Weekend Digest: The Red, White & Blue Edition

For our weekend business and political readers:

EDITOR’S NOTE: For additional weekend reading or viewing, check out our latest magazine edition of Talk Business & Politics online here. On Sunday’s TV program, we’ll be joined by Republican gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson and a workforce roundtable discussion with State Sen. Jane English, Arkansas Department of Higher Education director Shane Broadway, and Delta Regional Authority chair Chris Masingill. Talk Business & Politics airs Sundays at 9 a.m. on KATV Ch. 7.

FRANK DISCUSSION WITH CEO OF PEPSI
David Bradley, the owner of The Atlantic, interviewed PepsiCo’s CEO Indra Nooyi and two of his questions reports Business Insider, “…elicited as frank a discussion of work-life balance as I’ve seen from a U.S. CEO.”

What were those questions and what were her responses?  Go to this link to find out.

FROM INTERN TO CEO
It was store #1411 in Sahuarita, Arizona. That’s where co-founder and CEO of SmartStar, Josilyn Tan, spent a summer as a field management intern for Walmart.

Everything I know about myself as a leader and a manager, and what it means to be a good manager, I learned from my summer with Walmart.

When I first started, I kept hearing, “You come to Walmart, and you don’t leave.” Some had started out as cashiers, and rose through the ranks to become managers.

That challenged one of the assumptions of my world: you need to go to college to have a career. First reality check: that assumption is false.

She didn’t stay and found her own path, but valuable lessons learned from that summer internship vaulted her career forward. According to Tan, “In the 13 years since they started this internship program, I’m the first intern who chose not to stay with the company.”

Why didn’t she stay and what are the two conversations that “greatly colored” her life?  Read on at this link.

IT’S ALL IN THE NAME
And as Forbes reports in this case, it can be very confusing. So confusing many elite publications got it mixed up in their reporting about this federal office’s involvement in the Washington Redskins fray.

Too bad most people hear “Patent Office” and really don’t know what the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board is, or have ever heard of it.

Some news stories about the Redskins talked about the “Trademark Office.” Others talked about the “Patent and Trademark Office.” Many venerable publications, including the Wall Street Journal and the Boston Globe, co-mingled “patent” for “trademark,” or even erred entirely, like the Journal’s front page story on Thursday, where a photo caption incorrectly referred to “patent protection.”

So what the heck is this office’s official name and why is it so often confused? One writer takes a stab at making some sense of the quagmire. Take a look at this link.

BUILDING YOUR EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS
Entrepreneur asks, “Are you generating more email subscribers from your blog?”

Email is 40 times more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined for customer acquisition, according to a study by McKinsey & Company. The number of email users is expected to rise from 2.5 billion to 2.76 billion by 2017.

Currently, worldwide revenue for the email market is nearly $10 billion and is expected to reach $20 billion by the end of 2017 for an average annual growth rate of 20 percent.

What is the “positive path of traffic generation” for your email?  Go to this link for some great tips.

RED VS. BLUE COMES IN MANY SHADES
The Pew Research Center reports that even in an increasingly Red vs. Blue nation, the public’s political attitudes and values come in many shades and hues.

Partisan polarization – the vast and growing gap between Republicans and Democrats – is a defining feature of politics today. But beyond the ideological wings, which make up a minority of the public, the political landscape includes a center that is large and diverse, unified by frustration with politics and little else.

The latest Pew Research Center political typology, which sorts voters into cohesive groups based on their attitudes and values, provides a field guide for this constantly changing landscape.

Where do you fit?  Go to this link to find out.

BILL CLINTON TAKES CENTER STAGE (AGAIN)
It’s been awhile since the former president raised so many eyebrows, especially since his wife has been at the center of attention for months, but Bill Clinton’s recent interview on NBC’s Meet the Press was a blockbuster.

From his thoughts on legalized pot, the couple’s wealth and of course politics, his scintillating interview made headlines.

From the start, Clinton didn’t back down and came back with some zingers of his own.

DAVID GREGORY:  Do you understand some people who have been critical of Mrs. Clinton, Secretary Clinton, who initially had to explain talking about being dead broke coming out of the White House, or said in an interview that you all- (Clinton cuts him off)

PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON:  David, I might understand it differently than you do now.

Click on this link for the full video interview or go to this link for a transcript.

CAN THE GOP PICK UP SIX ADDITIONAL SEATS?
That’s how many Republicans could ring up if the Party won all of it’s currently contested Senate races. But U.S. News and World Report says that’s not likely.

The Republican quest for six additional U.S. Senate seats is being tempered due to a slate of mediocre candidates who are underperforming expectations.

If the elections were held today what are the predictions?  Go to this link for the complete analysis.

TRANSPORTATION FUNDS ‘ON THE CLIFF’
Huffington Post reports that starting in August, the Obama administration will dramatically revamp and cut back the formula it uses to send transportation funds to the states unless Congress replenishes the Highway Trust Fund.

“This cliff is coming. I’ve been saying it for six months and I’m worried that we may find ourselves running over it,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said on Tuesday.

In a briefing with reporters at the Christian Science Monitor breakfast series, Foxx announced that he had sent letters to the Departments of Transportation of all 50 states that very morning outlining the steps the administration was planning to take as the trust fund approaches zero.

What are the impact of these potential changes and is an agreement at the edge of the cliff possible?  Click on this link for the whole story.

TAKING THE SIZZLE OUT OF YOUR 4TH OF JULY
It’s perhaps America’s most cherished holiday. A celebration of the birth of our nation. But wait a minute…Mashable reports on “19 insane local laws that could ruin your Fourth of July weekend.”

If you can find a single holiday that beats the combination of birthday parties, freedom, blowing stuff up, meat cooked over an open flame, liberty, summer, representative democracy, Sousa marches, spun sugar, soft-serve ice cream, checks and balances, and fried things on sticks we celebrate every year, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.

But unfortunately, state and city governments can get in the way of us making the most out of Independence Day. Here are 19 laws you need to know about before you go from celebrating the First Amendment to pleading the Fifth.

Is Arkansas included?  Go see at this link.

WANT TO BUY A TOWN?
Well you can for $400,000.

A South Dakota businessman is looking to sell his rural, southwestern town for just $400,000. For that price tag, one lucky buyer will get a bar, workshop, three trailers and a house.

Are you interested?  Click on this link for the full deal.