| Hello: Here’s the latest edition of MarketVolt’s Monday Mash-up. We’ll kick off every week with this quick collection of tips, recommendations, observations and other interesting, valuable stuff. – Tom |
| Monday, May 21, 2018 MarketVolt’s Monday Mash-Up New to the Podcast Thing? Some Quick Tips… Podcasts are a great way to fill your phone with great listening content. I listen to podcasts that introduce me to new music, share marketing tips, feature fascinating interviews with fascinating people, analyze the day’s or week’s news and so forth. Many of my favorite radio shows are archived for on-demand replay as podcasts. To get started, you need a podcast app on your phone. I use one called BeyondPod (Android-only). Here’s a good article that recommends that app and others. These apps allow you to search for podcasts that would interest you, subscribe to them (for free), download episodes automatically for offline listening, and play them back when you wish. If you don’t want to fuss with podcast apps for mobile devices, you can listen to many podcasts by visiting their websites and playing the audio files embedded there. I’m Listening To… Big Questions with Cal Fussman. This has become my favorite podcast. Fussman is a writer, most famous for his “What I’ve Learned” columns in Esquire magazine, featuring interviews with (among others) Mikhail Gorbachev, Robert De Niro, Bruce Springsteen, Barbara Walters and Muhammad Ali. He’s one of the finest interviewers and writers around. The podcasts are fascinating sessions with fascinating people. Speaking of Fascinating People… This may sound kind of morbid, but I love to read obits in the New York Times. They’re well-written stories about fascinating people who made their mark. Recently The Times admitted a long-running mistake — they tended to overlook in their obits section women who deserved recognition. So beginning in March, the Times launched an ongoing series with after-the-fact obits to honor deserving women who weren’t featured at the time of their deaths. I recommend the entire collection, but I especially recommend the one about Henrietta Lacks. Quotable Southwest Airlines Herb Kelleher on Treating Employees Well “If the employees come first, then they’re happy. A motivated employee treats the customer well. The customer is happy so they keep coming back…” Amen, Herb! My son flew yesterday from Denver to Seattle on United Airlines. I wanted to book him on Southwest, but the schedule didn’t work so I settled for United. Big mistake! An unhappy, disgruntled, overworked employee (she made it clear how much she was NOT enjoying her day), took it out on my son and ruined his experience. That seems to happen frequently on the big airlines — United, American, Delta. But on Southwest, I consistently encounter friendly, motivated employees who treat customers well. That’s why I keep coming back to Southwest, and that’s why I’m kicking myself for making my son suffer through this nonsense with United. Good Deeds and Compassion Following Houston Tragedies Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt announced on Friday that he will pay for the funerals of the 10 people killed in the school shooting. This comes after he launched a fundraising campaign that brought in more than $37 million for victims of Hurricane Harvey. Very cool. A bright light at a dark time. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: Only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. *** Any reading, listening, quoting, resourcing that you think we should share? Send us a tip. Until next time, enjoy the rest of this week and the weekend. Tom |
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