Black In Business

We are 7 years since the attacks on the World Trade Centers. Bin Laden targeted these great symbols of strong American trade. Our economy nose dived in the immediate aftermath of this terrorist attack. George Bush stood in the ruble of the Trade Centers as a shaken nation listen and vowed to spoke em out and find the people responsible. With zealous aggression we sent troops into Afghanistan. Every one understood why and the war on terror was on.
2 years later, George Bush with a smitten nation showing support, smirked, shook his head and said bring em on, as we diverted effort and resources in Iraq. Why? Who knows? We thought Bin Laden and Hussein were in cahoots, and that weapons of mass destruction would be found.
We are now 5 years later, still looking for Bin Laden, still in Iraq and our economy is in shambles. Our President is hated both here and abroad and the once great America is at our cross roads.
We have a historic run for President that could bring us our first, woman, or first black or first 72 year old President to enter office. Hillary Clinton gave a major speech on Iraq today, John McCain is in the Middle East and people ask Barack about his church. All the while our economy is failing.
Senators all three, McCain claims he knows little about the economy but is willing to stay in Iraq 100 years. Hillary runs an advertisement at 3 am with her phone ringing, and implies she is the best person to answer the phone during a terrorist attack. This political advertisement meant to induce fear is a Republican argument but was effective.
Bin Laden meant to ruin this nation’s economy. 7 years later, we have; a budget deficit, mortgage fiasco, rising energy and fuel prices, devalued dollar and banks going out of business. How can we win a war on terror while waiting for the next plane to crash into a skyscraper, when the true war on terror is on the economy and our politician are not providing solutions?
Hillary, Barack, John, it is 3 am the phone is ringing, Bears Stearns, which traded at 32 dollars a share on Friday was sold for 2 a share last night. Who do you trust to answer the phone.
As a small business owner, I want the person with a plan that will keep me in business and keep corporations hiring. It is the economy that needs leadership, McCain already says he is not the man. Somebody please answer the phone and give us confidence our economy is safe.

My birth state of New York is in the news of politics in a big way. On Monday we will have our first Black Governor, David Patterson. I wish my parents could see this. Eliot Spitzer has resigned with his wife by his side. Being nosy I purchased the New York Post to see what 4300 dollars an hour buys You receive a. nice looking 22 year old hooker with no strings attached.. Since I am all for equal rights, I cannot wait for the day when one of our women politicians get caught up and have their news conference with the husband standing by his woman!
The title of this post comes from a statement former Congresswoman Geraldine “My Husband is not in the mob,” Ferraro. It is an interesting statement, as a businessman and being blackinbusiness, my experience is that black men have the most difficulty, when compared with whites of any gender and black women, being successful in business. Congresswoman Geraldine “My Husband is not in the mob,” Ferraro said in essence Barack is lucky that he is black or he would not be in the race for President.
Former President Bill Clinton has been brilliant in his strategy to obtain the Presidency for his beloved wife Hillary “I stand by my man,” Clinton. Slick Willies strategy is so slick, it almost escapes attention. He started in South Carolina, comparing Barack to Rev. Jackson, which to me was no big deal. Somehow the black community was insulted by this. Why, I do not understand. But our overwhelming anger was the beginning of Barack’s evolution from being a man that transcends race into the Black canidate. Farraro’s statement is another ploy, along with Barack’s reverend Jeremiah Wright and Minister Louis Farrakhan being news stories. Barack is losing white support as well as media support. Slick Willie appeared to have lost his magic touch when all along he wanted this race to be decided on race.Obama cannot lose this race but it may get taken from him. If his loses so do the democrats in November. I may vote for McCain or not vote at all. What would you do?
Back to the post title, do Black men have it easier being accepted than white men or women of any color? What has been your experience? Let’s keep Hope Alive but let’s also be real.

I love politics and debating issues, saying all that to say this; the democratic primary is the most interesting race I have paid attention to. I have seen Truman holding up a news paper declaring Stevenson the winner, as we now know Truman won the Presidency. It is good that so many of us are paying attention to the primary.
You have to love Vermont. I am a graduate of The University of Vermont. The whitest state backed Obama 60% to 38%. There are 2 villages in Vermont that have passed law to arrest President Bush and VP Cheney if they step foot in their municipalities.
Senator Obama is still the leader and should win the nomination. Clinton is riding her hopes on Pennsylvania, whose primary is A long way away. Barack has shown the more he visits a state the better he competes and most times wins.
Rep John Lewis of Georgia needs to retire or be displaced via the next election. He was one of the black faces of the Clinton machine His support exhibited no influence in his district, that supported Senator Obama overwhelmingly. When the going got tough, he abandons ship, even though he loves the Clintons. What a friend.
Many blacks now hate Hillary, odd, when 6 months most supported her campaign.
Bill Clinton played the race card in South Carolina, and was considered harmful to the campaign, maybe he knew all along, whites would become alarmed by a black canidate, which Barack is slowly becoming.
Barack need to get in the mud and play dirty. Shove that kitchen sink up their rear! It is time to fight. They have the nerve to bring Tony Rezko, in to the race when many indictments were served during the Clinton years.
Is the mostly white media starting to get jealous of the success of Senator Obama?
McCain is a one issue canidate.
Is Ohio a racist state? Rhode Island? What is up with Texas Hispanics? Do they really think a white woman like Hillary is more trusting than a black man like Barack?
I am very happy to see the involvement of the masses in the process. If we had been this astute during the aftermath of 9-11, maybe we would not be in Iraq.
How about Colin Powell as Barack’s running mate? They are both light skinned, and loved by America, but maybe together, too black to win.
I look forward to your thoughts.

Baseball Spring training has started and its start has caused me to remember a successful training meeting I was a part of. Keep in mind I was a National Sales Manager for a large company and had a large budget that many would not have available for expenses. Think of it like the great Oscars dress you or your spouse may love and have to have. You find a close match.
As I romanticized about this training event last evening, I felt there were lessons learned to share. I had strategized with the marketing manager about how we could best meet our numbers for the year. We had promoted a number of our top producers and were facing a huge increased in goal. We had a lower goal for the first quarter and then a hockey stick curve up for the rest of the year. We felt our entire sales force would benefit from a highly motivational learning experience.
This was right up my alley, I knew if I brought my US team into St Louis for a week, where I was based, we would teach them but more important inspire them. We had to make this an event that would be memorable. That is lesson one, if it is just a training meeting, it quickly becomes boring. If is memorable as an event the outcome will be memorable as well. Your team will deliver the numbers. Our team kicked ass.
First we set a theme; “Spring Training!” was our theme. The offices that reported to me were in; Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Boston, St Louis and Philadelphia. We purchased major league jerseys to represent the team where the regional office was located. We gave everyone a baseball and had a cocktail party to kick off the event.
We selected the Ritz Carleton Hotel as the venue. My approach was, I wanted my team to feel like big time business people and perform, “a cut above,” the other teams. We wanted this reflected in their professionalism, dress and performance. By selecting a 5 star venue, we wanted them to feel appreciated.
Prior to the start of the cocktail party, I gave a rousing speech, and then introduced our keynote speaker, Lou Brock, a member of baseball’s hall of fame. Lou was a gentleman and so gracious, everyone loved him and many of our reps were women. This was the week Rickey Henderson broke Lou’s record for all time base steals, so Lou had been all over the news. We hired Lou for 1 hour but he stayed all evening until the finish.
We had a baseball theme carnival, with a radar gun set up for pitching and prizes were won.
The next several days we trained and had competitions on presentations. We had nice dinners and every thing was first class. Our team returned to their various cities around the country and when they got home, they received a logo sweatshirt of high quality we purchased from the Ritz Carleton.
We accomplished our goal, great learning, inspiration, fun and a memorable event.
In closing, when ever you have a meeting, ask yourself, what can be done to make this meeting memorable. It will help you win!