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Wednesday, June 28, 2023
Tuesday, June 27, 2023
NEW INC. MAGAZINE COLUMN FROM HOWARD TULLMAN
Are You Ready for Post-Truth Marketplace?
In a world where the
rate of change is accelerating--and Trump has destroyed institutional
trust--you need to constantly recalibrate everything your business does.
Whatever your politics, here are some of the questions you need to ask
yourself.
BY HOWARD
TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH
INVESTORS@HOWARDTULLMAN1
We're moving into the
next phase of the post-pandemic recovery, which will very likely extend through
the 2024 election -- even apart from all the craziness and uncertainty that the
indictments, trials, and tribulations of Trump will bring. That's because
we're not even close to the midpoint of the consumer, customer, and client
paralysis and malaise that Trump's incompetence and criminality spawned, and
that the pandemic amplified in all the worst ways.
We can expect until the
election that we'll be subjected to an inescapable and endless doom-scrolling
loop of media malarkey, political mischief, and malicious misinformation driven
by the Orange Monster, his enabling Congressional minions, and the MAGAt morons
who ingest his every intemperate, insane utterance. Worse yet, emerging
A.I. tools will make it virtually impossible for anyone to trust their own eyes
and ears to decipher the truth from the manipulative material that will be
served up to them.
Sadly, the sheer volume
of the noise will continue to sap significant parts of everyone's
energy, efforts, and enthusiasm both inside our
businesses and in the outside world as well. Selling something new and
different is tough enough; selling into a marketplace where CYA buyers are
seeking shelter and safety, where they never want to be the nail sticking up,
is even more difficult.
This is an existential
problem for startups because time is no one's friend when you're running out of
funds, when the typical funding alternatives are absent, and when your revenues
haven't materialized because your prospects, partners and even long-time
customers have all become more risk averse. These pressing external problems
are compounded by the innate nature of entrepreneurs. Incurable optimism is an
occupational hazard and the "never say die" attitude that got you
this far may be getting in your way now as you try to make a realistic
assessment of where things stand today for your business and the best path
forward. The most successful entrepreneurs never really know what's impossible
(other than trying to dribble an American football) because so many things seem
to be impossible until the day they get done. Achieving the impossible just
takes a little longer.
Business builders are
persistent above all, quitting isn't a part of their DNA, and they often learn
only too late that there are things that are worse than being wrong. But
staying the course, finishing what you started, and never giving up the ship
are better as slogans than workable strategies when change is the only constant
and the ground is continually shifting under you. There's not a fix for everything.
So, the conventional
wisdom isn't going to work as well in the current environment - the market
conditions, customer circumstances, operating costs, capital requirements, and
competition have shifted in ways that may never be reversed. And simple,
effective, and prompt solutions may not be available especially if you try to
rush forward instead of stopping and taking the time necessary to take stock of
the entire situation.
You'll be surprised --
and not necessarily in a happy way -- at how many changes have taken place
within your business that you may not even be fully aware of. The very first
order of business needs to be getting all the wood back behind a single
arrowhead which is properly aimed and headed in the right direction. This is an
urgent matter of research, communication, and discovery. You can't fix what you
can't see or don't know about and you can't make smart decisions if you don't appreciate and fully understand all
the alternative choices. Very few decisions today are as simple as either/or
choices. The more options you consider, the better your chances of reaching the
right conclusions.
Some problems will be
fixable. Some won't be worth the cost or effort of trying to address. Some will
simply disappear, cease to be urgent, or become inconsequential. Others are
going to persist-- they may be addressed over time-- but in the moment they may
just be facts and circumstances that you're going to have to live with. What's
clear is that not every problem or concern has a clear-cut, immediate, or easy
solution. A bias toward action and occasional fire drills are good things
unless they send you off in the wrong direction. Makeshift fixes, and quick
attempted saves, can too often hide or de-prioritize long-term systemic
problems that can't be resolved overnight, but ultimately need to be remedied.
But right now, the
smartest thing you can be doing is to take a breath, get your key leaders and
decision makers together, and consider the following before you
take any action. Ask yourself these five questions.
1. What's the
problem you initially set out to solve?
If you're not careful
and no one's watching the store, your team can lose sight of the real reasons
the business was started and what you initially hoped to accomplish. All kinds
of pressures (lack of expertise, personnel, new technology, material costs) can
crop up and decisions get made on the fly up and down the chain of command
which may have serious long-term ramifications, and which may differ radically
from the ones you might have made initially or might have made if you'd been
asked. It's critical to reset and restate the primary objectives and priorities
and communicate them to everyone in the company.
2. Are you
trying to solve the same problem today or doing something different?
Drift is a big problem
in part because of the rapid rate of change and in part because with hybrid and
remote workforces there have been major breakdowns in the traditional
communication paths that companies have used to assure continuity, alignment
and consistent decision making and execution across their businesses. It's easy
to find that your own team members don't necessarily know what's expected of
them or have drifted and become focused on the wrong matters. Reinforcement and
clarification are critical. Starbucks management regularly reminds its people
that they aren't in the coffee business serving people; they're in the people
business serving coffee. They're selling comfort and community, not just
coffee.
3. Is the problem
still important to your customers and worth their paying you to solve?
If you've properly
identified a true pain point and made it clear to your customers that you've
got a viable solution in place and working for them, they won't be in any hurry
to leave, but they'll bleed you dry on price if you're not very careful. You
need to do three important things: (1) anticipate renewals - ticklers and
calendars can't be beat; (2) constantly prepare and share numbers and
"proof" that you're saving them time and money - empower your inside
champions with ammunition, and (3) make sure you know who will be making the
next decision on your future and get directly in front of that person. If you're not on top of things, someone you've never met
could be deciding your fate over a few bucks of cost savings.
4. Are
others offering cheaper, quicker, or easier solutions to the problem?
The answer here is
almost always "Yes," even if you've been in business for only a short
time because that's the way technology now works. What used to be magic is now
mundane, what was wonderful is so what, and there's a new miracle right around
the corner. Your job is to figure out how to stay on top of the constant
advances and how to quickly and economically incorporate them into your own
operations. If you do, there will always be a tomorrow; if you don't,
you'll be toast.
5. Are
there new, more important, or different problems to be solved?
It's not an easy
question to ask of anyone, but could your time, resources and talents be
better, more productively, and more profitably be used if you targeted and
tackled a different problem or marketplace? In the crazy, changing world we're
in today, it's no sin to start over if and when that makes the most sense. Your
product or service - despite your best efforts - may have been outmoded or
leapfrogged by new technology or new entrants. Moving on to something new may
be the best way forward. Once the subject is broached, you'll be amazed
at how many of the folks sitting around you will chime in and admit that
they've had the very same thoughts and questions.
Monday, June 26, 2023
Friday, June 23, 2023
Thursday, June 22, 2023
Wednesday, June 21, 2023
THE BEST COYNE QUOTES ABOUT TRUMP
This is not the reaction of a normal person. It is the reaction not of a criminal but of a revolutionary nihilist, someone who is not interested merely in breaking the law but dismantling it.
As with the Jan. 6 plot, there doesn’t appear to have been a lot of thought put into the question of what happens next. It appears to have no intent but to create as much havoc as possible, with whatever harm to national security or the rule of law: a vast primal scream, releasing the populist id from whatever lingering restraint may still confine it.
This is what makes Mr. Trump so dangerous. There’s no plan. There’s no purpose. It’s all id. That’s all he is: a bloated, incontinent bag of every conceivable vice, belching forth at irregular intervals and covering everything within reach. Had he any of the normal human impulses – for respect, or dignity, or even self-preservation – he would be more easily recognizable, and thus comprehensible.
But as it is he is invincible. It isn’t his vast wealth that is the source of his power, or his mastery of social media, or the bottomless cynicism of his enablers in the Republican leadership. It is his utter shamelessness, his refusal to be bound by any norm, convention or law, even the laws of logic.
You can see how this appeals to his supporters. What is Mr. Trump’s desire to be free of all restraint but their own, on a gargantuan scale? What is Mr. Trump’s disregard for facts but their own preference for fantasy, to believe what they want to believe?
But it also consistently disarms his critics. It is simply
impossible to comprehend a void so profound: The temptation is always to think
of him as merely an ignoramus, or a crook, or a liar, or an authoritarian, or a
child of 9, or a serial sexual molester, or a sort of grand national arsonist,
setting fire to every institution in sight, and not as all of these things and
more.
Worse, he succeeds in corrupting them, as much as his supporters, wearing them down by the sheer volume of his offences, to the point that they find, in spite of themselves, they are grading him according to his own constantly shifting curve.
Sure, this latest thing he has done is outrageous, but is it any more outrageous
than we have come to expect from him? Or if it is, does it exceed previous
records by as much as had been expected? Perhaps his behaviour is growing
steadily worse, but is it actually accelerating toward the abyss? Or merely
steady as she goes?
So we come to
the present pass, with the world’s most powerful nation, with all of its
magnificent history and intricate constitutional architecture, at the mercy of
a pathological narcissist, trembling at the thought of bringing him to justice
– as if it were the act of applying the law to him, and not his brazen defiance
of it, that were the anomaly.
Tuesday, June 20, 2023
NEW INC. MAGAZINE COLUMN BY HOWARD TULLMAN
Walgreens Whiffs by Trying to Dodge the Truth
Companies and consumers are caught in a political spitting contest when most of the time they simply want to sell and buy everyday products.
BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS@TULLMAN
It’s becoming harder and
harder for businesses to try to properly position, present, and then justify
their day-to-day operating decisions (not to mention new initiatives,
experiments and store designs) to their actual customers -- the vast majority
of basically middle-of-the-road people who just want to get on with their lives
and don’t regard every purchase they make as conscious and intentional
demonstrations of strident political statements and positions. Sometimes a rose
is just a rose, coffee’s just a cuppa, and having a beer and a brat isn’t
burdened by momentous political concerns. That’s why most businesses--large and
small -- try to stay as far away from politics as possible and
encourage their employees to do the same, at least at work. The very best
place to leave your politics is at the office door.
When you look at things
more closely, these so-called social and political “problems” are rarely the
serious concerns of customers or consumers -- those folks are all about
business as usual--not that they ever mind watching a stupid cat fight from
time to time. The problems for most companies -- Anheuser Busch, Target, Major
League Baseball -- flow from the constant noise, nagging, and nuisance of the
crazy shit-disturbers on both sides of whatever the latest Fox-flogged
installment of bogus concern and flatulent outrage happens to be. Their
painful posturing and fake outrage are then amplified by the click-crazy media
and quickly spread across social media by people with a lot of anger, angst,
and aggression and not much else to do with their time. But if you aren’t
careful, their simplistic and baseless slanders can still slime your business.
The insurmountable
challenge -- much like any debate with your teenage children -- is that there’s
no right answer or remedy sufficient to satisfy people who are invested in and
enjoying the tumult, who thrive by surfing the strife, and who haven’t the
slightest interest in any reasonable discussion or resolution. Much like the
MAGAt morons in Congress, the mess and the misery, the distraction and
disruption, and the colossal wastes of time and energy are the entire point of
the exercise.
So, it’s almost
impossible for even the best-intentioned managers, as they try to run their
companies, to successfully navigate the increasingly perilous path between the
deluded debaters, the drop-in dilettantes, and the dishonest disrupters. For
sure, you don’t want these outsiders influencing or interfering with the way
you run your business. But too often one unfortunate result-- knowing
that these idiots are out there-- is a kind of paralysis that sets in and gets in the way of innovation,
risk taking, and forward motion.
That’s not a happy
result for anyone, but there are actually worse, self-inflicted things that can
happen to your company if you’re not careful. One of the worst mistakes any
owner or manager can make is to lie to themselves and to their employees and
customers. This happens so often lately because of the treacherous tension
between political correctness, the pressure and fear of false and critical
social media, and the continuing need for authenticity.
The only right approach
in these cases is to tell the truth and tell it like it is. This is a lesson
that Walgreens among plenty of other businesses clearly hasn’t learned. Half a
lie is still a lie and the whole truth is the only thing that stands the test
of time and gets the job done.
In the latest
case, Walgreens introduced a new concept store in Chicago with only two aisles
of basic products for shoppers to peruse while the rest of the merchandise is
securely out of sight. With a perfectly straight face, while the entire world
knows that retail stores are being flagrantly ripped off daily, Walgreens
claimed that the new format is an experiment in digital-first merchandising to
“benefit” customers. Not, mind you, to benefit customers by reducing shrinkage
to avoid raising prices or closing the store entirely, but so that customers
could order online for pickup or order in-store at kiosks. And, to make things
worse, Walgreens’ messaging specifically said that the new design had nothing
to do with anti-theft measures that every other retailer in the country has
implemented. This was a complete lie and an attempt to head off the obvious,
expected noise from the usual suspects.
When the laughing died
down, Walgreens’ management looked like complete idiots. Worse yet, their PR
positioning didn’t work for a minute. Regular customers were inconvenienced,
obviously unhappy, and insulted and offended by Walgreens transparent
explanation. Of course, the haters immediately turned out to cry racism and
discrimination. So, in short order, the company managed to make everyone
unhappy.
More importantly,
Walgreens sacrificed a great deal of their customers’ hard-earned goodwill and
the trust of the community as well. It’s clear that the alternative to telling
the truth, even when the truth hurts, is a walk down the thankless path of
trying to please a bunch of hypocrites and pro forma protestors while you fail
to speak frankly and honestly to the people who count - your customers.
And equally importantly, you’re lying to your employees, who have a very
serious stake in this conversation. Everyone understands that retail theft has
reached epidemic levels, especially when “justified and explained” by naïve and
manipulative politicians like the new mayor in Chicago. No one doubts the need
for the stores to take appropriate actions to stop the bleeding.
The front line of
defense, and the people most often in harm’s way of these assorted criminals,
including organized shoplifting rings, are team members, not the suits
sitting back in the corporate offices. Telling these folks, mainly for
insurance reasons, to do nothing to prevent the thefts; to ignore crooks and
creeps running from the stores with bags full of merchandise; and to stand down
while these arrogant assholes taunt them and make fools out of the paying
customers isn’t a solution. This policy is just the latest concession to
the rampant crime we’re seeing in many major cities and the inability of their
political leaders to do anything to confront or change the situation. The pols
are encouraging the thieves to keep it up and this puts the employees at even
greater risk which is what’s driving major retailers like Nordstroms and Walmart out
of various downtown areas.
If consumer trust
and confidence in the honesty and sincerity of our leaders in every area of
business, law and government isn’t already at historic lows, the weak and
dishonest efforts like these by Walgreens to try to avoid having forthright and
open conversations with all the stakeholders about what needs to be done and
what actions can be taken just makes the situation worse.
A lie may fool
someone else, but it tells the truth about you.
Monday, June 19, 2023
Sunday, June 18, 2023
Saturday, June 17, 2023
Friday, June 16, 2023
Wednesday, June 14, 2023
FINALLY, A REPUBLICAN WITH A BRAIN WHO ISN'T A COMPLETE DUPE OR A MAGAt MORON
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez files to run for president in 2024
Tuesday, June 13, 2023
MARY TRUMP - CONTEMPT
In another lifetime, I lived four blocks east and three blocks north of the Frick Museum on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. During the years I lived there, I visited the Frick two or three times a week. I was recently listening to Aimee Mann’s latest album, the phenomenal Queens of the Summer Hotel, and her track “At the Frick Museum” brought me back. It’s a Vermeer that catches her eye. For me, it was a Corot, “The Boatman of Mortefontaine,” located on the first floor, hanging on a wall just outside the first gallery. I was drawn to its stillness and the lean of the birch trees, the temple in the distance, and the gentle, almost ethereal quality of the light. I was drawn to the Frick in part because of the Corot, yes, but also because the intimate collection has an astonishing range, with superb paintings from the Renaissance through the 19th century. And yet, I can’t remember the last time I was there. It’s amazing how easily, how quietly, things fall away. But we need art, we need creative purpose, we need community more than ever—not because things are going to get worse, although this is a distinct possibility, but because we deserve better than the constant grind of injustice, threat, and uncertainty. So, whatever happens after today, please, go to a museum, a botanical garden, a street fair, a play, a library. Join a knitting group or a book club or a theatre group. Write, paint, build, draw, quilt—breathe.
“It’s a test for the rule of law.” “It’s a test for the Department of Justice.” “It’s a test for President Biden.” This is what we’re being told by the very serious papers of record, The New York Times and The Washington Post. Unfortunately, framing the issue in those ways is both misleading and wrong. The actual test is this: Do the leaders of the Republican Party care enough about the rule of law, American democracy, and the oath they took to uphold and defend the Constitution, to tell the truth about the indictments being brought against Donald Trump? The answer, at least so far, is emphatically “no.” Elected Republicans, do not care about any of those things; nor do they care about the knock-on effects of amplifying the kind of dangerous rhetoric that led to January 6th as evidenced by the easily debunked and patently obvious lies they’ve been telling since Donald broke the news of his own indictment. These lies include the following:
As to the first, Joe Biden, like almost every other one of his predecessors (with the notable exceptions of Richard Nixon and Donald), has allowed his attorney general, Merrick Garland, and the DoJ to act independently of him. Additionally, he has never expected the AG to interfere on his behalf. This is inarguable when you consider that the DoJ is continuing to represent Donald in E. Jean Carroll’s civil case against him; the DoJ is nearing a charging decision in a case against Hunter Biden that it’s been pursuing for years; and Merrick Garland appointed a special prosecutor to look into President Biden’s possession of classified documents dating from his days as vice president*. As to the second, while the Department of Justice is lodging the charges against Donald, they are doing so because a Miami grand jury of Donald’s peers made the decision to hand down an indictment based on the evidence that was presented to them. As to the third, there has always been a double-standard for Donald—and it has always been in his favor. Elected Republicans and his followers are reacting to the fact that, for only the second time in his life, Donald is being treated appropriately based on the crimes he’s committed. (I’m not going to bother to say allegedly—we know what he did.) And just think about how long it took us to get here. * Whether Garland appointed the Biden special counsel out of a supra-abundance of caution or because he is craven, I don’t know. But in doing so, he gave weight to the right’s false equivalence. When Kevin McCarthy was asked, "Was that a good look for the former president to have boxes in a bathroom?" he answered "I don't know. Is it a good picture to have boxes in a garage that opens up all the time? A bathroom door locks.” He was referring to the fact that some of the documents in Pres. Biden’s possession were found in the garage of his private home—not a members-only social club. To emphasize his point, McCarthy even made the up and down garage door motion with his hand. Sadly, he did not provide sound effects. Of course, leaders of the Republican Party aren’t content with lying; like the man they follow, they are compelled to stir up violence. Also, they are cowards and wannabes who won’t lay their bodies on the line for any person, any principle, or any ideal any more than Donald would. Their followers are merely cannon-fodder who are being instructed, in ways increasingly less subtle, to provide cover for the man who was just arrested on 37 counts in a Miami Federal Court. Kari Lake, who has lost the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial race more times than Donald has lost court cases, recently gave a speech in which she was clearly borrowing from the absurd meme that’s been going around in which Donald says, “In reality, they’re not after me. They’re after you. I’m just in the way.” But Lake flipped that on its head. “If you want to get to President Trump,” she said, “you’re going to have to go through me and you’re going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me. Most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA. That’s not a threat, that’s a public service announcement.” Also, that is a threat. Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ) tweeted, “We have now reached a war phase. Eye for an eye.” I’m sure he was being metaphorical. Either way, I’d like to offer this: if a Democrat did one-tenth of what Donald is accused of by all means indict, try, and convict that person. On June 8th, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA), another pathetic cosplayer using pseudo-military language to rile up his anti-American constituents, tweeted “[Donald] said he has ‘been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM.’ This is a perimeter probe from the oppressors. Hold. rPOTUS has this. Buckle up. 1/50K know your bridges. Rock steady calm. That is all.” Two days later, this clear call to arms was followed by this tweet (which makes me wonder if Mr. Higgins received a visit from the F.B.I): “Patriots, we’ve manipulated the MSM to establish deep commo, now copy this… do NOT trip the wire they’ve laid for you. Maintain your family. Live your life. Know your bridges. Hold. Let Trump handle Trump, he’s got this. We use the Constitution as our only weapon. Peace. Hold.” Unfortunately, the tweet calling for “peace” only got 1.3 million views while the original tweet, which is still on Twitter, received 4.6 million views. But they are not simply supporting Donald, they are explicitly going after the mechanisms of the institutions that are, for better or worse, necessary in order for us to get beyond the very tragic circumstances in which we find ourselves. On the other hand, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell refuses to say anything, which is, in its way, just as dangerous. Every single Republican, from McConnell on down, knows better. They know what’s at stake. Those who are lying know they’re lying. Those who remain silent know they are emboldening the liars. The problem is, once you activate the people with the MAGA hats and the comically large Trump flags, it’s almost impossible to get them to stand down. Mass violence is less of a concern now than it was on January 6th, first of all, because law enforcement is much more prepared; secondly, because the leadership of many of the organizations Donald placed on standby in 2020 has been disrupted; and third, because a lot of the participants in January 6th are currently serving lengthy prison sentences. Much more troubling is the potential for stochastic terrorism—isolated acts of violence carried out not by a “lone wolf” but by somebody who is loosely connected to, and who feels empowered by, the rhetoric coming from the right. These are precisely the people Donald is speaking to. What we’re about to learn is just how far down this road the Republican Party is willing to go. For the last seven years it has proven itself to be completely committed to enabling, supporting, and championing Donald Trump at the expense of everything else. We know with Donald there is no bottom. For the Republicans, is there no line? Is there no line he can cross that will make this Republican party stand up, take notice, and stop the madness? The signs are not good, so the rest of us need to be prepared for anything that might happen next. It’s going to be up to the media and the Democratic Party to set things right. As to the former, its normalization of Donald and his abnormal behavior should shake us to our core—their coverage suggests that his long history of committing crimes is already “baked in.” They take it in their stride, just as they have his racism, misogyny, and authoritarianism. As for the Democrats, they have not yet wrapped their head around the fact that Donald has figured out something most others have not: white evangelicals, the white working class, the Proud Boys and their ilk, aren’t voting against their self-interests, they are voting for what is of most interest to them and what most animates them—white supremacy, Christian nationalism, and hatred of the other. What we are collectively facing is a test to see whether this country can set itself right. This is a test we have failed repeatedly throughout the centuries. One aspect of this case that makes the situation more fraught, is the knowledge that Donald’s indictments and criminality intensify his followers’ devotion to him. The same if true for the entire Republican Party, with very few exceptions. We have to hope that this indictment, in conjunction with the others, will be the brick wall that Donald’s impunity crashes into. But that impunity has always been self-perpetuating. The creeping authoritarianism he embraces is now galloping. And his road to the Republican nomination for the presidency has just become easier. How embarrassing, how tawdry—how very Donald. |
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