Monthly Archives: April 2018

04/30/18

North Korea – the Libya Solution

The Libya Solution? Really, Big Red Car?

Big Red Car here going North Korea on y’all. You know I served in the Republic of Korea in the Army back in the 1970s, so I have always been interested in all things Korea.

I used to spend time on the DMZ on my belly studying the goings on in North Korea. Plus, I used to build artillery positions and GSR (ground surveillance radar) sites on the top of mountains to shoot or spook into NK.

The Boss back in the day, freezing while overseeing the building of a road to the top of a mountain to build an artillery firing position. That’s North Korea in the background. My favorite thing about the Army — a constant supply of Jeeps. The radio on that Jeep could reach to Saturn.

So, when it began to appear like we were headed to war in Korea, I followed it closely.

Now, it looks like Kim Jung Ping Pong is going to come to President Trump’s table with some peace offerings in hand.

I give President Trump the credit for his bellicose approach to the nuclearization of the Hermit Kingdom because he scrapped “strategic patience” and substituted “fire and fury” in its place.

Who dreamed up “strategic patience” and how does it differ from not doing anything while Kim and his buddies figured out to make nukes and rockets capable of reaching Dallas?

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04/30/18

Clean Energy – Apple, Google

Clean energy is hard to be against unless its cost is an issue.

The Big Red Car is here for y’all on a cloudy day in the ATX. Talking clean energy.

Clean energy is a big umbrella which covers solar, wind, water, geothermal, bioenergy, and nuclear. Hello, America, NUCLEAR?

OK, so maybe the DOE definition of clean energy took it one step too far, but that’s what they say.

Apple (2018) and Google (2017) have announced that 100% of their energy needs worldwide are being supplied by clean energy. They also pull the definition a bit further by adding “renewable” to their definition.

Anybody surprised these two companies are leading the way on this?

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04/29/18

CEO Shoptalk – Energy

Energy, today we focus on energy.

Big Red Car here after an afternoon of menial labor. I like menial labor, I do.

So, today we talk about how a startup, a small business, or a medium size business deals with energy.

First, there are energy sources and energy sinks. An energy sink is an absorber of energy. We will come back to this issue of energy sinks. Now, we focus on creating, maintaining, and multiplying energy.

Here is an example of a dragon projecting energy, hence, the name “dragon energy.” Haha, Kanye and Donald, both DRAGON ENERGY.

Fire breathing dragons are sources of energy. Usually, they have eaten burritos with jalapenos.

Every enterprise is, essentially, an energy equation. Let’s apply that to business, shall we?

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04/29/18

Brilliant Political Messaging

Today we talk brilliant political messaging, y’all.

Big Red Car here on a brilliant, sunny Sunday morning. Ahh, on Earth as it is in Texas — Austin By God Texas, y’all.

So, the President gave a cold shoulder to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last night, electing instead to fly out to Washington County, Michigan and give a campaign style speech about the accomplishments of his administration and the upcoming mid-term elections.

For those keeping score at home, President Obama carried Washington County twice, while President Trump won it by 11%. One might say that that transformation was symptomatic of President Trump’s victory. He flipped a county which twice elected Barack Obama.

For a few minutes, jettison your own “NeverTrump or “TrumpisGod sentiments and step back. Abandon your biases. Let’s discuss messaging, political messaging, in particular.

OK, it’s a long speech and I don’t expect you to listen to the whole damn thing. Just get the flavor of it. It’s a red meat speech.

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04/26/18

Pitch Dynamics

What does a pitch feel like? How should it feel? Pitch dynamics.

Big Red Car here on a spectacular Texas spring day, y’all. It doesn’t get better than this. It was 53F this morning and it will be 83F this afternoon. On Earth as it is in Austin By God Texas!

So, I’m talking to two founder CEOs and we get on the subject of the dynamics of pitching. [Huh, Big Red Car, the “dynamics?”]

By dynamics, I mean the sense of the encounter, the style with which you pitch, the personalization of the pitch, what the pitchee (the funder) is thinking and looking for. So, we discussed it for an hour and some fajitas.

Here is what we settled on.

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04/25/18

Tariffs and the American Market

Tariffs, Big Red Car? Really?

Big Red Car here thinking about tariffs. I am sure you are interested in tariffs. They are an effective tool to control access to the world’s best and biggest market – the United States of America. That is the big win for the rest of the world – access to our market.

Until 1913, tariffs also funded our government, before the advent of the income tax. They are an important element in the history of the US.

As you can see, the US had high tariff rates until the time of the World War II Era Bretton Woods Agreement. Starting in 1970, the US lowered its tariffs dramatically in support of notions of free trade.

Free trade should, also, be fair trade. As you can see, during times of higher tariffs, the US trade balance was positive. Since the advent of lowered tariffs, the US trade balance has gone and stayed negative.

I support the Trump admin’s efforts to drive equilibrium back into the trade balance with the strategic use of tariffs.

But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just an American made Big Red Car. Be good to yourself and think about tariffs, free trade, and fair trade.

 

 

 

 

04/25/18

Platoon Sergeants, the Secret Sauce

Platoon sergeants, God bless them all!

Big Red Car here on another perfect Texas spring day. Ahhhh, on Earth as it is in Austin By God Texas, y’all.

The Boss was up in Lexington, Virginia recently to give a talk at an entrepreneurs event. Lexington is, of course, the home of his alma mater, Virginia Military Institute – a hard place to be, a good place to be from.

VMI has an expansive campus carry program including Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John at the foot of Stonewall’s statue. Those four cannons are combat veterans of the Mexican War and the Civil War. You get a rifle, a bayonet, maybe a sword, plus tanks, howitzers, cannons. Stonewall taught at VMI.

VMI is steeped in the history of the nation and the Civil War. The VMI cadets fought as a unit in the Civil War emerging victorious at the Battle of New Market wherein they conducted a bayonet charge across a muddy field and took Yankee cannons at bayonet point. They also took substantial casualties both killed (10 KIA) and wounded (45 WIA).

Lexington is also the home to Washington & Lee University, a bastion of Southern education. Rob’t E Lee is buried at W & L.

When you go to VMI, you look up your Brother Rats (classmates) who live in the area and you find a chance to swap some stories. The nature of your relationship is so close that if you haven’t seen them in 45 years you pick up right where you left off last time you saw them.

Which is a long way to say a discussion about platoon sergeants ensued. Platoon sergeants are the secret source which is applied to green shavetails to turn them into platoon leaders and soldiers. It is the beginning of a tutelage which is like a craft guild apprenticeship.

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04/24/18

CEO Shoptalk – Staying in Your Lane

Staying in your lane, Big Red Car? Huh?

Big Red Car here on a lovely, sunny Texas Spring day. On Earth as it is in Texas, y’all!

So, the Big Red Car talks to CEOs all the time and I am seeing an odd trend. CEOs are wandering a bit.

They wander a bit because they are successful and they wander a bit because they are not.

When they are successful, they wander because they can afford to do it. [Pro tip: We never make as many mistakes when we are broke. We can’t afford to.]

When they are struggling, they wander because they are looking for that inflection point which will put their compass on the azimuth to the Promised Land.

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