LOOP NORTH NEWS - GENERATION CHATBOT

 

Generation chatbot is off to college and then to your business They are like no other cohort, all raised in the iPhone age. They know everything and nothing because they’ve largely relied on their phones for information, or at least what passes for information. By Howard Tullman 24-Aug-24 – The summer’s almost over and we’re about to ship another generation of kids off to colleges across the country, accompanied by the typical quotient of parental instructions, cautions, and pithy life lessons drawn from our own experiences. Sadly, these traditional cautions and sage constructs have increasingly less value and application in a world of constant and radical change that they’re about to enter. Not that we ever exactly listened to what our parents had to say on these subjects, but these days so many parents seem to have no real idea of what to say in the first place. Interestingly enough, professional college counselors will tell you that the biggest part of their job is often to serve as a neutral intermediary and communicator between their client kids and the paying parents, since the kids don’t talk to them. This isn’t all that much different than the dilemma that so many employers are facing in terms of what they need to be sharing with their newest employees. The old guidelines, goalposts, aspirations, and even career objectives have changed to such an extent that it’s hard to imagine what useful guidance anyone should offer. Everyone also seems to be wary of saying something politically incorrect or offending the snowflakes. Employers are walking on eggshells. That’s not the case for omniscient college professors, who in their moral certitude feel free to lecture their captive audiences on all matters large and small. Inevitably, owners and managers in the real world will then have to deal with a wave of incoming newbies whose world views and expectations may often be uninformed, misdirected, or simply wrong – but rarely in doubt. While there’s plenty of shared blame and many explanations for how rapidly things have changed, the critical chronological starting point is simple. The cohort about to enter college was largely born in 2006. The iPhone was introduced in January 2007. They will be the first group of kids raised entirely in a world of global cellular connectivity, on-demand and effortless access to “answers” for any inquiry, and a non-stop, interruptive, manipulative, and dopamine-driven flow of algorithmic, exploitative garbage regarding every topic, concern, and conflict in their lives. No wonder that they’ve come to believe that they already know it all because it’s all right there in living color, 24/7, in the palm of their hands. Nature abhors a vacuum and when parents and leaders don’t know what to say or how to say it, the phone’s right there with a simple skewed and stilted response. One of the most frightening recent developments is the acknowledgement that the outputs of nearly all the new chatbots are optimized, not for truth or accuracy, but for believability and faux authenticity. Selling the story – creating the comforting reply – is more critical than the credibility of the underlying substance. Just like sincerity, once you can fake it, you’ve got it made. The dream of enhanced transparency, expanded and extended enlightenment, and especially peer-to-peer education has collapsed and been corrupted into a social media sewer – a little of everything and a lot of nothing that prizes engagement and enragement, speed and superficiality, and form over substance. Nothing matters for more than a moment. Lady Gaga called social media “the toilet of the internet“ and never looked back. What’s abundantly clear is that technology and the web aren’t going to help the next generation learn anything about managing the substantial and perilous transition they’re facing. Even worse, all the tech-saturated conversations of the last decade or two have reinforced a single, overwhelming message. Which is that they should forget the lessons and the ways that things have always been done in the past – often for good and sufficient reasons – and press ever forward. No one becomes a raging success in the past. It’s not really nasty nihilism as much as negligent indifference and the continued reinforcement of the belief that there’s nothing new to be learned by looking backwards. Gorodenkoff Productions OU So, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to figure out what suggestions that anyone with even the best of intentions can offer. I’ve noted that many of us may have been focusing on the wrong things when we’ve offered advice to our kids. The most basic and important ideas that will withstand the test of time are those that relate to building our kids’ ability to bounce back, to learn to preserve their options, and roll with the punches – and to not be embarrassed or afraid to ask for help. All the rest is “Rah! Rah!” and rarely suited to offer much real help. One thing for sure is that parents today don’t do their kids any favors by suggesting they follow in their own career footsteps. The worst thing you can wish for your offspring is that they plan to spend their working lives doing one thing and only that for decades. We all thought that the long-understood vision of stability, security, and longevity was something that everyone should aspire to, but that’s not what the future holds for our kids. The good news for them is that it’s never going to happen anyway. It’s not even clear that – at any moment in time – any of them will simply hold a single job. The gig economy, side hustles, fractionalized employees, and shared positions are all becoming more common as employers try to adapt to the post-pandemic normal, a world of remote workers, and the need to make their personnel costs as flexible and variable as possible. What the working world will look like four years from now is anyone’s guess. The only thing that seems certain is that the answers aren’t going to be generated by a magical chatbot because it’s absolutely known that you can’t Google the future. Howard Tullman is General Managing Partner for G2T3V, LLC – Investors in Disruptive Innovators, and for Chicago High Tech Investors, LLC. He is also the author of Words of Wisdom: A 60-year compilation.

UNDECIDED ? REALLY?

 

NEVER FORGET WHAT THIS CROOKED CONVICTED FELON DID TO OUR COUNTRY ON JAN 6TH

 

LEAF BLOWER

 

NEW INC. MAGAZINE COLUMN FROM HOWARD TULLMAN

 

 

We're All Overstressed, Which is Why It's Even More Important to Take Care of Your Team.

They need to get focused and excited about building the business. Here are four concerns you need to address to get everyone back on the same page.

 

Expert Opinion By Howard Tullman, General managing partner, G2T3V and Chicago High Tech Investors @howardtullman1

Aug 20, 2024

 

It feels like we've been in a long, dark, passage for quite a while now, but that there may be some light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps it's the shared pride and joy of the Olympics, with its endless acts of sportsmanship, kindness and courage. Or maybe the unexpected and exciting emergence of Kamala Harris looking brightly and happily ahead instead of the MAGA mob bitching incessantly about the fictional glories of an imagined past.

Or maybe the possibility that the demented Donald and his raging band of enablers and sycophants are circling the drain while the mainstream media finally awakens to his lies and failings, as well as his flailing around like the flaccid tyrant that he's trying to be. Or it might just be that we're all so sick and tired of the endless anger, false accusations, and misinformation; and tired of constantly beating up on each other.  Don't we all want to take a break, reconnect with friends and family, and get back to growing our businesses?

Unfortunately, making amends is really difficult, especially in light of  the ugliness and irreparable damage that Trump and his criminal cronies have done to our country. Firing up the troops when everyone's just barely emerging from a prolonged funk may be a challenge, but now's the right time to try to do it.

Even leaving aside the awful politics, the last few months have been a joyless, unsettling and debilitating time for most of us.  The stock market has continued to soar, yet all the chatter seems to have been about everything that was wrong, how much things cost, and how bleak the future is going to be. Way too much time was being spent at the office carping and complaining, squabbling and whining, rather than thinking about winning-- and that's no way to build a new business.

The MAGAt messaging is consistently downbeat and depressing - the whole world is going to hell in a handbasket - and only the distraught and diminished Orange Monster can allegedly save us from destruction. The Democrats, meanwhile -- at least the ones who weren't kidding themselves -- knew they were stuck in a deepening trough with a tired old man who excited exactly no one. Call it the Biden blahs, which is unfortunate considering that his good policies -- reducing drug costs, shoring up infrastructure, rebuilding the economy, and fighting inflation -- were utterly under-appreciated by most of the country. There's been so much noise and clutter, angst and anger, that even the best companies couldn't get their messages out to the market or get their own people excited once again. Hell, they couldn't even get them back to the office.

And inside many struggling early-stage firms, things such as reviews, raises, promotions and projects were all on pause. Watching and waiting, hoping and holding off, trying to keep teams together all the while without much to show or promise them in terms of the future. Putting comp plans on cruise control and pretending that a bunch of time wasn't passing while people's expenses and obligations continued to grow was a common approach that everyone knew was both a culture killer and a ticking time bomb. Springsteen says these kinds of promises are "as empty as the howlin' wind" unless they're filled with faith, love and something tangible.

So, the prime directive - the main job for every entrepreneur now - is to hunker down and take care of your team and then you can count on them to take care of business. Remember that these are the ones who stuck around, stayed the course, and frankly helped make it possible for you to stay in business. Now is past the time to make it up to them. If your board and  your investors don't understand the necessity and the priority of these actions and concerns, then you've got the wrong players at the table. Plans, projections, promises, profits and eventual payouts all depend on the commitment, dedication and performance of your people. If it's not a two-way street in every respect, it's nothing.

There are four main concerns that your messages, and your actions, should address.

First, is retention. It's been a brutal few years now and it's only normal for the most talented team members to be looking at how other people are progressing, what their practical prospects are within your firm, and what other opportunities may be out there. In many cases, plans and provisions for options, bonuses, and other incentives may have expired, be miles out of the money, or no longer represent realistic objectives. Your restart plans should include revising all the current comp programs as well as adding whatever new plans make sense.

Second, is reassurance. A few years ago, there was a huge performative conversation about corporate transparency, in which owners, leaders and managers professed a new willingness to share all the financial information about their businesses with all stakeholders, including employees. These days, for a variety of reasons, we're back to the opaque postures and frankly most employees would tell you that they have virtually no idea of what kind of post-pandemic financial condition their company is in. Needless to say, key player retention is much harder to accomplish if they're worried about whether the business will even be around. This isn't an easy task to accomplish, but you do need to be sure that the whole team feels included in the financial information loop to some extent.

Third is recognition which is vastly underappreciated by most entrepreneurs, and which is probably more impactful (if done effectively and sincerely) than simply monetary rewards. By and large, for a variety of psychological and emotional reasons, entrepreneurs are lousy at saying "thank you" even if they appreciate the efforts of others. But silent gratitude isn't of very much use to anyone. Taking the time and making the effort to call out the special performers at every level of the organization whose contributions, extra work, enthusiasm and contagious energy helped lift everyone during the tough times is essential, and there's no better time than the present to do it.    

Finally, is resilience. Getting back in the game with both feet and hitting the ground running. This is where the best players lead by example as much as by anything they might say. It's great to be back in business, but it's more important to be focused on being even better going forward. It's not likely to be lost on anyone who's paying attention that many plans, dreams, and goals simply didn't happen (or haven't happened yet) and that patience these days is as critical as passion.

But the bottom line for any new business is always the same. You're not done or out of the game when you fail, only when you quit trying.   

LIES AND MORE LIES FROM THE DEMENTED CONVICTED FELON

 

Rachel Maddow: What Worries Me Most About Election Night

 

Rachel Maddow: What Worries Me Most About Election Night

Aug. 19, 2024, 5:02 a.m. ET

 

By Rachel Maddow

Ms. Maddow is the host of “The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC and the MSNBC podcast “Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra.”

On Dec. 1, 1960, the far-right preacher and racist demagogue Gerald L.K. Smith sent out a fund-raising appeal, headlined with a shocking claim in red type across the top: “HOLD YOUR BREATH: KENNEDY MAY HAVE LOST.”

The 1960 election had indeed been close, but the Democrat, John F. Kennedy, had prevailed, and his Republican opponent, Richard M. Nixon, had congratulated Kennedy on election night, over shouted protests from his supporters.

Three weeks later, Smith, the leader of what he called the Christian Nationalist Crusade, was telling his followers it was possible to reverse that result.

If Smith’s followers would only send him money, he would continue what he called his “subtle campaign of pressure” to persuade governors in states won by Kennedy that they should refuse to send Kennedy electors to Washington for the Electoral College count.

“This,” Smith promised, “could turn out to be the most shocking and sensational Electoral College vote in history.”

It was not. There were no shenanigans in the Electoral College count. Kennedy received 303 votes to Nixon’s 219, and the transition of power proceeded peacefully.

Today, it may be worth remembering Smith’s nut-ball campaign to overturn the 1960 election if only to see how far we’ve sunk. You used to have to get out into the far-flung wilds of American political life before you’d find people trying to persuade state or local officials to monkey-wrench the Electoral College by refusing to send their states’ real results to Washington for the Electoral College count. Not anymore.

Since Donald Trump and Ronna McDaniel, the then-chair of the Republican National Committee, phoned local officials in Michigan in November 2020 to encourage them not to certify vote totals, Republicans have quietly seeded county and state election boards with eager allies. Election boards across the country now include Republican officials who have not only propounded Mr. Trump’s lies about the last presidential election being “stolen,” they have tested how far they can go in denying the certification of the vote.

Republicans tried this ploy more than two dozen times in at least eight states since 2020. Two refusenik Republican election board members were indicted in Cochise County, Ariz. That case is pending. Two others were removed from their positions in Surry County, N.C. In New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Nevada, Republican officials who delayed or refused to certify the votes ultimately relented under legal pressure.

But in Georgia, the State Election Board approved a rule this month that gives election officials in each of the state’s 159 counties the option to delay or refuse certification in order to make a “reasonable inquiry” into the results. What counts as a “reasonable inquiry?” The new rule does not say.

Because Georgia law holds that election boards “shall” certify results within a week of the election, this rule almost certainly will face legal challenges. But in a state where Republicans have delayed or refused certification at least seven times since 2020 — more than in any other state — the rule injects a new layer of murk into the legal waters less than 100 days before the election.

On Monday, the board is expected to consider yet another revision to the rules that would afford members of county election boards an additional option for delaying or refusing certification. The rule would allow local board members to demand “all election-related documentation” before certifying the results.

Imagine an election night this November in which the two parties are trading swing-state victories. The Democrats capture Nevada, while the Republicans take Arizona. The Republicans win the big prize of Pennsylvania, while the Democrats top them in Wisconsin and Michigan. The nation is waiting on Georgia. If Georgia goes red, it’s President Trump; if Georgia goes blue, it’s President Harris.

Then, local news headlines start to circulate. There are reports of unspecified “problems” in the vote in Fulton County. And in Gwinnett County. And in DeKalb, Coffee and Spalding Counties. Republican officials are refusing to certify the results in their counties. They say they are making “reasonable inquiries.”

As legal challenges wend through the courts, a wave of disinformation, confusion and propaganda swells, fueled by unproven claims that something is amiss in these Georgia counties, and also by similar noise — and possibly also certification refusals — in Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Nevada. (All have seen local Republicans try the certification refusal ruse since 2020.)

Under recently revised federal law, each state has until Dec. 11 to send official, certified state results to Washington for the Electoral College count. But if a state doesn’t meet that deadline, then what?

The point of these certification refusals may not be to falsify or flip a result, but simply to prevent the emergence of one. If one or more states fail to produce official results, blocking any candidate from reaching 270 electoral votes, the 12th Amendment prescribes Gerald L.K. Smith’s dream scenario: a vote in the newly elected House of Representatives to determine the presidency. Each state delegation would get one vote; today, Republicans control 26 state delegations; Democrats control 22; and two are evenly divided.

Our democratic system is not invincible, but it is strong. Certification of election results is a ministerial responsibility that is not discretionary. Legitimate election challenges are handled with recounts and litigation, not by individual election board members. There is no loophole that allows bad-faith officials to so flummox the electoral system that they take the choice of the next president away from the American people.

But in the past three and a half years, the ad hoc certification ploys that failed to flip the last presidential election to Mr. Trump have been professionalized and systematized by Republican officials and their allies. A recent report in The Times quoted an official with the conservative Heritage Foundation saying that “the conditions” in the country are now such that “most reasonable policymakers and officials cannot in good conscience certify an election.” Michael Whatley, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, has declined to answer when asked if the party intends to try to block vote certifications.

A contrivance like this is as nutty today as it was when Gerald L.K. Smith tried to make a version of it seem plausible in 1960. But this year, the firepower being brought to bear on the issue by the Republican Party is much more than a “subtle campaign of pressure” from a direct-mail grifter.

Opponents no doubt will fight any certification denials in the courts. Those efforts are important, and every state should be shoring up its own legal and electoral system now to prepare for, deter and defend against any effort to sabotage certification. But stopping such subterfuge also depends on an informed public that refuses to let false narratives take hold.

A cleareyed look at Republicans’ handling of the administration of elections since Mr. Trump’s effort to overthrow the last election should prepare us: Refusals to certify results should not necessarily be seen as indicating real electoral problems; they are more likely part of a bad-faith strategy to mess with the democratic process.

Now is the time to get to know your local election board, especially if you live in a place where election denialism has taken hold, and where certification refusals may be coming. Public awareness and vigilance can make a difference. No one should be surprised when certification refusals happen or when they are then exploited to try to maximize chaos and upset.

After all, the Republican nominee this year is no Richard Nixon.

 

STODDARD - Will the Democratic Convention Break Trump?

 

Will the Democratic Convention Break Trump?

It comes at a fragile time for the Crazy Old Orange Man.

 

A.B. STODDARD

AUG 19, 2024

EVER SINCE DONALD TRUMP chose JD Vance as his running mate and then got a new general election opponent a week later, he hasn’t been the same. Watching Vice President Kamala Harris’s popularity soar, his polling lead vanish, and Vance become a mistake has been destabilizing.

Trump has responded to his campaign freefall by returning to his security blankets of conspiracy and racism. He has also nursed fantasies of Joe Biden returning to the ticket, and claimed that a crowd of thousands attending a Harris rally was fake and produced by artificial intelligence, that his audience on January 6th was larger than the crowd at Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and that “more than . . . 100 percent” of new jobs have gone to migrants.

Though ranting and spreading lies comforts Trump he can’t seem to land a blow on Harris. His “radical left lunatic” label hasn’t stopped her climb. One of his attempts to trash her ended up becoming a story about his memory when he confused two black men.

To get him to stay on message, his campaign made some babysitting plans: Calling them “mini-rallies,” they convinced Trump to give policy speeches. Last week’s “speech” was on the economy.

With his props of assorted groceries—brands, products, and prices he has no familiarity with—against the incongruous backdrop of his expensive New Jersey golf club, Trump claimedHarris is “unbelievable in terms of her badness,” and declared “I think I’m entitled to personal attacks.”

This week will be gutting for Trump, as Democrats gather in Chicago for the convention that has transformed (with Biden stepping aside) from dreaded funeral to celebratory festival.

A-listers, adulation, attention—Harris and her party will draw everything Trump pines for yet cannot have. His nominating speech at the GOP convention was roundly mocked, and Harris’s speech on Thursday is likely to attract a much larger audience.

The vice president will be praised by party stalwarts—Barack and Michelle Obama, and Bill and Hillary Clinton—as well as celebrities like Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Former presidents or vice presidents or first ladies or party nominees—from George W. Bush to Dick Cheney, Dan Quayle, Mike Pence, and Mitt Romney—don’t show up at Trump’s conventions because they refuse to endorse him.

There will be protests in Chicago, and Trump will be cheering them on—but while he’s hoping for 1968, even he knows the vibe will be far closer to 2008.

As Harris supporters plan marathon viewing, many other Americans are likely to tune in, hoping to spot megastars sprinkled among the delegates. There is also the potential for celebrity surprises—what if something explosive happens like Beyoncé or Taylor Swift suddenly sweeping out on stage to sing?

Trump will be paying close attention to every production detail. From lighting to backdrops, and of course pretty faces, Trump obsesses about what makes good television. His entire political persona is aimed at the show.

And Trump’s preoccupation with ratings is well documented. Ramin Setoodeh, author of Apprentice in Wonderland, recorded him, post-presidency, saying that one can be “mean” or “evil” but: “There’s only one thing that matters and that’s ratings. If you don’t have ratings, it doesn’t matter.”

Bottom of Form

In February 2017, two weeks into his presidency, Trump spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast where he pronounced Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ratings on The New Celebrity Apprentice a “disaster.”

Of course the former California governor had replaced Trump on the show, and Trump could not resist the deadly sin of pride, with a little spite thrown in as well. “I want to just pray for Arnold . . . for those ratings,” he told the bewildered crowd of believers.

---

SO THE ENERGY AND EXCITEMENT inside Chicago’s United Center and the diverse and perhaps unconventional convention programming will bother Trump—but it’s the ratings that will infuriate him.

And the more Trump decompensates the more he will blame his staff and demand someone fix his campaign. With his polls down Trump recently brought back Corey Lewandowski—an accused groper and batterer whom he fired from his first campaign eight years ago, a lowlife who likes the kind of trouble that involves the police. While the candidate doesn’t take advice, Lewandowski will be a senior adviser, layered over the grownups who have been running Trump’s first ever quasi-professional campaign. Lewandowski prefers unleashed Trump.

In response to being blamed, Trump’s staff is leaking. They are telling the press about their plans to right the ship—the plans that he keeps pissing on—and how his close aide known as the “human printer,” who facilitates his every phone and internet whim, doesn’t feel like she has to answer to the campaign minders who want Trump reined in.

Team Trump is likely hoping their candidate, desperate for a headline, doesn’t fire someone midweek. What he will almost definitely do is tweet (or “Truth”) about how the Democratic convention is fake. Trump has called it “rigged,” as part of his effort to paint the Biden-to-Harris switch as illegitimate—a “coup”—that is likely a pretext for him to dismiss the results should he lose in November.

“Why is she going to the convention? Because it’s a rigged convention, obviously. She got no votes,” he said Saturday.

 

ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE