and the dysfunction that it brings, both on ABC: Brothers & Sisters and Dirty Sexy Money. The former is about a guy who owns a produce business; he dies in the first episode, and the succession plan doesn’t always go as he planned, with his elder daughter in charge, much to the resentment of at least one of his sons and his brother-in-law. In DSM, the protagonist tries and fails to stay out of the family businss that his late father worked in but gets sucked into the bizarre family/business dynamic.

One conversation that was taking place at the conference was whether Bill Clinton, supposedly insightful politician, regardless of your political view of him, intentionally sabotaged his wife’s campaign for President, One woman said, “How could he not have?” Here’s my theory; there is this company called Billary. Going back to the late 1970s, its mission was to elect Bill Clinton governor of Arkansas, then later, POTUS. So, by necessity, Bill was CEO of Billary, Inc.

Then it was Hillary’s turn to run things. Except that Bill was used to being the CEO of Billary. Heck, he was used to being “leader of the free world”. So while he may have really tried to cede authority to her, the old business dynamic, mixed with their…complicated family dynamic, got in the way. In an ABC interview in August, Bill Clinton said as much, responding to attacks on his wife as a husband, rather than as a surrogate for the candidate.

In many situations, such as when a new department head is chosen at a university, what the former chair does affects the outcome. When the retired one sticks around in some emeritus status, some of the staff will continue to him or her. Whereas when the older one slips quietly into the sunset, that issue doesn’t arise.

So, I’m convinced that Billary didn’t work in its quest to nominate Hillary as President because it was a dysfunctional business. Moreover, I think Barack Obama did not choose Hillary to be his running mate because he did not want to be tied down to that broken dynamic.

Top photo (c) 2008 by Mary Hoffman
ROG

Eveningwear, swimwear

I had gotten this e-mail from SiteMeter last week and gave me the impression that I was supposed to do something, so I did and lost about 15 hours of data (2 pm Sunday-5 am Monday). Ah well.
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Albany airport weather
Time EDT(UTC);Temp.F(C);Dew Pt F(C);Pressure Inches (hPa); Wind MPH

10 AM (14) Sep 15 71.1 (21.7) 57.0 (13.9) 29.72 (1006) WNW 17
9 AM (13) Sep 15 73.0 (22.8) 57.9 (14.4) 29.68 (1005) WNW 13
8 AM (12) Sep 15 73.0 (22.8) 57.0 (13.9) 29.65 (1004) WNW 9
7 AM (11) Sep 15 73.9 (23.3) 57.0 (13.9) 29.59 (1002) W 13
6 AM (10) Sep 15 77.0 (25.0) 57.0 (13.9) 29.54 (1000) W 23
5 AM (9) Sep 15 81.0 (27.2) 61.0 (16.1) 29.48 (998) W 20
4 AM (8) Sep 15 79.0 (26.1) 68.0 (20.0) 29.42 (996) SW 15
3 AM (7) Sep 15 79.0 (26.1) 70.0 (21.1) 29.41 (995) S 16
2 AM (6) Sep 15 80.1 (26.7) 71.1 (21.7) 29.44 (996) S 17
1 AM (5) Sep 15 80.1 (26.7) 71.1 (21.7) 29.45 (997) S 18
It never got above 85 all the day before, but it was so muggy that I turned the air conditioner on for the first time in nearly a month and still couldn’t sleep past 3 a.m.

The wind knocked out power for about 15,000 customers locally. It was out in Saratoga County, primarily in the town of Wilton; Warren County; and in Rensselaer County, mostly in Troy. But in Albany, avoiding the branches on the bike was all I had to deal with.
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I was pleased to see that Bike Accidents Decline As Ridership Rises. But I had one of those bike moments last week. I’m riding over a land bridge across Henry Johnson Blvd. in Albany, going with traffic as I should. Another bicyclist is crossing the bridge toward me and he waves me to go left. Not a chance. The universal rule, at least in the United States (as opposed to, say the United Kingdom) is for everyone to stay right. Besides 1) he’s in the wrong AND 2) HE can see oncoming traffic without turning around. So I kept coming, yelling “no” and shaking my head. He went around.
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The widely distributed SNL opening, Tina Fey as Sarah Palin; Fey does a GREAT Palin.
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Yesterday morning, I’m remembering this commercial from some years back. Certain elements I recall quite well: the voice of the woman saying “daywear, eveningwear, swimwear” actually it was more like “swinvear”. I know that the point of the commercial was about making choices or the lack thereof. But for the life of me, I couldn’t remember what the commercial was FOR.
My wife remembered it too, but she thought from just a few seasons ago, and doesn’t recall the product either.
You probably remember, though: it was one of the creative ads from Wendy’s, “Soviet Fashion Show”, from 1985. The mind goes strange places at 4 a.m.

ROG

Tag, You’re It Meme

Patty tagged me. I swear I’ve done this before, but since the answer to at least the first question is changeable, and moreover, I am changeable, what the heck.

1. Where was I 10 years ago?

Ten years ago this very week, I traveled to Boston to appear on the TV show JEOPARDY! It did not air until November 9, so it was a royal pain in the whatever to fend off the questions about how well I did.

2. What was on my to-do list today?

The usual: take the daughter to day care. Go to the Y, riding my bike if the weather allows, riding the bus otherwise. Play racquetball, shower. Bus to work, eat shredded wheat. Work, home fpor dinner, try to squeeze in the news before bed.

The other stuff: call church so I can publicize an event (the visit of a theologian to our church next month) in another blog. Publicize the fact that a fellow board member of the Friends of the Albany Public Library Association is getting a prestigious award from the New York Library Association, something I nominated Dennis Mosley for. Try to write a blog post.

3. What would I do if I were a billionaire?

The first thing I’d do is hire a general contractor to get all the things in my house fixed all at once- the roof, the porch, the kitchen cabinets, the extra insulation. The one extravagence – some reasonably large TV with stero speakers. and a deck because my wife wants one. We’d move out until it was all done.
Money for college for Lydia.
Pay off the houses of my sisters and my wife’s brothers.
Contributions to church and various causes.
Travel to six continents.
Hire someone to organize papers and other “stuff”.

4. Five places I’ve lived

Binghamton, NY
Kingston, NY
New Paltz, NY
Charlotte, NC
Jamaica (Queens), NY

5. Bad Habits

My ability to misplace things
My tendency to be late
Emotional eating
Impatience with smokers; I understand they are people, too
My trending towards the melancholy

Oh, I’m not going to tag anyone. Wait, I will, for nefarious reasons:

Gordon, because the last time I tagged people I DIDN’T tag him and he seemed upset
Uthaclena, because it might increase his output
Jaquandor, in hope that it jump-starts him from his blogging lethargy.
Ditto for Librarian 2008
Kelly Brown, just because.
ROG

A free copy of the U.S. Constitution can be yours for the asking

In anticipation of Constitution Day, which is September 17, I asked a number of people this: what is Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution about? I asked a guy who had to study to become a naturalized citizen in the past four years. I asked a librarian. I asked a teacher. I asked a guy who has tried out for JEOPARDY! No one knew.

The answer, BTW, is that Article 1 establishes the legislature, i.e., Congress.
Article 2 establishes the executive branch and Article 3, the judiciary. I was asking this to make a point, which was the primacy of the Congress was intended by the Founders, but it’s difficult to make an argument when no one understands the point of reference. The separation of powers has gotten pretty much out of whack over the past half century, going back to Harry Truman and the Korean war, and mitigated only briefly by Watergate.

I’m so distressed by this outcome that I will send up to the first 100 people to e-mail me with their addresses a copy of the Constitution, plus additional background. The offer ends on the first Monday in October 2008 at 6 pm Eastern time or when supplies run out, whichever comes first.

ROG

QUESTION: Political Mind

1. So how did you get to think like that? Was it a function of your parents?

My parents were Republicans when I was growing up. But being a Republican in New York in the 1960s meant moderate people like Nelson Rockefeller, Jacob Javits, Kenneth Keating (all from NY), William Scranton (PA) and George Romney (MI), not so incidentally the father of Mitt. As the Republican party got more conservative, starting with Nixon’s “southern strategy” which followed LBJ’s signing of the Civil rights Act of 1964, the Democrats became comparative more liberal.

2. Were your parents politically active? Did they talk politics with you?

My father was socially active. though he had a full-time job, he was also a community organizer, keeping the kids off the streets and engaged in meaningful activities. (I must digress here. I’ve seen a number of folks note that Martin Luther King Jr. and even even Jesus Christ were community organizers, which I would argue is largely true. Doesn’t mean Obama is saying he’s MLK or Jesus, any more than if I said I’m for peace so I must be just like Gandhi.)

I don’t remember my parents working campaigns or even putting up bumper stickers or fliers. I do recall talking to them about their votes in the 1968 election, when I talked them into voting for Hubert humphrey rather than Dick Gregory.

3. Have you ever worked on a political campaign?

A few times. the first was supporting Bill Burns for mayor of Binghamton, NY in 1969, I think, in any case, before i could actually vote. Beyond blowing up balloons, I don’t recall what I did. Did more for McGovern in 1972, for naught. My next effort, in 1974, was more successful . I think I’ve only worked four other campaigns, in 1980 (lost), 1995 (won), and two this century, but only because friends of mine wee running – and they both won!
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OK, I’ll admit that publicizing the fact that, as a result of a class action lawsuit, TransUnion is offering free credit monitoring, and doing so on every platform to which I have access is partly in retaliation for TransUnion and the other credit reporting companies trying to sell me stuff for which I was entitled to for free when I had my identity theft scare. Still I want everyone to take advantage of the deal, and you have less than two weeks to do so.

ROG