Podcast appearances and mentions of ray hoffman

Ray Hoffman has today's top local stories from the WCBS 880 newsroom

Ray Hoffman has the afternoon's top local stories from the WCBS newsroom.

Ray Hoffman with the afternoon's top local stories from the WCBS newsroom.

With over 30 years of martial arts experience, Geoff has been training in contact karate and kickboxing since 1987, gaining his 1st Dan Black Belt in 1992, 2nd Dan in 1998, and 3rd Dan in 2003 (with a Grade A-). In 2010, he was awarded his 4th Dan Black Belt by ECKA; in 2016, he was awarded his 5th Dan Black Belt by WAKO GB. In 2021, he passed the Mushin Kai black belt grading conducted by Sensei Alfie “The Animal” Lewis.Geoff is a WAKO GB-qualified instructor in the Milton Keynes area, who has run the Bletchley Club since 1999.Geoff has been training under his instructor, Sensei Dev Barrett, since 1988. He has also trained with other notable instructors: Kancho Henk Kuipers, Michael "Venum" Page, Bill "Superfoot" Wallace, Grandmaster A, Geoff Thompson, Guru Mick Tully, Remy Bonjasky, Semy Schilt, Ronnie Green, Howard Brown, Ray Hoffman, Junior Anderson, Monika Markowska & Jean Frenette. In addition, Geoff has been taught and is qualified to teach the Mushin Ryu syllabus from Sensei Alfie Lewis. Read more about Geoff here: https://www.bletchleydragons.co.uk/geoffI hope you enjoy our chat as much as I did.I'd be grateful if you could leave a review for the Living Martial Arts podcast using the following links: Apple podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/living-martial-arts/id1558703179Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/3MDv2bt1ORsKpD4158cqLA?si=Q9Klv5iQQhOaXiXwhp-OdAPodchaser - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/living-martial-arts-1629450https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/living-martial-arts-1629450Sign up for the newsletter now! at; https://www.livingmartialarts.com

Ray Hoffman has the evening's top local stories from the WCBS newsroom 

Ray Hoffman has the afternoon's top local stories from the WCBS newsroom 

Ray Hoffman has the evening's top local stories from the WCBS newsroom.

Ray Hoffman has the top evening's stories from the WCBS newsroom.

Ray Hoffman has the top stories from the WCBS newsroom.

Ray Hoffman gives the afternoon headlines from the WCBS newsroom.

Ray Hoffman has the afternoon's top local stories from the WCBS newsroom.

Ray Hoffman has the afternoon's top local stories from the WCBS newsroom

Ray Hoffman has the afternoon's top stories from the WCBS newsroom.

Ray Hoffman has the top local stories from the WCBS newsroom 

WSSP's high school insider, Mike McGivern, gets you caught up on all things high school basketball in the area! Guests this hour: Ray Hoffman from Current Electric Tyler Podell - head coach at Franklin, our UW Credit Union Team of The Week Lee Rabas - head coach at #1 ranked Neenah

This week on The Home Improvement Show built by Creative Construction of Wisconsin, Mike McGivern is off. Ray Hoffman, sales and marketing manager of Current Electric and Bingo Emmons, Creative Construction of Wisconsin owner, fill in as guest hosts! They're joined by John Phillips from The Cabinet Maker to talk all things cabinet construction in every room of the home.

Ray Hoffman & Bingo Emmons is joined by a member of Creative Construction of WI or Current Electric to discuss new and innovative ways to improve your home the RIGHT way!

Mike and Ryan speak with Ray Hoffman from Current Electric and Travis Wilson from WISSPORTS.net

Ray Hoffman & Bingo Emmons is joined by a member of Creative Construction of WI or Current Electric to discuss new and innovative ways to improve your home the RIGHT way!

January 4, 2021 RECESSED Rockingham County Commissioners Meeting(Wentworth, NC) - Audio of the RECESSED January 4, 2021 meeting of the Rockingham County Board of Commissioners (Landfill Work Session). The meeting was held at the Rockingham County Governmental Center in Wentworth, NC.AGENDA1. MEETING CALLED BACK INTO SESSION BY CHAIRMAN HALL2. RONNIE TATE, DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING AND PUBLIC UTILITIESReview of the Landfill Tip Fee Study prepared by Ray Hoffman of Carlson Environmental Consultants PC.Approval of the following recommendations from the Rockingham County SolidWaste Committee:1. Approval of a $1.00 per ton tipping fee increase to take affect on July 1, 2021.2. Approval of the Landfill Holiday Schedule to allow November 25 and 26, 2021 and December 24 and 25, 2021 as holidays for the Landfill staff.3. Approval to begin negotiations for property purchase at the Landfill. Solid Waste Committee has approved this.3. ADJOURN# # #

Mike McGivern is joined by Muskego athletic director and co-host Ryan McMillan. Hear from Ray Hoffman of Current Electric, Greendale head coach, Rob Stoltz and Ryan's father, Dick McMillan, in this hour.

Ray Hoffman operates the Upper Ferry on the Wicomico River. The Upper Ferry is one of three cable ferries on the Delmarva Peninsula. The others are the Whitehaven Ferry, again crossing the Wicomico, and the Woodland Ferry, which crosses the Nanticoke River. Thanks to Tessa Stultz for the new logo! Delmarva's Own website. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jeffrey-scott3/message

As this is being recorded, on the 11th of April, 2020, what good news we see and hear is almost entirely in the context of people making extraordinarily good things happen in the face of what, for most Americans living today, is the worst crisis we’ve ever faced. So, especially now, it’s good to be reminded of how, at its core, the U.S. economy, in its essential design around the free and voluntary exchange of goods and services — including research, technology, and good ideas — is the perfect and proper vehicle for leading us out of this. And so, it’s extremely valuable to have new research to not only show how the coronavirus is affecting business but also to show how business people already are looking toward the day when this is all behind us.The National Center for the Middle Market at Ohio State University conducts a quarterly survey to establish a benchmark. It’s worth taking a look back at the surveys it conducted in the summer and fall of 2019.Listen to Ray Hoffman’s conversation with Tom Stewart, Executive Director of the National Center for the Middle Market. Key Takeaways: [1:39] Ray Hoffman asks Tom Stewart about business optimism in late 2019. Every quarter, the National Center for the Middle Market surveys 1,000 companies with revenues between $10 million and $1 billion. In the third quarter, they saw a sudden drop in confidence and projected sales after a long expansion. [2:18] In the fourth quarter, those numbers came back up but the trendline showed slowing rates of growth. Projected rates of growth were dropping from a pretty high level. [3:00] Tom contrasts the projected confidence number of 90% in the first quarter of 2017 and 83% in the fourth quarter of 2019. The projected confidence plunged to 60% in the first quarter of 2020 with the pandemic. Growth rates drifted down from before the pandemic and within the pandemic. More companies reduced their workforce. [4:20] Tom shares his experience as the pandemic started showing up. He saw that planes went from full to empty in March. The National Center for the Middle Market commissioned a “pulse” survey of 260 mid-sized companies from March 23 to 25. [5:43] These were private companies, not directly impacted by the stock market. That group of companies had said in December that they expected to grow at 5.8% in the coming 12 months. On March 23, 78% of them said growth will decline in the coming 12 months and 64% said employment will shrink, instead of growing. [6:36] Twenty-five percent of the 260 companies surveyed said they believe the impact of the virus will be catastrophic for their business. Eighty-one percent said there would be an impact on payroll. Eighty-four percent expected an impact on revenue and operations. [7:02] Ray comments that the S&P 400 Mid-cap Index fell 40% from February 19 to March 23, and the S&P 500 Large-cap Index was down 34% in the same period. Tom discusses the risks to private companies and public companies. How much access to capital they have, in the short run, plays a role. [8:15] Tom mentions survival rates from the 2007–2009 financial crisis. Small business takes the biggest hit. The survival rate for middle-market companies is comparable to that of large companies. They have pretty strong resilience. In the crisis, surviving private middle-market companies added jobs, looking forward. [9:35] One of the questions on this pulse-check survey was “How quickly do you think you’ll be able to get back to business at full capacity?” Thirteen percent said, immediately. Twenty-six percent said, within a month. Eighty percent said they would be up and running at full capacity within six months. The measure of full capacity varies. [10:40] The National Center for the Middle market will ask these same questions in June. Tom will see whether more companies express confidence in their resilience, or whether more people say it will take a little longer than expected. Companies were asked in March how big the impact will be. Some companies said it would be positive! [11:07] Zoom’s stock has zoomed in the first quarter of this year. [11:57] The companies’ biggest negative impacts were on operations, revenue, payroll, employment, supply chain, and working capital, in that order. The companies’ biggest struggles were supply chain, cash and working capital, customer experience, and operations, in that order. The supply chain is out of the companies’ direct control. [13:44] Only 9% reported any new problems with information technology. The great technology available allows us to look optimistically at this entire situation. Before the internet, our ability to communicate was so much less than it is today. The IT industry is taking the strain of capacity pretty well in this pandemic crisis. [14:42] Of the 260 companies surveyed, their sales expectations collapsed 46% between December and March; demand for their goods and services went down 25%. The owners’ perception of the business climate went down 9%. Companies can’t sell, but demand is still there. When business comes back, there will be residual demand. [16:23] Some of these data are available on their website at MiddleMarketCenter.org. The following observations on business transformations are not: Significantly fewer companies are considering making a transformative acquisition, bringing in a major investor, merging with another company, or selling the business. [17:21] About 35% say they are more likely to have a senior leadership transition, which is a higher percentage than normal. Twenty percent said they were less likely to restructure. Forty-four percent said they were more likely to restructure, with remote work, fewer employees, fewer lines of business, more digitalization, or a new start. [18:45] Tom has heard since the survey that many organizations are planning new ways to navigate financially, from SBA loans to subsidies and how to work with the CARES Act. Companies are starting to get some advice on how to move on. [20:30] Sixty percent of the companies surveyed expressed any level of confidence for their future. It’s a relatively low number, but Tom had feared it would be worse. Confidence numbers were like that in 2013. Sixty-nine percent of the middle-market had some level of confidence in their local economy. [21:06] There is an underlying belief that the U.S. economy is flexible and that investment and performance go to places where there is an opportunity for return. Secondly, built into the rich and diverse U.S. economy are a lot of intermediaries and advisors. [21:38] A study at Harvard Business School looked at obstacles to growth in emerging markets. They found that your ability to get access to intermediaries and business services, such as third-party logistics (3PL), determines your rate of growth. The absence of intermediaries slows down growth. [22:56] You can take it from Tom Stewart: When at last we’re ready, there will be reason for optimism and plenty of it. This is capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Stephens.com Thomas A. Stewart on LinkedIn Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University MiddleMarketCenter.org SBA Loans CARES Act Harvard Business School

Rachel Klausner would agree the first thing you need to know about her is that she’s a millennial — a 30-year-old product software designer from Boston, who has found her calling with an app called Millie, as in millennials. In the world of 2020, it’s a vehicle for her fellow millennials to make contributions to charities and other nonprofits. But as it grows, it could well become the dominant platform for givers of all ages. If you can use a dating app, you can use Millie. Key Takeaways: [:22] Ray Hoffman introduces Rachel Klausner, Founder and CEO of Millie. [:57] Rachel doesn’t mind when people compare Millie to a charitable version of Tinder. Rachel has never used a dating app. Millie matches users each week with nonprofits that match their profile. The user swipes right to donate, just like on a dating app. [1:39] Rachel’s parents had tried to instill into their children a passion for giving. Rachel is grateful for that influence. She refers to her Jewish practice of tithing to set aside a portion of her income to give to charity. Rachel says that for many years she was not thoughtful about where she was giving. She created Millie for thoughtful giving. [2:33] Millie is short for millennials, the core target market of the app. Rachel wanted an app for the millennial generation to feel good about their contributions. [3:22] Rachel feels very connected to others in her generation, the first kids with tech before the world knew how to handle technology. [4:26] Millennials are very different from their parents in how they give. Their baby boomer parents give more traditionally and thoughtfully, Rachel says. The data shows millennials give most of their money through their peers, for run/walk/ride fundraiser events and unvetted campaigns through sites like GoFundMe. [5:43] Millennials give a big portion of their wealth, but their giving doesn’t necessarily match the causes about which they care. Rachel believes this is because millennials are approached daily for donations through their social media, and it is hard to refuse. [6:20] Rachel realized when she was doing her taxes that most of the money she was giving was going through her friends. That struck Rachel, who had grown up with her parents being very thoughtful about giving. [7:13] This realization lit a fire under Rachel to ask how we can get people to be more thoughtful and be more empowered to give to causes that are important to them. [7:30] Rachel was working on a different startup with a friend. It wasn’t a passion project for her. She was working on a charitable event on the side because she cared about it. As she spent more time on her side event, she realized she had to choose one or the other. [8:14] Rachel realized she could use her software product-design skill set to scale the work she was doing for her event into an app for other events. She shifted her focus from the startup to developing the Millie app. Rachel explains what it took to develop the app besides designing it — amazing people, advisors, mentors, engineers, and more. [9:53] Rachel’s first big error was in underestimating the time for the Apple Store to approve the Millie app. They didn’t approve it but demanded changes to the app that were not detailed in the Apple Store guidelines. It took weeks to get approval, which delayed the roll-out. Rachel notes there were other mistakes along the way. [11:34] Rachel had about 100 nonprofit profiles in the beta version of the app. The nonprofits were excited because they were not engaging millennials through the traditional channels. They knew this app would reach them. [12:41] Since the app was released, it has grown organically. Millie doesn’t do any more outreach to nonprofits. Every U.S. nonprofit has a base profile Mille has pulled from the nonprofit’s IRS 990 form. The nonprofits come to Millie to clean up their profiles with photos, videos, and content for the web and mobile app. [13:36] To get the first 100 nonprofits, Rachel set up a Calendly link for people to sign up. Rachel did back-to-back calls all day for the first few months. Rachel loved talking to the nonprofits about their pain points, challenges, and successes. Best Friends Animal Society was one of the first nonprofits on board. [14:43] Rachel was able to get donor-advised funds on board. It took a lot of long, hard conversations with a lot of funds. There is still a lot to be done to democratize giving. [15:34] Getting into a donor-advised fund (DAF) on Millie starts at only $20, compared to a $5,000 minimum donation to a traditional DAF. Most DAFs are not looking for everyday donors. They want to service high-net-worth individuals. [16:21] Millie is launching an employee giving program with employee donation matching from the employer. They are in the pilot stage now. [16:43] Rachel explains that operating costs are covered by a 5% fee on every donation on the consumer side. On the corporate employee side, the company pays Millie to operate their account, so there is no transaction fee for employee donations. Eventually, Rachel expects to shift the consumer transaction fee as well. [17:39] Companies of every size are thinking about how to engage with the community, what their social impact is, and how they give back as a company. Rachel is excited to have a platform that can service companies with 10 employees, 1,000 employees, or 10,000 employees. Earlier giving software was focused on Fortune 500 companies. [18:55] The app has five stars in the App Store. Rachel acknowledges there are pieces to the product that they want to improve. Rachel is excited about building out new features for companies as they come to the Millie platform, such as competitive engagement for employees and teams. [20:02] Rachel talks about the risks she has taken in going from the employee world to the startup world. She compares the first startup she abandoned to her experience with Millie. You must be passionate about the startup. There is so much risk. If it’s the right path for you, and you have the passion, it’s okay to feel scared sometimes. [22:15] Rachel has big dreams. She always thinks of Millie as being the future home for giving through your employer or on your own. Millie is a connector for people to understand nonprofits better and find great nonprofits. There is scalable growth for Millie, for which Rachel yearns. She is excited to do good in the world. [23:12] Millie’s growth means bringing on more dollars for nonprofits and that is what excites Rachel. They want to make a huge impact. [23:26] Ray Hoffman gives the address of Rachel Klausner’s website, MillieGiving.com. This is capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Stephens.com Rachel Klausner on LinkedIn Millie Giving Tinder GoFundMe Apple App Store Calendly Best Friends Animal Society Donor-Advised Funds Fidelity Donor-Advised Funds Vanguard Donor-Advised Funds Fortune 500

It would be hard to get an accurate count of the number of lives that Dr. Geoff Tabin has either saved or improved, often by his own hands. The figure is in the thousands because he and Dr. Sanduk Ruit are co-founders of the Himalayan Cataract Project. As its website name, cureblindness.org suggests, the project provides high-quality eye care in some of the most remote or under-served parts of the world. And, as Geoff Tabin, Professor of Ophthalmology and Global Medicine at Stanford, will happily tell you, this project, his life’s work, never would have happened had it not been for some serious serendipity. Key Takeaways: [:23] Ray Hoffman introduces Dr. Geoff Tabin, Co-Founder of the Himalayan Cataract Project. [1:05] In the poorest countries, 85% of blindness is preventable or treatable. Of all cases of blindness, 50% are from treatable cataracts. [1:52] Dr. Tabin was specifically inspired by a Dutch ophthalmologist running a humanitarian program called Eye Care Foundation Himalaya doing lens implants in Nepal. These implants altered lives and the welfare of families. [2:34] Dr. Tabin talks about his educational path and what inspired him at Yale and Oxford, England. On a mountain-climbing scholarship named for Andrew Irvine, he went to Asia and Africa to climb. He observed first-hand the disparity between the haves and the have-nots, regarding medical care. [4:24] Dr. Tabin matriculated at Harvard Medical School with the intent of working in global medicine to bridge the gap in care between the wealthy countries and the poor countries. [4:47] In 1988, Dr. Tabin climbed Mt. Everest while he was working as a general doctor in Nepal. He was searching for a way that an individual doctor could make a difference. He saw the Dutch ophthalmologist team set up and give new hope to cataract patients. He was amazed by how the surgery could change lives. [5:45] Dr. Tabin immediately found an ophthalmology residency at Brown University in the States and came back to enter the residency. [6:21] At the same time, Dr. Tabin’s future partner, Dr. Sanduk Ruit, was finishing his training in Australia. Dr. Ruik came from a small village in Nepal with no running water, electricity, or schools, a three-days’ walk from the road. After a house fire, his parents had taken him to a monastery in Nepal where the monks saw he needed an education. [7:03] As a child, Dr. Ruik’s father walked him 11 days to Darjeeling, India to an English Jesuit school. Dr. Ruik only spoke his native language. He emerged from the education with a full scholarship to one of the best medical schools in India. He got top boards. He trained as an ophthalmologist in Delhi and did a cataract fellowship also in India. [7:42] Dr. Ruit returned to Nepal and caught the attention of the same Dutch ophthalmology group Dr. Tabin had seen. Dr. Ruit went to the Netherlands for training in microsurgery and to Australia for a two-year fellowship. He came back to Nepal as a world-class ophthalmologist, looking to bring high-quality eye care to Kathmandu. [9:20] Dr. Tabin spent a couple of weeks during his fellowship working with Dr. Ruit. He told Dr. Ruit he wanted to work with him. When he finished his fellowship, he moved to Nepal to work with Dr. Ruit. [9:36] This project wouldn’t have come to pass if not for Dr. Tabin’s passion for mountain climbing, and a lot of help from great mentors. Dr. Tabin explores the serendipity involved. [11:03] Dr. Tabin learned hiking from his father, a nuclear physicist who worked with Enrico Fermi on the Manhattan Project. Dr. Tabin tells how his father hiked with Enrico Fermi and later, with him when he was a teen. Dr. Tabin started studying as a teen about the great mountaineers and explorers. [12:14] In Dr. Tabin’s later teen years, he focused on tennis and was recruited to play tennis at Yale. At Yale, he started rock climbing with a friend. [12:56] Dr. Tabin tells how he and Dr. Ruit co-founded the Himalayan Cataract Project. It started with transferring skills to doctors, ophthalmic nurses, ophthalmic technicians, and ophthalmic assistants. They taught primary health care workers a basic understanding of eye diseases. They created a teaching system. [13:39] Dr. Tabin and Dr. Ruit took the best cataract surgeons and sent them to specialty surgical fellowships for pediatric ophthalmology, glaucoma, retinal surgery; all the sub-specialties. Once they had the full range of specialties, they had a world-class residency program. [14:07] They were not getting funding from the U.S., so they turned to other countries, but they were also skeptical. To gain credibility, Dr. Tabin took an assistant professorship at the University of Vermont. The doctors decided to incorporate as a 501(c), named the Himalayan Cataract Project, with a website cureblindness.org. [15:32] They started raising funds to support the work. After two years, they hired their first full-time employee. They started in Nepal, then brought Bhutanese doctors into the program, then doctors from Tibet, then Indonesia. [16:42] In 2006, Dr. Tabin took a professorship at the University of Utah. By that time, the surgeons in the program were better than Dr. Tabin, so he was confident for them to continue without his presence. One of the doctors in the cataract project, Dr. Alan Crandall, went to Ghana and was one of the highest-volume cataract surgeons there. [17:26] Dr. Tabin started going on missions to Ghana with Dr. Crandall to see about extending the program to meet the need in Africa. [17:41] In FY 2014, the organization had $8 million in assets and did 78,000 sight-restoring surgeries. In FY 2016, they did 97,000 surgeries and treated over one million patients. In FY 2018, they performed 123,000 surgeries with assets of $12 million. Besides these procedures, their focus is on training local providers to perform the same procedures. [18:58] In 1996, when they started with $100,000, Dr. Tabin never expected to grow into the success they have had to this day. In that period, Nepal went from 0.88% blindness down to 0.2% blindness, today. Nepal is the one poor country that has reversed its rate of blindness. [20:43] Dr. Ruit instilled in Dr. Tabin that they were looking for the next young superstars. In 2007–08, Dr. Tabin started the first global ophthalmology fellowship in American academic ophthalmology. Now there are eight universities that have a global ophthalmology fellowship, following Dr. Tabin’s example. [21:20] Dr. Tabin is proud of his former fellows who, as early career ophthalmologists, are pushing ophthalmology forward in Asia and Africa. [21:56] Dr. Tabin reflects on the expansion and success of the program and discusses potential future expansion in Africa. It is estimated that it would take $100 million to completely reverse blindness in Ethiopia and Ghana. Similar changes need to be made in other African countries. Dr. Tabin names some amazing doctors from the program. [23:58] Based on the progress of the program, Dr. Tabin sees a realistic goal of turning the tide on needless blindness. The program has brought the material cost of a cataract surgery down to under $25. 12 million people could have their life completely changed from a $25 surgery. [24:42] Dr. Tabin hopes that Melissa Chen or Mark Zuckerberg will listen to this podcast and be inspired to donate to CureBlindness.org. Blindness is a low-hanging fruit to cure, as diseases go. Dr. Tabin tells about his role as a fundraiser. He speaks about donors. [25:43] Three years ago, Dr. Tabin went from the University of Utah to take an endowed chair for ophthalmology and global medicine at Stanford University. In Silicon Valley, Dr. Tabin has exposure to a lot of people who could potentially make a huge impact on global blindness. [26:33] Over the last few years, fundraising has been extremely successful. They always spend less than they secure. They have had USAID grants for big capital projects. Dr. Tabin wants it to be a $30 million charity to fully address blindness in Ethiopia and Ghana. Funding is half from grants and half from private philanthropy. [27:48] Studies have shown that restoring sight gives a direct impact of four-to-one to the local economy. Dr. Tabin would like to see more direct investments from governments and global funds like the World Health Organization. [28:29] 88% of their funds go directly into programs. Will that efficiency continue while scaling up? Dr. Tabin explains how it can. Dr. Tabin doesn’t want to spend a lot of money on fundraising. [30:17] Dr. Tabin talks of the 5,000 cataract surgeries they have done recently in Ethiopia. They are reaching out to Eritrea and are taking Eritrean doctors into their Ethiopia training program. [32:17] In 2019, Dr. Tabin traveled to Ethiopia, South Sudan, Bhutan (where they just opened a new state-of-the-art eye hospital), and Nepal, while working about six months at Stanford and six months between Asia and Africa. [32:55] Dr. Tabin hopes people in America realize we are all one world and one human race. It does matter what happens in Africa and Asia. Once someone has the cataract surgery, they are no longer “a statistic” but a person cured 100%. [33:58] In six years, the organization will be 30 years old. Dr. Tabin hopes that in six years, Ethiopia and Ghana will have followed Nepal and Bhutan in reversing their backlog of blindness and sustaining high-quality care for all their people, and the programs will be expanded into other African countries in great need. [34:41] Dr. Tabin also wants to be closer in six years, in connection with other organizations, to reversing blindness for the two greatest populations, China and India. [35:39] Dr. Tabin acknowledges he was in the right places at the right times with some incredible mentors. [36:15] Ray Hoffman provides the website name, CureBlindness.org and signs off.   Mentioned in This Episode: Stephens.com Himalayan Cataract Project (CureBlindness.org) Eye Care Foundation Himalaya Dr. Geoff Tabin Dr. Sanduk Ruit Yale Oxford Andrew Irvine Harvard Medical School Mt. Everest Brown University Professor Hugh Taylor University of Chicago Enrico Fermi University of Vermont University of Utah Melissa Chen Mark Zuckerberg Stanford University World Health Organization Nobel Peace Prize Sick Kid’s Hospital, Toronto

Karla Mora fully expects to have a major impact on the apparel industry, the clothes we wear, and where we dispose of those clothes after we wear them. She is a self-described impact investor, and her venture capital fund, Alante Capital, co-led by former JP Morgan executive, Leslie Harwell, and backed enthusiastically by women’s fashion legend Eileen Fisher, is investing in a future in which landfills won’t be overloaded with yesterday’s throwaway polyesters — meaning a future of sustainable apparel. Alante Capital is investing in young companies that are offering a better process for making and re-making apparel. The road that Karla Mora took to this went by way of a United Nations Compound in Kabul, Afghanistan and a neighborhood in Costa Rica, Barrio Escalante. Listen in for her story. Key Takeaways: [:23] Ray Hoffman introduces Karla Mora, Founder and Managing Partner of Alante Capital. [1:14] Karla Mora’s background was in international political economics and improving livelihoods in emerging markets. She worked for a while at the UN, looking at inefficiencies in the coffee sector, then Peace Dividend Trust (Building Markets), to build vibrant ecosystems where people can lift themselves out of poverty. [2:06] In Kabul for six months, Karla collected data and wrote a report. She returned to California to finish writing the report. She ran into a person running an impact investment fund and she was inspired to start a fund in 2012 to invest with purpose. [2:44] Karla describes the challenges of living in Kabul. She was not able to exercise outside, but the Afghan people were amazing and resilient. [3:57] In Karla’s off hours, she kept in touch with an agricultural investor in New York who was helping small farmers reach farmer’s markets in communities without access to fresh food. She worked with him every evening while her days were spent working on the Kabul impact report. [4:33] Karla enjoyed back-country skiing in the mountains in Bamyan, Afghanistan. [5:28] Karla came up with the name for Alante Capital while she was living in Barrio Escalante in Costa Rica. Alante is Spanish for moving forward. It took Karla about a year to make the decision to move forward with Alante Capital. [6:35] Karla started the idea that became Alante Capital with a friend from San Francisco. They both were in impact investing and they talked about starting a fund in fashion. They studied the idea for about eight months but didn’t launch it together as they were in two different geographies and had different ideas. [7:03] After all her research, Karla had fallen in love with the concept and the industry. She knew she wanted to move forward. She had already been introduced to Leslie Harwell by a graduate advisor. Karla and Leslie had also been at JP Morgan. They became fast friends and thought partners. [7:32] Karla’s husband noticed how Karla felt when she got off the phone with Leslie and he suggested they partner to achieve their goals. Karla wrote a job description for Leslie and convinced her to leave the bank and work with Karla. [7:46] Leslie had been at Credit Suisse for years and had moved to JP Morgan because of her passion for impact investing and social finance. Leslie had been observing a trend of industry-specific systems-change funds starting up. She had not seen one in apparel. When Karla showed up with her idea, Leslie was excited to get started. [8:21] Alante Capital began in Costa Rica. Her husband consulted with her on the ideas and put data in spreadsheets for her. As a new wife starting a new financial venture, it was a scary time for Karla. She made sure not to make decisions based on fear. She kept seeing signals from the industry that she was on the right track. [9:18] After starting Alante Capital, Karla and her husband moved back to California. About a year ago, Karla became pregnant. Karla came off maternity leave two months before this interview. Then they had their first close for the fund and their first investment. It was a busy and exciting time. Every day is a juggling act for Karla. [9:53] Karla and Leslie are on opposites sides of the country. They had done so much pre-planning work together that once they joined forces, they had a great rapport. Leslie came to Santa Barbra for a few months at the beginning to work side-by-side with Karla. That’s when they brought on their anchor investor, Eileen Fisher. [10:20] Karla and Leslie message each other and talk throughout the day, as though they are in the next room from each other. They may exchange hundreds of messages in a day, chatting while they’re working. They feel very engaged with each other. [10:48] Eileen Fisher is their anchor investor and general partner. She was a critical part of getting the fund launched. Leslie knew someone at JP Morgan who was working with Eileen to help her put her capital into investments for the sustainable apparel industry. [11:08] When Karla sent out an announcement about Leslie joining the team, it circulated and was shared with Eileen who saw it as the investment she had been seeking. It was humbling and exciting for Karla and Leslie that a major figure in apparel was interested in their startup. [11:99] Karla and Leslie had been looking for funding for their startup. They had a list of potential general partners and Eileen Fisher was number one on their list. [12:02] Alante Capital works very closely with large brands. When consumers race to find the cheapest products possible, brands are under a lot of pressure to provide them. Polyester is cheap and it ends up in landfills. [12:30] Alante Capital just invested in Mango Materials, a company started by two women from Stanford who figured out a way to create a biodegradable polyester fiber that’s not made from plastic. It breaks down in the environment. [13:00] Tyton Biosciences is another company in which Alante Capital has invested. They break down polyester-cotton blended garments using a clean process. About 80% of clothing is a cotton-poly blend. Brands can use the fibers from this process again in new clothes. [13:34] Karla sees a good level of scale in each of these companies within three to five years. At that point, there will be a couple of directions to take to accelerate their scale greatly. [13:51] Karla predicts that in 18 months to two years, we will start seeing collections of clothes made from post-consumer garment waste — old clothes. [14:09] Alante Capital is looking at about 140 companies that fit squarely into their thesis. As their first two investments are in fibers, next, they are looking at the garment rental and resale industries. Karla likes to talk to companies in the early stages. If it’s not a fit, she wants to let them know as early as she can. [15:03] Sustainability is the direction the industry is taking. You can see articles in industry and mainstream media every day talking about sustainability in fashion. It’s driving more investment of capital and time into investment practices, new consumption models, and sustainable production. [15:47] The big brands will be a major part of the solution. Karla goes to them in the spirit of collaboration with an approach of being helpful in achieving their sustainability goals. She seeks to understand the true operational hurdles they face in doing so. Then, she introduces them to startups that will help them achieve their goals and innovate. [16:30] Conversations with brands often go into what rental or resale can do to decrease waste and dependence on virgin fibers. Brands like working with Alante Capital to help them think outside the box. Alante Capital is up-to-date on the newest innovations. Alante Capital can help drive early interactions between brands and startups. [16:53] Karla loves working with brands because she gets to learn about the companies in the pipeline, and figure out which ones are viable and solve problems identified by the market. [17:15] Karla talks about the five-year outlook for Alante Capital. She hopes for a portfolio of 15 companies. In five years, the apparel industry will have made significant improvements in the use of recycled fibers. All brands are looking at recycled fibers. Consumers will see lots of recycled fabric garments in the stores. [17:52] Karla expects over the next five years to have the security that comes from leaving startup mode, knowing her company is funded, operational, and successful, including having a set salary and the ability to make plans and control her schedule. [18:15] Karla Mora is Capitalism. Alante Capital is capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Stephens.com Karla Mora JP Morgan Alante Capital Leslie Harwell Eileen Fisher United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan Barrio Escalante, San José, Costa Rica Peace Dividend Trust (Building Markets) Bamyan, Afghanistan Credit Suisse Santa Barbara Mango Materials Tyton Biosciences LA Times NY Times

In the most improbable of circumstances, the New York Jets have extended their winning streak to 3 games by defeating the Oakland Raiders at MetLife Stadium today 34-3 in what can only be described as a good ol' fashioned ass-whooping. CJ "The Painkiller" DeSimone is back in the cockpit, fresh off of injured reserve to dissect this game with Special Guest Navigator Kevin Jackson aka @SpottyBlackman. What does this win mean for the Jets going forward? And, with a winless Cincy squad on deck, can the Jets keep the streak going? YOU be the judge! Plus, the #NYJets community also mourns the loss of Mr. Alan Schecter and the Spouse of Mr. Ray Hoffman aka Captain Jet. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show! Also, if you'd like to donate to help out the Schecter Family during this difficult time, please go to the following website: www.gofundme.com/f/avm-warrior-needs-your-help

To equate the world of entrepreneurism with football, most of the cheering comes when a quarterback throws a touchdown pass to a wide receiver. In business, those are the billion-dollar IPOs that gain most of the media attention. But entrepreneurism — capitalism – is mostly a ground game. Put your head down, start a business, commit yourself, and pick up maybe three yards or five yards at a time. Much in the way that Natalie Mangrum, a teacher from Baltimore has, after a rough start, been steadily adding parents as customers and fellow teachers as after-hours tutors for her increasingly successful business, Maryland Teacher Tutors. Natalie tells about her struggles in getting the business running, and what its current success feels like to her. Listen in for her story. Key Takeaways: [:22] Ray Hoffman introduces Natalie Mangrum, CEO and founder of Maryland Teacher Tutors. [1:11] Natalie, as a seven-year-old child in Sunday School, naturally took to gathering her peers around her and being in the role of teacher. [1:34] Natalie’s natural desire to lead and help, motivate, and inspire prompted her to want to teach as her career. [2:01] Being the oldest child in her family, Natalie modeled behavior for her siblings and told them what to expect in kindergarten when they started to go to school. She credits God for giving her a teaching personality. [2:33] Natalie talks about a favorite fourth-grade teacher of hers that she wanted to emulate and a favorite high-school English teacher who made literature come alive in new ways for her. Everyone in the class was engaged in and excited about what they learned. [3:10] Ray and Natalie reminisce about their favorite teachers who influenced them for life. Everyone Natalie talks to has a favorite teacher whose name they remember. [3:32] Natalie never had a thought of starting a business. She thought of moving up to administration. She was happy to be a teacher. Natalie’s father was a contractor, so she knew a little about entrepreneurship from watching him. [4:51] Natalie was a reading specialist in Baltimore City Schools. The reading specialist would pull a struggling student out of the classroom for a lesson. Natalie asked the principal if a class of 10 to 12 students could be taught at once, during language arts. That would prevent the stigma of the students being pulled out of class. [6:10] It would also allow Natalie consistent time to work with the students on their reading skills. A couple of hours a week of being pulled out of class wasn’t enough for students with academic deficits. The principal agreed to support Natalie. She selected small groups of students from the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades for her classes. [6:46] These students were behind their classes. Natalie worked with them in groups and on average, the students started making academic gains of two-and-a-half to three years in just a few months. The sixth graders started at a fourth-grade level and moved to at or above a sixth-grade level in less than a year. [7:14] That is when Natalie started to realize the power of having an expert teacher focusing on a small group or a single student. One seventh-grade student was at a fourth- or fifth-grade level when she started, and was “nailing” 11th-grade SAT questions when she left. Students were leaving her class a lot above their grade level. [7:56] That planted the seed that one-on-one teaching is powerful. Natalie was still not thinking of becoming an entrepreneur at all. Several months later, a parent who was a friend, asked her if she could help her child who was struggling with reading. Natalie started working with that child and got a referral from the parent to other parents. [8:25] Natalie’s schedule quickly filled up. She had two small children and a husband who was only good at making toast. Her husband needed her at home before 8pm. Natalie didn’t want to turn families away, so she reached out to a colleague for help. When the colleague’s schedule filled up, Natalie reached out to another teacher. [9:07] That’s how the company came to be — not with a business plan, but as people coming together with a solution to a need in their community. Once Natalie had a fifth teacher, she decided to make a company out of it. She wanted parents to pay a company, not to write checks to her. It needed to feel official and legitimate. [9:47] Natalie never intended for the company to be large. She named it just what it was, Maryland Teacher Tutors. [9:58] Ray notes that this company was created only because there were a couple of men who could only make toast! [10:15] Before Natalie was a reading specialist she was a regular classroom teacher. She had the knowledge of what it looks like to be an effective teacher. Before she started as a reading specialist, she spent a summer researching blogs, articles, and resources on helping kids who struggle with reading. [10:52] Natalie came across a resource that she decided was the approach for her. It looked like a very consistent way to get kids from point A to point B. The approach was always the same from the beginning but Natalie got more effective in it, over time. [11:28] Even more than the approach, when you give a student one-on-one attention for their specific problem you have identified, five days a week, over time, the child will improve and learn more. [12:00] The technique, added to the teacher inspiring the student to do better, combine to a successful outcome for the student. Working hard, the students became smarter. They start with low self-confidence and low skills, and as they learn, they grow confident in their abilities. [13:33] Around the time that Natalie created the company, the snowball effect had tapered off and she found that she needed to start marketing. So Natalie started learning about entrepreneurship, getting around people who were successful, joining entrepreneurial groups, and calling business owners she knew. [14:34] Natalie started forming a strategy for growing her business. She is still in that process. It will never end. For the first year of business, Natalie felt she was constantly pushing it uphill. After a couple of years, they seemed to hit the top of the hill and start rolling down the other side. Systems and processes in place are working well. [15:36] In the first year it was really hard to carry on! There were days Natalie wanted to cry and pull the blanket over her head all day in bed. Entrepreneurship can really be rough. [15:53] Natalie started the company in 2015. Most of 2016 was not easy for her. [16:10] There came a time when parents started calling again after being referred on Facebook, LinkedIn, or by a friend and Natalie felt like she could pull back somewhat on the brand exposure and marketing. All of the work was starting to pay off. People were starting to recognize that they were really good at their work. [17:36] The company was founded with $100. That was the amount needed to open the company bank account. Natalie never sought capital investors or loans. They built the company from the ground up, without debt. [18:32] On the website there is a statement, “We are 100% confident in our business model.” In terms of the competition that naturally goes with entrepreneurism and capitalism, they maintain that their model of using only certified teachers working in the student’s home, delivers better results than other mentoring business models. [18:56] Teachers are trained effectively to pass along and deliver information in a way that makes the most sense for the student. Early on, people Natalie trusted told her that her business model would never work. They recommended hiring college students instead of certified teachers to save money. As a teacher, Natalie disagreed. [20:02] Natalie was never going to change from using certified teachers only. Another huge aspect is one-on-one teaching. Progress happens fastest with an expert teacher identifying exactly what the problem is tripping up one student and addressing those areas with that student individually. That’s what teachers do. [21:04] Maryland Teacher Tutors contracts with about 45 certified teachers. They all teach in a classroom during the day and are 1099 contractors in the evening. Natalie is the only staff person. She contracts with marketing companies as needed. [21:42] Natalie has a new book on Amazon, Owning It. The book is a compilation of stories from Natalie’s life where she walks through the difficult times she says she brought on herself. She wants the book to be empowering for herself and others, about rising above mistakes to doing well. [22:53] Natalie tells of a business mistake — isolating herself. On her own, she almost called it quits for the business and put it behind her. She had not reached out to anyone or asked for help. Fortunately, that’s when the calls started coming in and she saw success on the horizon. She wishes she had not let herself feel so alone. [24:02] Natalie would advise entrepreneurs to have conversations with other entrepreneurs. As a new entrepreneur, Natalie didn’t know what questions she should ask or things she should consider. It is important to put yourself around people who have successful businesses. They were able to draw out of Natalie what she needed. [24:50] Natalie is hearing from other teachers around the country, and in the Bahamas, who hope to duplicate the business model of Maryland Teacher Tutors. Natalie has given information to others, but, so far, no one has followed through to do it. When it comes to being an entrepreneur, you have it, or you don’t. [25:51] What is Natalie’s vision for growth? Natalie believes it should be nationwide. As long as Natalie is the CEO, she would like to see it become a strong Mid-Atlantic brand. Natalie would love to expand into Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia. That is where her plans are. At some point, Natalie will want someone to take the reins. [26:47] Natalie cannot see herself being CEO of the company if it went nation-wide. [27:10] Natalie has some clients in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. Those clients are working with the company online. Eventually, Natalie wants certified teachers contracted in different states. They want to move slowly but surely and they’re making their way there. [28:09] Natalie’s children are now 17 and 15. [28:31] Natalie has recently identified the biggest reward she gets from her company — having a company that is outstanding in the way they do business, where both teachers and parents praise the experience Maryland Teacher Tutors has created. Teachers love the work and parents give testimonials of the results. [29:35] Natalie compares her company to Chick-fil-A, that really stands apart in how they do fast food. They go above and beyond and excel at everything. That’s how Natalie wants Maryland Teacher Tutors to be seen. [30:28] Ray wishes Natalie Mangrum continued success and hopes to follow this company for years to come. This is Capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Stephens.com Maryland Teacher Tutors Baltimore City Schools Owning It: It’s My Story and I’ll Share If I Want To, by Natalie Mangrum McDonald’s Wendy’s Burger King Chick-fil-A

It was probably inevitable that as his career as an economics and finance writer evolved, Chris Farrell would be drawn, ever deeper, into matters of age. After all, for the past quarter-century, the dominant theme in personal finance has been about savings, IRAs and 401(k)s, and the fact that most Americans haven’t saved enough money to retire on. In economics, there’s a parallel strain that centers around the aging of the U.S. population and how an economy with fewer younger workers and more and more retirees living longer could reach a tipping point. Chris Farrell doesn’t think it needs to turn out that way. His latest book, Purpose and a Paycheck, is about the too-often-ignored realities and the still largely-unappreciated potential of older people in the workforce. People are living a lot longer.Chris Farrell is the Marketplace Senior Economics Contributor for American Public Media Group, Economic Commentator for Minnesota Public Radio, Columnist for PBS’s Next Avenue, Columnist for the Minneapolis StarTribune, and for many years, a colleague of Ray’s at Business Week.   Key Takeaways: [:22] Ray Hoffman introduces Chris Farrell. [1:34] Chris proposes that people who exercise their education and skills throughout their lives have a greater life expectancy. Chris developed skills during his time on merchant ships. His first job was as a wiper, cleaning the engine room and the bathrooms. He joined the Coast Guard and was a Merchant Seaman. [2:41] Chris learned from people with incredible knowledge and skills onboard ships. Chris’s degree was in History. [4:02] In 2035, for the first time, the number of people over 65 in America will be greater than the number of people under 18. Employers do not appreciate the knowledgeable and skilled employee. Productivity peaks at around age 65. [5:15] Management can best use the older worker by creating opportunities for experienced workers to exercise their creativity and be productive on a multi-generational team. Research shows that the most productive teams are multi-generational. [5:32] One of Chris’s motivations for writing the book is that for the past 30 years, there has been this strand of economic commentary that the demographics of aging is a bad thing. The story was that a dependent older generation would be supported by too few young workers, which would lead to stagnation. [6:04] Steve Jobs gave the Stanford University commencement address in 2005. He talked about how important it is to connect the dots. You don’t know how to connect the dots looking forward. You connect the dots looking back. [6:31] Manufacturing research from Europe shows that the experienced worker makes more mistakes than the younger worker, but they are smaller mistakes. When the unexpected happens, the experienced worker is more calm about it. They draw on their experience and connect the dots and help solve the problem much more quickly. [7:02] Younger workers have seen less. They run around causing commotion, but not solving the problem. Putting experienced workers with younger workers leads to a more productive team. [7:33] Germany has an older workforce than the United States. BMW wondered what the older worker meant for their assembly line and productivity as the workforce ages. They created “The Pensioners’ Line,” to reflect the workforce in Germany in 10 to 15 years. Initially, the productivity of the pensioners’ line was way below their other lines. [8:01] They spent $50,000 on barbershop chairs, bigger computer screens, corkboard and bamboo floors, meditation, and yoga. Now, BMW’s pensioners’ line is as productive as their other lines. [8:21] “The Forgotten Man,” showed up in the 2016 vote: the mill workers and mine workers from Southwestern Pennsylvania. Chris points out that U.S. businesses do not have a good record of training and retraining. They neglected it because they didn’t want to train somebody to go work for someone else. [9:19] Training is picking up because of the tight labor market. Chris cites a case study from a former program in Danville, Virginia. It was very successful, but it ended when funding stopped. When people work longer and labor force participation goes up, more taxes are paid, and the age to claim Social Security is delayed. Everyone wins. [10:55] Look at the aging of the population as an incredible opportunity to get this economy to a higher growth path. 27% of new businesses was formed by the 55- to 64-year-old age group in 2017. That’s up from 14 to 15% in 1996. These are mostly small businesses. [11:27] Ray notes there is a lot of risk involved in starting a business. People over 55 are more willing to experiment. They take risks that younger improvisers don’t. [11:58] The risks of starting your own business as an older person are less as you have knowledge and experience to guide you. You draw on contacts you developed over the years. Because of your time in business, you can identify problems that need to be solved. [12:18] You probably own your home. The home is your office. Technology has lowered the overall cost of doing business and managing your business. A lot of times, starting a business means working on weekends or in the evenings, testing out the business idea before committing to it — this is a good thing to do. [12:39] It’s a good idea to join a co-sharing workspace or an incubator where you can get feedback. [12:45] Most small businesses are started with $5,000 or less, according to Steve King, a small business consultant in the Bay Area. You can easily test a business in the market. Do not use your home or 401(k) for collateral. Chris wants to be very clear on that point. [13:11] People have knowledge and skills; they also have a sense that this is what they want to be doing. That is where your purpose comes in. [13:27] Chris quotes over 100 people in the book. He recalls interviewing Rick Harris, who grew up in segregated Texas. He went to the Bay Area in his 20s and built a commercial interior design business. Later, he moved to Minneapolis and tried to start over, but it was hard to break into the market. Then, his son asked to join him in his business. [14:10] Bringing his son into the business rejuvenated Rick Harris. There was no inter-generational conflict. They shared the values of working together, doing a good job, and building a successful business. [14:27] Ray loves the story of Tim Carpenter in Burbank with his various senior art centers that create a wonderful sense of purpose for people. Chris notes that the center in Burbank is low-income affordable housing with arts courses modeled after a college curriculum. People are thriving in that atmosphere. [15:05] Tim Carpenter was moved to start his centers after visiting nursing homes and observing dim arts and crafts rooms with people gluing wooden sticks together. Tim found that people love the opportunity to learn and create something. Purposeful activity counters age-related depression. [15:34] In general, working longer makes you healthier. [16:06] Chris Farrell, who has hit 65, has realized he wants to always be learning. He writes a lot about work, using your skills, and passing your skills along. Whether at a job or doing something else, it is important to learn. The idea that we stop learning at an arbitrary age is wrong. [16:32] We age, and we can’t do certain things. But we can do other things that we didn’t know enough about when we were young. Keep learning. Never stop learning. When life becomes the couch and TV, it slows down a lot.   [16:49] Chris Farrell, sharing his purpose in his new book, Purpose and a Paycheck. This is capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Stephens.com Chris Farrell American Public Media Group Minnesota Public Radio PBS Next Avenue Minneapolis StarTribune Business Week Coast Guard Seafarers International Union Merchant Seaman/ Merchant Marine Steve Jobs Stanford University, 2005 Commencement Address The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, by Amity Shlaes Steve King Rick Harris Tim Carpenter

Ray Hoffman introduces the guest for this episode. John Byrne and Ray Hoffman have known each other for so long that they refer to each other as old friends. John is one of the most significant business journalists of his generation, having written over two dozen cover stories for Business Week, where eventually he became Executive Editor. He also was Editor-in-Chief of Fast Company and the author of some major business biographies of such figures as Jack Welch of GE and the Whiz Kids, including Robert McNamara, who reshaped Ford Motor Company and industrial America after World War II. He’s probably best known and most highly regarded as the go-to journalist on all matters relating to MBA programs and graduate business schools. That began at Business Week in 1988 when he compiled the first ever published ranking of graduate business school programs. Today, that continues within his second career as an entrepreneur. He’s Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of California-based C-Change Media, which operates five websites, including the number-one source for information about MBA programs, Poets & Quants.Listen in to hear more of John’s journey from journalist to journalist-entrepreneur.   Key Takeaways: [:22] Ray Hoffman introduces John Byrne for this episode of This Is Capitalism.[1:41] Did John imagine he would always be a professional journalist for a major publication? John describes the magazine publishing environment of Business Week twenty years ago and how he loved it. Then came the internet. [2:43] Business Week went online for the first time in 1994. AOL gave Business Week a $1 million contract for its content. John built out a Business Week community online. It was clear that this was something that was going to be a major change in the way we thought about what we create, how we create it, and how our audience interacts with it. [3:52] John created the first regularly-published ranking of MBA programs in the world in 1988. John was the Management Editor at Business Week at that time. He created the ranking to entice schools to seek to be included. It began as a biannual feature. [4:52] Companies had been complaining for years that MBA graduates had ‘quant’ skills but were challenged in the area of soft, people skills, which were not being taught in schools. [5:59] John’s idea was to hold schools accountable to their two primary audiences: the graduates and the people that hired them. [7:17] The business school issue was the best-selling cover of the year in 1988. It became immediately controversial and it gathered a lot of attention. John explains how the coverage expanded over the years to an online community in 1994. [7:51] Guidebooks were published by owner company McGraw-Hill. The guidebooks covered all aspects of MBA education and they became very big sellers. [8:11] Toward the end of John’s career at Business Week, John was the Editor-in-Chief of online operations. The average monthly unique visitor at Business Week looked at 1.8 pages; the average monthly unique visitor to the business school section looked at 58 pages. That was an eye-opener. [9:24] The first survey was a consumer satisfaction survey looking for opinions of graduates and the companies that hired them. John wanted it to be simple and pure. Business Week did not tell the survey respondents that it was for a ranking. [10:01] Now, when you survey alumni or companies, there is an inherent bias to the results because they know that the survey will impact how their school fares on the ranking. There is a lot of ‘cheerleading.’ [10:40] The survey was a true labor of love. Back in 1988, there was no internet or email. John collected the names of the graduates, printed out surveys from his home Mac and printer, and stuffed, labeled, licked, and sent out the envelopes. His family helped, in front of the TV watching Yankee games. It took a month of nights. [11:55] Ray notes that the first J.D. Power surveys were also sent from Power’s living room with the Power children helping. [12:17] John tells about the creation of the Poets & Quants website. Quants & Poets was a common term in business schools but unknown outside of the field. A good business school brings together Liberal Arts majors and Science majors, so they can build on each others’ strengths and minimize weaknesses. [13:49] When John thought about starting his company, he remembered this phrase. It is popular lingo to anyone in that world. About nine years ago, Bloomberg bought Business Week. It seemed like the right time for John to go on his own, online. [14:51] John looked at the importance of engagement with his audience. Online content provides a very different level of engagement. John knew there was a market for his planned business from the business school section of the Business Week website. [15:08] In John’s last few years at Business Week, the management did not understand all that John was doing. The average age of a Business Week reader was in the early fifties. John wanted to convert twenty-somethings who visited the website into readers. [16:13] John’s idea was to do a Huffington Post for business. He talked to the former publisher of Forbes.com and to Andy Serwer, who was then Managing Editor of Fortune. John suggested that the three of them get together to build up this company with 10 microsites around businesses that were under-covered in journalism. [17:41] The content would connect to a mega site that would cover business and the economy more broadly. They expected to rely heavily on contributions from consultants and professors with an editorial staff to create original content. Due to different individual financial goals of the group, it never happened. [18:34] Instead, John went to California and started his first website, contracting with a web developer and a designer to create the site, while John created content and enlisted freelancers to help generate more content. John wanted the site to live with a fairly significant amount of journalism in place. [19:13] In those days, Google might take months to recognize a site, but they were very quick to index social media like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, so John created channels on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook using the new Poets & Quants logo before launching the site. He curated existing content to build an audience. [19:51] When the site was launched nine years ago, in August, they already had an audience from social media, with Google helping their SEO. [20:12] John did it on his own. John’s biggest investment was his time spent reporting and writing for several months to launch. John has not borrowed a dollar or taken a dollar of investment. He owns 100% of the company. [20:35] John has five websites run by 12 full-time employees with benefits and 401(k) plans. The main Poets & Quants site gets 35% of its traffic from outside of the United States. One of the sites is a global conference business. [21:06] John talks about the feature, The Best and the Brightest, about MBA graduates from various programs. John praises Senior Writer, Jeff Schmitt, who created the feature. John explains how they get nominations and pick the best and brightest. [22:29] The feature puts a face on the program and the school and shows the graduate’s motivation and their journey. It is meant to inspire and motivate others to get more education in a program that is right for them. [23:12] John brings up student debt and employment out of college. He discusses the value of MBAs and the market for them. John says 60% of MBAs don’t borrow for their degree because they get scholarship help but those that borrow can pay it off quickly. [24:37] People look at the tuition and fees and get sticker shock but, in some schools, 100% of the students are on scholarships; many are on full scholarships. [25:18] The average class at Harvard Business School is 930 students in a two-year program, so 1,860 are enrolled. 50% get scholarship help. The scholarships are based on need, not merit. Harvard spends $36 million a year on scholarships to 930 students. [26:17] Stanford gives the same level of support to their students, individually. Many other schools are in an “arms race” to give out scholarship money. The MBA is a flagship program. The higher they can rank, the better it reflects on the entire school. So schools are willing to use the MBA program as a loss leader for their other programs. [27:15] For MBA students who pay full price, John says they will have no problem paying off the loan quickly, with an employment sign-on bonus and a salary of $140K, depending on the field they choose. [28:44] In our strong economy with virtually full employment, applications to MBA programs have fallen sharply. Sticker price and a decline in international candidates into the U.S. are other reasons for the dropoff. The documentation to get a visa can be burdensome. Also, good online MBA programs have become very popular. [31:50] There are also specialized Master’s programs such as business analytics, supply chain management, HR management, healthcare administration, and others, that people are choosing right out of college. [32:21] Young people often choose a one-year specialized Master’s or an online MBA. [33:03] Across all the students, the discount on a Harvard Business School degree is 40%. Other schools vary. John cites major school offerings. [33:28] Destination websites with a lot of content and advertising support are like gorillas in a cage that need to be fed a lot of bananas every day. Content is very important. John says content is the campfire around which you gather an audience that has a conversation that creates unity. [34:29] The content has to be new, updated, creative, smart, insightful, valuable, and produced daily. If the content gets old, the traffic starts to fall. It’s a big, serious job. [35:40] In addition to writing every day, editing, and publishing, John also has a company to run with all the money and management concerns running a business involves. John recruits clients from the business school community. Right now, John is considering investing in a customized software platform to do one thing for the site. [37:03] Most of John’s life, he covered management and leadership. Now, he has a real P&L and it is work to get stuff done on a daily basis. [37:44] Ray and John discuss their years of study of Frank Sinatra the performer. Sinatra recorded commercially in seven decades. John compares the body of Sinatra’s music to the work of an entrepreneur. John thinks Sinatra’s biggest regret might be the years he didn’t record. John sees and contrasts three phases of Sinatra’s work. [40:07] John Byrne’s C-Change Media is capitalism — journalistic entrepreneurial capitalism. This is capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Stephens.com John Byrne Business Week Fast Company Jack Welch The Whiz Kids Robert McNamara Ford Motor Company C-Change Media Poets & Quants AOL McGraw-Hill J.D. Power Huffington Post Forbes.com Fortune Andy Serwer Yahoo Finance Business Insider Poets & Quants on Facebook PoetsAndQuants on Twitter Poets & Quants on LinkedIn Bloomberg survey on grads from the biggest business schools Harvard Business School Stanford Graduate School of Business Yale School of Management W.P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University Frank Sinatra

Ray Hoffman introduces the guest for this episode. How did Amazon do it? And how is Amazon going to continue to do it? John Rossman has the answer to both questions. He joined Amazon in 2002, after 23 interviews, and he led the creation of the Amazon Marketplace, with all the third-party sellers that came in, which is what lifted Amazon from being just an online seller of books and videos to a seller of everything. In fact, the operation he created between 2002 and 2005 accounts for over half of all the merchandise units sold on Amazon today. He then went on to lead the Enterprise Services Business at Amazon, and there he helped build brands such as Target.com and NBA.com. So, having had a front-row seat to the ways and strategies of Amazon’s creator, Jeff Bezos, John Rossman has gone on to advise a lot of young startup companies on how to think like Amazon, which just happens to be the title of a very readable new book by John Rossman.Listen in to hear more of John Rossman’s story of innovation in capitalism.   Key Takeaways: [:22] Ray Hoffman introduces the guest for this episode of This Is Capitalism.[1:23] John was always interested in efficiency, integration, and how processes and data worked in making commerce more effective. In the early 2000s in Seattle, a former colleague of John’s was in the Finance Group at Amazon, and called John as a candidate for “an interesting idea” they had. John interviewed over a few months. [2:05] John thought it was a great fit because the Marketplace business at Amazon, which was the division John was hired to run, with third parties selling merchandise on Amazon.com, really is about integration at a maximum scale. It required a lot of metrics and procedures that had to be put in place to scale that business. [2:36] John launched 14 categories. When John started at Amazon, 90% of the business was books, music, and video. The first holiday season John was there, in 2002, was the first $1 billion quarter for Amazon. Today, Amazon is a $260 billion organization. [2:55] Categories John launched included Apparel, Sporting Goods, and Home. They did it by leveraging partners. They expanded categories and geographies. [3:19] John had 23 hiring interviews with people from departments all over Amazon. He learned that the Marketplace was the third iteration of a third-party selling program. The first two, Auctions and zShops, had failed. By the time John started, he knew where they were going, what the vision was, and the people who were involved. [4:09] The slow hiring process led back to Jeff Bezos’s desire not to be in too big of a hurry to hire. This is also covered in John’s books. The biggest business mistakes John has made have revolved around hiring in a hurry. When you have an urgent need, you are prone to hiring the first person who has the qualifications and is available. [4:44] At Amazon, they look to hire for the role at hand, plus what the future might hold. [4:52] Amazon uses a bar-raiser, a person independent from the team who evaluates the candidate on their potential to do other profitable things for Amazon. The bar-raiser has veto power that is not subject to appeal. It really helps Amazon not to hire in a hurry. Hiring in a hurry can lead to very hard situations. [5:46] John’s book is about the tools you can take from Amazon for your own business. One of those tools is a ‘flywheel,’ which tends to maintain momentum. In business, the concept of a flywheel is systems modeling: understanding the system you are operating in and your various levers for creating change in your business. [6:32] A flywheel is a really simplified version of your systems model and it’s a great way to summarize your strategy. [6:42] Amazon continues to refer to their flywheel, which is about improving the customer experience by having more selection and more sellers, which lowers cost, all on a fixed-base platform. That flywheel has been a key way to simplify and keep the whole organization on the same vision and mission page. [7:13] Everyone at Amazon has to demonstrate how their programs, proposals, and investments feed into the flywheel. [7:34] As Director of Merchant Integration, John brought in third-party sellers with millions of new items to make the flywheel generate more sales in more areas from more customers. The concept was that by bringing in more selection, the customer experience, over time, is that they can search, discover, and buy anything on Amazon. [8:07] The key design principle for Marketplace was to get the customer to trust a third-party seller as much as they trusted buying from Amazon the retailer. That was a very different model from eBay. From day one, Amazon took full accountability for customer trust. That mandated a special relationship with their sellers. [9:14] Amazon was constrained by their circumstances in the early 2000s. They wanted to build relationships with sellers who were much more stable than Amazon was at that time. [9:40] Headcount was flat at Amazon. John had to ask for headcount from other areas of the business to get a team together to help launch the Marketplace business. That constraint forced John to innovate in ways that they wouldn’t have done with more employees and a bigger budget. [10:00] A lot of third-party sellers said “No,” to Amazon, but a lot of great brands did sign on to have better e-commerce access to the Amazon customer. [10:32] The flywheel started to gain momentum. Four or five years after Amazon launched the Marketplace, Prime membership and the Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA) program were created. The triangulation between Marketplace, Prime, and FBA accelerated the growth of the Marketplace business. [11:04] Amazon’s growth and Amazon’s stock price growth mirrors the growth of the Marketplace. Jeff Bezos released a shareholder letter this year graphing how the Marketplace has grown by year. Today, the Marketplace accounts for 58% of all units shipped and sold. [11:32] John believes the opportunity today is bigger than it has ever been. Develop your perspective of how change happens and what your digital e-commerce strategy looks like. The key ingredient is patience. None of this happened overnight. [12:07] The part of Amazon and Jeff Bezos’s story that doesn’t get told enough is how he bet everything on himself by walking away from a great job. He stuck with it when everybody was a naysayer about Amazon. He was always optimizing for long-term enterprise growth based on great customer trust. [12:51] For nine years, the Amazon stock was flat. That includes the four years John was there. As a senior executive, his compensation was tied to the stock growth and he wanted to see better performance. He lost patience and left. He didn’t see the future growth coming. [13:50] Everybody wants good outcomes. What you have control of are the inputs. Think Like Amazon is about the controllable inputs, how to create innovation and how to grow your business. Patience is a required input. [14:02] Idea 1 is “Your Journey Will Not Be Short by Taking the Long Strategic View.” Amazon evaluates many of its programs and investments over an eight-to-ten-year period. They are able to rationalize things that other companies can’t. [14:48] Some of Amazon’s current big initiatives include healthcare and logistics. Those are eight-to-fifteen-year investments. Most companies are not willing to be that patient. [15:14] Jeff Bezos always had it in mind that Books was going to be the first of many categories that Amazon opened. Amazon was always going to be a multi-category retailer. Jeff Bezos was open to finding opportunities. [16:04] PillPack was a nice acquisition for Amazon. It creates custom packets of your medication. It has 50 state pharmaceutical licenses. PillPack thinks things through from the customer’s perspective. That makes it a great alignment with Amazon. Amazon has always been willing to rethink traditions because of the customer perspective. [16:59] Amazon’s innovation approach is called “Start With the Customer and Work Backward.” They have a daisy chain of things they do to help build ideas before they go forward with them. [17:27] You need a big vision for your idea but you need to bring it back to incremental steps with testable hypotheses, minimally viable products, and agile methodology. Don’t confuse thinking big with betting big. Amazon has done things that didn’t work out, but they daisy-chained some concepts from failures into later successes. [18:18] Idea 16 is “Make It Easy.” Friction is everywhere. John cites Pink Floyd: We have grown “comfortably numb” to so many things. Amazon recently released a great feature in Prime Day. The customer can select the day they want their packages delivered. That shows an understanding of customer friction. [19:28] That’s the backbone of innovation. We’re all looking for the big idea, but reducing customer friction and striving for operational excellence are the places where most companies have the opportunity to excel in innovation. [19:46] That represents 80 to 90% of how Amazon innovates - through operational excellence and reducing small points of customer friction. [19:56] Rossman Partners is based in Southern California. John helps enable young disruptive companies to move forward. Ray Hoffman gets advice from John on moving his “young disruptive company” forward. [20:30] John advises companies in a relationship over a long period of time. Often the business concept is successful but the hard part is getting it to scale. You can scale operationally or scale horizontally into new adjacent markets. It’s about narrowing down options and proceeding on a small basis. [21:10] Strategy is about being deliberate. You have to know what to say “Yes” to and what to say “No” to. Many executives forget to say “No.” That takes resources away from being able to say “Yes” effectively to the best ideas that you have. John helps teams set practical strategies and see when to say “Yes” or “No,” and how to proceed. [21:48] “Failing fast” is not about failure but about learning in a very disciplined way - setting and testing hypotheses, “failing” and then adjusting to go forward. That is John’s typical work with teams. [22:13] Idea 20 is “The Two-Pizza Team.” This is how to create small, cross-functional teams that own and obsess over a core capability over a long period of time. It is a mini-business. It helps grow leaders while they focus on a concept and a market over a long period. Their ability to innovate and operate is greatly accelerated. [23:30] A two-pizza team has no more than 10 members so they could be fed with two pizzas. Amazon is full of clever names that they constantly use and refer to. They are masters of strategic communication. Another term Bezos has used for years is ‘Day 1.’ Amazon is a ‘Day 1’ company where today’s business does not define their future. [24:12] Jeff Bezos recently said a ‘Day 2’ company optimizes for today’s business. They can be very successful today but they’re not testing and innovating for tomorrow. They are static in the type of business they are in. [24:45] To avoid being a ‘Day 2’ company: 1.) Don’t manage by proxy. Stay in touch with your customers by having direct customer contact and direct customer metrics. 2.) Pay attention to the megatrends that you may not feel impact your business today. In five or ten years, they present both big opportunities and big threats to your business. [25:24] Amazon is paying a lot of attention to the megatrend of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Depending on your industry, there are probably other big trends today that may sound like they are not for mature businesses. Educate yourself and prepare your company for a pilot or a trial so you are ready when the time is right. [26:10] Amazon wanted to put a second headquarters in New York. Their biggest constraint is being able to attract more world-class talent. They can’t do that at scale in the Seattle market. HQ2 was an effort to act in advance of the situation. They don’t kick big issues down the road. [27:19] How much more bureaucratic has Amazon become since John was there? Becoming a bureaucracy was Jeff Bezos’s biggest concern in John’s day. He doesn’t want to slow down decision-making speed. He doesn’t want to dilute accountability. Relative to scale, Amazon is significantly less bureaucratic than most other companies. [28:28] Amazon is about operational excellence but also about working in the future. The Future Press Release is one of the tools they use to envision the future, announce it to a team and get everybody on board with the vision for the project with a very clear articulation of what the customer experience is going to be and the issues to tackle. [29:14] Amazon gives the accountability for the Future Press Release to one person and everyone in the organization knows that they work for that person to help make that vision happen. It reduces bureaucracy and forces decisions and gives better speed to the organization. [29:57] John thinks there’s more opportunity today than there has ever been, largely thanks to many of the tools, especially Amazon Web Services, that Amazon provides to innovators, inventors, and people who want to try new things. It has never been easier to build a new company or to try a new concept than it is today. [30:17] On-demand services, cloud computing, and access to logistics and data take less time and capital than before. There are lots of great companies coming along that may disrupt Amazon. John doesn’t think it will be one company that will disrupt Amazon. Amazon in all of their businesses has great competition today. [30:48] John doesn’t think Amazon will “fall in love” with their current business to the point where they aren’t actively working to expand it or disrupt it themselves. [31:11] Sears, Roebuck and Co. is an example of an era-based organization that had a tough time adapting to new eras; they stopped reinventing themselves. [31:44] John is an Advisory Board member to companies like Decisiv, Modjoul, and Terbine. He describes these disruptive companies and what he likes about them. [33:53] John considers that these companies can take the long, strategic view. The timescales of venture capital funding are expanding out, while they shoot for bigger market disruption. It’s not just Amazon that is taking the long perspective. [34:20] Idea 50½ is “Principles are Not a Poster.” The ‘half-idea’ is the essence of John’s book. The book is not about Amazon; it’s about real tools and real strategies that you can put to work. [34:52] John doesn’t recommend that you take on 50 ideas. Take two or three. Be patient. Try to make the ideas you choose both a personal habit and a team habit, and see what sort of change they make in how you operate together. [35:09] Everybody wants the outcomes of innovation and growth. It’s about the inputs of hard, everyday, consistent efforts of where you are willing to put in the resources and new habits that you are willing to create. The ‘half’ idea is the challenger question back to the reader: What are you willing to do to get the types of results that you want? [35:31] John Rossman, former Director of Merchant Integration at Amazon.com and today, Managing Partner of Rossman Partners. This is capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Stephens.com Amazon John Rossman Amazon Marketplace Target.com NBA.com Jeff Bezos Think Like Amazon: 50 1/2 Ideas to Become a Digital Leader, by John Rossman Oregon State University Arthur Andersen Borders.com (Now Barnes & Noble) eBay D.E. Shaw PillPack Pink Floyd Future Press Release Amazon Web Services Sears, Roebuck and Co. Decisiv Modjoul Terbine Eric Martinez AIG This Is Capitalism

Ray Hoffman introduces the guests for this episode. “Is there such a thing as entrepreneurial love? After visiting Thibault and Lola Manekin, I’m inclined to think there is because in talking to Thibault, Co-Founder of a remarkable property development firm called Seawall, and his wife, Lola, who created a wildly popular space known as Movement Lab, I learned about an entrepreneur’s love for the city of Baltimore, an entrepreneur’s love for teachers and abandoned buildings from the 19th century, and for clients and residents of all shapes, colors, and sizes. I first met Thibault and Lola outside of R. House, which used to be a car dealership in the North Baltimore neighborhood called Remington. Upstairs is Lola’s creation, Movement Lab. Downstairs, on the ground floor, is a kind of food court, Thibault’s creation. But, really, it’s a concept kitchen for 11 up-and-coming local chefs. It’s all quite an entrepreneurial love story.”Listen in to hear more of Thibault’s and Lola’s social entrepreneurism.   Key Takeaways: [:22] Ray Hoffman introduces the guests for this episode of This Is Capitalism.[1:21] Thibault describes the strong entrepreneurial spirit of his wife, Lola. [1:50] Lola immigrated to the United States and started working in restaurants, cleaning houses, and babysitting. Following her vision of success was a slow process. [2:25] Lola’s first memory, growing up in Florianopolis, Brazil, was making bracelets with her cousins and selling them door-to-door. Lola was the middle child in her family. [3:14] Lola came to the U.S. through a program in Florida that brought in immigrant students from around the world for four-month jobs. After her four-month program was over, Lola had finished her college degree in natural therapies, so she decided to stay. She went to massage school in Florida and got licensed to do massages. [3:50] Lola tells how she met Thibault in Brazil when she was visiting her family. Then, they began a long-distance relationship between Baltimore and Florida. Thibault eventually convinced Lola to move to Baltimore. [4:36] Thibault’s first renovation project was Miller’s Court; it is Lola’s favorite. Lola describes how it came to be developed from an old building in a dangerous area into a specialized teachers’ apartment building. It set the pattern for future renovation projects. [5:56] Thibault explains how he got involved in teachers’ housing and how Miller’s Court was created from an abandoned tin-can factory with broken roofs and large rats. [8:55] After Seawall bought the property, they moved quickly to finance it, design it and build it, all in about two years. [9:05] Thibault co-founded Seawall Development with his father in 2006. Thibault says he has a vision of uniting the world and bringing people together. Real estate touches everyone. Thibault wants to fight against the division of communities by real estate and reimagine the power of the built environment to unite cities and launch powerful ideas. [10:56] Thibault’s grandfather and his brother started a real estate company in Baltimore at the end of the Second World War. For them, it was never about the transaction; it was 100% about the relationship. People started to really trust them and ask them to do things way outside their comfort zone. [11:32] Thibault’s grandfather and his brother were two of seven children growing up in a two-bedroom apartment above the grocery store their father ran on the first floor. They believed that if they treated people fairly, at the end of the day it would work out. [11:55] Thibault’s father graduated from college with the intention of going into public education. He first took an internship with his dad in the real estate firm and saw that the business was not about earning money at all costs, but about creating deep relationships and helping companies grow. [12:36] Thibault tells how his father had just retired in 2000 when he was invited to be COO of the Baltimore City School System. After his time in real estate, he realized it was time to pursue his lifelong dream. He committed to working long hours, seven days a week to help kids and education. [14:00] He brought together a competent team of people from different sectors with different experiences that touched the school system in some fashion. They went to work and turned the budget from red to being in the black. His position was a two-year interim position so he hired his own replacement. [15:06] Inspired by his father’s work with teachers, Thibault went into business with him to create centrally-located, affordable housing set aside for teachers new to the area who didn’t know the neighborhoods. They also wanted to find a centralized space for education nonprofits. [16:44] The goal was a 5,000 square-foot building. They renovated a 100,000 square-foot building that was more than they expected. It provided a great space for both teachers and nonprofits. [17:03] Teachers were able to design their own apartments and amenities, and choose their own rent. Based on the rent the teachers said they could afford, Thibault and his father reverse-engineered the project to come up with a budget. The budget turned out to be $6 million, which was $14 million short of costs! [17:48] They figured out how to get the $14 million to be able to provide affordable housing for teachers and nonprofits. [18:19] They created a movement by building from the inside-out - from the teachers and nonprofits to community associations, to a team of guardian angels made of attorneys, accountants, banks, and lenders. They found creative financing solutions that fit the needs with historic building tax credits and city, state, and Federal assistance. [19:55] People were helping this project because it wasn’t a “real estate deal.” Thibault and his father led with their purpose. It wasn’t their idea; it was the idea of the teachers and nonprofits. It was such an easy story to tell. Lenders wanted to get involved. [20:26] Not only did their lenders and team want to bring the first project to life, but they also wanted to be part of so many more of these projects and replicate the model across the country. [20:56] Thibault shares some background to his story. Thibault had graduated college and was in touch with a friend of his in Northern Ireland, Sean Tuohey, who was working in a program to bring Protestant and Catholic children together through basketball. Sean was invited to bring the program to post-apartheid South Africa. [21:24] Sean came home to D.C., and he and his brother helped start a nonprofit, at the time called Playing for Peace, and later called PeacePlayers International. Sean went to Africa and Thibault reached out to him by email. Sean replied he was on his way back to D.C., and they had a three-hour lunch discussing the success of the program. [22:20] Thibault helped raise $3,000 from friends and family and went with Sean to South Africa to help. Thibault worked behind the scenes with Sean to help the idea come to life. Nelson Mandela and his organization were their largest supporters and the floodgates were opened. [23:14] PeacePlayers International replicated the model in the Middle East with Israeli and Palestinian children and in Cyprus with Greek Cypriot children and Turkish Cypriot children. Thibault and Sean were living out of their suitcases all this time. [23:34] At 21 years old, Thibault didn’t have any confidence in himself as a leader. He worked with PeacePlayers for six years and learned a lot about himself, about life, about inspiring people, and leading. This translated into Thibault’s professional life, marriage, and family. [24:20] Thibault and his father started their development business in 2000. They knew there would be risks. They closed financing on their first project, Miller’s Court, three months before Lehman Brothers collapsed. Thibault is confident those three months were the key to succeeding instead of failing to launch their first project. [25:08] Seawall wasn’t interested in leasing space to national credit tenants. They wanted to support small nonprofits and teachers. Thibault compares Seawall’s passion for this first project to the passion of a teenager in love for the first time. They were committed to this idea to help the teachers, and so, the children, of the city. [26:10] Thibault talks about the Union Mill project. Everything Seawall does is driven by the community. After Miller’s Court, they had a waiting list of over 300 teachers and 12 nonprofits. They took a larger team of professionals and helpers and started looking for another building. They were armed with all their experience from the first project. [27:09] They knew instantaneously that the Union Mill building was right, that they could do it, and that it would be the next project. [27:16] Thoughtful and inclusive real estate should be able to bring people together. Thibault talks about the R. House project, which is more than a food hall; it’s a launchpad for Baltimore’s most creative chefs. It was renovated with purpose first. [27:45] The Lexington Market downtown is Seawall’s current project. Thibault says it will be the most significant project they will ever do. The challenge is proving a single building that can really unite an incredibly divided city. It’s about massive job creation. It’s about making the city fall in love with a historic, iconic place that has fallen off the radar. [29:07] As Seawall has really dug in and listened to the communities that surround it, they believe Lexington Market needs to become a place where everybody in Baltimore feels welcomed into in a beautifully diverse way. Thibault describes the project details. It will be the main public market in Baltimore with startups and new diverse vendors. [30:20] Thibault explains the process of deep listening they are doing for Lexington Market. They hold a series of town hall meetings city-wide where they discuss important topics such as crime, safety, the environment, recruiting of vendors, diversity of vendors, support to be given to vendors through implementation, vendor selection, and more. [31:20] Seawall’s vision is to be invisible in the Lexington Market project. It should come together organically, led by the people of Baltimore for the market of Baltimore, in Baltimore’s longest-running, most iconic institution. [31:48] Thibault considers working on Lexington Market to be one of the greatest honors and the most significant project in Baltimore to be brought to the Seawall team to bring to life. Thibault predicts that somewhere else, around the world, they will work on a more significant project in the future. [32:24] If Seawall stays true to their purpose, there is an opportunity to help other developers understand that when you lead with your purpose and when you are a part of creating movements, and when you build everything from the inside out, that so much more is possible. [32:42] Movement Lab is Lola’s business. Thibault discusses the space, the amazing, eclectic people, and the inspiring exercises they do. It is a unique space. [33:51] Lola did a TEDx talk, Taking Movement Beyond. She tells about redefining the conversation around fitness. Instead of thinking about a beach body or a weight loss goal, think about fitness being the consequence of moving. Lola describes the various activities available at Movement Lab. [34:51] Lola is from an island in Brazil and movement has always been important in her life - running, dancing, wakeboarding, and being in nature all the time. When Lola moved to Baltimore, walking a treadmill in a gym was not right for her. [35:16] Then Lola learned of the NIA movement and signed up for training right away. She felt completely at home in her body from the first exercise. In Baltimore, there were no NIA classes being taught, so she started promoting it to gyms, yoga studios, church basements, and offering free demo classes. NIA is dance, martial arts, and yoga, to music. [36:18] Fitness is the consequence of all the movement in NIA. Everybody can do it. All the classes in Movement Lab are classes Lola has taken and enjoyed. People of all ages and sizes do it. There’s a sense of accomplishment when people realize that they can hang upside down in an Antigravity® Hammock and flip out of the hammock. [37:17] Thibault tells when he realized there was a business to build out of NIA and movement. Lola taught classes to one, two, a few, or even nobody as if there were 100 people in the room. When she started getting 100 women in a class, Thibault knew she needed a space of her own. [39:00] They started to find the right space for the studio. Lola was focused on reinventing what movement meant, with alternative forms of movement from around the world. Thibault encouraged her to start with yoga that was familiar and she asked why Thibault didn’t start building Walmarts and strip centers. She embraced her differences. [40:00] Seawall doesn’t use the word development. They are social entrepreneurs that happen to use the built environment to empower communities, unite cities and help to launch really important ideas. They will hire people from any field other than development. They are reimagining the industry. They don’t want real estate baggage. [41:41] Thibault Manekin of Seawall; Lola Manekin of Movement Lab, and the world; This is social capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Stephens.com Seawall Development Movement Lab House City of Baltimore Florianopolis, Brazil Miller’s Court Baltimore City Public Schools Baltimore Urban Debate League Playworks SunTrust USBank Enterprise PeacePlayers International Nelson Mandela Foundation The Union Mill Lexington Market Taking Movement Beyond, Lola Maniken, TEDx NIA Walmart Yoga Martial arts This Is Capitalism

Ray Hoffman introduces his guest Veronica Dagher in the form of a note: “I like your work, Veronica Dagher. I like your Wall Street Journal columns on successful women, your Secrets of Wealthy Women podcasts, as well as your new ebook based on the columns and podcasts. It’s called Resilience, and it offers a lot of lessons in life. And, take it from me, not just lessons for other women. And you and I would both agree, the timing is perfect for the column, the podcast, and the book.”Listen in for fascinating stories of women overcoming challenges.   Key Takeaways: [:20] Ray Hoffman introduces Veronica Dagher. [:53] Veronica says there is a current wealth transfer of about $33 trillion from one generation to the next in America. Women will inherit a lot of that money. Veronica shares stories about wealth, success, and entrepreneurship, featuring some very well-known women in her Wall Street Journal columns and podcasts. [1:10] Maria Sharapova, Josie Natori, and Rebecca Minkoff are a few of the subjects of these stories about how they built their successes and the obstacles they overcame. The book Resilience came after the columns and podcasts. [1:33] All the women in the book Resilience have overcome obstacles such as bankruptcies, difficult divorces, loss of a child, or business difficulties. Some faced people telling them they would never be successful. They didn’t listen to those voices. When they were knocked down, they just got up faster than other folks. [2:31] Veronica’s optimism and faith come from her family background and personal experiences of overcoming the devastating loss of her father and still pushing on. Her mother instilled in her from a young age the desire to be a financially independent woman while relying on people she trusts among family, faith community, and friends. [3:37] Veronica took leave for four months when her mother grew suddenly very sick. Veronica watched her mother face illness and unanswered medical questions, and come back to good health. This experience helped Veronica to grow tougher and more assertive. [4:20] When Veronica’s father passed, they were able to keep the house and lifestyle, with very careful management of their resources. The constant conflict between how her mother managed the budget and how her father had regarded money more casually informs Veronica’s work today in her attention to family dynamics. [5:41] Veronica studied finance in school, with no thought of journalism as a career. It seemed to be a solid choice, given her family background. [6:53] The subjects of Resilience range in age from Ayesha Curry, 29 when interviewed, to Mary Higgins Clark, “90-something.” Veronica shares her ideas on how their age demographic affected the choices of the women interviewed. [7:44] The “entrepreneurial gene” is not found just in America. Josie Natori came to America from the Philippines and is very proud to be an American. The Natori Company is known around the world. She has the attitude that as a woman it is okay to be successful. It’s okay to believe that anything is possible. Don’t limit yourself. [10:03] The Philippines has a huge matriarchal, entrepreneurial culture. Josie Natori was a working mom from the beginning. Josie and her husband worked together and had an agreement that their marriage and family would take precedence over the company. They’ve been married for over 50 years. Their son is taking a big role, now. [11:37] At age 91, Mary Higgins Clark, the Queen of Suspense, is amazing. Veronica taped the podcast with her in the Clark home in New Jersey, and Mary told Veronica she had enjoyed the process immensely. [12:01] Mary Higgins Clark did not have an easy life. Her father had died when she was young. Her first husband died suddenly when she was in her thirties with five children to raise. Her short stories, a popular form of the day, were rejected “something like 50 times.” Editors told her she would never be successful. She didn’t give up. [12:37] Mary Higgins Clark eventually became a best-selling novelist — one of the highest-paid women and highest-paid novelists in U.S. history. She stays very humble. [12:57] Mary Higgins Clark and Veronica Dagher are both Fordham graduates. They had met at a Fordham event several years ago and Veronica had asked Mary for writing advice. Mary shared that at one point the family was almost on food stamps. She needed to write for money. Obviously, that worked out. [13:46] When Mary Higgins Clark had first submitted a short story to Cosmopolitan Magazine, an editor called it light and trite. Years later, a Cosmopolitan editor called asking for her to write something for them and Mary told her agent, “Tell them yes but make them pay.” [14:14] When Veronica started the podcast, she wrote names of women to interview. Oprah topped the list, but that one hasn’t happened yet. Maria Bartiromo was taped “today.” Maria Sharapova was on in the fall. Bobbi Brown was another name on the list. [14:58] Using a Google Docs spreadsheet, Veronica had put together her list of dream people for the podcast and the people she knew who could connect her to them. She did a lot of pitching people trying to make connections and attended a lot of events to introduce herself to people. [15:36] Veronica is still going to events, tracking people down and trying to meet them but now she is getting a lot of high-quality incoming pitches from big names. [16:00] The common thread between the millennial entrepreneurs and the older entrepreneurs is the resilience. The younger entrepreneurs see opportunity everywhere. They are not limiting themselves to one sector or area of business. For example, Ayesha Curry is into cookware, media, and other ventures. She leveraged her network. [17:49] Ayesha Curry faced the criticism of having opportunities through her husband. Other women Veronica interviewed also faced criticism because of the advantages of their family circumstances. Yes, certain doors were opened, but they had to walk through the doors, to follow up, and to build the companies and brands they have. [18:41] Loreen Arbus is the daughter of the founder of ABC. She is a philanthropist, a programming executive, and she has her own production company. She does so much, and she didn’t have to do any of it for the money. She works for the sake of work. [19:13] The first daughter of Loreen’s father, Leonard Goldenson was born with cerebral palsy. In those days, the family was turned away from hotels and restaurants because of her disability. This was an important influence in Loreen’s advocacy for people with disabilities. Loreen helps people with disabilities to become successful in media. [20:09] Loreen deliberately changed her last name as a young teenager to avoid riding on her father’s coattails. Veronica was at a party at Loreen’s NYC apartment recently and it is incredible in its decoration and style. Loreen is not afraid to take risks. [20:55] Barbara Bradley Baekgaard of Vera Bradley told Veronica she wasn’t very good at math and didn’t have an MBA, but she and her friend had an idea for cute luggage. They borrowed $500 from their husbands, bought some fabric, and hired some people to sew the bags. They knew nothing of marketing or finance. [21:50] They learned everything they needed from SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), which is a huge resource for entrepreneurs who want to learn. [22:14] An unexpected lesson for Veronica in her interviewing came from Bonnie St. John, an Olympic athlete with a disability, who had suffered childhood abuse. Bonnie said that, as a child, you have a lot of people around you who push you. Her success, as an adult, has been from seeking out people who helped push her to the next level. [23:17] Veronica thinks that lesson, to seek out people who are going to challenge you and push you to the next level, is really important for entrepreneurs and for women in business. [23:31] Many of the interviews in Resilience touch on work-life balance and being a working mother. Katia Beauchamp, co-founder of Birchbox told Veronica the whole idea of work-life balance is a myth. You’re never going to feel fully in balance. The best scenario is that you love what you do at work and you love your home life. [24:11] Katia Beauchamp told Veronica that there are certain times when a mother is going to have to focus on her career more than on her home life. As a mom, you don’t have to be perfect all the time. No one is perfect. Just do your best and focus on the good that you are doing and the things you are doing right. [24:44] Kate White would leave her office at Cosmopolitan at 5:00 p.m. and have the babysitter make dinner while she spent time with her children. After dinner and more time with the children, she went back to her office. [25:01] Veronica knows a lot of women today who are logging back on after they put the children to bed. It’s not the ideal situation, but there are times when the work has to get done. It’s a way to work things out. Hopefully, the boss understands that you need to leave sometimes at 5:00 for the soccer game or whatever. [25:40] Veronica has learned not to be afraid to ask for what you want. The stories in her interviews have reinforced that principle for her. It’s not always easy to tell people what your expectations are. There is a way to do it that suits you as a person, even if there is pushback. You’re never going to get what you don’t ask for. [26:31] Next for Veronica is a video series, more on Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, a lot more of the Secrets of Wealthy Women podcasts, and hopefully, branching out into more stories on women in finance and the workplace. [26:56] You can download Veronica Dagher’s ebook, Resilience, at WSJ.com. This is Capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Stephens.com Veronica Dagher The Wall Street Journal WSJ Secrets of Wealthy Women Resilience, by Veronica Dagher Maria Sharapova Josie Natori Rebecca Minkoff Ayesha Curry Mary Higgins Clark The Natori Company Fordham University Oprah Maria Bartiromo Bobbi Brown Google Docs Stephen Curry Loreen Arbus ABC Leonard Goldenson Vera Bradley Handbags SCORE Bonnie St. John Katia Beauchamp Birchbox Kate White Veronica Dagher on Instagram Veronica Dagher on Twitter Snapchat This Is Capitalism

Tom Stewart is Executive Director for the National Center for the Middle Market, which is part of the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University. It’s the leading source of information and research on the companies whose output accounts for one-third of the private sector in the U.S., the middle third of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. These are firms that have grown out of being small businesses but with their revenues running between $10 million and $1 billion a year, they’re still a long way from being in the Fortune 500. And no one shines a brighter light on the middle market companies than the National Center’s Tom Stewart, “Mr. In-Between.”   Key Takeaways: [:20] Ray Hoffman introduces Tom Stewart. [1:15] Tom Stewart defines the middle market as companies with annual sales between $10 million and $1 billion. These range from the largest of small businesses to companies that start to resemble the Fortune 500. There are some interesting transitions along the way as companies grow. [2:21] The National Center for the Middle Market considers these companies in three different revenue groups: Between $10 and $50 million, between $50 and $100 million, and between $100 million and $1 billion. [2:41] Somewhere around $50 million in revenue, companies begin to need to create functions. They can no longer make do with the accountant at the accounting firm that they use; they need a Chief Financial Officer. They need a person to be in charge of HR. [3:16] At a little over $100 million in revenue, the functions get deeper with more expertise in HR beyond a couple of generalists doing payroll and job descriptions. The same goes for finance and other functions. Along the way, you are likely to get more P&Ls. You get functionalization and divisionalization. [4:06] They may begin to think about international expansion and what that means in terms of the skills and capabilities they will need to enter those markets. [4:20] Since the center started in 2011, they started with these three logical revenue differentiations. Over time, it has become evident that the differentiations roughly correspond to major inflection points in a business. [5:04] Within the group of roughly 200,000 middle market companies, only about 15% are public. 85% of middle-market companies are private. About a third of the 85% are family businesses; about a third have private equity investment; about a third are “other,” which may be sole proprietorships, partnerships, or closely-held corporations. [5:55] 65% of family business owners expect to pass the business to their children; only about 30% pass the business to their children. The next generation is down to about 12%. Family businesses often cease to be family businesses. They may get sold. [6:34] The median age of middle market companies is 31 years. There are transitions that occur as they grow and age. [7:03] During the financial crisis, middle market companies were much more likely to survive than small businesses. The vast majority of middle market businesses that survived actually added jobs while big companies were cutting. [7:30] 60% of net new job growth in the U.S. is in middle market companies. They are the forgotten middle child of job creation. It’s a mostly untold story of capitalist success because they are not found making moves in the stock market. [9:01] Most businesses die within six years of their founding. [9:30] Every three months, the center sends out a survey to middle-market companies in all industries, in all parts of the country. They get 1,000 responses. The questions are about top-line and bottom line, revenue growth, employment growth, investment plans, investment results, and biggest challenges. The center has eight years of data. [10:11] The center recently took data from five years (20,000 company surveys) and did a factor analysis and a Bayesian statistical analysis. They were able to identify the key factors that drive growth for these companies. They created a cluster analysis for types of growth coming from various factors. [10:54] The center created ‘portraits’ of the styles of growth of these successful middle market companies, based on the decisions the companies make or the paths they follow. [11:20] The beginning of the National Center for the Middle Market came from GE Capital coming out of the financial crisis with a lot of interest in the middle market. As there are only 500 Fortune 500 customers, many financial services companies wish to work with the potentially lucrative middle market. [11:44] GE Capital approached a number of business schools, including Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University to do a study of the middle market. Fisher replied, “We see you, and raise you. Anybody can do a study, but why don’t we actually create a research center so that there’s an ongoing stream of studies?” [12:08] GE sold off most of its Capital division, starting about four years ago. Now the center is sponsored by Cisco Systems, GrantThornton, and Chubb Insurance. The center works with outside organizations like Brookings. [12:27] Middle market companies have ‘big-company’ problems and ‘small-company’ resources. Finding the ‘stuff’ that really helps them address their challenges is one of the most important contributions the center makes. [12:48] Tom Stewart talks of his background working with large companies. When he moved to the National Center for the Middle Market, he discovered an extraordinary universe with some of the most interesting companies with interesting challenges. Middle market companies generally outperform S&P 500 companies by up to 2%. [15:00] Some companies move up in the middle market. Tom calls them the ‘graduating classes.’ [15:14] Tom Stewart and Ralph Greco reported on a study about if companies are keeping up with digitalization or falling behind. Getting up-to-speed is time-consuming. Tom shares the percentages of digital spending, past and predicted. There are four types of companies: strategic, advanced, defensive, and deniers. Strategic is best. [17:51] In the 4th Quarter of 2018, 71% of middle market companies were planning to invest, with a large percentage of investments going toward IT. Cybersecurity is the biggest technology priority for many of them. Companies that prioritize cybersecurity for customer data grow faster than those that do not. [20:08] People are now distinguishing between three things: digitization from legacy data on paper, digitalization of the whole business process, and digital transformation in which you think of the whole business as being digital, first. More companies are moving from one level to the next, connecting the dots to arrive at digital transformation. [21:48] As executive teams age, they sometimes may also be more interested in harvesting than in planting. That’s when private equity investors start coming in to grow them. [22:46] Middle market companies that are using technology as a cornerstone grew at an average 10% rate in 2018. The ‘laggards’ who haven’t connected the dots grew only at a 6% rate. As the years pass, growth rates and the advantages of the technology will compound for the forward companies. Tom gives examples of high-tech companies. [24:14] Tom reflects that before he started with the center he was unaware of the landscape of middle market companies that opened before him. He says policymakers don’t understand and are not being told the stories of middle market companies. [25:15] 47% of mid-size companies report that the lack of talent is restraining their growth. Google doesn’t have a shortage of job applicants. Everybody knows about Google. There are some extraordinary opportunities in mid-market companies and that story needs to be told so the talent can find the opportunities in these companies. [25:38] Varidesk furniture, every sports team, craft brewers, and more are all found in the middle market sector. [26:29] Tom looks forward to more interactions between companies to use tools, create knowledge, and share knowledge. The center can provide academic rigor but also an opportunity for people to share and talk. Tom wants to see more talking about the data while continuing to create a body of knowledge about middle market companies. [28:01] Tom wants to apply this body of knowledge to help these companies perform even better. Tom’s third hope is for more connections with policymakers, on one hand, and the global community of middle market companies, on the other hand. [28:57] The core work of prosperity in communities and cities is helping the companies that are already there to grow. Part of that is identifying the middle market companies. Public investment is needed there to help everybody living in those communities. [29:28] This is Capitalism, with “Mr. In-Between,” Tom Stewart.   Mentioned in This Episode: Stephens.com Thomas A. Stewart Fisher College of Business at the Ohio State University Fortune 500 Bayesian Analysis Cluster Analysis GE Capital Cisco Systems GrantThornton Chubb Insurance Brookings Booz & Company (now Strategy&) Harvard Business Review Fortune S&P 500 How Digital Are You? A conversation with Thomas A. Stewart and Ralph Greco, on YouTube 5G GPS Lyft Uber US Small Business Administration (SBA) K Street Varidesk Germany's Mittelstand This Is Capitalism

Darrah Brustein asks a lot of good, pointed questions of herself as well as others. In part because of the questions she has asked herself since graduation from Emory University in 2006, she has gone from the fashion world to building a payment processing system for merchants, to event planner and networking guru, children’s book author and advocate for teaching young people about personal finance, and now, co-host of a video series with Deepak Chopra, Diving Deep with Deepak and Darrah.   Key Takeaways: [:23] Ray Hoffman introduces the guest, Darrah Brustein. [1:00] Darrah began at about eight years old on her path to become an entrepreneur. It started with crafting jewelry, then selling candy bars, and then partnering with her brother to sell wrapping paper for a school fundraiser. She is in business with her brother still; they work great as partners but they are not great friends! [3:25] Darrah double-majored in Religion and Italian at Emory University. Darrah believes you can understand people and what makes them tick by learning what they believe. She tells how her own early conversion experience led her to want to learn more. A holistic view of the world’s religions has helped her to “get” people. [4:36] Darrah decided to major in Italian, being one of the three fashion languages after French and English, which she already knew, to launch a career in fashion. She did start in fashion but never needed Italian. In her liberal arts education, she learned to expand her mindset. She studied abroad for one summer in Italy. [6:12] Now Darrah spends about 60% of her time traveling for pleasure, and she works wherever she is. Her first job out of college was as a sales rep for a Los Angeles-based wholesale jean company while she was in Atlanta. She covered seven Southeast states working with boutiques and department stores in her territory. She beat her sales goals. [7:23] The company went under about a week before Christmas in 2007 and Darrah lost her job. She had bought a home three months earlier. Darrah next tried different things for work, and got laid off or downsized several more times, in the thick of the economic recession. Her inner voice kept guiding her to owning her own business. [9:03] Darrah started a credit card processing company with her twin brother, Garrett. Garrett had been researching the merchant services industry and found an unrepresented contingent of brokerage models he could apply to the credit card processing industry. Darrah’s first reaction was, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” [10:14] Darrah didn’t have any other ideas what to do, so she flew to San Diego to work with Garrett. Garrett had already gotten started with a small team. Darrah shadowed them and looked for problems in the business plan. After a week, she flew back to Atlanta and connected with as many of her former clients as she could. [10:43] Darrah asked her former clients about their current payment systems and what it would take for them to switch. She kept hearing the same story. The merchants had been sold a “bill of goods” with costs that were different from what they had expected. They would switch to a provider with honesty and transparency. [11:12] Darrah had not been initially enthusiastic about this service of credit card processing but she could get really excited about the way in which she could interact with and help these small business owners. So, she became really excited about the service. Now, Darrah calls herself the Chief Curiosity Officer of her company. [11:47] Building the business was a lot harder in practice than in theory. Small companies are tied into their merchant services provider by contract. Many of them believe the pitch they were sold by those providers. Darrah almost felt like the Robin Hood of financial services. It took longer than she expected, but over time, it worked. [13:08] Darrah tells how she started Network Under 40 and then Network Over 40. She just wanted to meet the need of a friend and she was already a success at networking. It snowballed to an event a month, and she expanded it to other cities. In eight years they have served over 30,000 people. It’s about building real relationships, not selling. [16:29] Darrah explains how she established “Friends first and then networking.” From the first event, Darrah stacked the room with people she knew would embody that idea. She told them it was not going to be a place where it’s just a business card exchange or the first question is “What do you do?” They were prepared to work the room as friends. [17:03] As it grew, Darrah used ambassadors in a shirt with the event logo and colors and the slogan, “Let’s talk.” They act as event concierges. They set the tone and help keep the culture alive. People engage on a human level before involving their professional life. [18:08] About two years ago, Darrah had an enduring, intuitive feeling that there was a new incarnation of her career on the horizon; she had no idea what it was. It was her job to figure it out. For six months she dug deep and reflected on what it could be that was coming next. She realized that people kept asking her how she lives the life she does. [19:01] Due to the path she had followed, Darrah had the freedom to travel when she liked and work beside high-profile people. Had she followed a traditional “success” path, she would be asking the same questions her friends asked her. She knew her best skill was connecting people to people and to resources. She felt the need to create a blueprint for others. [20:06] She decided to do a virtual summit so anyone with an internet connection would have access to all her peers and mentors who have helped her along this journey. She broke the summit into three categories: 1) What do I want out of my life? 2) How do I build a career or business to include that? 3) How do I develop a support community? [21:18] Darrah organized 45 speakers with 20 hours of content. The summit ran live online over three days and now is available online for purchase. Each category took one day. The speakers were assigned according to their unique talents, ideas, and skill sets. Darrah interviewed half of the presenters; the rest went solo with resources for action. [22:21] Darrah sees her essential self as the exact person she was ten years ago, but some of her characteristics have changed a lot. She went from being reactive and stressed about “résumé virtues” to being more secure and understanding of her intrinsic human value apart from her career and accolades. [23:22] Darrah explains why she is proudest of her emotional journey and how she can use her vulnerability to help others learn they are not alone, wherever they are in their journey. Close to 10,000 attended the virtual summit. [24:18] Darrah releases a weekly conversation with Deepak Chopra. Darrah says that Deepak Chopra was not chasing a fortune. It came as a secondary component to utilizing his gifts in service to the world while having fun and feeling joyful. In the same way, Network Under 40 was Darrah doing what she loved. Money was a by-product. [25:34] Darrah suggests that when you can understand your unique gifts and skills, and with whom you empathize enough to help them on their way from A to B, that is a melding of who you are as a spiritual being with how you can grow something in a capitalistic way. [26:00] Darrah talks about the shared insights between entrepreneurism and team sports that she observes from her many celebrity interviews. Founders are not lone wolves. The people around you make you a success. [26:57] Darrah wrote Money-Making Sunny after watching the market collapse and seeing how much debt her high-earning friends had accrued. She saw a global epidemic of financial ignorance. Darrah’s parents had taught her very early about money, investing, compound interest, and giving back. She wanted to help others. [28:33] Darrah saw very little children’s literature on financial responsibility. Parents weren’t successfully teaching financial literacy to their children on their own. So Darrah used her writing talent to create a story that includes an appendix of resources for parents to use for teaching. [29:51] There is a downloadable picture to color on the website FinanceWhizKids.com. Parents send her videos and images that show how their children are finding excitement around financial responsibility. They are learning it doesn’t just pop out of an ATM. There are consequences with money. Demonstrate them for your children. [31:37] Darrah’s plan is to let life unfold as it should, following her instincts and seeing where doors are opening. In 2018 Darrah had no goal to do a video show with Deepak Chopra. But then it presented itself, and Darrah is so grateful that it has happened. [32:51] Darrah had assembled a wish list of mentors and people she admired for their expertise that she wanted in the summit. For many of them, she was a student of their work from afar. Deepak Chopra was one of them. Darrah connected with his publicists and shared the vision of the summit but they were on the fence about it. [33:36] Darrah had a hidden connection. She reached out to a friend, who was also Deepak Chopra’s COO. Within hours, she had an invitation to interview Deepak in New York the following week. It was an incredible opportunity and experience. [34:31] Three months later, Chase Bank had hired Darrah to be an onsite correspondent for their Atlanta conference at which Deepak Chopra and Cam Newton were speaking. So she met Cam Newton and had a delightful second interaction with Deepak Chopra. [34:48] This led to two additional interviews of Deepak, arranged by his publicists. Darrah later sent him an email thanking him and offering her cheerleading support for whatever he needed in 2019. That led to the video series. Darrah never engineered the circumstance to happen, it just unfolded naturally from her generosity and work. [36:04] This is Capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Stephens.com Darrah Brustein Emory University Diving Deep with Deepak and Darrah Equitable Payments Network Under 40 Network Over 40 Inc Magazine Dale Carnegie Life by Design, Not by Default Virtual Summit World Economic Forum in Davos TED The U.N. Deepak Chopra Adam Grant Robert Herjavec Shaquille O’Neal Forbes Gary Player Cam Newton Bobby Brown Money-Making Sunny: Finance Whiz Kids: Book #1, by Darrah Brustein FinanceWhizKids.com This Is Capitalism

Charles Morgan is a lot of fun to be around and to learn from. He learned about business first from working with his father, starting when he was a little boy. As IBM’s top systems engineer for the entire state of Arkansas, Charles sold Sam Walton his first IBM System 360 Mainframe, which allowed Walmart to take off. He’s a pioneer of big data, having built one of the first companies in the industry, Acxiom Corp. And now, at a time when most of his contemporaries are retired, he’s having fun being a very hands-on CEO at First Orion, whose Privacy Star app is blocking literally billions of scam calls. But then, he has also driven the 24-hours at Daytona, and at most of the other major tracks around the U.S., too. He has the X-rays to show for it.   Key Takeaways: [:25] Ray Hoffman introduces the guest, Charles Morgan, First Orion CEO. [1:30] What shaped Charles and gave him the confidence to take on the risk that allows the reward in capitalism? Charles credits the DNA he inherited from his father and grandfather. He says a family history of starting businesses helps. He wasn’t afraid of entrepreneurism and worked in the family business. [2:32] Charles doesn’t think it was courage that drove him but just the understanding that entrepreneurism is what he ought to do. [2:39] Charles sees capitalism as the freedom to pursue your own talent and interests in a business sense that allows you to be all you can be for yourself, for your creative side, and for your family. That is also, for Charles, the essence of the joy of life. [3:09] Charles would not do well in a controlled environment with little or no self-direction. [3:30] Why is Charles, at age 76, still heavily involved as a CEO? He says his wife is pleased that she is free to do lunch with whomever she wants, as Charles is at work! [4:18] Charles is a geek at heart and loves problem-solving. His enjoyment in racing comes from the technical problem-solving of getting a car setup right. Charles has designed some race cars. [4:39] Charles likes people problem-solving and business problem-solving; coming up with a really good organizational strategy can be an exciting thing. Innovation, producing results for the customer, and putting the right person in charge of each area, are important for small companies like First Orion or large companies like Acxiom. [5:09] Business is and always has been a ‘people game.’ [5:12] Charles still loves technical problems. He is still programming prototype software for the solutions First Orion offers. Charles wakes up at 5:00 a.m. and goes to his computer to work on the current problem for an uninterrupted couple of hours. Then he goes to work at 9:00 a.m. [5:57] Charles says we all decide what to do with our lives. He believes retirement is the freedom to be able to get up every day and do what you love to do. Everybody’s job ought to be retirement every day, from the age of 21 on. [6:32] In Charles’s first book, Matters of Life and Data, he said his businessman father understood reward but not risk. His father had the vision for opportunities but did not understand how to make them happen —  how to get the right people doing the right things, and where to take the right risks. He didn’t achieve the level of focus he needed. [7:23] In his father’s hardware business, he diverged from hardware to wood doors and frames, aluminum windows, and plywood. He tried to be all things to all people. He didn’t have the discipline to decide how his business would grow and where he would get the resources to grow it. It was helter-skelter. [7:59] His father knew the reward he wanted was a successful business but he couldn’t organize it very well. [8:16] At age 17, at the direction of his father, Charles took a truck and drove his 15-year-old brother from Fort Smith to the Andersen Window factory in Philadelphia for Charles to pick up a load of windows and pitch to the Andersen brothers an improvement on their window design. His father had sent a letter to Andersen about it.[9:44] The Andersen brothers had a conference room prepared for them, with the company engineers ready to hear his presentation. Charles explained it to them and they were very interested to see if they could incorporate the idea into their windows. [10:12] That night, Charles and his brother headed on a train to New York City for two plays their father had bought tickets for them to see. They picked up the tickets at will-call. After two nights in New York, they took the train back to Philadelphia and drove back to Fort Smith with their window order. [10:52] In 1966, Charles started his first career job at IBM. He was made the top systems engineer for IBM for Arkansas. [10:59] In Charles’s book, What Now?, he recalls a lesson he learned early on from a senior IBM executive. He was told never to burn bridges with someone at work, whether it’s a poor employee or a bad boss. Respect them as human beings. Circumstances change and you may work together again. Decades later, that advice still serves. [12:05] Charles made his first investment in First Orion/ PrivacyStar when a representative presented it to him as a concept of putting software into the switching systems of telecoms’ networks to allow individual customers of the telecom to block numbers that they didn’t want to call them. [12:43] The obstacle ahead of them was that the telecoms weren’t interested in granting network access to outside software engineers. So that idea didn’t work. [12:56] The idea came at a time when Charles expected he would be leaving Acxiom and he was looking for something “to dabble with.” Charles moved to Dallas and invested in First Orion with $1 million with Jeff Stalnaker, the COO. At first, Charles was not expecting to become extremely involved with the investment. [13:44] Charles talks about how he left Acxiom, as the face of the company. He had been getting tired of the process of running a company of that size and new regulations, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, added to the burden. A large investor, Jeff Ubben, brought a proxy battle, then joined the board and started trying to oust Charles. [15:58] Charles was tired of the conflict. He invested in First Orion to get his mind off the struggle on the board at Acxiom. [16:24] Going into First Orion/ PrivacyStar, Charles didn’t keep in his mind how long it took and how difficult it was to build up Acxiom. But he did remember some of the things that didn’t work, so he was able to avoid some of the early mistakes. [17:27] As the most dominant company in the direct marketing industry, Acxiom got a little cocky at the influence they had. As CEO, Charles could call on executives at any level and knew all the senior guys at major corporations. His son tells him, “You were kind of a big deal!” [17:50] Charles wrote in his first book, “A good entrepreneur knows what he doesn’t know.” At the beginning of his involvement with First Orion, Charles didn’t know the telecom industry, nor did he know how little the man dragging him into it knew about the telecom industry; most of his claimed knowledge was actually stuff he’d made up. [18:28] Charles asked his friend, Bill Connor, to meet with the man from First Orion. The meeting didn’t happen until after Charles had put in the $1 million. Bill told him “Well, I hope you’re successful,” but didn’t say what he thought — that the man was a fraud — until Charles cut off the relationship with the man. [19:31] Charles wrote in his book that “We had no idea of the vastness, the complicatedness, the downright convolutedness of the systems that we were stepping into.” Charles says the networks pre-date IT. There is layer upon layer of technology that all has to work together. Somehow, phone calls get through. [20:25] First Orion has had to integrate their technology into those networks, thanks only to a bunch of amazing people. The systems, to this day, are very complicated. First Orion interrogates every single phone call to every user of T-Mobile today, to see all its characteristics, to try to figure out if it’s a scam call. It’s a complicated process. [21:19] Today, PrivacyStar is able to block or identify about 90% of scam calls. If you used to get 30 scam calls a week, that cuts it down to three scam calls. They’re heading to cutting it down to one or fewer a week. They are covering 62 million customers and they see every call that is made to them. [22:08] There is about 2K of data for each incoming call. This includes where it came from, where it’s going, and the routing that gets it there, the equipment that sent it, and other characteristics of the call. [22:28] PrivacyStar does not get involved in the voice call itself, and they are careful not to transmit outside of the network the call is being made to, to protect personal information. The only data they take outside the network is not identifiable to the person receiving the call. [22:53] In ten years, First Orion has come a long way. Eighteen months after Charles’s initial $1 million investment, the company was out of money. Charles had a big decision to make. His gut told him to put more money into it. His worst-case scenario told him he could lose another few million and it would not impact his lifestyle significantly. [23:53] Charles doesn’t make decisions out of fear, or because he has to. He says people make terrible decisions at times of dissolution of marriage or bankruptcy or another financial nightmare. People should not make decisions at the time of trouble. [24:25] Charles made the decision that he believed in First Orion for the long-term. The idea was adapted to mobile technology instead of the originally planned wire-line network software. [24:38] In 2000, Charles started getting excited about mobile technology. In 2009-2010 Charles realized that this little computer you put in your hand was going to change the world. They started with a Blackberry app and realized there would be a lot more mobile devices. [25:19] A successful entrepreneur or executive needs to be inspired by dealing with multiple difficult issues. If problems worry you to death, you probably ought to be doing something else. When Charles sleeps, he does not want to lay awake worrying. [25:53] Don’t sit and mope about something — do something about it! Sometimes it’s better to do something, even if it’s wrong. You can’t be frozen by indecision. Take action to move toward a solution. Hit problems head-on. [26:37] A good entrepreneur has got to move quickly — measuredly but quickly. [26:56] Charles describes how he went from observing to taking over the company. It came down to the decision to either stop putting money into it to lose or to take over with a plan to turn the company around. He planned for First Orion to make a profit by December of 2013, and they did it. [28:19] You can’t direct that kind of change from over the fence. [28:24] It was a problem for Charles to win over the non-believers at the company. Charles came up with a very specific plan with the detailed changes he was going to make in how they organize and approach things. He declared he would take on the task cut their IT cost in half. He delegated other problems at the company to other staff. [29:19] Charles cut the IT cost by more than half, trading pay cuts for stock options. He wants everybody to be a partner and not an employee. Putting stock in their hands with options does that. [29:39] You can’t just have good technology. You can’t just have good people. You need good products, good service, and other things. For a small company, these are even more important. [29:51] Charles is audacious, meeting with senior people like he has a right to have a relationship with them. In the early days at Acxiom, Charles took it on himself as a challenge to meet with senior people at Citi. He kept pushing the relationship higher and higher to the head of the credit card department. The relationship is important. [31:27] Now, First Orion’s service is important to the senior-most people at T-Mobile and the carriers. So they are getting the same kind of relationship with them. John Legere, T-Mobile CEO, knows very well who First Orion is and has some dialog with First Orion President, Jeff Stalnaker. There is regular communication with top executives. [32:00] First Orion first thought they were providing a service. Now they see themselves as a data analytics company, using data analytics to make the phone experience better. Charles compares the services of Acxiom and First Orion. It’s all about the data. [33:26] First Orion uses a massive AWS footprint to do a lot of analytics. They use software in the network that takes the AWS data and builds a knowledge base to compare each phone call against. They do this comparison about 175 million times a day. They send the results of the comparisons back into AWS to update the analytics. [34:24] They update the analytics every six minutes. It is very challenging to stay ahead of the scammers. The carriers themselves built into the system, for their own reasons, the ability to obscure the source of a call. This was before scam calls were common. [35:42] First Orion has 50 people continually iterating the software. It can never stop. [36:02] Scammers today are sending texts and emails with a scam fraud alert phone number for the recipient to call and get scammed. People fall for it in amazing numbers. [36:29] First Orion has blocked or tagged 10 billion calls. The savings to the customers at T-Mobile is now in the billions of dollars. [37:08] Charles talks about how he recruited some of the early employees to Acxiom, telling them they would have fun and he would do everything he could to make sure they became millionaires. [37:24] A lot of the reward Charles got between Acxiom and First Orion is being able to help people out. Acxiom made quite a few millionaires. At First Orion, Charles has given out 25% of the company as stock options to the employees. Stockholders will make a lot of money if First Orion is successful. [38:01] First Orion is looking to monetize. They are generating good cash flow. Charles would like to start buying people’s stock back from them and allow them to monetize significant numbers of dollars and not have to wait until the company is sold. Charles does not really want to run a public company again. [38:38] What is it about Arkansas water or the soil that has nourished a disproportionate number of very successful entrepreneurs, including the Fords, the Waltons, the Stephens, the Tysons, the Dillards, the Murphys, and the Morgans? Charles used the working title “It’s in the Water” for his book, Now What? as he was fascinated by that. [39:12] Charles did research the topic and interviewed some of the big names. There is something about the culture of Arkansas that allows success to happen. Charles doesn’t want to preview his next book, but that will be in it! [39:54] Charles Morgan is capitalism, and This is Capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Stephens.com Charles Morgan IBM Sam Walton Walmart Acxiom First Orion PrivacyStar App for iPhone PrivacyStar App for Android 24 Hours at Daytona Matters of Life and Data: The Remarkable Journey of a Big Data Visionary Whose Work Impacted Millions (Including You), by Charles D. Morgan Andersen Windows Now What? The Biography Of A (Finally) Successful Startup, by Charles D. Morgan Jeff Stalnaker Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 Jeff Ubben Bill Dillard T-Mobile Citi John Legere Amazon AWS Companies based in or started in Arkansas This Is Capitalism

There aren’t many 32-year-olds in any profession who have assumed the kind of leadership role that Stacy Lewis has in the world of professional golf. Not only by her 12 LPGA tournament wins so far, including two majors, or the fact that she was the first American woman in more than 20 years to win the LPGA Triple Crown — no, there’s more to it. Because a girl who grew up in a back brace, as she did, would not be a prime candidate to turn pro, let alone become number one in the world. She has stepped into controversy — less as a disruptor and more as a leader. She has inspired change and driven change. The companies she represents as a brand ambassador, such as KPMG, Marathon Petroleum, and now, Stephens, Inc., know to turn to her for much more than just club selection and putting tips.   Key Takeaways: [:19] Ray Hoffman introduces the guest, Stacy Lewis. [1:15] Stacy has a degree in Finance and Accounting from the University of Arkansas. This is a good qualification for talking about the business of being a professional golfer. [1:28] Stacy had planned to get a regular job after school and not play professional golf. [1:40] Ray lists some of Stacy’s many college golf awards that pointed her toward success as a professional golfer. [1:54] Before college, academics was her focus. In the last couple of years of college, she started considering a professional golf path. [2:13] How does Stacy apply her finance and accounting knowledge? It feels like her own little business. She talks about hiring, firing, and payroll, and accounting. Her classes prepared her for it. She pays another person to do her taxes. [2:55] Stacy is CEO of Stacy Lewis. She runs her business on an Excel spreadsheet. [3:19] Professional golfers are independent contractors. Stacy explains what that means. No one else is making decisions for you. A lot of people are not prepared for that. There’s a lot of pressure to play well because you have a lot of people to pay before you get the money, especially if you have no sponsorships. [4:28] In college, Stacy did not know how much of a team she would need to employ as a professional golfer. She keeps her team really small. She wants people she trusts to tell her if she needs to change anything. She has a caddy, a swing coach, a trainer, an agent, a financial adviser, and an accountant. Plus her husband and her parents. [5:50] Stacy contrasts the PGA and LPGA purse payouts. Stacy does not ever see the purses being equal in the twenty or thirty years she has left in her career. She expects the gap to get smaller. For now, women are making about a third of what men make. Today, women can make a living out of playing professional golf, more than before. [7:23] Women tennis players have reached parity with men players. Venus Williams was a driver of that. It helped that men and women play at the same courts at the same time. It would take bringing the PGA and LPGA together to the same course to create change like that. The European Tour and the LPGA met at the Vic Open in Australia. It’s progress. [9:15] What would it take to make a joint PGA/LPGA tour? A lot of money is needed to make the two purses equal. [9:56] A smaller number of golfers from each organization would probably play, for a smaller purse. PGA players and audiences are sometimes surprised by the level of play in the LPGA. [10:38] LPGA play is more relatable for the average male amateur player who does not drive as far as a PGA player. There is more finesse to the women’s game and more feel in the wedges and putter. [11:10] Stacy would like to see a joint tournament at a Links course in Scotland, but it could be done anywhere. The biggest issue would be the course setup with tees. Links Golf is Stacy’s favorite style of golf. [12:11] Stacy had a drought from 2014 to 2017 where she didn’t win a single tournament. In 2017, when she won a $195K purse, she donated the check to Hurricane victims in Houston. The Tuesday before the tournament the thought came to her, and she called her husband to discuss it. He said, “Let’s go win the thing!” It gave her a focus. [13:04] Stacy is a fiery player, but that week she felt calm. She knew the outcome had already been decided and all she had to do was be there for it and enjoy it. It was a surreal week and a surreal experience. It’s been so cool for her to see the impact of that money, helping rebuild houses in Houston for eight families. [13:53] Stacy tells how the donation was made to the St. Bernard Project to distribute the money in Houston for Hurricane Harvey relief. [14:19] Last year, Stacy worked more on motherhood than on golfing. It has completely changed her world. It forces her to be more focused when she practices, and then get home to be with her daughter. Stay played a tournament in January, and her baby came with her, going to daycare while Stacy played. The LPGA Tour has daycare. [15:14] There were four or five babies born to LPGA golfers last year. One of them also will come to a summer tournament. After success on the golf course, Stacy was ready for the challenge of motherhood. She still feels she can play some pretty great golf, coming back from this, as well. [15:43] Stacy Lewis and Phil Mickelson are the principal faces of golf for KPMG. Stacy wears a blue hat, as for every blue hat KPMG sells, they donate five books to children in need as part of their campaign for literacy. [16:17] Written into each KPMG sponsorship contract are things like wearing the logo, which everyone sees, and service days. Stacy and her instructors spend a full day with about 25 women clients invited by KPMG for instruction, playing nine holes, a scramble for fun, and a time to network. Other sponsors may ask for different services. [17:04] There are five to six days a year that Stacy spends in service to KPMG and their clients for their sponsorship. There are also other meet-and-greets, social media posts, videos, and other things behind the scenes. Every sponsorship Stacy has requires at least a couple of service days, so they add up to quite a bit. [17:28] Stacy’s agent is concerned about her time. She cannot take on any more sponsors and have time to play 25 tournaments in a year. [17:50] Logo placement on shirts and hats determines how much they are seen on TV. The front of the hat is the number one location, then right chest, side of the hat, collar, and sleeve. The golf bag is low on the list. Camera angles are important. [18:29] Stacy’s clothing sponsor is Antigua. To start the year, they send her a big box of shirts and update them if needed in the summer. In the fall, they have a new line of colors and designs, so Stacy gets another big box. Antigua does a tremendous amount of work in women’s golf. Stacy has worn Antigua for eight years. [19:16] Stacy recently added Stephens, Inc. as a sponsor! Stephens has a soft spot for Razorback golfers like David Lingmerth and Stacy Lewis. Stacy was excited when Stephens Inc. reached out to her after she had seen the logo on the guys. [19:41] Over the years, Stacy learned that she represents her sponsors wherever she goes. She chooses sponsors that share her values and make sense for her. [20:19] Stacy has invited some of her sponsors to sponsor LPGA tournaments. She likes to push the envelope and increase the purses. Stacy pushed the idea both with KPMG and Marathon. [21:37] Stacy received a phone call from KPMG, her lead sponsor, that her contract would be paid in full during her maternity leave, without playing the full year. Stacy remembers the phone call which she received sitting in the parking lot of Wilshire Country Club in LA. At first, she thought something was wrong. The call left her in tears. [23:02] Most of Stacy’s other sponsors did the same thing, starting a trend. Stacy hopes the trend continues to support women having babies in the future. Lynne Doughtie, CEO of KPMG is passionate about women in the workplace speaking up for causes. She is amazing as one of the first women CEOs in her industry. [23:42] Stacy’s high profile as number one in the world helped create a major precedent in sponsorships. She says she likes to change things! We can always make things better. She even got the maternity policy on the LPGA Tour changed. She wants girls to see that they can have families and play professional golf. [24:24] The travel for the LPGA is harder than PGA travel, even in the last 10 years, with events in Australia, Asia, and Europe. As Stacy gets older, she won’t play as much internationally, with enough events in the U.S. to play a pretty full schedule. [24:57] Stacy has not played the Evian Championship for two years. She told them she would not return until they made changes. They have made changes to the design of the greens. The big change is putting it in July when it is dryer. Stacy is excited to get back there. She feels like it will be a better championship, this year. [26:40] Stacy takes leadership roles easily. It’s who she is. She’s the experienced voice on the tour. KPMG comes to Stacy after their tournament every year for her suggestions on what to do better next time. The LPGA Tour asks her the same questions. She continues to push the envelope. Some things may be out of reach but may work later. [27:44] What one person does Stacy see as someone she wants to emulate as she moves forward? Stacy looks toward Karrie Webb, who is an unbelievable advocate for women on and off the golf course. She does a lot to support Australian girls coming up in golf. [29:06] Stacy would love another dozen tour wins. She feels like she has a second start to her career after the baby. She asks, who knows what the second half has in store? [29:20] Stacy Lewis is a CEO, professional golfer, and leader. This is capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Stephens.com Stacy Lewis KPMG Marathon Petroleum University of Arkansas Arkansas All-American Golfer Stacy Lewis at University of Arkansas Dinah Shore Trophy Award Excel LPGA PGA Babe Zaharias Mickey Wright Ben Hogan Jimmy Demaret Venus Williams Vic Open European Tour Golf Links Golf Course St. Bernard Project Hurricane Relief LPGA Tour Daycare Phil Mickelson Antigua Clothing David Lingmerth Wilshire Country Club Lynne Doughtie Evian Championship Karrie Webb This Is Capitalism

For Rosina Samadani, New Year’s Eve — the fireworks, the ball drop, the champagne — came on December 28, 2018. That’s when her company, Oculogica, received FDA approval to market a major tool — a breakthrough algorithmic neurodiagnostic tool for determining whether a person has had a concussion. Oculogica’s EyeBOX® does that by a modern variation on what doctors used to do as a matter of course in head injury cases. The EyeBOX® looks into the patient’s eyes to see how they move. Only, the EyeBOX® can do that and analyze over 100,000 data points in the space of less than four minutes. That’s a breakthrough. And that’s what Rosina Samadani’s company, Oculogica, has done.   Key Takeaways: [:18] Ray Hoffman introduces the guest, Rosina Samadani, CEO of Oculogica. [1:06] There is a dire need for an objective diagnostic. Rosina hopes we are entering a new era in concussion diagnosis. Oculogica sees itself as part of a multi-modal assessment of a concussion. There should be multiple objective assessments that are performed simultaneously to understand your concussion. [1:45] Rosina tells how the FDA informed Oculogica of authorization to market the EyeBOX®. Oculogica’s 950-page submission needed one punctuation change, and then it was officially approved and authorized. [2:27] Oculogica’s EyeBOX® is the only non-invasive, baseline-free aid in diagnosis of concussion. One other test, the ImPACT® Test, is authorized as an aid in diagnosis of concussion but it requires a baseline and is mostly used on sports teams. [2:59] The EyeBOX® can be used in the clinic and emergency room, and it’s a lot faster than the ImPACT® test. [3:06] Rosina discusses what Oculogica has learned about concussion and physicians. Concussions manifest in many different ways. Not every person’s concussion is the same. The symptoms are subjective. Rosina lists symptoms that can mimic other conditions under stressful environments. [4:26] There has not been an objective diagnostic for concussion until now. [4:33] The speed of the test is great. Oculogica wants to get to an even faster test. A test where you don’t need a baseline means that you can’t game the test. Rosina describes how athletes and military personnel have been able to game previous tests to get back into action. EyeBOX®, with no baseline, removes the ability to game the test. [5:22] The idea was developed by Rosina’s sister, Uzma Samadani, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of neurosurgery at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Samadani was looking at cranial nerve palsies, and she correlated eye movements to the cranial nerve palsies of cranial nerve three and cranial nerve six. [6:01] Dr. Samadani knew that these nerves are implicated in a concussion. She had a hypothesis that eye movements correlate to a concussion diagnosis. She did a study to test the hypothesis and it was shown to be correct by the data. [6:18] Before an objective test, the main test was to observe eye movements following a finger. [6:37] Dr. Samadani discovered this connection in 2011 and wrote up patents, did a couple of publications, and licensed the patents into a company that she founded in 2013, Oculogica. Rosina joined the company as CEO in 2015. [7:04] Rosina had always thought she would like to run something and take something to the FDA through the authorization process. She has been a management consultant for a very long time and wanted to get into the work of it. She did not think she would be doing it for a company based on technology that her sister had developed. [7:58] Rosina studied mechanical engineering and earned a doctorate in biomedical engineering. Then, she went to McKinsey & Company for six-and-a-half years, where she worked on engagements for a number of larger companies. [9:42] Rosina talks about the learning experience of spending every single day and weekends working extremely hard for two-and-a-half years on getting the FDA authorization to market EyeBOX®. [10:34] The execution requires you to go to the FDA with a discussion of what you are going to do, and then, go out and do that by a study, finding four to six medical centers that are willing to do this study. You have to design the study. You have to get IRB approval. You have to get your patients enrolled. [11:03] You have to make sure the data is collected in a fully FDA-compliant manner. When you are a small company, everybody is engaged in the process. They had just a handful of people and they all had to make sure it was happening. [11:19] The strategic element came on top of the execution. There is not a definitive diagnosis of concussion, so when you’re setting up a clinical trial, what do you compare it to? That is a separate discussion with the FDA. The clinical reference standard is a full-on set of multiple discussions with the FDA. [11:44] There is an FDA review team for these discussions. Ideally, the team is steady, but people come and go with job changes. Rosina found the FDA to be very reasonable and logical in their requests. Everything they asked for made sense to her. Oculogica was very transparent with the FDA and they saw that and appreciated it. [12:26] How did Rosina come to be CEO of Oculogica? She explains the history. Rosina was helping them look for a CEO. When Uzma offered the position to her, at first, Rosina resisted because of the family relationship. That made Uzma even more sure Rosina was right for the position. They talked seriously for three days before she accepted. [13:43] The full company team is six people, working as a virtual company scattered around the country. There is a Minnesota office that serves three of them. There is a New York office for one. Rosina works from home, and another person works from San Francisco. [14:07] Oculogica found the people where they already were. Three engineers were in Minneapolis and they found other engineers. None of them wanted to move to New York, so they found a clinical operations manager there and an analyst in San Francisco. [14:36] The tools that are available today to help people work virtually are phenomenal. Zoom and Slack are maybe even more efficient than being in the next room. [14:49] Every single day, the company has a Zoom video call. Rosina has asked the team to get on Zoom rather than a phone call whenever they can. Everyone has their own Zoom room. They use Zoom with all of their physicians and partners. Looking at somebody is so different than just being on the phone with them. [15:13] In 2018, Oculogica received the Luis Villalobos Award from the Angel Capital Association for outstanding ingenuity, creativity, and innovation. One of the members of the selection committee said “This is a company that has done everything right. … It is hard not to get excited about Oculogica.” [15:38] Rosina talks about receiving the award, which seems like a lifetime ago. Uzma and Rosina have talked about mistakes they have made. You can make mistakes; they just can’t be fatal mistakes. The mistakes were tiny enough that Oculogica could overcome them. [16:11] Rosina talks about her father, a physician, who told her, when they got the FDA authorization, “The biggest accomplishment is that you have made a difference for patients - that will always be there. This change will not go away.” Oculogica can build from here, making a difference to people. [16:31] Everywhere Rosina goes talking to investors, they know someone who has had a concussion, and this will make a difference. [16:37] Traumatic brain injury is the leading cause of disability and the leading cause of death for young adults. Undiagnosed and diagnosed incidences may be as high as 10 million a year in the U.S. [16:55] Almost half of people will incur a brain injury at some point in their life, according to Dr. Uzma Samadani. Every person Rosina talks to knows someone who has had a blow to the head. Rosina and Ray exchange their own stories of blows to the head. It’s so easy to happen. [17:44] 100% of the concussion headlines are about sports. Only 18% of concussions are related to sports. [17:51] Rosina mentions upcoming uses for the EyeBOX® technology. Oculogica will go after elevated intracranial pressure next, Then, they will go after the various subtypes of concussion they are also exploring, and cranial nerve palsies. There are a number of other areas that are of interest to Oculogica and other companies. [18:14] Ray and Rosina discuss pricing. They will get to an accessible price solution to benefit more patients, but it will take time. [18:33] This interview is being held at the Golden Seeds Summit. Golden Seeds had expressed an interest in Oculogica. Rosina recommends that if you are going to pitch to Golden Seeds, be thoroughly prepared and know your market — what you are trying to do, and how you will go to market. [19:04] You need to understand your technology, how your IP lines up against your competitors, your licensing arrangement, the number of people that are affected, and the unmet need. Golden Seeds wants to know everything. They will talk with you and with regulatory folks, physicians, and patients. [19:33] In the end, Oculogica had an investor and a network of related people. Half of the benefit from the arrangement has been having access to Golden Seeds’ network. On the day of this interview, Rosina was meeting with people because of Golden Seeds. Golden Seeds has been very generous. [19:57] Oculogica has been in touch with sports teams and leagues even before they received FDA authorization to market EyeBOX®. Since the authorization, they have had some discussions with major sports leagues and also with some of the team doctors. [20:28] Oculogica did some extensive testing with two high school teams in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin over the course of a season. They did find a false positive rate in kids before the season started. They also found out that concussions get a little worse before they get better. [21:01] You can be tested on the day of a concussion and be a little fuzzy. Three to seven days after the hit, you will get a little worse, before you get better. [21:20] What is planned for Oculogica by January 2024? Rosina anticipates they will have two products dealing with concussions; one with therapeutic implications and one as a portable triage device. There may be a version that is more portable than the one they are planning now, depending on how the technology of phones and tablets progresses. [22:07] The products address a market of over $1 billion. It’s a very large market. [22:16] It’s a very large development! This is capitalism. Mentioned in This Episode: Stephens.com This Is Capitalism Rosina Samadani, Ph.D. Oculogica/EyeBOX® FDA The ImPACT® Test Uzma Samadani University of Minnesota McKinsey & Company American Public University System (APUS) Institutional Review Board (IRB) Zoom Slack “Oculogica receives Luis Villalobos Award for Innovation", by Marianne Hudson Golden Seeds NFL MLB

They’ve only been business partners since January 2017. When they’re not on the road, usually in two different cities, their homes are about 1,200 miles apart. Yet, Joe Gilliland and Larry Lemons have a knack for finishing each other’s sentences. They share a vision of a somewhat disruptive, more comprehensive approach to sports management. They call their company Anth3m because they and their affiliated firms give voice and management to the longer term of-the-field and off-the-course interests of rising stars such as golfer Austin Cook, and Oakland Raiders tight end, Jared Cook. Too many Cooks? Not in the case of Joe Gilliland, Larry Lemmons, and Anth3m, which is based in Miami Beach.   Key Takeaways: [:18] Ray Hoffman describes Anth3m sports management company and introduces Joe Gilliland and Larry Lemons. [1:15] Joe and Larry explain why Anth3m is based in Miami Beach. Athletes love the beach. It’s easy to get an athlete to come to visit Miami Beach for a meeting or an event. [1:25] Joe and Larry are basically on the road all the time, visiting athletes. They have partners spread out across the country to meet any athlete’s needs at any given time. Larry is in Miami Beach every other month, while Joe is there as little as he can be. [1:56] There are two full-time employees in Anth3m headquarters in Miami Beach. Larry and Joe are primarily on the road meeting people. [2:09] Joe lives in Dallas, Texas. Larry lives in Cleveland, Ohio. [2:20] Joe and Larry always have something new and exciting happening daily. They think outside the box and they want their company to find new and innovative ways to strategically align with their clients and partners. [3:08] Larry explains how he was doing business development for about six years with a couple of athletes. His business partner was his first client. As Larry was developing the model of Anth3m, he knew it was important to find someone who had actual management experience. [3:40] Larry was looking for someone who could bring traditional aspects of management to his athletes in a non-traditional situation. His partners introduced him to Joe. Larry laid out the vision for him and he just got it. They’ve been going ever since. [4:08] Larry has an economics background with JP Morgan Private before branching off on his own. Joe started at UBS and moved to UBS Private Wealth. At the same time, he founded a digital media company in the golf space, with two friends from college. It grew into something far bigger than they had anticipated. [4:43] Joe gives the shortened version of his career. He and his friends created a YouTube video that got 30K views. That led to a second video that got 100K views and it continued. They started getting contracts in the mail to monetize the video and build the platform. [5:09] Joe looked over the contracts and they filed an LLC, looking to make a little bit of money. Golf Digest wanted to do a full series. Callaway Golf called. That led Joe to full-time management representation as well as business development for athletes and consulting on behalf of digital content marketing strategies. [5:49] Larry and Joe were both willing to take on mitigated risk. You have to have an entrepreneurial spirit to launch a business. That was what drew Larry to Joe. They had both built a business from the ground up. [6:08] Larry says you need to understand what it means to go into the trenches and build something that certain people may see as taboo or different. They were taking on an industry that had set ways. You need people who will understand the vision and the struggles you have to go through to get where you want to be. [6:41] Joe illustrates the biggest difference between sports management today and the past by contrasting Michael Jordan, who was untouchable, with Lebron James, who is fully accessible. You feel like you have a personal relationship with him, day in and day out, from everything he’s been putting together. [7:29] The industry has been focused on sponsoring an athlete and getting them as much money as they can in return for as little value as possible. At the end of the day, the sponsorship doesn’t provide value to the company that you work with. [8:07] There is limited space available during the athlete’s performance. You have to find a way to create engagement opportunities for the brand. Today, you need to have a story about the brand’s association with the player and you need to tell the story by way of digital content, social media strategy, and public relations for audience engagement. [8:50] Athletes are not experts on marketing. They don’t understand that on Instagram and Twitter, they are shaping how people see them. Anth3m helps athletes make that communication intentional by matching an athlete’s message with a brand that aligns with their values and products they legitimately use. [10:05] Anth3m is telling authentic stories — the athletes don’t mind doing it and the brands get more out of it. They’re creating lasting, organic partnerships. [10:29] Joe points out that Anth3m is not an agency. They don’t handle player sports contracts or team-related businesses. A lot of times, they align strategically with agencies to help support the players in these other areas. Anth3m is unique in the style of relationship they have within the business development sector. [10:58] Anth3m is partnered with an actual public relations company, with a digital media and social media company, and a strong content creation company called Ideas United. They are partnered with a franchise and business development company, Apex. That is not common in the sports management industry. [11:44] Anth3m’s goal is to help their clients, the athletes, develop their own personal anthem. A lot of athletes have unknown talents they want to use and passions to pursue. The average NFL career is three years. It’s a job, not a career. Anth3m wants athletes, after a long career, to have their sport remembered as a footnote to their lives. [12:51] Anth3m’s goal is not to get athletes to the top but to guide them down into the next phase of their career, as well. It’s a full journey. The athlete is their own personal business. They hire Anth3m, to be the ‘CEO’ of their company. When they retire from their sport, they’ll be ready to step into a role in their business. [13:53] Larry says it’s come a little faster than anticipated. The firm was two years old in January. Both Larry and Joe have been working with athletes for a number of years. [14:25] Joe brings up a client case study, Brice Butler, who has proven himself to be a very capable receiver. What makes him a fit for Anth3m’s model is who he is as a business professional. He is into fashion. Last year at Men’s Fashion Week in Paris, he was voted as one of the top eight best-dressed athletes at the shows. [16:12] Joe was heavily focused on golf before he met Larry. Larry loved the model Joe had put together of building brands and platforms for the athletes away from their sport. Larry said, “Let’s do it for the NFL.” It took Joe time to become fully aware of how the NFL works. Now they are branching into the NBA. [17:21] Larry had just taken the dive into golf and wanted to learn from Joe. Both Joe and Larry had some learning to do about the NFL space as a whole. Relationships with individuals have helped them pick it up quicker. Bringing on NBA athletes will be different from either golf or the NFL. [18:30] It was a surprise to Larry what the learning curve for Joe was in the NFL space. It took Joe some time to catch up to Larry. Larry and Joe talk about when you can call an NFL player vs. a golfer. Golfer Austin Cook will pick up the phone every time Joe calls. If Joe called an NFL player four times a day, they wouldn’t answer for a month. [19:57] Ray recently saw a 1960s video of Palmer, Niklaus, and Player on the Perry Como Show, playing an edited round of golf. These were agent Mark McCormack’s big three. Joe believes that Arnold Palmer made sports marketing cool. Mark McCormack was revolutionary. He wrote What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School. [21:09] The lessons Mark McCormack learned in the 1960s are still applicable today. Joe talks about the thousands of dollars Arnold Palmer won playing golf in contrast to the millions of dollars athletes make today. Arnold Palmer became a multi-millionaire through marketing his story and brand. [22:31] Larry talks about how Anth3m works to understand the important parts of an athlete’s business off the field and turn that into something that fulfills their hopes and dreams. [23:03] Ray notes the Barclays Center in Brooklyn was sold out for a couple of days recently for video gamers. Larry and Joe have considered taking on video gamers. Their aligned strategic partners understand sports but don’t have active backgrounds in sports. Anth3m didn’t want their clients to be put into a box that their sport dictates. [24:08] There are a number of things Anth3m has on the table, with which they are looking forward to testing their model. E-gaming happens to be one of them. Joe has a couple of friends who have moved into the representation of e-gamers full time. [24:37] Joe feels that the driving force of Anth3m’s success is going to be in creating opportunities for athletes to invest more toward their future career and business after their sport. One way they inspire that opportunity is through their relationship with Apex for business development work. [25:27] Joe and Larry are in New York the week of this interview to meet with Jared Cook of the Oakland Raiders, and a partner in a high-fashion men’s apparel line. Jared came up with the idea of starting his own line. Larry helped him pick the right strategy, designers and partners, took over as CEO of the company and has developed it. [26:21] Larry thinks that what needs to change in the representation field is the idea that agents, financial advisors, or managers have direct control over an athlete. Athletes should hire the specialists they need to help them for specific jobs. A financial advisor should not give legal advice. Everybody should do their specific job. [29:14] Joe says they are talking now with a company that has a phenomenal indoor play concept about bringing in a unique ambassador specific to the business and developing a relationship with that group, owning a piece of it, and doing appearances and events that will draw people and grow the business. [30:33] Jared Cook is a unique individual. That is what Anth3m is looking for. Anth3m can help all athletes build their anthem, unique to the individual athletes. [31:19] Joe suggests Anth3m should become the first sports management group to step in and own a franchise of some sort — it may be an Ultimate Frisbee franchise! [31:42] Larry says they are excited and happy that people are starting to take notice and ask questions about how Anth3m is doing what they do. That’s the dream. [32:09] Larry Lemons and Joe Gilliland, of Anth3m. This is capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode:   Stephens.com This Is Capitalism Austin Cook Jared Cook Joe Gilliland Larry Lemons Anth3m JP Morgan Private Golf Digest Callaway Golf Michael Jordan LeBron James Ideas United Brice Butler Arnold Palmer Jack Nicklaus Gary Player Mark McCormack What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School: Notes from a Street-smart Executive, by Mark H. McCormack The Barclays Center Apex Business Development Ultimate Frisbee

The organization known as SIFMA goes back to 1912. It is a trade group which was first known as the Investment Bankers Association of America, then for many years, the Securities Industry Association, and now, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). SIFMA may be best known for a game played by middle school and high school students that represents the only economic education that some of them ever get before going out into the working world — The SIFMA Stock Market Game™. SIFMA’s CEO is Ken Bentsen. He’s a former member of Congress, who, in a relatively short eight years in the House, compiled a rather lengthy resume of bipartisan financial solutions. Meet Ken Bentsen.   Key Takeaways: [:19] Ray Hoffman describes the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) and gives background on its CEO, Ken Bentsen. [1:09] Ray introduces Ken Bentsen. [1:11] Ken comments on SIFMA’s mission statement, “SIFMA exists to advocate that America’s capital markets operate effectively and efficiently to the benefit of all market participants.” Ken describes the maturity of the U.S. capital market system and its correlation with the U.S. economy. [1:51] Ken notes that the capital market system is one of the most highly-regulated industries in the United States. While regulations ensure a level playing field, it is also important that markets are able to operate efficiently and effectively. If not, credit will not be allocated to the best ideas — the great innovations that create jobs. [2:33] The U.S. capital market has created an upward sloping chart in terms of the growth of the U.S. economy, going back 200 years. Even coming out of the 2008-2009 Great Recession, the U.S. came back more quickly than other jurisdictions around the world. Ken credits the resiliency of the U.S. capital market system. [3:34] Ken’s covers his career path, from his Master’s degree in public administration to working as a Congressional staffer, to following Congressional finance committees, to working in public finance in New York, to the House of Representatives working on financial services legislation, to consulting, to running a trade association, to SIFMA. [6:06] Ken served for four terms in Congress from Houston. He lists the committees on which he served, all tied to finance and budget. [6:18] Ken discusses the public’s general understanding of finance today vs. 20 years ago when he was in Congress. People feel pressure from the financial issues that impact them personally, whether that’s housing, cost of living, healthcare, or the effect of trade on jobs. People can get more for their dollar today, including new technologies. [8:01] It is most important to grow the economy as much as we can, to be able to solve fiscal issues. [8:33] Capital markets definitely play a role in growing the economy. Ken says, “We’re not the end — we’re the means to the end.” [8:42] The Stock Market Game™ is run by the SIFMA Foundation, which has been in place for 40 years. The Stock Market Game™ is the premier program that they do in thousands of schools across the U.S., touching hundreds of thousands of students every year. [9:27] The SIFMA Foundation built on the game over 40 years with programs like InvestWrite®, and Invest It Forward™. The results are amazing to see. They impact middle school and high school students, their teachers, and parents. Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students in the programs do research reports. [10:05] This is important not only from the standpoint of financial literacy, but it also goes toward understanding the structure of the American economy, built in part on our financial system, which makes our economy stronger in contrast to other economies. [10:26] 12,000 schools in all 50 states participate in the programs every year, involving 600,000 students and 15,000 teachers. In 40 years, 18 million students have gone through the program. The SIFMA Foundation is working harder every year to increase participation. [10:47] SIFMA works with The SIFMA Foundation every year to do a competition to bring the top 10 schools to Washington D.C. to meet with their Representatives and Senators. This underscores to the students coming from all over how big and diverse this country is. [11:18] Students from all walks of life come in and talk about portfolios they’ve put together, the things that worked, and mistakes they made. They talk about looking at price reports every day, and research reports. It’s just amazing. [11:34] The top 10 winners of The Stock Market Game™ 2018 Capitol Hill Challenge came almost equally from areas represented by Democrats and areas represented by Republicans. Ken says it is really refreshing to see what The Stock Market Game™ does with these kids from all walks of life. [12:11] “To the benefit of all market participants” - Ray quotes the SIFMA mission statement. In the truest sense of the U.S. economy, we are all market participants. This is capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: SIFMA The Stock Market Game™ Ken Bentsen Drexel Burnham The SIFMA Foundation InvestWrite® Invest It Forward™ Capitol Hill Challenge Stephens.com This Is Capitalism

Ray Hoffman interviews Mike Iiams. The first thing you should know about this particular entrepreneur CEO is that his name isn’t what you think it is. If you’re looking casually at an article about the important social work being done by a Denver-based company known both as SCRAM Systems and Alcohol Monitoring Systems, you’d probably think the CEO’s name was Mike Ilams. Mike Iiams has a long list of credits working for the accounting firm Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. in Alaska, during the building of the TransCanada pipeline; working for an oil and gas company in Colorado; a long senior executive role with the maker of accounting software JD Edwards, which is now part of Oracle; and now is the CEO of SCRAM Systems, whose ankle bracelets are keeping a lot of dangerous, habitual drinkers off the highways. Mike describes the career that led him to SCRAM as a wonderful learning experience — a wonderful ride!   Key Takeaways: [:22] Ray Hoffman introduces Mike Iiams. Mike says many people mispronounce his name. [1:38] Mike’s career has taught him product development skills, sales and marketing skills, and business process re-engineering skills. When Mike left JD Edwards, he found a unique project that a couple of guys were working on in their basement to measure alcohol as it evaporates through a person’s skin. [2:04] Mike was intrigued by the project for personal reasons. His mother’s father was a “Skid Row” drunk for a big part of his life. Through a number of events, he ended up sobering up and he lived to be just short of 100. Sober, he was a wonderful person. Drunk, he was a fight looking for a victim. [2:34] When Mike found these people who were trying to figure out a way of tracking people for extended periods of time to see whether they were drinking, in the back of his mind, a picture of his grandfather kept tugging on him. Eventually, Mike thought this would be a good project to invest his time and money in, with the money from the software. [3:09] Fortunately, the company survived to the point where it is a viable entity today. [3:17] When Mike worked in Alaska, there was risk, but he thought of it as a great opportunity to see and be part of a huge construction project, the Trans-Alaska pipeline. [3:48] Ray notes that there is risk in putting your money on the line for an opportunity like SCRAM Systems. Mike says for the first four years of SCRAM Systems he paid himself $1 a week, to qualify for healthcare coverage. [4:23] For the first four years, Mike wrote a check of $100,000 or $200,000, each month, to keep moving the company forward. That felt like risk at that time, but the opportunity to bring something new to the marketplace, to create a new market segment and make a difference in lives always drove his desire to figure out how to make it work. [4:57] Jeff Hawthorne, the inventor and co-founder who had been working for several years on a monitor to keep track of habitually drunk drivers, filed a patent in 1991 and the company — at first, named Alcohol Monitoring Systems — wasn't founded until 1997. [5:26] There were two co-founders. Jeff Hawthorne was an electrical engineer and Kirby Phillips was an entrepreneur. Kirby and Jeff had started a company to build small, portable, hand-held alcohol breath testing devices. At an event, one of them walked past someone who had had so much to drink they smelled it just walking past. [6:04] That spawned the idea to take breath-testing technology, redesign and repackage it, and get it to the point where you could measure the alcohol as it evaporates through a person’s skin. That was in 1991 and they filed a patent for the idea. Then they pursued funding sources but did not find people to back the project until 1997. [6:48] The two people that started backing Jeff and Kirby ultimately found Mike and looked at him as a “new victim” to join the funding cause. Mike started investing in 1999 and then the investment started scaling up in 2001 when they completed a proof-of-concept project and a clinical research study showing the device could work. [7:30] It was an interesting journey, from the creative idea to exploration in a basement or garage investing their own time, capital, and resources, to finding people to join the cause. [7:57] When Mike joined them, he brought the skill set of the background of large software systems that could host all the data and provide a meaningful solution to probation and managing the data of the population of people that are being monitored. [8:24] The stars aligned. Everybody came together and they found enough capital to get the company through the early stages. It took $20 million to fund the company until they got to the point of positive cash flow on customers’ money, not investors’ money. [9:07] In the early days, they had a total team of seven employees and a couple of subcontractors. It was clear that they could get the technology to monitor alcohol but they had to find a customer to work with that would start putting the software and hardware products into play and help work to develop a complete solution. [9:48] They got lucky with the Michigan Department of Corrections Electronic Monitoring Group for people on probation and parole. The group has always been innovative and willing to try new approaches and technology. Alcohol Monitoring Systems (AMS) asked Michigan if they would do a beta test with them. [10:23] AMS would do the beta test for free if Michigan would help provide the guidance and the response to get the product past proof-of-concept to industrial-ready. They ran the project for about two years before they fine-tuned things to the point they could take the product and make it revenue-ready. [10:52] Today, Michigan is one of AMS’s top five customers. They are a valued partner in helping AMS build the right kinds of products and solutions that effectively work for them and other agencies like them. [11:16] It’s not just the capital or the resources. When you’ve got disruptive technology, you’ve got to find that early customer that dreams about what your product could do and holds you accountable to get there. [11:32] This all came from a patent application in 1991. [11:38] Mike provides an executive summary of what the SCRAM Systems technology does. It measures a person’s blood alcohol content as that alcohol evaporates through the skin. You may have been close to a person who smells like alcohol as it comes through their skin. [12:08] 1% of all the alcohol you consume leaves your body through that constant perspiration process. About 5% of the alcohol that you consume leaves your body as you exhale. Your lung lining is a thinner tissue, so it’s easier for the alcohol to pass through it as you breathe. It takes more effort for the alcohol to evaporate transdermally. [12:48] As 1% of the alcohol you consume exits through the skin, Alcohol Monitoring Systems developed a sensor mechanism in a device that’s securely attached to a person’s ankle. It continuously monitors a person’s BAC and it wirelessly moves that data to a website that AMS hosts. [13:12] The website is intended for audiences where a court, for example, would take a repeat drunk driver and order them to abstain and do this kind of monitoring in lieu of incarceration. Once you send somebody to jail, they lose their job, they can’t pay rent for the family — everything starts to cycle down very quickly. [13:43] The intent of AMS is to work with agencies to build alternative programs. If a person isn’t drinking, they’re not drinking and driving. If they’re not drinking and driving, we’re meeting that public safety need to make sure these people aren’t posing a risk to society. [14:02] If they’re not drinking, then the money the courts spend on treatment and other services has a better chance of helping this person learn to manage this part of their life. [14:15] Mike says AMS got lucky because a lawyer called them up, and said they had a celebrity who just got out of rehab, and the lawyer wanted their client to be monitored for a host of reasons. That celebrity was Lindsay Lohan. Lindsay Lohan proudly wore the bracelet for weeks, with paparazzi following her all over. [15:02] In a short period of time, SCRAM Systems had hundreds of television-based news segments all over the world talking about them, their technology and Lindsay. That just propelled them to a level of prospective customers calling them for information about the systems. Lindsay Lohan helped SCRAM Systems more than she knows. [15:34] Lindsay Lohan, with a surfboard and a bikini, made their bracelet look good. [15:40] There was a treatment provider in Orange County, California, that looked at the technology, found SCRAM Systems on the web, called out of the blue and said, “You need to help us.” [16:02] Judges all over started having repeat high-risk drunk drivers in front of them and calling AMS for help. Mike tells of one offender arrested in Texas, from Tennessee, who was sent by court order to Denver to get a SCRAM Systems bracelet. [16:43] AMS got a number of one-off cases like that from individual judges who would call and say something like, “This person worries me. I need to do something. I can’t keep them in jail. Let’s give this a try.” And it worked. [16:56] SCRAM stands for Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor. The company’s legal name is Alcohol Monitoring Systems, but the marketplace never called them by that. People say, “You’re the SCRAM guys!” SCRAM resonated with people, so the whole product line today is SCRAM ”something.” [17:52] The products include GPS monitoring, home arrest monitoring, unsupervised breath testing, and the continuous alcohol monitoring with the ankle bracelet. This year, AMS is launching a completely new software experience for the probation officer called Nexis that is focused on what AMS has learned over the last 15 years. [18:32] Probation officers have very complicated jobs and very complicated caseloads. The requirements for supervising people vary from person to person. There are no software tools that do a good job of helping that probation officer make decisions day by day on how to react to the behavior that they see from their caseload. [18:59] AMS has worked with leading researchers and behaviorists for the last five years. Nexis, to be launched this year, is an evidence-based practice tool to help probation departments and officers make better decisions on how to incentivize and sanction people who are under their charge. [19:28] Mike talks about the future. AMS has garnered international interest. They have pilot projects in eight different locations around the world. This is a chance to expand their role in probation and in location monitoring. They have a chance to expand their role internationally and become a global player in this marketplace. [20:02] AMS is at “a fun stage” right now. They have a lot of risk, executing across all these fronts, but they’ve built a wonderful team that’s very excited about stepping up and managing these risks. [20:19] AMS has about 300 full-time employees making them a medium-sized entity today. When Mike became CEO 15 years ago, there were 10 employees. That is considerable growth. [20:42] AMS makes extensive use of blogging. One blog is Sobering Up, Covering drunk driving, alcohol addiction, and criminal justice. When AMS started, they looked for thought leaders to create a discussion around the issues of alcohol and crime. They tried a couple of approaches toward creating awareness and a forum for debate. [21:25] That blog has resonated for a number of years and it helps AMS stay in touch and get people to share the ownership of moving this journey forward. [21:42] AMS publishes case studies from areas where the SCRAM CAM (Continuous Alcohol Monitoring) has been heavily adopted, including one from Louisiana, which has the highest incarceration rate in the U.S. [22:09] We’re at a stage in the country where the criminal justice system is re-evaluating the policies that define whether somebody goes to prison or jail, or they don’t. It began with the War on Drugs. The unintended consequences of this movement was an explosion of the number of prisons and the number of people incarcerated. [23:00] The criminal justice system today is moving more to models that say, let’s separate the people we’re mad at from the people we’re afraid of. Violent criminals that harm society need to be in prison. Repeat drunk drivers (that haven’t killed anyone), if they are not drinking, do not need to be feared and do not need to be in prison. [24:00] AMS has projects in virtually every state focused on keeping people out of jail or prison, as long as they can demonstrate that they successfully do not drink, at the time that they’re being monitored. [24:19] The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) looked at the project six or seven years ago and looked at data on 1,000 people that had been monitored for more than a year. Almost all 1,000 had drunk every single day on average for 10 years before they were put on SCRAM. [25:16] The data on this population for the year they were monitored showed that every single day 99.3% of them did not drink. Even if they had a drinking event one, two, or three times during that year, it was a person who had been drinking every day, before being monitored. The monitoring allowed the treatment service to discuss it with them. [26:25] The hope is that as AMS helps people not drink for extended periods of time, the treatment services that are attached to these people can help them wrestle with ‘their demons’ and figure out better ways to manage their life stresses. Stress is never going to go away; they just need to find alternative outlets to manage that stress. [26:55] Keeping in mind that success, Mike estimates AMS is still in the early stages of marketplace adoption. Mike cites Scotland as an example, where the alcohol problem is so bad that the life expectancy of a male in Scotland is 58 years. You have alcohol issues throughout Europe and Asia. [27:43] The lessons AMS has learned in the States, and the research that has been wrapped around projects using SCRAM technology, clearly show that they need to be knocking on doors around the world and helping other markets come to grips with the drinker that turns into violence, whether with a car or in brawling. [28:26] There is a lot of correlation between people walking out of bars late at night and knife fights on the streets with guys that have just had too much to drink. The market opportunity for AMS is pretty big, if you think globally. [28:44] AMS has about 25 patents on these devices, some of which don’t expire until after 2030. Is there corporate complacency from all this patent protection? Mike doesn’t look at it that way. Their single biggest competition is the environment that says, “I don’t need to change.” The do-nothing decision is their single biggest competitive factor. [29:19] Patents don’t help with the do-nothing mindset. [29:24] The only thing that helps with that do-nothing decision is great people at the field level who knock on doors and wrestle with the marketplace over the magnitude of the problem and the options to deal with it. Mike and AMS keep focused on how to compete with that do-nothing decision. [29:46] AMS has a wonderful, diverse group of people that come from government and research organizations, that are continually carrying their message at the research level, the Federal policy level, state and local policy level, and then, of course, at the judicial level, and in sheriff's offices and probation offices. [30:20] There’s no shortcut to covering all the bases. [30:27] Mike says AMS has been extremely lucky in their workforce. Mike feels he has been lucky to be able to meet and convince people to come join the cause. [30:40] A lot of people at AMS have stories like Mike’s, with a close family member or friend that struggled with drug or alcohol addiction. They’ve seen the destructive impact on families. They look at what AMS is doing and say, “Yes! I’d like to join your team! Let’s figure out how to make a difference.” [31:06] Mike says, behind every good drunk is his grandfather waiting to be rediscovered. [31:16] As Mike looks back over his career, would he have imagined the course he took? He recalls his college days at the University of Colorado during the time of race riots and the unsuccessful experience in Vietnam. There was lots of social unrest. Mike’s generation wanted to find a way to make a difference. [32:23] With AMS, Mike lucked out. He found a project that is personal to him, that gives him a chance to make a difference. It challenges him to figure out how to make money and make a difference at the same time, and that’s a challenge worthy of his time. [32:50] Call it SCRAM Systems, or Alcohol Monitoring Systems, either way, what Mike Iiams is building is an important part of modern criminal justice technology.   Mentioned in This Episode: Mike Iiams SCRAM Systems Alcohol Monitoring Systems Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. (Now KPMG) TransCanada Pipeline JD Edwards (Now part of Oracle) Trans-Alaska Pipeline The late Jeff Hawthorne Michigan Department of Corrections Electronic Monitoring Group NIAAA HHS University of Colorado Stephens.com This Is Capitalism

Ray Hoffman interviews Dr. Christina Lampe-Önnerud. You might say there’s electricity in her blood. Long before her reputation was established as one of the world’s foremost experts on power storage, her father, Wolfgang Lampe, was world-renowned for building power stations and power transmission lines. After earning her doctorate in her native Sweden, Christina came to the U.S. and started her first company, Boston-Power, in 2006. In 2012, she and three of her former colleagues, one of whom is her husband, started Cadenza Innovation. It’s a Connecticut-based firm, which has developed a fireproof lithium-ion battery. It can be snapped together like LEGO® bricks to store virtually infinite amounts of power and sold cheaply. In 2018, this Cadenza Innovation story turned into a fast-moving one, which is why, after one long interview with Christina Lampe-Önnerud, Ray had to go back for a major update just six months later!   Key Takeaways: [:21] Ray Hoffman introduces Dr. Christina Lampe-Önnerud. [1:22] A lot has happened. Cadenza Innovations has gone from being a technical promise, through the demonstration at Fiat Chrysler earlier this year, into having initiated the program with New York State and the New York Power Authority (NYPA), the biggest public utility in the United States coming into New York City. [1:48] Cadenza Innovation is constructing a public demonstration of what the Cadenza technology can do for the United States, with the specifics of the New York City grid. That’s going live in the summer. The stakeholders have all started their work. [2:12] The Fiat Chrysler demonstration came from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which recognized the Cadenza opportunity as associated with the lowest cost, highest safety, and highest energy density per volume. [2:26] Fiat Chrysler then signed up to be the champion. The demonstration happened in Q1 2018, which was on the heels of an over-three-year-long program with lots of third-party testing and validation, under the supervision of Fiat Chrysler, then being incorporated into the Fiat 500E. The test was run in Los Angeles. [2:58] Cadenza Innovation demonstrated the Cadenza cell could go in as a retrofit. They demonstrated blocks that stack like LEGO® bricks. They demonstrated very aggressive goals set out by the U.S. DOE. The battery industry had said they could not do it but Cadenza met the goals, which included targets for range, safety, and cost. [3:27] The cost is incredibly interesting because Cadenza is using supply chain assets, today. [3:37] In June, Cadenza was given funding by NY State to do this clean energy storage demonstration project in White Plains, NY. Dr. Lampe-Önnerud tells how this happened. New York State, through NYSERDA, invited Cadenza to be part of an evaluation where they looked at multiple ways to meet energy efficiency. [4:21] Dr. Lampe-Önnerud explains the old system of centralized power plants, distribution, and deployment. She outlines the future course of power distribution with multiple points of power generation paired with storage, almost like the internet where you trade energy where it’s most efficient. [5:02] The battery and storage are critical for that arbitrage. Batteries significantly also replace climate change threats. New York looked at policy, incentives, and technology. Cadenza scored highly in the technology category so they were invited to give a demonstration. [5:29] The demonstration will be hooked up to the NYPA’s headquarters in White Plains. It will be in a public space next to a bus stop. There is a potential for the demonstration to include generating data to show peak shifting in real-time and peak savings, including the reduction of CO2 and other climate gases. [6:20] The state has designated a pad outside the building, roughly the size of a storage container with air conditioning and the hand-off between the battery and the grid. The battery takes up a small area. The container is partly to prevent battery theft. [7:28] The demonstration will be for at least three months. Dr. Lampe-Önnerud is very hopeful that NYPA will pick up more units very quickly and deploy the technology. [7:51] Cadenza has received funding in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. The team has only 30 people. They have received support from the battery industry ecosystem. Cadenza serves as a demonstration that new technology is not dangerous. It has moved the needle a little bit into acceptance, also thanks to low pricing. [8:42] Cadenza is interested in playing in multiple states but as engineers, they work hardest on execution, to make sure every demonstration is successful. Cadenza technology is less dangerous than legacy systems. [9:04] Another success point in the past six months is that Cadenza has engaged with the Department of Defense (DOD), who have done their best to blow up the technology. The standard industry test, thermal runaway, did not happen with the Cadenza cells. That garnered quite a bit of interest and a lot of curiosity. The results are remarkable. [10:30] The jelly roll cell technology of encased cells prevents thermal cascades as a short will shut down the cell. The DOD warned them “We’re going to blow up your cell.” The engineers replied “Thank you, ... but we don’t think it will.” It didn’t blow up. [11:37] In 2012, when Dr. Lampe-Önnerud founded Cadenza Innovation, she was very committed to the tripod of safety, cost, and performance. Nobody thought it was possible. She notes the technical achievement of her team and also points out the business innovation of putting together a very safe and collaborative system to succeed. [12:28] Dr. Lampe-Önnerud elaborates on the recent news that China’s Shenzhen BAK Power Battery and Cadenza Innovation have announced that they will co-manufacture lithium-ion cells and modules based on Cadenza Innovation’s supercell architecture. BAK is already one of the biggest suppliers of jelly rolls in China. [13:48] Dr. Lampe-Önnerud tells how lithium-ion jelly roll technology improves on the earlier lithium-ion technology. The jelly roll is easy to manufacture and you can have it manufactured locally, close to point of use, so your battery factory only needs to do final assembly. Dr. Lampe-Önnerud talks of BAK’s success from startup to a major manufacturer. [15:14] Cadenza was also honored in Tianjin, China, by the World Economic Forum as a 2018 Technology Pioneer. Four of the team had already been acknowledged for the same award in 2010 for a different technology. The four, including Dr. Lampe-Önnerud, have been working together for 20 years. [16:05] Boston-Power innovated in the portable power arena at a time when the industry had a lot of safety issues. Dr. Lampe-Önnerud had been at Arthur D. Little (ADL) and the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) had engaged ADL as an independent advisor on how to treat these 20 million recalled batteries. [16:44] Boston-Power stepped up the game by cleaning up some of the safety idiosyncrasies and pioneered cleaning up some of the greenhouse gases. Boston-Power was a green company before it was cool to be green. They fueled the paradigm where the battery had to last the life of the laptop. [17:06] Boston-Power also pioneered the paradigm of fast charging. Their battery was capable of the longest run-time and also charged to 80% capacity in 30 minutes, which was unheard of in 2005. [17:22] Dr. Lampe-Önnerud knew with a little group — 10 people out of her garage — a little bit of confidence, and a lot of friends, they could become a player. [17:36] The World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer Award is a recognition from global industry leaders, including Fortune 50 companies in the forum, and heads of states. Dr. Lampe-Önnerud had previously been recognized as a pioneer entrepreneur. [18:08] As a tech pioneer, you get invited to share a story or vision, which can become part of the content for the World Economic Forum agenda. As a two-time winner, Dr. Lampe-Önnerud has also been invited and has accepted to be a co-chair for The Future of Energy Committee to help drive the discussion. [18:29] Dr. Lampe-Önnerud also was in Nice recently to address the International Energy and Power Supply Conference (Batteries 2018) on The Role of Energy Storage in the New Economy Paradigm. Two macro-trends she covered are the rate of technological change and climate change. [19:46] Dr. Lampe-Önnerud worked with the Club de Madrid and the United Nations from 2009 to 2011, and with Condoleezza Rice and the President of the European Council to try to facilitate a data-driven global agenda. They developed a model for watching temperatures and predicting problems. The model has been a good estimate. [20:55] Dr. Lampe-Önnerud sees hesitation around global collaboration. You have to be rather stubborn that you want to keep the door open. It takes a lot of positive force. [21:47] Since starting Boston-Power in 2004, Dr. Lampe-Önnerud has learned that it was not as hard as she imagined it would be to raise capital. She didn’t have time for a process, she just needed investors immediately. Over the years, she raised almost $360 million and the company had a chance to grow. [22:37] With Cadenza Innovation, Dr. Lampe-Önnerud is more knowledgeable and she invented a new security that aligns investors and the management team for a ‘long play.’ She is determined to try to stay courageous for global markets. She is trying to stay very true to doing good and doing well, at the same time. [22:59] With Dr. Lampe-Önnerud’s new investment security, there is no artificial driver for the investor to get out. The intent is not to flip the company in two years. If they sold it, it would be for a remarkable opportunity. [23:13] The strategy is actually to deploy great technology into a vacuum that is huge. And with that, they will do a ton of good, and make a lot of money in it, as well. [23:26] It is very difficult to make transformations within a year or two. Most policies call for four years or less of effort, which is still too short. Dr. Lampe-Önnerud says it is basic to commit to something that is over 10 years. 10 years is very fast for technology shifts. [23:49] Dr. Lampe-Önnerud got investors to sign on from the beginning. She went only to ‘angels.’ She told them they may make 10X or 20X their investment, but it will take 10 years. She told investors liquidity may be available in Year Six, but not in Year One. [24:32] Dr. Lampe-Önnerud could spend all her time in music because she loves it so much, but she loves equally this exciting game of trying to make a difference. She dedicates her music time to Silk’n Sounds, a Connecticut female a cappella chorus. [25:47] Dr. Lampe-Önnerud approaches the group with her CEO mindset. She sees it as providing empowerment!   Mentioned in This Episode: Dr. Christina Lampe-Önnerud Cadenza Innovation, Inc. Fiat Chrysler NYPA Department of Energy (DOE) NYSERDA Department of Defense (DOD) Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) Arthur D. Little Club de Madrid United Nations Silk'n Sounds Stephens.com This Is Capitalism

Ray Hoffman interviews Jennifer Collins, President and CEO of JDC Events. Jennifer’s first events were her own family reunions which she evolved from cookouts to city tours and dine-arounds. She worked on social events while in college, and when she started working at PR firms, she saw how they were handling events and felt that she could make a business of it. She turned to business events, and then to government contracting. Jennifer has taken what she has learned through planning purposeful events over the years and written it in her book, Events Spark Change. She shares the importance of the mission statement for every event and how events bring about change.   Key Takeaways: [:21] Ray Hoffman welcomes Jennifer Collins and asks about her book, Events Spark Change: A Guide to Designing Powerful and Engaging Events and the journey that brought her to becoming an event planner. [:34] Jennifer planned reunions for her family and felt she was good at it. [:43] About 100 people would normally attend the family reunions, held in Boston, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and other locations, first where they had a majority of the family and then where they wanted to go. [1:05] From that experience, Jennifer saw that she really loved the effect that the reunion had on the family — so joyful and so much of a connection. People felt that they were able to bond deeper on another level. That sparked Jennifer’s thought process about planning events, that she enjoyed it and she might be good at it. [1:38] These thoughts came to Jennifer while she was a college student at American University. After she graduated, she got jobs with public relations firms in Washington, D.C. [1:56] The first family reunion she planned was when she was around age 19 or 20 as a sophomore. Her grandmother from Atlanta and her siblings had originally organized the reunions as cookouts. The importance of families coming together is the impetus for Jennifer’s involvement in the reunions. [3:17] Later reunions included zip lines, tours, travel to different cities for activities, dine-arounds, and a lot more than cooking out. [3:37] The first professional event Jennifer planned was a 60th birthday party for a dear friend. She wanted to bring around 30 of her closest friends to Jamaica to celebrate it. That was during a time when Jennifer’s company was doing more social events. [4:10] Then Jennifer started getting away from social events and moved into corporate events. [4:17] When Jennifer started her company, she was employee #1 and the only employee for a while, in her basement apartment near American University. She enjoyed doing the work and was looking for events to plan for people who really needed the support. [4:43] From there, she was able to develop it into more, still part-time, in connection with her full-time work in the public relations firms. As the PR firms started doing events, Jennifer realized she could make that into a business. She wanted to develop something even more professional. [5:13] Jennifer managed her business on her own for four years, part-time. When she found it was too difficult to do part-time, she had to ‘fish or cut bait.’ [5:34] She went full-time on her own when she got one of the largest nursing home companies in the U.S. at that time as a client, who wanted to celebrate their sales team and build an incentive program. [5:48] That helped Jennifer to get out on her own. It was also two weeks before September 11, 2001. At that time, events stopped. Hospitality stopped. People stopped traveling and getting on planes. Jennifer lost the account, although they did pay her. The client felt, given the tone of the country, it wasn’t the best time to celebrate. [6:20] It took about three or four years for the industry to come back. So Jennifer was doing other things, such as substitute teaching, to stay on her own. She built up again, getting referrals from her former co-workers in the public relations firms. She decided to shift into the government contracting market for longer-term, higher-value contracts. [6:54] You have to ‘have a stomach for it’ to get into government contracting. Jennifer learned what kinds of certifications would be helpful to compete with other companies. She had to go to industry days to meet with contracting officials and small business representatives and figure out what agencies were buying. It was a lot of footwork. [7:29] Meanwhile, Jennifer continued in substitute teaching and started working with other companies as an onsite event manager. She got projects from a temp agency for event professionals. [8:09] Jennifer thought she knew a lot then, but she knows a whole heck of a lot more now. Jennifer has a very curious attitude. She always wants to know more — how to do something different, better, how to build it. [8:38] Jennifer got involved in industry organizations and became a certified meeting professional. She kept up with professional continuing education to learn how to plan events better. [9:13] UC Davis was looking for a planner in the D.C. area. They had a campus building in D.C. They wanted a planner for a cocoa symposium in partnership with Mars, Inc. Jennifer answered their ad, met with them, and “the rest is history.” [9:57] That was Jennifer’s breakthrough moment. It was the largest event and relationship she was able to develop up to that time, in 2005. [10:20] In 2005, Jennifer was just learning the extent of running a business with all its parts. She realized she could not do everything by herself. She had to bring in partners. She played many parts in her business to bring people together to build it. [11:20] She hadn’t accounted for the politics of dealing with different organizations and cultures to bridge people together to produce what they needed. Jennifer describes event building as a puzzle and the event planner as a conductor leading an orchestra. [12:10] Earlier in her business, Jennifer just looked at it as a task. She had a list and she had to check things off the list and get things done. She didn’t yet look at it as the picture of how everybody needed to work together. [12:34] Jennifer wrote in her book that an event without a mission statement is susceptible to failure. She explains the importance of the mission statement. Many organizations decide to have an event, but don’t work out what it takes to produce it. There are so many factors that go into it, especially money. [13:06] If you want an event to do something, you have to really get at the why, what it’s going to change, and whom it’s going to impact. [13:15] You have to set measurable goals. It’s like looking at a map. If you don’t know where you’re going, how do you know that you were successful? [13:30] You have to really use this event as a way to drive your message. Events drive messages. If you’re not really able to drive it in a way that people will receive it, or understand what you want to impart to them, then it’s not going to be successful. [14:09] The cocoa symposium was an event where UC Davis and Mars Inc. wanted to be seen as the leaders within the cocoa science field. This symposium helped them position themselves as such. They took the symposium to Ghana where the majority of cocoa is grown.[14:51] From the symposium, the first plan was developed for Africa on how to make the cocoa farms more productive — how to provide the farms with the tools and skills needed and to make more money while all parts of the cocoa product chain could flourish. It was a defining moment for the partnership and for Jennifer to take part in it. [15:35] There are some who think the big, glitzy, glamorous events are only the most impactful. No matter how many people are involved, what’s most impactful is the event purpose — how they bring people together and create certain connections — how they can create engagement that can change lives and organizations. [16:25] The stakeholders of an event bring sponsorships, money, and credibility. Having a variety of event experts together creates impact. [17:06] What is the SPARK model? Sensory — engage the five senses to create a much more memorable and engaging experience. Purpose  — identify why you are doing this and what you want to achieve. Activations — put everything into motion. Resources — use the time, talent, funding, and venue. Know-how — bring experts and expertise. [18:49] Jennifer has spent the last 15 years learning the power of connections and that all it takes to create a change in this world is one person or one community at a time. Events help you to think differently and bring that change to help someone else. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. It’s what you can take away to help another.   Mentioned in This Episode: Jennifer Collins, JCD Events American University, Washington, D.C. Events Spark Change: A Guide to Designing Powerful and Engaging Events, by Jennifer D. Collins JDC Events UC Davis Mars, Inc. Stephens.com This Is Capitalism

Ray Hoffman interviews Steve Odland. Steve Odland’s career has taken him from oatmeal to auto parts, from Sara Lee to the U.S. Commission on National Transportation Surface Policy. Today, he’s CEO of one of the nation’s premier business research organizations, The Conference Board - year after year, the source of a lot of great insight into the economy and human behavior.   Key Takeaways: [:44] Ray Hoffman welcomes Steve Odland to the podcast. Steve reflects on his career path. He views it as a long hallway with some doors open and some doors shut. His career has been made by doors opening occasionally so he could walk through. [1:19] So many people struggle with closed doors instead of using the doors that are open. Steve says he has been blessed with a great and interesting career mostly by saying yes to things that seemed strange, odd and new. [1:42] Steve’s career started at Quaker Oats. His first CEO position was at Tops Friendly Markets. Steve had worked as a bagger in a supermarket as a youth. His first job was a paper route. Most of what he learned in business started in these early jobs. [2:37] Everyone has to eat. The supermarket is a great industry for getting close to your customer. Frequent user cards started in the mid-nineties. Supermarkets were using big data 20 years ago. [3:43] Steve cut his teeth in an industry with really narrow margins. In the supermarket industry, you count your pennies, starting with how you price. A couple of cents difference will change how people buy a can of corn. You have to provide the best value for your customer. [4:14] The experience at Tops Friendly Markets led Steve to his first major CEO position at AutoZone in January 2001. Then came 9/11 and the economy toppled. Steve says the auto parts industry is surprisingly insulated from recessions. People have to keep their car running. [5:52] Going through a recession is scary. You don’t know when it’s going to end, how deep it’s going to be, or what’s going to happen. [6:11] Steve also mentions the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009. We didn’t know if the banking system would survive or what would happen to the global economy or the dollar. You learn as you go. [6:35] When Steve joined AutoZone in 2001, it had culture problems and merchandising problems. Steve explains how AutoZone had begun as an offshoot from a supermarket company. Steve says any time someone is brought in from the outside, it is for a turnaround. AutoZone was not happy with where they were. [7:06] The turnaround starts with people and then goes to processes and how you interface with the customer. Steve says they changed a lot of things and it worked very quickly to bring AutoZone stock from about $20 to over $100 a share in a couple of years, as they expanded margins. Their customers were happier than ever. [7:29] AutoZone is still a great company. Steve’s old team is still running the company with Bill Rhodes as the CEO. [7:44] The AutoZone share price topped out at $103 while Steve was CEO, and continued to climb. It peaked at over $816 in 2016. Steve credits the current management team for that but Ray notes that Steve laid down a foundation for growth, similar to the turnaround Alan Mulally executed later at Ford. [8:35] One of the things Steve did was to bring in every senior executive to go over the books, all the time. Steve has always found that people respond well when you bring them in to share the good news as well as the bad news. That served Steve well during the financial crisis. [9:09] Steve also says Office Depot was an incredible experience when people didn’t know if they were going to lose everything. Office Depot was headquartered in Florida, the epicenter of the housing crisis. There were 200 retail bankruptcies in that period. [9:36] During the crisis, Steve brought all senior executives together every week at first, and then monthly, sharing everything. Steve went to D.C. to meet with the Secretary of the Treasury and people from the Fed to share data and then report it back to his team. [9:59] This is leadership through communication and involvement.[10:02] Ray revisits the AutoZone share price. Ray asks about ethical changes that Steve brought into the culture and how they affected the share price. Steve mentions that AutoZone is located in Memphis, Tennessee, where there is a background culture of ethics. Steve says the group responded very well to leadership. [11:06] AutoZone is customer-oriented. The ethics of the highest level of leadership led to empathetic and ethical customer service. Steve doesn’t take credit for the ethics but agrees it is critical to a company’s success. [11:32] Steve gives the story of becoming CEO of The Conference Board. Relying on his public policy experience as a CEO for different organizations, Steve had moved to Washington, D.C. to run the 75-year-old Committee for Economic Development. A couple of years later, they merged with The Conference Board and built up from there. [12:10] When the CEO of The Conference Board retired, Steve moved up into that role. [12:25] Steve notes that the merger of two not-for-profits is unusual, as no money changes hands, but they thought they would work better together and Steve sees that both organizations have become stronger from the merger. [12:41] Ray talks about the public policy book, Sustaining Capitalism, that Steve co-authored with Joe Minarik. Ray wanted to read that book in light of his involvement in this podcast. Steve praises capitalism as the greatest economic model, and part and parcel of our form of democracy. [13:20] Steve cites Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations as the form of capitalism around which our government was built. Many regulations have been imposed upon capitalism since 1776, and Steve sees us at a new juncture where trust in industry has eroded following the financial crisis and the scandals that preceded it. [13:58] It is up to the business community to deal with these issues of trust and address issues of inequality and social issues. [14:14] If we want to sustain capitalism, we need to evolve it and we need to address these issues as business leaders. [14:21] Ray brings up the crony capitalism that exists between lobbyists and government regulators and influential people in Washington. Crony capitalism is used to skew the system to bring benefit to your company or yourself. [14:42] Capitalism is about making the system work, in total, as a rising tide. Capitalism has its faults. It’s not perfect and we need to address it and make it better, but our form of capitalism has caused global trade to increase and has taken more people out of poverty around the world than any other economic model. [15:07] Ray calls capitalism “Human endeavor with rule of law.” [15:10] Ray cites the subchapter, “The economic cost of crony capitalism.” Steve comments if you skew the system for the benefit of one group, it is a tax on other groups. The same issue applies to short-term value versus long-term value. If you shift value to the short term, it is not present for the long-term benefit. [15:47] Steve explains that you need long-term thinking, with a view to the benefits for all, to make capitalism sustainable. Steve learned to see his CEO title as representing customers, employees, and owners. Those all were his constituents. He also added in community and environment. [16:35] If you just took care of customers, you would give it away for free. If you just took care of your shareholders, you don’t take care of your customers or your employees. If you’re only there for your employees, you pay them whatever they want. It’s not one, but it’s the balance of the needs of all three groups you need to serve. [16:59] Ray brings it back to Steve’s work with AutoZone and Office Depot. Steve says what every good business leader tries to do is strike that right balance so that it all works for all the constituencies that they serve. [17:14] Steve makes a distinction between a pro-business government policy and a pro-market policy. The whole point of lobbying is to game the system with laws to the benefit of one company or regulations to the detriment of their competitors. [17:48] You should want to be governing yourself and influencing the government in a positive way for the benefit of all. At Committee for Economic Development (CED), they talk about reasoned solutions in the nation’s interest, not for ‘parochial’ interests. [18:07] As CEO of The Conference Board, what surprises Steve about the rip-roaring economy in the U.S. in 2018? Steve reminds us that it will change, and we need to look at when and how it will change. When economic lessons are not learned, and we don’t understand why things are so good, they can go bad quickly. [18:52] It applies to companies, too. We always study what went wrong, but we rarely study what went right, so we can create repeatability of it. A diagnosis of what got us here — it’s not a politician, it’s policies and regulations and the business environment — and the study of everything involved is really important. [19:18] Ray remembers the early months of 2008, where a lot of LBOs were still being squeezed in at the eleventh hour. They almost all turned out to be really terrible LBOs. Ray kept quoting people saying the world is awash with liquidity! [19:40] Steve talks about being at an event in the province of Chengdu, China when he was CEO of AutoZone. The mayor turned to him and asked how Florida real estate was doing. Steve asked why he would ask that, and the answer was that Goldman Sachs had just been in and sold them a lot of Florida real estate mortgage derivatives. [20:28] Mortgage derivatives had been sold all across the world, and that was the beginning of the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. [20:33] The Conference Board periodically takes a survey on job satisfaction in the U.S. It shows a big improvement in 2018 on how we feel about job security. Job confidence is very high and the change in the numbers has been most prominent in the lower earning groups. This shows wage improvement. [21:07] ‘Work’ goes to the core of who we are. People want to be productive. We have wage movement and people moving up in jobs now, and this is what we want. [21:24] Minnesota is the happiest employment state. They have one of the lowest unemployment levels. They have lots of businesses, big and small. The balance is agriculture. It’s a great balanced economy, so they surveyed as the happiest. [21:58] Minneapolis-born Steve Odland, CEO of The Conference Board. This is capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Steve Odland The Conference BoardQuaker OatsTops Friendly Markets AutoZone William “Bill” Rhodes Alan Mulally Ford Committee for Economic Development Sustaining Capitalism: Bipartisan Solutions to Restore Trust & Prosperity, by Steve Odland and Joe Minarik The Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith Washington, D.C. Chengdu, China Goldman Sachs Job Satisfaction 2018 — The Conference Board Minneapolis, Minnesota Stephens.com This Is Capitalism

Ray Hoffman introduces Kara Trott. Kara Trott does very well by her clients and very well by her clients’ employees. She’s the Founder and CEO of Quantum Health, based in Columbus, Ohio. For companies like Hertz, Dillards, and American Honda, and hospital systems like Houston Methodist, Quantum offers a remarkably personalized approach to healthcare cost containment. It is personalized in the sense that when any of Quantum’s 700,000+ members encounters a medical problem, Quantum steps in almost immediately to help guide each patient through what it calls the healthcare journey, assisting and often intervening from that point on. While using its care coordinators — known inside the company as healthcare warriors — to simplify and clarify this journey for patients, Quantum delivers markedly lower healthcare costs for clients.   Key Takeaways: [1:15] Kara notes the savings Quantum clients see in their first year, from 5% lower claim spending. For large companies, this can be hundreds of millions of dollars. Individuals receiving healthcare conserve more of their out-of-pocket costs. It’s a win-win. [1:41] Kara graduated from law school and worked for Bricker & Eckler, a prestigious Ohio law firm. Before law school, her undergraduate study was on politics and philosophy, particularly Marxist theory. She worked for a marketing, design, and research firm before going to law school. [2:48] Kara had come of age during the Cold War; she thought it would be interesting to study a different way to think and look at macroeconomic matters. It gave her entrepreneur father a fit. She learned a different view but is a firm believer in the free-market system and capitalism. [3:34] Kara’s ex-husband was one of the first Americans to go into Russia to work in 1992 as part of the USAID program after Russia opened up. He and his partners formed a food distribution system in Russia. He and Kara adopted a Russian boy. [4:17] Kara saw in the demise of the Soviet Union that ‘command and control’ is not an effective way to govern large groups of people. You’re always better off freeing the intellectual capacity of the people and empowering them with the freedom to decide. It may take generations for Russia to find the kind of spirit we have in the U.S. [5:24] For Kara, marketing research was finding interesting problems to study and identify solutions. Kara ran strategic projects to help companies understand what people actually do, versus what they say they do. This helps companies rethink their marketing. [6:06] Kara didn’t feel that retail marketing was where she could make the kind of difference she wanted to make so she went to Ohio State Law School and then joined Bricker. She was assigned to the healthcare practice, which was growing. They created a consulting subsidiary to advise provider organizations. [6:43] Kara became one of the leaders of Bricker’s consulting practice, in spite of not knowing much about healthcare at the time. She spent a lot of time with physicians and hospital administrators. Kara learned that patients are not often compliant with their doctor’s treatment plan. [7:44] It was clear to Kara that this was a classic consumer pathway problem that she had seen solved in many other industries. She imagined a strategy for healthcare that had worked well in other industries. It started with studying the consumer journey and how things unfold, then figuring out what the critical intercept points are. [8:25] In Kara’s retail experience, this approach had led to a 20-30% bump in market share, or same-store sales, when executed properly. She figured for healthcare, there would be an extraction of as much as 20% of the unnecessary costs. Based on what doctors and hospitals told her, there was a lot of duplication and waste in the system. [8:59] Kara proposed a two-year research study to track people as they entered the healthcare system for a variety of reasons. Eight healthcare systems were interested in participating. They were able to triangulate the consumer's journey through their interactions with the physicians and compare it to secondary data. [9:41] Kara’s intent was to see how the journey unfolded, what kind of support was needed at what point, and where you would house it. The firm didn’t see it leading to legal fees, so they opted out. Kara had to make a decision to put her livelihood at stake, split from the firm, and embark on a two-year study, before starting a company. [10:43] The survey was a behavioral mapping study. Kara compares it to a study she had done for KMart about which aisles people went through within the store on a visit. Consumers of healthcare reported back to Kara, just as they had about their retail trip. [11:22] Kara says no other company was looking at the problem from the consumer’s standpoint. Even today, she sees no one else studying the consumers’ experience. The healthcare industry doesn’t understand the consumer. [12:05] Kara says she can’t do a single job at Quantum. So, she started with five employees and within a year there were probably 10. She bankrolled that. Quantum now has close to 800 employees and will be adding a couple hundred more between August and November. [12:38] Quantum manages about $7 billion in claims and serves over 1 million people. [13:07] For the first year, because of payroll, Quantum was losing about $40,000 a month. That is the element of risk in starting a company with employees. [13:43] Quantum associates consider themselves as warriors for people going through one of the most difficult times of their life. People on a healthcare journey are seeking a safe place and if you open up that conversation, and you turn it over to them, you have no idea where that call or conversation is going to go. [14:18] Quantum associates need to be prepared to deliver immediate expertise. They have the expertise to be able to navigate between all the different parties. Normally, when somebody’s stuck there are multiple points of failure. Quantum takes those issues on so the person going through the healthcare journey can focus on the journey. [14:45] The Warrior Creed on the wall is a vital piece of the Quantum culture. [15:11] It takes intent to hard-wire brand values into a culture. There are three tests to take before interviewing for a job at Quantum: the Wonderlic test, a test of “what feeds and starves you?” (similar to DISC or Myers-Brigg), and an empathy test. Few are hired from call-centers or insurance companies. Most are from service occupations. [16:18] Quantum has translated the “I care” values into attributes and competencies that form the basis for leadership development and team development. 84% of Quantum managers and above are promoted from within. There is a strong leadership development program at Quantum Health. It’s very much a servant leader organization. [17:13] Quantum has developed their own technology system. The system necessary to see the journey longitudinally, mine the information, see what they needed to do right away and have the expertise available didn’t exist when Quantum Health started. It aggregates data from all different sources. It’s an open system that can pull in any data. [17:47] The biggest thing Quantum Health does differently is to mine data directly from the providers in real time when they’re seeing those patients. The system uses an expert routing approach that gets a healthcare expert on the phone to join a conversation. [18:37] Natural Language Processing mines data and creates a consistent record of everything in the person’s healthcare journey, providing a 360-degree view, to be able to identify and queue up opportunities and ways to assist them. [19:14] Quantum Health has been on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing small companies 11 years in a row. Fewer than 50 companies have been on it for 10 years. They are experiencing 30 to 40% annual growth. [20:06] Quantum Health has just entered into a relationship with City of Hope to share the expertise of a few facilities with a nationwide network of doctors who don’t have access to that kind of front-line research. [20:36] Kara talks about changes happening in the field of behavioral health for substance abuse challenges and new methodologies for musculoskeletal care. Clients are ever seeking to make their benefits simpler for employees. Quantum makes sure the patient has a comprehensive solution. [21:42] Quantum Health is the leader in this space. Only a few carriers serve the market, but the market is huge. The clients Quantum Health carries cover over 60% of the people who receive healthcare benefits through employer-sponsored plans. [22:07] The industry is expected to grow dramatically over the next five years. It’s being noticed as a way to create a much better experience and really support people. Not only does it help people through their journeys but it produces a powerful economic result for the client and for the individuals. [22:36] Just an entrepreneur solving a problem. Kara Trott. This is Capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Kara Trott Quantum Health Hertz Dillard’s American Honda Houston Methodist Bricker & Eckler LLP Cold War USAID Citibank Ford Walmart KMart Coca-Cola Wonderlic DiSC Myers & Briggs Inc. 5000 City of Hope Stephens.com This Is Capitalism

Ray Hoffman introduces Kathleen Lawson and Marsha Masters. It’s amazing how little most of us really know about the economic miracle that supports and nourishes the USA. After all, only 22 states require high school students to take even a single course in Economics. Only 17 states mandate a high school level course in Personal Finance. Bessie Moore of Mountain View Arkansas, whose life spanned the years from 1902 to 1995, would not have been pleased to know that that’s the state of the American economic education in the 21st Century. She believed the system built around free markets, allowing for free choice, free expression, underpinned by the rule of law, needs to be nurtured from generation to generation and thanks, in large part, to her efforts, Arkansas has K-12 Personal Finance and Economics education. Her legacy is well-guarded by an organization known as Economics Arkansas. Kathleen Lawson is Executive Director. Marsha Masters is Associate Director. Let’s meet them!   Key Takeaways: [1:38] Kathleen Lawson has calculated the number of children served by Economics Arkansas over the years as 4.5 million. [2:00] Since 1962, Economics Arkansas has worked with over 100,000 teachers. [2:20] Marsha Masters was a “third stringer” when it came to teaching economics, until she attended a 10-day workshop. [3:53] The Arkansas Council on Economic Education, which became Economics Arkansas, began in 1962 when Commissioner of Education, Dr. Arch Ford, felt students should understand the basic concepts of the free enterprise, market economy to better understand the dangers of other economic systems. Bessie Moore was the first leader. [4::23] Bessie Moore provided a great foundation for Economics Arkansas. [4:55] Bessie started teaching as a teenager. She had a love for economic education and literacy, in general. She made an impact, and her footprint is all over Arkansas. [6:16] Bessie saw the opportunity to create the multiplier effect by working with university centers of economic education and reaching out to media and clergy. She wanted everyone to have the opportunity of having an economics education. She produced lectures on the public television network that teachers could watch. [6:58] Arkansas has standards for teaching Economics in K-12. Economics Arkansas has the goal of teachers not seeing Economics as an additional course they need to teach. Economic education is a part of everything we teach. Marsha gives examples. To graduate high school, a student must take one semester of Economics. [8:33] Economics Arkansas has the hope that Economics is going to help students be successful. [9:11] Even a kindergartner can learn of scarcity, decision-making, and opportunity costs. [10:25] There are great opportunities for teacher training. Sometimes, adding an incentive is useful. The participation level of teachers has been encouraging. [11:45] Many teachers have no formal background in finance or the study of free enterprise. These training opportunities can help. [11:50] The teachers have been having their own ‘Aha!’ moments along with the students. There is a competition each year for teachers to submit their economic projects to be judged by economic education experts. Marsha discusses case studies. [13:18] A fourth-grade class “created” an amusement park, wrote a business plan, interviewed each other for jobs and even went to a bank to negotiate a $100 loan. [13:50] Economics Arkansas offers an investing simulation called the Stock Market Game. This inspires students to research publicly-traded companies. 13,000 students have played the Stock Market Game. Some have become financial advisors when they were of age; some learned to invest for themselves. They know how to manage a 401K. [15:20] Itty Bitty Economics is a program for kindergartners. There are songs, play, art, and children’s books that give young children an idea about economics and finance. [16:10] The Lemonade War book has been great for family discussions. There is also a Shark Tank program for students to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges in cities across Arkansas. A third book opportunity is coming into the program. [17:59] Marsha explains how Economics Arkansas addresses the extreme needs that exist around the state, and especially around the Delta region. 15 educational Co-ops exist around the state to reach teachers. [18:55] Kathleen brings up the 65 000 students that participate in a structured after-school program. Those settings can be an additional place to teach students. The Stock Market Game is one example. [19:40] Kathleen offers a vision of the next five years of Economics Arkansas, especially around their partnership with Stephens. [20:33] Bessie Moore would be pleased. But I don’t think she’d be satisfied. Not yet. This is Capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Bessie B. Moore Economics Arkansas National Commission on Libraries The Stock Market Game Itty Bitty Economics The Lemonade War, by Jacqueline Davies Stephens.com This Is Capitalism

Ray Hoffman introduces Doug Clark. It’s only about a 30-mile drive from where Doug  grew up to the Cherry Hill, New Jersey headquarters of Corcentric, the company that he has been building over the last two decades. Corcentric’s proprietary technology helps companies optimize their back office transactions, as in the way they purchase, make payments, and get paid. It’s also only about a 30-mile drive from where Doug grew up, in a slightly different direction, to center-city Philadelphia, where, as a young man, he went on the board of directors of the company that eventually became Drexel-Burnham. But when you grow up on a farm in Elmer, New Jersey, the way Doug did, in the 1950s, making your way into the worlds of accounting and finance, then truck leasing and later, technology, it isn’t as easy as just pointing your car — or your ambitions — straight up New Jersey Route 55. He’s been at it now since 1965. ‘It’ being this business of capitalism.     Key Takeaways: [1:24] Doug Clark created Ameriquest in 1997 during the dotcom era, having a vision of making companies more efficient. When the dot-coms crashed, Corcentric became available and Doug acquired it in a stock trade. [2:42] 2,000 customers do business with Corcentric. They have customers as well, so their influence is ‘huge!’ Doug’s risk when he took over was the question of whether the market was ready for their product. Corcentric was a disruptor. [4:24] Before electronic transactions, all money and finances were handled on paper. [6:02] Doug credits leadership school within the Boy Scouts and an accounting class at the University of Miami for preparing him to serve on corporate boards. [8:17] Doug talks about running a small truck leasing company. He worked with a group of operators. In 1997, they all put together $1 million, bought Electronic Trading Solutions, created a financial services company, and called it Ameriquest. Ameriquest was the start of Corcentric. [10:31] Doug and his team tried to imagine the customers’ needs and pain points, and they built solutions on those. [10:48] Doug helped Daimler Trucking North America get new customers, and re-engage past customers, using Corcentric technologies. Daimler keeps their trucks ahead of the competition. Corcentric helped them bring their back office into this century. They went live in February 2013, and it has only gotten better for them. Listen in for details. [15:53] Doug Clark — 30 years into his career, he invented a way for companies to get out from under all their back office paperwork so that they can spend more time listening to their customers. This is capitalism.     Mentioned in This Episode: AmeriQuest Corcentric Drexel Burnham Deloitte, Haskins & Sells Daimler Trucks North America Stephens.com This Is Capitalism

Ray Hoffman introduces Darrin Williams. Darrin Williams practices capitalism in places where capitalism is sorely needed — some of the poorest towns and neighborhoods of Arkansas and Mississippi, particularly in the Mississippi Delta. Darrin Williams left a promising career in law and politics to be the CEO of Little Rock-based Southern Bancorp, a bank on a mission, a mission to create economic opportunity. To learn about Darrin Williams, it may be best to go back about three decades.     Key Takeaways: [:51] Darrin Williams was student body president at Little Rock Central High School. Governor Bill Clinton named him to a school advisory board. In high school, Darrin never had the intention to become CEO of a bank. His sights were on the law, and initially, he practiced law with an interest in politics. [1:42] At the age of two weeks, Darrin was adopted. His father was 55 and his mother was in her late 40s, so they were much older than his friends’ parents when he was growing up. A lawyer handled the adoption and continued to serve as the family’s lawyer through Darrin’s teens. He was a role model for Darrin. [2:11] In 2014, Darrin was President Pro Tempore of the Arkansas House of Representatives. He still had no interest in joining a bank. He had been a securities litigation attorney on the plaintiff’s side, suing banks in class action litigation. [3:10] Now that he is in the CEO position, it has been a wonderful opportunity. Southern Bancorp is a community development financial institution. Their focus is really on serving underserved communities. They lift communities and individuals to build their net worth. [4:06] Darrin is very focused on service. It is what drew him to law to start with, and now to a financial institution. He credits his minister father and schoolteacher mother with guiding his direction in a life of helping others. [5:20] Darrin believes he hit the parent lottery. He learned proper manners in a traditional upbringing. [6:03] As a young attorney, Darrin became chief of staff for Mark Pryor, the Arkansas State Attorney General elected in 1998. Darrin led a group of dedicated public servants who really cared about their clients. He witnessed practicing law from a client-focused perspective. [6:39] Darrin sees his time on the Attorney General’s staff as being significant preparation for becoming a CEO. [7:17] In 2012, Darrin learned about Southern Bancorp, Inc. when they approached him to discuss becoming CEO. He turned them down at the time in favor of continuing to practice law. However, he wanted to help and he joined the holding company board of directors. [7:58] As a board member, Darrin helped initiate the search for CEO. He did not know that six months later he would become the CEO. [8:20] Through his church, Darrin led a financial principles class, where he worked to help people understand how to be good stewards of their money. This experience also led him to see that so many people struggle financially unnecessarily because they don’t have the skills and resources, and were never taught how to use money well. [9:01] Darrin observed people were having significant improvements in their financial lives from taking the class, and Darrin thought he would like to teach about money full-time. When the CEO job was offered to him and Darrin turned it down, his wife reminded him of what he had said he wanted. He decided to take the CEO position. [9:36] Darrin talks about how a community development financial institution operates. By law, they have to commit to doing 60% of their activity in low-to-moderate income census tracts. Southern Bancorp primarily focuses on rural communities in the mid-south or poor urban areas, where other banks choose not to go. [11:16] In 16 of their markets, Southern Bancorp is either the only one or one of only two financial institutions offering access to capital in the community. [11:36] Studies show that the further away a business moves from capital and credit, the more they pay for capital and credit. [11:57] Darrin explains how Southern Bancorp's being one of two financial institutions leads to success for client businesses. He gives an example of their work in one community, and the programs they run and sponsor, even bringing a charter school to augment a failing school system. [13:39] In spite of the mass consolidation of banks, Southern Bancorp is in growth mode. They note where they are needed and they grow there. At every Southern Bancorp location, they have opportunity centers to meet the customers where they are. They have very skilled credit counselors. This is a free service, even to non-customers. [15:02] For the last 13 years, Southern Bancorp has provided free tax preparation services for thousands of customers. They make sure low-income people who qualify for the earned income tax credit know about it and apply for it. [15:53] Now you understand about Southern Bancorp being a bank on a mission? This is capitalism.     Mentioned in This Episode: Southern Bancorp Mark Pryor Stephens.com This Is Capitalism

Ray Hoffman introduces Mobile Mini Solutions and its CEO, Erik Olsson. Between 1980 and 2000, the metropolitan population of Phoenix grew by 45%. As amazing as that might seem, consider the growth in the exurban city of Chandler, Arizona — 22 miles from downtown Phoenix — it grew by 460%. Peoria, Arizona — 14 miles out — grew by 740%. This formed perfect conditions for the growth of a company called Mobile Mini to provide contractors and other jobbers with mobile secure space for storing their stuff on-site. Thirty-five years later, Mobile Mini is doing $500 million a year in sales, and not only is it a national brand but under CEO Erik Olsson, it’s also become less dependent on the ups and downs of the real estate cycle. Today, it’s known as Mobile Mini Solutions, offering not only job site storage space but also mobile office rentals and containment systems for water and other fluids. Erik Olsson grew up in Sweden. What brought him to Phoenix? You might say capitalism.     Key Takeaways: [1:28] At the University of Gothenburg, Erik’s impression of American capitalism was of freedom and choice, free markets, private ownership, entrepreneurship and innovation, small government, and robust institutions. Erik compared that to his home country of Sweden, and found Sweden sorely lacking in these concepts. [2:16] After managing businesses on three continents, Erik understands even more about it today. He sees now the value or importance of incentives. Everybody reacts to incentives, whether they’re negative or positive. Erik’s biggest learning since school is that everything governments and companies do impacts people and has consequences. [3:03] Erik agrees that giving people individual freedom, opportunity, choice, and innovation, capitalism shows a better understanding of human nature than socialism, which stifles all of those things. [3:29] In Europe, management is regulated to a higher degree and there are more laws. They are much more unionized. It is more difficult than in the U.S.. In South America, the workers do what the manager tells them to do. Managers have to be careful how they express themselves because what they say is what they will get. [4:10] In the U.S., the incentive is to better themselves and better their lives. Employees generally contribute to a much greater degree to the betterment of the company and the relationship between management and employees. [4:31] The can-do attitude is part of the American dream. It is very hard to find in Europe. [5:08] Erik talks about the metrics of his prior company, RSC Holdings, the number one player in terms of growth rates. The people wanted to show the rest of the world that they can do this; they’re much better than everyone else in this industry. That attitude in large part led to their success. [5:42] Atlas Copco, the Swedish maker of mining equipment, was Erik’s first employer after school. He credits them with his success. He calls them a very decentralized organization with crystallized levels of responsibility. Very early on, you get the accountability of the position you are in. Learning that on a global scale was great. [6:46] Atlas Copco sent Erik to Brazil at age 28 or 29, right in the middle of the hyperinflation. It was very turbulent, trying to manage a P&L in hyperinflation, but he counts all he learned as a blessing. He found much he could take back to the U.S. [8:13] RSC Holdings rented heavy equipment. 2008-2009 was not a good time for renting heavy equipment. At Mobile Mini Storage, they are constantly on the watch for the rate of growth. Their products are less cyclical. Customers will always have to store their stuff somewhere. [9:02] At Mobile Mini Solutions, they focus on national accounts, with a strong team signing them up. This leads to stability regardless of the local economy. Individual offices sign up local accounts. With a national account, there is a single point of contact, wherever the storage is needed. National accounts provide 30% of their revenue. [10:12] On the tank side, national accounts provide over 50% of the revenue stream. [10:26] Mobile Mini’s Net Promoters 2016 customer loyalty and recommendation score was above Costco, Starbucks, Amazon and Apple. [11:00] Erik discusses how the culture of service was created and maintained. They constantly discuss it and measure the Net Promoter score down to a branch level, so they can see who is contributing to the number and who is dilutive to the number. They hold people accountable and provide training. They coach salespeople on calls. [11:44] Erik started at Mobile Mini when there were about 120 locations. Today, there are 150 locations. Erik sees room for 50 more locations in North America over the next years. [12:12] All locations are company-owned. They maintain direct contact with their customers and want to be in charge of their Net Promoter Score. They don’t want to outsource great customer service. [12:27] Mobile Mini is the largest player in their market, so they can afford to invest in technology. They are using a portal where the customer can manage their entire relationship, from placing an order, paying an invoice, looking at their history, seeing on a map where they have mobile units, and creating a report. That technology keeps them in the lead. [13:11] Mobile Mini’s Ideal Client Profile is a builder on a job site, keeping stuff in a storage facility on site, overnight during the construction season. [13:27] Erik has a vision for the ideal growth path for Mobile Mini. As the largest player, Mobile Mini has around a fifth of the market. Going forward, they can get much larger than what they are. [13:49] Erik really enjoys the speed and competitiveness of the business, where things can change in a day. [14:28] Erik started as a finance guy and became a customer service guy. Those were requirements for becoming a CEO: knowing the customers and the people. [14:54] As Erik will tell you, those Net Promoter Scores and good customer service in general, are increasingly important in a free, competitive marketplace. This is capitalism.     Mentioned in This Episode: Mobile Mini Solutions RSC Equipment Rental (Now United Rentals) Atlas Copco Net Promoter Stephens.com This Is Capitalism

Ray Hoffman introduces Tammira Lucas and Keisha Ransome. When she was growing up on the West side of Baltimore, Tammira Lucas didn’t have any interest in entrepreneurism. An entrepreneur, to her, was a hustler. Keisha Ransome, growing up in another part of town, had a slightly less negative view of entrepreneurism, but thanks to television, she too, had no particular interest in how businesses are built and grow through capitalism. That started to change, however, in their college years, and today they are deeply involved in a project called Moms as Entrepreneurs. And if you have any doubts that this could go well beyond Baltimore, then you haven’t met Co-Founder Tammira Lucas and her colleague, Founder of Baltimore Etsy Sellers and Head of the Moms as Entrepreneurs Makers’ Academy, Keisha Ransome.   Key Takeaways: [1:08] Keisha Ransome started her business with love, selling on Etsy in 2012. She made less than $100 the first year and over $500 the second year. The third year, sales skyrocketed. By 2016, with a good hold on the Etsy market, Keisha decided to reach out to other local makers to see if they wanted to share tips with each other in a group. [1:43] Keisha started Baltimore Etsy Sellers in 2016, four years after she started selling on Etsy. After learning about Meetup, Keisha used it to organize like-minded people. She really liked the Etsy platform and she wanted to share her experiences with others. It became way more than just a meetup. [2:19] Keisha is a self-taught fashion designer. She makes tulle skirts, also known as tutus, and bridal skirts. Her training is in civil engineering and city planning. She made prom dresses in high school. For 10 years after high school she didn’t sew and then her creative urge bubbled up. She left transportation planning consulting behind for fashion. [3:45] Tammira Lucas and a partner, Jasmine Simms, started Moms as Entrepreneurs in 2014 as a podcast to put information out there for single moms to get tips, advice, and resources on starting and growing a business. That grew into a conference. The moms came back and asked for more. Tammira and Jasmine hadn’t yet thought about ‘more.’ [5:05] At the same time, there were the Baltimore riots. Tammira and Jasmine saw in their own communities that you can serve the youth, but the root of the problem is not the children — it’s the families. Over 90% of Baltimore homes are single-mother homes. [5:40] Tammira and Jasmine asked themselves what they could do to be a solution to the problem in their communities. That’s when they launched the Moms as Entrepreneurs Academy. 40 Moms have graduated and received help building or starting their businesses. [5:58] Tammira says “probably about 15” of their family and friends listened to their first podcast episode. As they learned more about marketing their audience grew. They took a break from podcasting to work on the Academy. They are starting podcasting again. In 2014, it was a hobby aside from their businesses. It was their “give back.” [7:27] Bringing other mom entrepreneurs onto the episodes was the key to expanding their podcast reach. They spread the word and it started growing from there. [7:53] Over 100 moms attended the first conference. Now, Tammira and Jasmine are focusing on ‘maker moms.’ Next, they plan to start a culinary academy. [8:11] Keisha had been holding meetings in various places. Will Holman of Open Works reached out to Keisha and asked if she wanted to hold her meetings at the Open Works facility. He thought the Open Works members might benefit from the Etsy meetups. Will had already been working with Tammira. [8:48] An Etsy city grant became available and Will thought it would be great for the Etsy Moms to make things at Open Works. [9:02] Open Works is a workspace near Penn Station in Baltimore. The surrounding community is being revitalized. Open Works has equipment for sewing, woodworking, 3D printing, and more that most people wouldn’t be able to access. [9:35] 2017 was the first year that Etsy issued grants. Baltimore is the only U.S. city recipient of an Etsy grant.[10:09] Tammira researched to find additional funding. She learned about the Kauffman Foundation and their focus on entrepreneurship. Tammira applied for their nationwide search for entrepreneurs to fund. Ten grants were awarded. The Kauffman foundation was excited about the collaboration of the three organizations. [11:23] The Kauffman Foundation wanted to know how each of the organizations started, what impact they want to have, and what outcomes they plan to have. They were driven by growth and building capacity for the future. They wanted to see past results. [12:11] Keisha says that the Kauffman Foundation picked their brains about their individual motivations and how they planned on getting things done as a team in a video conference that lasted about an hour. [12:40] The Academy program exposes moms and their children to possibilities of life and entrepreneurship that just aren’t talked about in the communities where they live. The traditional route of getting a job doesn’t always fit. [13:20] Tammira and Keisha want Moms as Entrepreneurs to become a national organization. Cities like Chicago and Detroit have similar needs. [13:49] Tammira would love to take the concept personally to other cities and set it up, then let the new organizations carry themselves from there. It is a plan for some time in the next two to three years. [14:08] Tammira says in 2023, Moms as Entrepreneurs will definitely be a national organization that will provide entrepreneurship training and resources. She is working on her Doctor of Business and is writing a book that will be an entrepreneurship textbook. [14:55] The book will cover parenthood, running a business as a mom, and business psychology. [15:13] Keisha wants to see the Makers Academy follow the parent group Moms as Entrepreneurs nationally with help from Etsy in a global online marketplace. Keisha teaches skills that apply to any e-commerce. [15:42] Keisha wants to see an army of mom makers who are completely successful full-time creative entrepreneurs share their stories, possibly at a national conference. [16:07] This is capitalism in the making.   Mentioned in This Episode: Moms as Entrepreneurs Baltimore Etsy Sellers MeetUp Moms as Entrepreneurs Makers Academy MeetUp Open Works Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Stephens.com This Is Capitalism

Ray Hoffman introduces the topic. It was in late 2016 when the Rockefeller Foundation went looking for entrepreneurs — social entrepreneurs to build businesses intended to solve some of the problems of American cities. Within just four months, not only did the foundation identify 10 of these social business builders, but each of them had $100,000 in funding and a whole lot of new connections and mentoring as part of a program called The Future Cities Accelerator. On this episode of This is Capitalism, you’ll hear from Jukay Hsu, the founder of C4Q, Coalition for Queens, the most diverse community in America, Queens County, New York, Jimmy Chen, former Facebook executive and current CEO of Propel, a company that developed a wonderful and much-needed app for food stamp users, and former Rockefeller Foundation Associate Director, Joshua Murphy, who had to work through a lot of applications for this program in a hurry.     Key Takeaways: [1:14] Joshua Murphy tells Ray Hoffman how the Future Cities Accelerator was designed to engage next-generation entrepreneurs who are creating change on the ground inside U.S. cities. Joshua cites previous Rockefeller efforts such as 100 Resilient Cities, Rebuild by Design, and work in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. [1:39] By 2025, 75% of all people will live in cities. The Future Cities Accelerator is an extension of the Foundation’s work in cities to help solve city challenges like poverty, healthcare, housing access, food waste, and employment. This is an opportunity to engage young people doing amazing work in this space. [2:19] How do we think about philanthropy in the 21st Century, with all the challenges we face in the world? Joshua called up Teju Ravilochan, Founder and CEO of The Unreasonable Institute (Uncharted) and invited him to help set up this new initiative of an open challenge with 10 winners to be selected for grants. Teju accepted. [4:25] The target group was poor, vulnerable populations. There was no specific issue. Teju was excited to organize the challenge. They worked up an agreement with ‘legal,’ and with the Foundation program staff. They built the challenge in about four months. [4:59] They brought in other partners to help put it together. It’s been a very collaborative effort and it came together smoothly. [5:06] Joshua had hoped for up to 50 applications; over 300 applications came in. They reviewed applications, held multiple application interviews, and did site visits toward the end to select 10 grant recipients. Joshua visited both C4Q and Propel. It was quite inspiring to meet the folks doing amazing work. [6:16] Narrowing the field was very hard. The team spent eight hours in Denver on the deliberation day, to get to the final 10. What they looked for was the impact the applicants were already having, their goals, scalability, their market, their supporters, their board members and their team dynamics, and overall potential for growth. [7:03] Joshua and the team wanted to see these organizations continue doing great work over a long period and getting to the next level in their ambitions. [7:09] C4Q fosters the Queens Tech ecosystem to increase economic activity. Jukay Hsu describes how it began in late 2011 before the first Queens Tech Meetup. The Coalition for Queens started as volunteers who believed in an inclusive technology economy, and how cities can be best positioned for that. Jukay was alone, at first. [7:57] C4Q started as an advocacy group for the larger impacts of technology on cities. Job training is a great way to tackle the long-term problem, serving the needs of companies while creating opportunities for participation within the local community, to grow with the cities as they transform. [8:34] Jukay talks about coding and training. There is a 10-month program called Access Code, serving adult learners in poverty, who are learning coding and networking. They also get help with job placement and entrepreneurial opportunities. [9:08] The program has increased people’s income from $18K at the start to $85K after the program. [9:18] Jimmy Chen, formerly a product manager at Facebook, is CEO of Propel. Jimmy saw that a disproportionate amount of the benefit of technology goes to people who don’t need it much. Jimmy left Facebook in 2014, looking to build really great consumer software to be used by hundreds of millions of people to solve the problems of poverty. [9:56] In 2014, Jimmy learned of a nonprofit incubator program, BlueRidge Labs, based in Brooklyn, now run by The Robinhood Foundation, that takes aspiring entrepreneurs and helps them identify challenges faced by people in poverty and to start software companies that solve some of those challenges. That’s when Propel started. [10:13] Jimmy tells how Propel began. They studied how to apply for food stamps to get a sense of the process, the forms, and the experience of talking with the social workers. Of the hundreds of people waiting to apply for food stamps, most were passing the time with their smartphones in hand. So they had the technology, but no app to help them. [11:03] Jimmy explains why food stamps became their selected project to address. They had looked at a variety of government safety net services for low-income people. They settled on SNAP (Food Stamps) because it is a large program with 45 million users daily and it’s one of the core basic needs of life. [11:49] The original intention at Propel was to build software for a number of programs, but SNAP became the program of focus because the opportunity to serve Americans was extremely deep. [12:04] Propel started marketing with $200 worth of ads on Facebook. Their model was to build the software very quickly and test it as fast as possible on the target market, cutting out mistakes and expanding on successes as quickly as they could. The first version was a website, and ads online attracted attention to try it. They got feedback. [12:50] Their early experience pointed them overall in the direction in which they’re still headed. There is a massive potential for a great technology to transform the experience of people on these types of programs. $200 worth of ads gave them the information they needed. They just needed feedback from a handful of people. [13:21] In late 2015, Propel expanded their focus beyond the initial enrollment in the program to managing the benefits. The app, FreshEBT, is like a mobile banking app for SNAP. Propel created the well-made app to be respectful of the SNAP user. Users manage their balance, see their transaction history, and manage their card. [15:05] FreshEBT helps users identify places they can spend their benefits, on a map of stores that accept SNAP. FreshEBT can also help users save money on financial services and when purchasing groceries. There have been 400,000 downloads of FreshEBT. It’s been in the top 20 free Android finance apps for a few months. [15:41] With an estimated 21 million American households on SNAP, 400,000 is about 2% coverage. [15:52] Jukay samples the app. He sees that they are at the Rockefeller Foundation address, and the various stores and food pantries around them that accept SNAP. [16:18] Ray Hoffman asks how the recipients of these innovation grants will improve their organizations. Jimmy gives three reasons: use the access to the networks of Uncharted and the Rockefeller Foundation, get to meet people like Jukay and others who are building amazing companies, and finally, use the capital from the program. [17:20] Joshua says the program will stick with these people as long as they need it, and they will get mentors from across sectors with a variety of backgrounds. Each team will go to SOCAP, the huge social entrepreneurship conference in San Francisco. They will get a chance to meet other potential supporters and funders. [17:42] Joshua wants to see them leverage the grant and the program to get even more support, long-term. The goal is to help build an ecosystem — a network — to see this scale larger to help more organizations and more people. [18:00] With the Rockefeller Foundation at their backs, you’ll be hearing more from these social tech entrepreneurs. See the links below to learn more about C4Q and Propel.     Mentioned in This Episode: The Rockefeller Foundation C4Q AccessCode Propel 100 Resilient Cities Rebuild by Design The Unreasonable Institute (Uncharted) FreshEBT SOCAP Facebook BlueRidge Labs The Robinhood Foundation Jukay Hsu Jimmy Chen Joshua Murphy Teju Ravilochan Stephens.com This Is Capitalism

Best selling author, podcast host and self-proclaimed dilettante Tim Ferriss sits down with our Ray Hoffman to talk about his new book "Tribe of Mentors". See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From saving Imus' life to making Joe Connolly a business reporter, veteran broadcaster Ray Hoffman spins radio stories from the old days to now.

Sandy Hillman has been burnishing her reputation as one of the nation’s top communications professionals for over three decades. Her Baltimore-based firm helps speak for brands such as Under Armour, Caesars Entertainment, and Walmart, but Sandy Hillman is even better known in the world of travel and tourism for her efforts in attracting visitors to major cities that didn’t use to attract many tourists. Time Magazine called her the Impresario of Urban America. As Executive Director of Baltimore’s Office of Promotion and Tourism, she was one of the key players in the dramatic revitalization of Baltimore in the 1970s and early ‘80s. There was Baltimore’s legendary four-term mayor, William Donald Schaefer, who was the most important player, there was A. N. Pritzker, the patriarch of the Hyatt Hotel family, there was James Rouse, whose Rouse Company built the Harborplace development, and there was Sandy Hillman. Tune in for Sandy’s success story.   Key Takeaways: [1:20] At the time Harborplace was done, most cities had not figured out how to take advantage of their industrial waterfronts. With the success of Baltimore’s Harborplace, other cities called on Sandy for help. She went into private practice in 1984. She worked with builder James Rouse on some of her projects. [1:56] As Sandy consulted with cities, her best idea was that a public-private partnership structure was needed within city government, to make sure that developments happen, take hold, and are sustained. Most cities had not organized for partnership. They had a convention and visitors bureau, but no organization to promote tourism. [2:36] You need an organized infrastructure in place in every city, to properly build for tourism. Part of Mayor Schaefer’s genius was in understanding this and creating a marketing organization. [2:59] Sandy left city employment to join an advertising and PR firm. It grew from 25 to 140 employees, and Sandy became the CEO. Ten years ago, she decided she didn’t want to run a big organization, and she started Sandy Hillman Communications as a 12-person boutique operation. They do only communications for organizations they select. [3:43] Sandy Hillman Communications has an impressive roster of clients. Sandy explains how they came to represent the Star-Spangled Spectacular Baltimore, what the event was, and what they did for Baltimore and Fort McHenry tourism. Many of Sandy’s clients are museums. She discusses the National WWII Museum. [5:34] Developments are dependent on leadership understanding of how to access capital, and use it to meet the goals of the particular program. [5:51] The WWII Museum was one of Sandy’s favorite clients to promote, based on the impact of the exhibits. For commercial work, Sandy cites Under Armour and Zico as admired clients. [6:49] Sandy talks about hubris at the top of a corporation leading to lack of communication within the organization. She sees it as a lack of understanding of what drives the business. Leadership does not connect with people below the C-suite, so there is a communication problem. Sandy loves internal communications for mergers. [8:45] Sandy gives Under Armour as an example of a company that gets the importance of culture and internal communication. She discusses Harrah’s acquisition of Caesars and the importance of communication throughout the process. [9:53] The SEC allowed Harrah’s and Caesars to begin the communication effort in advance of the final signing of the deal. This was really important. Thousands of people had to know that the coming together of these two companies was not going to negatively affect them. The CEO of Harrah’s visited every property to meet with the staff. [10:41] Sandy talks about representing the airline industry, and the Air Travel Card. All industries are complicated, but they’re all about people at the end of the day. [11:18] Sandy is the first woman to be labeled a distinguished alumnus of Penn State. Sandy has been a working mother for almost 50 years. She runs her business in a way that recognizes women. [12:12] Sandy believes that women lead differently. She discusses her thoughts on this, and research on male and female brains of executives. [12:55] Ray Hoffman gives details from a 2013 Harvard Business Review article on the University of California, Irvine study Sandy cited, on how men’s and women’s brains seem to be configured differently, leading to different styles of information processing.   Mentioned in This Episode: Sandy Hillman Communications Harborplace Star Spangled Spectacular 2014 The National WWII Museum Under Armour Zico Caesars Entertainment “How Women Decide,” by Cathy Benko and Bill Pelster, Harvard Business Review   This is Capitalism CEO Stories is brought to you by Stephens Inc., Member NYSE, SIPC. For much more information, please visit www.stephens.com or www.thisiscapitalism.com. This podcast should not be copied, distributed, published, or reproduced, in whole, or in part. The information contained in this podcast is not financial research, nor a product of Stephens Research. Stephens does not make any representation or warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of the statements or any information contained in this podcast, and any liability therefore is expressly disclaimed. The views expressed in this podcast are not necessarily those of Stephens, and Stephens is not providing any investment, financial, economic, legal, accounting, or tax advice, or recommendations in this podcast. In addition, the downloading of this podcast by any listener does not make that listener a client of Stephens.

Ray Hoffman interviews Warren Stephens about the history of Stephens Inc., and Northwest Arkansas. The difficult effects of the Great Depression on a rural community sparked the rise of tough entrepreneurs who became the industrialists of the area, and brought prosperity to replace poverty. Many of the great Arkansas companies were helped along the way by the Stephens family. Listen in to learn more.   Key Takeaways: [:25] Arkansas has produced a disproportionate number of major companies, such as Wal-Mart, and the investment banking firm, Stephens, Inc., that helps companies like Walmart to grow and prosper. Stephens, Inc. has been led by Warren Stephens since 1986. Warren’s father and siblings grew up picking cotton on the farm. [1:49] There is something in Arkansas that encourages leadership in individuals, such as Sam Walton, Charles Murphy, Bill Dillard, J.B. Hunt, and the Tyson family. Matt Waller, Dean of the Walton Business School at the University of Arkansas speculates that it’s a toughness and a belief that “We can do this. We can make our lives better.” [2:42] Albert Stephens, Warren’s grandfather, lived off of selling pieces of the farm, until there wasn’t much left to sell and they had to farm it. Warren’s uncle made it his life’s mission to piece back together all the land that had once been in the family. Today, Warren’s cousins own about 3,000 acres. [3:40] Warren’s uncle, Witt Stephens was in the belt buckle and Bible business, and was really good at it. His father advised him to go into the bond business, when Arkansas bonds were trading at $.10 on the dollar in 1933. [4:21] Uncle Witt took a bank loan of either $15,000 or $25,000 — no one remembers which — and started buying bonds at $.10. He sold them to customers, and kept some. By 1940, they were trading at par, which was a great return for him and his clients. As Sir John Templeton once said, “Buy when there’s blood running in the streets.” [5:06] Witt, and Warren’s father, Jack, started investing in natural gas, and other businesses all around the state. Witt gave credit to one of FDR’s programs, the Rural Electrification Program, that was designed to bring electricity to poor regions. [5:54] Witt bought the Sheridan telephone exchange to run a phone line to his parent’s home. Witt sold it to the Wilbourn family, who started Allied Telephone, and built enormous numbers of land lines across the state. Allied later became Alltel. [6:56] In college, Warren worked summers at Stephens, Inc. at the trading desk. With an MBA, Warren started full-time in 1981. Witt and Jack owned the company, and Warren picked their brains a lot. [7:39] Warren’s dad told him, “I wanted to be in business the next day.” He also said, “You can’t ever take a risk - if you lose it all, you endanger the ability of the firm to survive.” Everything can go wrong at once. When it does, in investments, it’s ugly. [8:54] In the 1960s, Stephens moved into private equities. In 1968, they started a bank data processing company. They also had a life insurance company, and it loaned money to Sam Walton to build his first stores. In 1970, Stephens, with White Weld, managed the Walmart IPO. It was one of the best things to happen for Stephens. [10:54] Warren discusses capitalism. After this last crisis, people wonder if the capitalist system is really the right system. Warren suggests the average consumer does not understand the many profitable layers that contribute to their ability to purchase the product they want, when they want it. Young people don’t see the connection. [12:31] The cell phone wasn’t created by government. Warren noted in a WSJ editorial that young people reject capitalism and the free market, but celebrate entrepreneurism and free enterprise! He doesn’t think they understand what capitalism is. Warren says that the youth didn’t see Eastern Europe collapse under communist socialism. [13:48] Warren suggests education on capitalism would help eliminate the disconnect between popular views and the facts. The This is Capitalism series is an effort to educate about successful capitalist entrepreneurs, past and present, and to show the impact they have had on communities and employees. [14:19] Warren talks about the development of Northwest Arkansas through capitalism, from Walmart, to J.B. Hunt, to the University of Arkansas and more. The Waltons have given generously to the University. Alice Walton has built an incredible art museum. Warren compares 1960s Northwest Arkansas with the same area today. It is thriving.   Mentioned in This Episode: Stephens Inc, Stephens Viewpoints: Podcasts.com/podcasts Warren A. Stephens The Great Depression Walmart Dillard Tyson Murphy Oil J.B. Hunt Alltel Acxiom “Why Do the Young Reject Capitalism?,” by Warren A. Stephens for the Wall Street Journal The Rural Electrification Act The Great Recession of 2008-2009 Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport This Is Capitalism   This is Capitalism CEO Stories is brought to you by Stephens Inc., Member NYSE, SIPC. For much more information, please visit www.stephens.com or www.thisiscapitalism.com. This podcast should not be copied, distributed, published, or reproduced, in whole, or in part. The information contained in this podcast is not financial research, nor a product of Stephens Research. Stephens does not make any representation or warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of the statements or any information contained in this podcast, and any liability therefore is expressly disclaimed. The views expressed in this podcast are not necessarily those of Stephens, and Stephens is not providing any investment, financial, economic, legal, accounting, or tax advice, or recommendations in this podcast. In addition, the downloading of this podcast by any listener does not make that listener a client of Stephens.  

Are Seattle’s public utilities prepared for the influx of people? Hear from Ray Hoffman, former Director of Seattle Public Utilities, which oversees water, sewage, and solid waste management. In an in-depth interview, he shares which utilities are ready to expand with demand and which utilities concern him. Hear from Larry Weis, CEO of Seattle City Light, share the impact of new development on electricity usage. He also shares what changes have been made in reaction to the population growth and his vision for the future. Through this episode you will have a better understanding of how growth impacts the public utilities and the scalability of these services.