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TOP STORIES THAT I WAS WATCHING THIS WEEK

NCAA statement on compensation for Name, Image and Likeness–The NCAA came out this week and said that they were going to start to examine how to allow athletes to receive compensation for their Name, Image and Likeness.  However, if you read the NCAA’s actual statement about the situation, you will see that it is truly full of gaping holes.  Take a read here as I outline some of the problems with the way that NCAA is going about this process.

LEVEL FIELD OR FREE MARKET—After you read the article above, take a read through this analysis about the only two options that are really left for college sports: 1) A level playing field; or 2) A free market system.  Are you ready for these changes? Well, it doesn’t matter because you will have to choose a side! You will see the arguments for each side and then we would love to see you vote which side you would take.

ARENA FOOTBALL—The news that the Arena Football League was going out of business indicates the second professional football league to fold this year, after the AAFL.  The trouble is that the minor league sports are a very difficult business model and if they cannot get secure financial backing as well as solid TV contracts, they are going struggle.  The XFL is picking up momentum as it heads towards its kickoff and it is getting more coverage in the mainstream media and talk radio circuits.

IHSA REFUSAL TO ALLOW CPS SCHOOLS TO PARTICIPATE IN STATE PLAYOFFS—The lengthy Chicago Public Schools teachers strike had many unintended consequences, not the least of which was the fact that the Illinois High School Association decided that it would not allow the CPS schools to compete in state playoffs for the fall sports.  I am still really not clear what the rationale was for that position, but it seems to me that the kids who have worked so hard in their sports all season long should not be forced to miss the playoffs.  I am not weighing in on the right decision regarding the now settled strike, but punishing the kids seems to be in nobody’s best interest.  Kudos the judge that finally allowed the students to compete.

WORLD SERIES—Truly an amazing series. It is unbelievable that the road team won all 7 games.   The Nationals managed to pull it out and won an amazing number of games with clutch hits.  Brewers fans are probably still lamenting the one game playoff they lost when they appeared to have the game in hand and the Nationals rallied with clutch hits.  To me, one of the most disturbing calls was the interference at first base, but thankfully it was made little difference in the game so it can just be relegated to a footnote.

AXIOS—They hosted an event on Wednesday related to criminal justice reform.  A star-studded lineup came through including governor JB Pritzker.  A lot of interesting issues were addressed and you can read more of the details here.  The criminal justice reform issues continue to lag and the slow pace of change is detrimentally impacting a lot of families.

Chicago Sports Commission—Billed at “Telling Chicago’s Story”, the panel included longtime Chicago media members Dave Revsine (Big Ten Network), Peggy Kusinski, Dave Eanet (Northwestern Sports) and Lou Canellis. The panel was moderated Tarah Cooper Wright who is currently in the role of CEO and Partner of the Rise Strategy Group.  She put some very interesting questions and each panelist got the opportunity to tell some of their favorite stories.

AXELSON—The Axelson Center for Non-Profit Management put together a nice event on Tuesday.  They host periodic events around the Chicago area aimed at improving the work of non-profit organizations.  Take a full read here for more details about Tuesday’s event.

JEFFREY EPSTEIN–The story coming out this week about Jeffrey Epstein’s death potentially not being suicide could be the least surprising story of the year.  With all of the information that he had about a lot of powerful people, someone getting to him was a virtual guarantee. The complaints of the Federal Bureau of Prisons aside, you have to wonder how much help someone had to get to him.

ENTREPRENEURS—One of the things I really enjoy is sitting down with entrepreneurs and non-profits and seeing how I can help them improve their operations or take a new product/service to market. I had a chance to sit down with some very interesting organizations and companies this past week and look forward to sharing more details with you over the coming month.

UPCOMING EVENTS

• AMERICAN ISRAEL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE—LEADERSHIP AWARD DINNER, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2019.   Here is a link to the full information. I hope you can join us.  If you are interested in coming as my guest, please send me an email ASAP so that we can get you on the list.  This great organization builds relationships between businesses in Israel and the United States.
• PROJECT PLAY, WESTERN NEW YORK—I have been honored to be invited to present to a group of non-profits that are funding by Project Play of Western New York on November 16, 2019.  These organizations do a lot of interesting work in their respective communities and I am excited to share with them a variety of ways to help them build capacity and sustainability in their operations.

HUMOR FOR THE WEEK

MOTIVATION FOR THE WEEK

JT Foxx held his MegaSpeaker series in Chicago this week. 

JT Foxx bills himself as the World’s #1 Wealth Coach. 

I first went to one of his events about 15 months ago.  At the outset he can come across as arrogant and condescending.  After you have a chance to listen to him for several hours and hear the way he engages with participants and hear from those that have attended multiple events, you realize how much depth there is to his systems. 

He has built a terrific team led by Francie Baldwin and by Brent Turley.  Brent always opens for him, much in the way that Joseph McClendon frequently opens for Tony Robbins.  He bills his presentations as a way to help people get speaking opportunities, but the reality is that the events are so much more.  He helps them focus on getting a mentor, branding and being decisive in their decision making as a way to get better results in their business. 

If you have a chance to attend one of his events, you can feel the energy and passion he has.  Despite his critics, he is an extremely hard worker and travels around the world speaking and putting on events.  Typically over 320 days per year!! His upcoming MegaSpeaker event has 2000-3000 people in Anaheim and attracts high level entrepreneurs from across the globe.  If you can handle a bit of the schtick, you might get a lot of benefit out of it.

Here are just a few of the highlights. If you want more details, please let me know and I am happy to share more information with you.

• Make Quick Decisions. One of JT’s ongoing themes, is the importance of making quick decisions.  Brent Turley focused on the speed of the decision and making sure you satisfy one the 3 reasons people buy: 1) to make their life easier; 2) make life more convenient; or 3) a need.  When you are trying to make a decision, you should write down:
  • Best case scenario
  • Worst case scenario
  • Most realistic scenario (usually somewhere in between)
  • Then most importantly, make a decision within 5 seconds, otherwise you over-rationalize the decision.
• Keep your word. To me, one of the most interest facts in the entire presentation, was the fact that 1531 people signed up for the free one day event.  Of those, only 112 people showed up.  This speaks to a few facts: 1) not charging makes it very difficult to determine how any people will come;  2) people really do not live up to their commitments.
• 5 Steps to Success
  • Step 1—Maximize Your Strengths
  • Step 2—Turn Your Weaknesses into Strengths
  • Step 3—Mental Toughness which is the ability to tune out liefes bs and go out there and do your thing
  • Step 4—Learn from your failures, be bothered by them and most important never repeat them
  • Step 5—Replace Yourself and Stop Working in Your Business but Work On. Build an organization
    • Recognize if it is just you, you can never effectively increase your prices.
• The importance of note-taking.  He has never seen a successful person that does not take notes. Very few people can remember everything. He also finds it disrespectful if you are not listening to what is going on.  The other occurrence  is that people who don’t take notes often say they didn’t learn anything
• Big 5 traits.
  • Persistance
  • Work Ethic
  • Commitment
  • Loyalty
  • Attitude
• Making Everybody Happy.
  • 25% of the people like you
  • 25% are looking for a way not to like you
  • 25% don’t like you but are looking for a way to like you
  • 25% will never like you no matter what
• Objections
  • Bring them up early. If you know people will find some objection to you or your service, bring it up early and overcome it.  This takes the air out of the objection and allows you to position yourself as having been up front.
• SELLING THE VISION
  • Pitch the WHY
  • Sell the WHAT
  • Close the HOW
  • Use the “imagine” close

• Packers-Lions Controversy—This really is not a Packers/Lions issue.  It is an issue that is occurring on a weekly basis in the NFL.  There is a lot of difficulty officiating games properly when every single play is examined with a microscope and the benefit of slow motion replay, high definition television and thousands of “experts” weighing in on Twitter.  The NFL probably made things worse instead of better in the wake of the blatant miss in last year’s NFC Championship Game between the Saints and the Rams.  Trying to re-adjudicate judgment calls to the microsecond are going to bring us to the same point that we have been at with the catch rule, where for a few years even a minute movement of the ball would cause a pass to be ruled incomplete.  If you focused the cameras on any play and zoomed in on the offense and defense lines, you would likely see holding or a hand in a facemask on every play.  It is hard to see where the NFL is going to be able to clean this up. But at minimum, there were some very funny memes to come out of the game.

• Chicago Ideas Week.      One of my favorite weeks of the year is Chicago Ideas Week.   A week-long program focused on larger societal issues and a series of presentations that are like mini Ted Talks, CIW annually turns out some provocative sessions.  The ones that I was able to attend this week included:
  • What Will The World Look Like in 2050
  • Does Activism Make a Difference
  • It’s time to kick Your Addiction to Algorithms
  • Do We Have All the Answers
  • Who Draws the Line Between Right and Wrong?
  • Entrepreneurs can Change the World
  • Who Do Your Kids Trust More:  You or YouTube?
  • Leaders Aren’t Born, They’re Made

• JT Foxx                 His MegaSpeaker series was held in Chicago this week.  JT Foxx bills himself as the World’s #1 Wealth Coach.  I first went to one of his events about 15 months ago.  At the outset he can come across as arrogant and condescending.  After you have a chance to listen to him for several hours and hear the way he engages with participants and hear from those that have attended multiple events, you realize how much depth there is to his systems.  He has built a terrific team led by Francie Baldwin and by Brent Turley.  Brent always opens for him, much in the way that Joseph McClendon frequently opens for Tony Robbins.  He bills his presentations as a way to help people get speaking opportunities, but the reality is that the events are so much more.  He helps them focus on getting a mentor, branding and being decisive in their decision making as a way to get better results in their business.  If you have a chance to attend one of his events, you can feel the energy and passion he has.  Despite his critics, he is an extremely hard worker and travels around the world speaking and putting on events.  Typically over 320 days per year!! His upcoming MegaSpeaker event has 2000-3000 people in Anaheim and attracts high level entrepreneurs from across the globe.  If you can handle a bit of the schtick, you might get a lot of benefit out of it.

• Airwick VIP Pre-Poop Toilet Spray.   So I usually don’t question the powers that be and their marketing strategies, but after having to endure this ad for the last month on the sports talk radio morning shows, I can no longer remain silent.  Let’s put aside for a moment that it plays about 4-6 times per hour (and sometimes more) during the 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. timeslot.  Let’s also put aside the fact that it seems to be targeted at women (or maybe I am misunderstanding that.  But what troubles me the most with this commercial, it that it seems to be giving women, young ladies, and girls the feeling that they need to “hide” their bodily functions from their boyfriend or spouse.  The mom on the commercial literally tells her daughter that her father did not think she pooped for three years.  Really?  I doubt he is that dumb.  But the commercial might be.  The only redeeming performance in the commercial is the (presumably) teenage daughter giving her mom the typical teenage attitude when spoken to about her “body changing”, “needing protection” and the mom’s other inane comments.

HUMOR FOR THE WEEK

MOTIVATION FOR THE WEEK