What Do We Expect from Our Politicians?
March 25, 2008

My friends who hated Clinton thought he should have been impeached for lying to Congress. My friends and colleagues who liked him thought the whole investigation into his sexual misconduct was a symptom of what is wrong with America.


The governor of New York had a weakness for high priced prostitutes. The discovery of his indiscretions - which put him out of office - was supposed to have been accidental. Now we find that it was planned by a political opponent.


The Mayor of Detroit, Kwame M. Kilpatrick, has been charged with eight felony accounts - which sounds like he must have been running a cocaine operation. In fact, he is being charged eight times in different ways (perjury, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice, misconduct of office, etc.) for lying about an affair.


These are just three examples that spring to mind. In the past twenty years there have been dozens of high-ranking politicians who have lost their positions because of sex scandals. Most of them were forced out of office not because of the sex itself, but because they lied about it.


Or that's what their accusers would have us believe. "It's not the blow job that bothered me," one colleague said about Clinton at the time. "It's that he lied to the American people about it."


I thought, "Are you kidding?"


What do we Americans want from our politicians? Leadership? Intelligence? Wisdom and good decisions?


Or do we want chastity and truthfulness?


In the old days - and by that I mean the days of my childhood - politicians could expect to keep their private lives private so long as they didn't flaunt their affairs. And even when they did - as John Kennedy did, God bless him - the public took a healthy view of it: You can't expect a guy like him to say no to Marylyn Monroe, could you?


Those were the good old days, it seems to me. The days when politicians vilified their opponents by pointing out weaknesses in their political philosophies. The days when politicians argued about big, scary issues like communism and the end of the world. Those were the days when ideas were important in politics and personal conduct was left to the gossip magazines.


At least that's how it seems to me now, looking back. It seems, too, that the trend toward mudslinging in political debate has paralleled the trend toward muckraking in journalism. With more frequency every decade, reasonably good public servants have been done away by this new process. It is lots of fun to read about… but it makes you wonder if we are a better or a weaker nation because of it.


When it comes to secret sex and lying about it, it doesn't seem to make any difference what faith or party you belong too. Republicans rank right up there with Democrats and Libertarians. Born-again Christians probably top the religious charts, but who's counting?


We live in an America where our President is allowed to lie to us about why we should start a war but can't lie to us about who he's diddling in the oval office.


Does that make sense?


If the American political system has proven anything in the past 50 years it is that Americans are perfectly happy to select their leaders based on their ability to attack their opponents personally and reject those same leaders later on based on their former opponents' discoveries of their own flawed personal lives.


I don't get it. I never have. That's probably why I've always stayed about as far away from politics as I could get. I've voted only once in a national election.


Imagine if America ran its businesses that way. Imagine if we chose and deposed our business leaders according to what they did in the bedroom instead of the board room. How successful would our businesses be then?


I guess that's the point: the difference between business and politics. In politics we choose our leaders. In business, people who are natural leaders choose us.


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posted by M. Masterson @ 5:08 PM, ,




Idolatry - How It Can Keep You Safe
March 21, 2008

I got a funny letter from Bill R....a copywriter who attended last fall's copywriting boot camp sponsored by AWAI.

At the end of the conference we raffled off these life-sized, cardboard cutouts of the keynote speakers, including yours truly. It was a whacky idea -- would people really pay for replicas of us? Who did we think we were? Rock stars?

I was hoping a beautiful young woman would buy my figure, but it was purchased by a young man - with a sense of humor.

Just last week I was thinking about that. What did that guy do with the cutout? Did he leave it in his hotel room? Or did he bring it on the plane with him?

Then I received this email from him:

All Across the US Home Invasions are on the Rise....

Lucky for you, you have a friend on the inside.... your worries are finally over!

One Look from Michael Masterson and would-be burglars head for the hills!!

Available for the first time in the continental United States, the Michael Masterson Home Invasion Protection Kit has hit the market. Your sleepless nights are over ... no more waking to every snap of a twig or chirp from a cricket.

OK, enough drama....

To make a long story short, during Boot camp 2007 I bid on and won Michael Masterson during the auction of stand-up figures. Recently some degenerates decided to attempt to break into my car. Luckily, I was home and scared them off. Then I wondered what to do when I could not be home? Michael and I sat down and talked about it....... The solution was

simple and I implemented it in no time.

Recently, a neighbor told me that the car thieves showed up again and they ran off when they saw my friend in the window. A neat trick considering that I live alone and the house was empty; empty except for Michael. A few days earlier, I installed a light with a motion detector and made sure that it partially lit up the window where I stood the cut-out of my buddy Michael.

When the wannabe car thieves approached my car, the light came on and there stood Michael Masterson with his menacing "this copy is crap" look and kung-fu grip. My 1970 Lincoln was safe to cruise another day!

Tell Michael I said thanks for keeping the homestead safe and that we need more beer.....

Bill


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posted by M. Masterson @ 9:32 AM, ,




How to Write Good, Brief Editorials
March 20, 2008

We have high standards at Early to Rise. We want our free e-zine to be the best of its kind in the world. We want our readers to benefit from it. We want them to love it and buy products that we advertise.

It all depends on how good the writing is. That's why sometimes, when I see ordinary writing in ETR, I send out a message to the editorial staff, reminding them of our high standards. You might be interested in what I had to say.

First, let me give you the brief so you can decide for yourself how good it was. Then I'll give you my memo.

The Brief:

It's Good to Know: The Pros and Cons of Lead Paint

Lead paint, specifically its use in children's toys, has been in the news lately, with several companies issuing recalls for imported toys covered in the stuff. If ingested, lead paint can cause brain damage and other serious problems. The U.S. government banned its use in children's products, hospitals, and residences in 1978, but it may surprise you to learn that it's still widely - and legally - used. It is on road signs, ships, heavy equipment, bridges, and the like. Why? Because lead paint is cheaper, brighter, and more durable than its less-toxic cousins, and it's also mildew-resistant.

Here's what I sent to the ETR editorial staff:

This brief...it's not up to our standards. It is totally conventional, accepted wisdom...

So much so, that I doubt the truth of it. I'll bet you that in the future studies will show us that all this worry about lead was greatly exaggerated. In fact I read an article that made that point a few years ago. I don't remember the details but I do remember that the writing was GOOD....

It is also a fuzzy idea....it says the good and the bad....This is EXACTLY what magazines do....leave you in emotional limbo by pointing out both sides of every issue....That's good for them because they are in business to sell watches and cars....and people need to be emotionally neutral to buy merchandise like that

But we are in the business of selling cutting edge, contrarian ideas...and we aren't wishy-washy about it.

All articles have to be up to our ETR standards....

They have to...

By GOOD IDEA I mean one that is:


An idea doesn't always have to be USEFUL to be good, but when it is useful we should point out how to use it.


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posted by M. Masterson @ 10:55 AM, ,




A Little Bit of Learning Each and Every Day
March 12, 2008

I'm going through my "to-read" in-basket. It's piled high with tearsheets from magazines, newspapers, special reports and speeches. There's a stack of research reports Jason found for me on positive thinking. A New York Times article on why taxing with an inflation index is unconstitutional. A report from someone who attended one of Matt Furey's conference on email marketing. I'm sorting through all this good stuff, wondering: "When am I ever going to read this?"


It doesn't do any good to have it sitting in a box on my desk. I need to get it into my head so I can process it and turn it into productive ideas.


There's one easy way: Commit to spending a half hour each day educating myself. I haven't done that in a while. This will be fun.


What I've done is put each of these informative reports into my daily pendaflex folder. (Longtime readers of Early to Rise know that I file documents for future lists in two folders: one divided into months and another divided into 31 days.) I put one report in each day's slot. Before leaving each evening, when I plan my tasks for the following day, I'll allocate 30 minutes to study the report and take notes. I'll use my speed reading techniques to get through the long (30-plus page) reports. The point is to do or learn one useful thing every day.

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posted by M. Masterson @ 10:19 AM, ,




How Important Are Resumes? And MBAs?
March 11, 2008

PS sent this comment from Warren Buffet:
"Susan came to Borsheims 25 years ago as a $4-an-hour
saleswoman. Though she lacked a managerial background, I did not hesitate
to make her CEO in 1994. She's smart, she loves the business, and she loves
her associates. That beats having an MBA degree any time...Charlie and I
are not big fans of resumes. Instead, we focus on brains, passion and
integrity. Another of our great managers is Cathy Baron Tamraz, who has
significantly increased Business Wire's earnings since we purchased it early in
2006. She is an owner's dream. It is positively dangerous to stand between
Cathy and a business prospect. Cathy, it should be noted, began her career
as a cab driver."

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posted by M. Masterson @ 4:44 PM, ,




Reading More Good Books: How I Can Enrich My Life Cheaply
March 5, 2008

A colleague copied me on an email he wrote recently asking for reading recommendations. "I'd prefer non-fiction," he wrote. "Something that might have challenged your thinking or surprised you in some way. I'm sending this note to just a few, select people. Most of the time when people recommend books to me I find that they are idiotic."

I wrote back saying, "I appreciate the vote of confidence but I'm worried that if I send you a recommendation this year and don't get a letter from you next, I'll have been put on your list of idiots."

But I thought it was a good idea: asking friends or colleagues for book recommendations. And I thought about the non-fiction books I'd read this year. Which, if any, could I recommend?

Most of the most memorable books I read in 2007 were works of fiction: The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Blindness by Jose Saramago, Saturday by Ian McEwan. I was disappointed in rereading Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises.

I could barely remember the non-fiction books I read. Still in my mind were the most recent books I had read while K and I were touring Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and Udaipur and while I was in Mumbai two weeks later on business. These were smallish books on history, religion, art, and architecture - not the "big idea" kind of book that my friend was looking for.

He was looking for recommendations for books like The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell or The Long Tail by Chris Anderson These were books that helped me rethink the way I was doing business. They sped up some thoughts I had been developing. They provided, eventually, some very practical value. They made my life simpler and richer.

There was Bill Bonner's book, Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets, which had a big idea and was well written. But I have not yet finished that yet and more importantly I am sure my friend has already devoured it.

Finally, I decided to recommend Christopher Hitchen's God is Not Great. I sent my friend an email saying, "I can't say this changed my thinking. In fact, it reinforced my intellectual prejudices. But I completely enjoyed the book. I found it endlessly interesting. I learned from it. I luxuriated in Hitchen's good prose. And I relished little gems such as:

The Buddhist walks up to the hot dog vendor and says, "Make me one with everything." The hot dog vendor takes a hot dog from his bin and slathers on pickles and onions and mustard and ketchup and hands it to the Buddhist. The Buddhist hands him a twenty dollar bill. The hot dog vendor takes it and puts it in his pocket. The Buddhist stands there, munching his hot dog. Finally he says, "Where's my change?" "Change comes from within," the hot dog vendor says.

Searching for a recommendation-worthy book got me thinking about reading. I am reading more than ever these days. I'm not sure why. But part of the reason is that I've become a better reader. And the benefit is that I am enjoying more books.

I would like to read more books this year. Why? Because doing so will make my life richer. A richer life is a better life. And there is no reason why life shouldn't get better. Not, at least, that part of life which one I can control: the life of my mind.

Right now, I am reading The Ginger Man (a novel banned for obscenity in the U.S. when first published in 1955) and a book about Hindu art and architecture, and rereading Gene Schwartz's Breakthrough Advertising.
I am also reading through the lyrics of Bob Dylan and the poetry of Walt Whitman to stimulate ideas for poems. Last year I wrote a poem every day. 365 poems in 365 days. This year I will write one big poem about America. Dylan and Whitman should be helpful there. Also The National Enquirer, People magazine, etc. On my to-read book list right now are:
What are you reading? What have you read recently that was worthwhile?

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posted by M. Masterson @ 11:44 AM, ,