Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Talent Stack


The Trump Talent Stack

by Scott Adams

As I explained in my book, there are two ways to make yourself valuable. The first way is to become the best at some specific skill, the way Tiger Woods dominated golf. But not many of us can be Tiger Woods. So that path is unavailable to 99% of the world.

I recommend a different approach. Most people can – with practice – develop a variety of skills that work well together. I call this idea the Talent Stack.

For example, I'm a famous syndicated cartoonist who doesn't have much artistic talent, and I've never taken a college-level writing class. But few people are good at both drawing and writing. When you add in my ordinary business skills, my strong work ethic, my risk tolerance, and my reasonably good sense of humor, I'm fairly unique. And in this case that uniqueness has commercial value. 

Now consider president-elect Trump. He doesn't have one talent that is best-in-the-world, but he does have one of the best talent stacks I have ever seen. Consider all the ways in which Trump is better than average, but not best-in-the-world. I'll list the obvious ones.

Public Speaking: Trump is an engaging speaker, and he knows how to entertain a crowd. But no one would say he's one of the best speakers in the world. 

Humor: Trump is funny. But he isn't Seinfeld funny. He's just funnier than most people. That's all he needs.

Intelligence: Trump is smart. He probably wouldn't beat Hillary Clinton on a standardized IQ test, but he's smarter than 90% of the world, and probably far more. That's good enough for a talent stack.

Knowledge of Politics: Compared to career politicians and political pundits, Trump looks under-informed. But he probably knows more about politics than 95% of the public. And that seems to be enough. Advisors will fill in the knowledge gap. 

Branding: Trump is a world-class marketer and brander. He probably isn't the best in the world at those things. But he's very, very good.

Hiring and Firing: One of the most important skills a president needs is the ability to hire good advisors and – equally important – fire the mistakes. Trump has plenty of experience doing both. He probably isn't the best in the world at hiring and firing, but I'll bet he's in the top 10% just from practice.

Strategy: Trump won the presidency in large part because his non-standard strategy worked great. He focused on free media, big rallies, and the key swing states. That was good enough to win. Trump probably isn't the best strategist in the world, but he's very good.

Social Media: Trump understands social media in a way that people of his generation usually don't. Trump might not be the most Internet-savvy politician of all time, but he's definitely in the top 10%. 

Persuasion: Trump might be the most persuasive person I have ever observed in the act of persuading. But keep in mind that persuasion requires a talent stack too. Trump is persuasive because he combines a bunch of minor skills into one big persuasive toolbox. For example, Trump is good at reading people, good at being provocative to attract energy, and good at sales technique. He probably isn't the best in the world at any of those minor skills, but when you add them together, along with lots of other subsidiary persuasion skills, and now the Office of the President – Trump might be the most persuasive person on Earth.

Risk management: Trump understands risk. We see it in his business dealings as he isolates different lines of business in their own corporate structures so they can fail without bringing down the rest. We also know that Trump enters businesses that have an unlimited upside potential with limited risk. And he prefers gambling with other people's money. Trump probably understands risk management better than 90% of the public. 

Trump's critics have a hard time understanding Trump's success because he lacks any best-in-the-world talents. They mock his simple speaking style, his lack of policy knowledge, his provocative Tweets and more. But as they criticize the trees they lose sight of the forest. Trump has no trees in his forest that are the best trees in the world. But his forest is one of the best forests in the world.

The takeaway here is that anyone can develop a more valuable talent stack. Just figure out which talents go well together. If in doubt, add public speaking to your stack first. Learn a second language if you can – but only a useful language. And persuasion makes you more effective at nearly everything you do. Those are just examples. You're the best judge of which skills you need. 

President-elect Trump might not be a good role model in terms of his personal life. And you might not care for his policies. But when it comes to a role model for success, you will never see better. Trump's talent stack is outstanding. 

On a related note, Kanye West is another good example of a talent stack. He isn't the best in the world at singing, dancing, writing, or any other skill you would assume is necessary for his job. But you won't see many people with Kanye's combination of talents, including his business acumen, his drive, and his knack for self-promotion. Kanye has been building his talent stack for years. And now he's adding politics. You probably think Kanye has no chance to be president because of his current mental/emotional health hospitalization. But you'd be wrong. Hillary Clinton proved that health concerns are not disqualifying.

I'm not going to predict a future Kanye West presidency. But if you think it is unlikely, you don't understand the power of talent stacks. It is possible that Kanye is doing nothing in the hospital but recovering. But I like to think he is using that time to learn Spanish. That's how Master Persuaders roll.

You can read more about talent stacks and the value of systems over goals in my book.



Thursday, April 20, 2017

No-go list of advertisers

I'll never by buying from any of these advertisers again.

The following list of companies have taken ads off of The O'Reilly Factor.

Mercedes-Benz

Mitsubishi

Hyundai

Lexus

BMW of North America

Constant Contact

Ainsworth Pet Nutrition

UNTUCKit

Allstate

T. Rowe Price

GlaxoSmithKline

Sanofi

Credit Karma

Wayfair

TrueCar

Rollins, Inc

Bayer

Esurance

Society for Human Resource Management

Coldwell Banker

The Wonderful Company

H&R Block

Weather Tech

BambooHR

Jenny Craig

Ancestry

Subaru

Old Dominion Freight Line

Amica Insurance

LegalZoom

CarfFax

Invisalign

Pacific Life

VisionWorks

Stanley Steemer

Eli Lilly and Company

Allstar Products Group

Advil/Pfizer

Propane Council

Reddi Wip

GoodRX

Southern New Hampshire University

Touchnote

BeenVerified

Consumer Cellular

MilelQ

Peloton

Infiniti

Land Rover

Next Day Blinds

Pfizer

Jaguar

Voya

Mahindra

Allergan

Moberg Pharma AB

Mattress Firm

Angie's List

Laser Spine Institute

Ring



Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Life comes at you fast

CNN finally admits 0bama was wiretapping Trump

'Fight Like a Girl'

If the "fight like a girl" line seems familiar, it's because Palin said it first.

The former governor of Alaska used the line during a speech in Madison, Wisconsin, in 2011.

Sarah Palin Calls Out Elizabeth Warren for Stealing Her 'Fight Like a Girl' Line

It looks like a "fight" may be brewing between Sarah Palin and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

On Tuesday, Warren tweeted "fight like a girl" to her followers. She later used the same phrase in an NPR interview while promoting her new book.

"I don't know. Coming from liberals who urge women to claim victimization, 'Fight like a girl' just doesn't sound the same as when legit fighters for equality say it, mean it, live it, and will never give it up," Palin said to Breitbart News.

http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/04/19/sarah-palin-calls-out-elizabeth-warren-stealing-her-fight-girl-quote

Friday, April 07, 2017

Master Chess Moves

This is how 4D chess works:

- Deep State false flags Syria gas attack. President Trump responds with a "headfake response."

- Trump warned Putin. Putin warned Assad. Humane, precision strike. None or minimal casualties. Strength of the United States military flexed. Terrorists put on notice.

- Red lin in the sand was crossed. Trump upstages Obama, and shows that war crimes like chemical weapon attacks against children will be met with the force of tomahawk cruise missiles.

- Fake Russia narrative destroyed forever. Wiretap and Susan Rice investigation moves forward as Nunes is replaced with Trey Gowdy.

- trump supporters prove that #NoMoreWars is more important than blind loyalty.

- Massive power play to China as Trump eats dinner with President Xi. North Korea put on notice.

- All eyes on Trump as he tells the public, "No child of God shall suffer such horror."

- Democrats forced to support the president.

- Gorsuch confirmed.


Sunday, April 02, 2017

Da Da Da

Russia Posts April Fools' Voicemail: 'Press 2 For Services of Russian Hackers, Press 3 For Election Interference' (AUDIO)

 

Russia Posts April Fools' Voicemail: 'Press 2 For Services of Russian Hackers, Press 3 For Election Interference' (AUDIO)

Saturday, April 01, 2017

FOX: Trump Surveilled Before Nomination, Agencies with Info Blocked Nunes for Weeks

Wow, Trump was right, he was surveilled by Obama.

FOX: Trump Surveilled Before Nomination, Agencies with Info Blocked Nunes for Weeks

by MICHELLE MOONS

A Friday breaking Fox News report on surveillance of President Trump's team that began before he became the Republican presidential nominee claimed a very senior intelligence official was responsible—as well as for the unmasking of the names of private U.S. citizens.
The report cited sources which also indicated that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) knew of the existence of the information in January, but one or more intelligence agencies blocked him, and there were only two locations where he could view the information that he called "very troubling."

On Thursday, the New York Times began reporting what they claimed were the identities of two White House officials who were the sources of the information disclosed to Nunes.

Nunes met with sources on White House grounds on the day before he announced to reporters striking news that he had seen new and disturbing information indicating intelligence officials under the Obama administration "unmasked" the names of Trump team members who were incidentally surveilled.

The Friday Fox News report cited "a number of sources" with claims that not only were the two White House officials not the sources of the information shared with Nunes, but that Nunes knew of the information in January, and that the agencies where the information came from had blocked Nunes from gaining access to it. Further, the report cited officials within the agencies who said they were frustrated with the spreading of names for political purposes.

"Our sources, who have direct knowledge of what took place, were upset because those two individuals, they say, had nothing to do with the outing of this information," Fox reported.

"We've learned that the surveillance that led to the unmasking of what started way before President Trump was even the GOP nominee," reported Adam Housley. "The person who did the unmasking, I'm told, is very well known, very high up, very senior in the intelligence world and is not in the FBI."

"This led to other surveillance which led to multiple names being unmasked. Again these are private citizens in the United States," said Housley. "This had nothing to do with Russia, I'm told, or foreign intelligence of any kind."

The two named in Thursday's reports as the sources of the information in those stories were not Nunes sources. "It was a navigation situation and the reason why they had to navigate, I'm told, is that Nunes learned about this unmasking and who this was, taking place back in January."

"It took, obviously, a number of weeks to try to figure out a way for him to see this intelligence, because the agencies were stonewalling, we're told, to allow him and others to see it," said Housley. "This is all coming from folks that are in these agencies and frustrated with the politics that is taking place in these agencies.

"We're told that the main issue here is not only the unmasking of the names, but the spreading of names for political purposes that have nothing to do with national security and everything to do with hurting and embarrassing Trump and his team," reported Housley.

"Fox also learned that an individual with direct knowledge that after Nunes had been approached by his source, the agencies basically would not allow him in at all," said Housley.

Nunes and the White House have faced heated questions from the press about Nunes's viewing of the information on White House grounds; however, the Fox report added that there were only two places where Nunes could have viewed the information. One was at the agencies where the information came from, which the reporting notes would have put the source at risk, and the other location was on the 18-acre White House grounds. Housley noted that the Old Executive Office Building is on White House grounds. He also specified where information after hours and where highly sensitive information may be accessed.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/04/01/fox-trump-surveilled-before-nomination-agencies-info-blocked-nunes-weeks/