Weekend Digest: Father Knows Best

TV PREVIEW: HILLARY VS. HUCKABEE
This week on Talk Business & Politics, which airs Sundays at 9 a.m. on KATV Channel 7:

New polling data highlights the job approval ratings of several Arkansas and national politicians. Have opinions changed regarding Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Sen. Tom Cotton or Sen. John Boozman, and the President? We’ll dive into the numbers.

Also, we surveyed Arkansas attitudes on former Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee and former First Lady Hillary Clinton. How do the two Presidential contenders rank with voters and what would happen if they were to both win their party nominations? We’ll explore.

Clint Reed with Impact Management Group and Dr. Jay Barth of Hendrix College join Talk Business & Politics host Roby Brock to discuss.

Tune in to Talk Business & Politics Sunday at 9 a.m. on KATV Channel 7.

BRIAN WILLIAMS’ ‘BAD URGE’
The New York Times reports on former NBC News anchorman Brian Williams’ first public interview since his fall from the top of the media world.

Brian Williams tried to repair his sullied reputation with the public on Friday during his first interview since being removed as anchor of “Nightly News” on NBC, but crisis communications experts, critics and social media users said his efforts fell short of making a convincing argument.

Speaking with his NBC colleague Matt Lauer in a taped segment for the “Today” show, Mr. Williams blamed his ego for telling stories that were not true, and said his fabrications “came from clearly a bad place, a bad urge inside of me.” But he also spoke about getting things mixed up, and when pressed by Mr. Lauer about whether he had lied and should have admitted that he did, he said: “I know why people would see it that way. It is not what happened. What happened is a whole host of other sins.”

What else did Williams reveal in his tortured mea culpa? Read more here.

LEADING PEOPLE WHEN THEY KNOW MORE THAN YOU DO
Harvard Business Review examines an intriguing situation that executives will find themselves in as they climb the corporate ladder or strike out on their own: how do you lead people who know more than you do?

First, you need to resist your natural inclination, which is to put your head down and work harder to master the situation. Leaders who come up an expertise track almost always derail here because they react to the challenge by relying on their core strengths: high intelligence and the capacity for hard work.

They frame the challenge this way: “I need to master this subject. Okay, no problem, I’m smart. I can learn.” And so they buckle down, and dive into the mastering the details so they can be an expert again. This is the road to disaster.

Read additional advice from HBR at this link.

THE COUNTRY OUTFITTER CRAZE
Racked.com takes an in-depth look at the rocket-sized take-off of Fayetteville, Ark.-based Country Outfitters, once the darling of Facebook marketing success.

The company gambled big in its early days:

At that moment, the company didn’t have much to boast about, save for a troubling surplus of inventory. Country Outfitter, Acumen’s flagship brand, was a boot company that could hardly move a boot. “To be honest, Country Outfitter was failing,” says Josh Clemence, who was a brand manager at Acumen in 2012. “We had a lot of product that we could essentially give away.”

So they did: They gave away at least one pair of boots a week for more than a year via an audacious, unproven, and arguably infuriating takeover of countless targeted Facebook feeds. Within four months of its initial giveaway push, Country Outfitter amassed 7 million Facebook fans.

The brand was loved. The brand was reviled. The brand was relevant. But now, after a few years of staggering success, it appears 7 million Facebook fans—now down to 6.6 million on its main page—aren’t enough to keep a small-town startup afloat.

The story goes on to tell of Country Outfitter’s rough descent after its Facebook glory days. It’s a good read for the seasoned and the startup world to understand the chaos of marketing in a new media world. Read the full story here.

IN AN HOUR, A CHURCH CHANGES FOREVER
This story comes from the Charleston Post and Courier, one of the local newspapers that chronicled the tragic church shootings this week at the Emanuel AME Church.

The story has a gripping inside look at the parishioners who were there, what they were doing leading up to the tragedy, and how fate intervened for some whose lives were sparred by happenstance. The church could have been empty when the shooter arrived if not for devotion by a dedicated few.

About 60 people wrap up Emanuel AME Church’s usual quarterly conference, a time to welcome the district’s presiding elder and tackle routine business matters.

It’s late and everyone’s hungry.

Most members head out into the humid night.

But 12 remain to worship.

They are a diverse lot of the faithful — young and old, a librarian, an 87-year-old family matriarch, a speech therapist, a custodian, a widow, a retired minister, a new college graduate. Yet they are connected deeply by bonds of family, friendship and faith.

Before the Bible study begins, Cynthia Hurd hurries to her car to grab a display of old photos to give Willi Glee, a fellow member who is crafting a church display. She returns and hands it to him.

Then she decides to stay.

What happens after that is unspeakable. Read the Post and Courier full story here.

BUSH AND RUBIO
Politico takes a look at the awkwardness and political dynamics of having Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio competing in the GOP Presidential primary. The two men are friends and are icons in Miami-Dade Republican circles.

For insiders, it’s a civil war:

“There’s a lot of passion, and this could almost literally come to blows,” said David Custin, an independent and longtime Miami-Dade political consultant who’s often hired to work on some of the roughest campaigns.

“If someone says the wrong thing in Nevada or something, there could be a brawl at the Ball & Chain bar in Little Havana. If someone starts shoving somebody in Illinois, fists could fly at The Pub in Coral Gables,” Custin said. “A lot of us, a lot of my Republican clients, don’t know what to do. They don’t want to pick a side. But they might have to.”

Read more on the political minefield at this link.

THE $10 BILL DEBATE
While a group of Arkansans began a lobbying campaign for former Sen. Hattie Caraway, the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate, to appear on the $10 bill, the Washington Post compiled its list of possible candidates.

Among their choices: Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, and Betsy Ross. There’s much more and you can leave your choice. Click here to read more.

FATHER KNOWS BEST
Garden & Gun rounds up advice from Southern fathers for this Father’s Day weekend. Some nuggets:

“It’s time to make a decision, even if its wrong.”

“In life, you will always find someone better looking than you, someone smarter than you, and someone more talented than you. Therefore, you can only strive to be the best that you can be.”

“A bad day of fishing still beats a good day at work.”

“The key to longevity is exercise and a daily cocktail.”

Who can argue with that? Read on here.

BLAZE STARR DIES AT 83
Legendary strip tease dancer Blaze Starr passed away last week. She was known for many things, including her 1950’s affair with Louisiana Gov. Earl Long which was made into a movie starring Paul Newman and Lolita Davidovich.

From the Baltimore Sun:

Blaze Starr, the performer who brought to The Block a playful version of stripping that combined the flair of an entertainer and the attitude of a satirist, died Monday at a hospital in Williamson, W.Va. She was 83.

Ms. Starr, who became a successful businesswoman as owner of the 2 O’Clock Club on East Baltimore Street, was so unthreatening to local morals that she appeared in an advertising campaign for Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.

“She was always a lady who had a flair for show business,” said Thomas J. D’Alesandro III, who was mayor when Ms. Starr performed on The Block. “She had a lot of kindness in her heart, especially for veterans. We would go down to the 2 O’Clock Club, and I would give her the key to the city. I caught a lot of hell for it but it was a good time.”

Read more here.

THE MOST HISTORIC SELFIES
From the Kennedys to the Beatles to Buzz Aldrin in space, AllDay.com compiles the top selfies of all time. Scan through the photo album here.