Want something to read on the airplane? -> Mark Leibovich’s This Town

Conan O’ Brian with First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House Correspondents Dinner 2013 | Photo Courtesy of the Daily Caller

Danny Zeng | December 23rd, 2013

Mark Leibovich’s This Town reads like a juicy sensational piece that could become the next Netflix original hit (like really though), until one pause to realize that the characters portrayed in the book are governing this country…The book is like the perfect misplaced airport magazine filled with colorful sketches of the sort of incestuous political-media-consultancy infestation that America hates and politicians campaign against. I cannot possibly scratch even the sheen of such New Age “Iron Triangle” in a blog post, but it’s worth reflecting. Every time I flip the page of this journalistic rendition of high-profile D.C patrons by a conscious elite member of The Club (Leibovich is the chief national correspondent for the New York Times Magazine), I cannot help but feel sorry for thousands of idealistic politicos whose world may well be shattered before they even plant foot in the Swampland. Leibovich unveils his characters with acerbic bluntness, a degree of high sass surely fermented by a copious amount of Club Soda (exquisite-yet-free bottles of vinos). It does not matter if his characters are elected Republicans/Democrats, superlawyer/fixer, socialites, “formers,” or Hill staff; Leibovich dusk off the front row for his readers on this inside-the-Beltway extravaganza (at times I felt the urge to zap some popcorns myself for all captivations).

Warning: This is a rather poisonous piece (for the high minded), not your Mr.Smith-goes-to-Washington-kind-of sweet civic tonic.

“Washington is a ‘real city,’ but This Town is a state of belonging, a status and a commodity.'” The book begins with Tim Russert’s funeral, an occasion that is typically very personal, somber, serves as a closure for the deceased, a revenue booster for Kleenex, and a reunion for family members and friends. Well with Washington, such occasion serves as a great schomoozing venue, self-promotion, photo ops, Twitter posts (possibly with an attached selfie, as President Obama so well attended to at the Mandela memorial…o too soon?), and false feelings.

“Russert would have loved the outpouring from the power mourners. And he also would have understood better than anyone that all of the speeches and tributes and telegenic choke-ups were never about him. They were about people left behind to scrape their way up the pecking order in his absence.”

Leibovich pokes fun of the Obama people, who campaigned on this change-Washington mantra in ’08, only to become “formers” themselves and retire into the comfortable riches of D.C. strategy firms, often founded and run by other “formers.” His depictions of Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican fiscal hawk Tom Coburn are easy bedtime reads. The Bardella episode with Congressman Darrell Issa (and Bardella himself) is wonderfully instructive for those power-hungry, headstrong, I-am-kind-of-important ladder-climbers. His theory on the rise of such insider culture amongst our nation’s elite (two-party comity, revolving door,  increased lobbying interests, rise of political consultants, etc) is not extraordinary in of itself, but his stories and profiles of the elite lend much credence to such theory. Many familiar politicos were described in the book: James Carville and Mary Matalin (“Mataville”), Andrea Mitchell/Alan Greenspan, Haley Barbour, Arianna Huffington, Paul Ryan, David Axelrod, Valerie Jarrett, etc. Discernible recurring foci – motifs if you will – from the book emphasize the likes of Mike Allen and his Playbook from Politico, the lavish centrifugal suck-up force that is the red-carpet-style White House Correspondents Dinner (aka “nerd prom” amped up by – you guessed it – Politico) and the apparently two dozen pre-and-post parties planned around it, and Tammy Haddad (maybe it’s only OK that the insiders called her that…btw the New Republic featured a profile on the ‘Tamster’ from Leibovich that reads as a teaser for the book).

The book’s subtitle reads: “Two Parties and a Funeral – plus plenty of valet parking! – in America’s Gilded Capital.” The stately funeral of Richard Holbrooke, former special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, handpicked Hilary darling, an obviously important-sounding public servant who was sidelined by the Obama people, brought in dozens of foreign dignitaries to the Kennedy Center (secular church of sort for the well-do Club members) for another obsequy for the obsequious. The Generals (McChrystal and Allen) were apparently decorated enough to warrant an honorable mention themselves. The book ends with The Last Party, hosted by Sally Quinn and her husband, the journalist demigod, Ben Bradlee, who oversaw the release of Pentagon Papers and the Post’s coverage of Watergate in the 1970s. Apparently Bradlee’s favorite phrase is that “the caravan moves on,” and so as the book comes to a close, Washington rolls on in high spirit. (D.C. is doing so well that it’s the only city, except four other states, that posted gains in its residents’ earnings in the last decade)

As I was finishing the book, I pulled out my computer, stumbled onto Politico, which featured a story about the political power couple James Carville and Mary Matalin “recall finding ‘love,'” only did I find the article to be a promotional push for their newest book, “Love & War: Twenty Years, Three Presidents, Two Daughters and One Louisiana Home” (now available on Amazon I’m sure). While I was on Politico, I also looked up the paper’s special coverage of the White House Correspondents Dinner 2013 on a dedicated page of its own! It’s the kind of place where where Travis McCoy could surely smile with Oprah and the Queen (uh he’ll have to do with just the Obamas this time). Do your plane ride justice: read the book.

What’s Enough?

I just finished John C. Bogle‘s book Enough: True Mesures of Money, Business, and Life, a wonderful novella (very readable) reminding us about what’s important in life. Fortune magazine had once named Mr. Bogle as one of the four “Investment Giants” of 20th century. Time had named Mr. Bogle as one of the Top 100 most powerful and influential people in the world. In his latest book, yet, Mr. Bogle writes with much humility and humanity.

Having made a fortune (though not in the billionaire club due to his own styles and the model of his business) from pioneering the first index fund with Vanguard, the company he founded in 1974. Mr. Bogle, an octogenarian, reflects on his life and career and offers many profound yet simple pointers for students of finance such as myself. Broadly speaking, Jack Bogle has a vision to return the finance industry back to one of stewardship, away from the salesmanship that prevails in today’s financial world. What resonated with me so much is his vision for regular people to be true investors – thus owners, not mere speculators, in low-cost, low-turnout index funds, that generate lasting wealth, rather than proactively managed funds that are costly and are questionable in serving shareholders’ interests. Ultimately, he wants to return values and character to the business world and society at large, in particular, professional ethics to all professions, to a degree in which success will no longer be measured by things – or merely wealth, fame, and power – but rather who we are as human beings and what value we create for our society.

As a Finance student, fumbling and tripping over myself in ardent pursuit of a viable post-grad financial career, the next step, I garnered much needed advice and encouragement from this book, especially from someone in my field who had done exceedingly well by all standards. Mr. Bogle’s call for us to not chase the false rabbits of success,a ringing caveat:

“For while our best and brightest are exquisitely trained to pursue the false rabbits of success, on the whole they are being poorly trained in the intangible qualities that become the virtues that bring real success”

Competition is good and has shown to be good, but what are we competing for? THAT is a profund question.

Last advice that I earmarked from this book: Be Bold, Commit, then Providence will follow

“Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute; What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it; Boldness has genius, power and magic in it”

(Bogle cites 19th-century German philosopher Goethe)

Lastly, I’ll leave you with Bogle’s brilliant epiphany captured by T.S. Eliot regarding what counts in life in this Era of Information that we live in, when we are inundated with data and facts; all the while we lack judgment and perhaps critical thinking:

Where is the Life we have lost in living?

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?

Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries

Bring us farther from God and nearer to the Dust

Let this be clarion call for some serious soul-searching and reflection for us all.

Principled Compromise is OK

Where there is discord, may we bring harmony.

Where there is error, may we bring truth.

Where there is doubt, may we bring faith.

And where there is despair, we may bring hope.

– Margaret Thatcher, upon winning her premiership in 1979

Recently, I finished reading the book The Iron Lady by John Campbell, who skillfully and objectively detailed the political career of Margaret Thatcher, the longest serving prime minister in the history of Great Britain. There is much to be learned from Lady Thatcher in today’s state of politics. Being the first – and still only – woman British prime minister, leading a major western nation during the downfall of soviet communism and against the global advance of socialism, Lady Thatcher was regarded as a “conviction politician” who fought hard for what she believed was best for her country and the free world. During her time, her challenges were unique: stagflation, inefficient bureaucracy, ballooning public spending, the very real threat from Soviet hegemony, the ideological struggle against collectivism, domestic terrorism, defending British sovereignty, and militant unions. Surrounded by Cabinet full of men (there was only one woman she appointed to her Cabinet during her years in office), she resolutely argued – perhaps too doggedly – against collectivist “wet” ideas within her own Government, which in her view were simply wrong. In doing so, she alienated many of her colleagues. At times though, she had to give in to others. However, she tried to be a principled leader. That is the kind of politicians that we direly need in our nation’s Capital today: pragmatic ideologues.

I just finished the book Onward by Starbucks CEO and President Howard Schultz co-authored by Joanne Gordon detailing Starbucks’s remarkable turnaround from several years of failed rapid growth preceding the recession that resulted in about 600 stores closing amidst the recession, and most of them were opened only 18 months prior! Starbucks Corporation has over 14,000 stores worldwide. It raked in $11.7 billion in revenues and $2.4 billion in earnings. Its increasing global presence is leading the company toward a newly reinvigorated growth model. But Starbucks was in trouble in 2007. It was growing too fast. It wasn’t meeting its financial metrics; same store sales were on a sustained decline. Massive promotional and pricing campaigns from competitors such as McDonald and Dunkin’ Donuts threatened Starbucks’s customer base. Columnists as-a-matter-of-fact-ly voiced against the indulgence of “$4 latte” in bad economic times. Against great odds to regain organizational and market confidence, Howard Schultz returned to Starbucks in 2008 knowing that he 1) could not simply dwell on the past; innovation is a must; and 2) there is no time for throwing blames; instilling confidence will be his #1 priority. With this mindset, Schultz rolled up his sleeves and went to work, on something that is only second to his family in terms of importance and love. 

What I came away from the reading is an inescapable appreciation for this man’s love and passion for his job, and the company he has built 40 years ago. Starbucks means the world to him. There is a soulful connection he has made with the readers acting almost as an excited kid showing off a magic trick he has pulled off in the last two years. “Magic” was cited by Schultz as the impetus that drove his entrepreneurial spirit, for “as a boy at the Horn & Hardart Automats in New York City, where I [Schultz] was amazed by the ‘magically’ reappearing food. Even at a young age, I began to realize what it means to be a merchant.’” Some of Schultz’s qualities strike me as notable mini-lessons on leadership: 

• His attention to details (Founder’s Conviction): reteach all Starbucks baristas on how to steam a perfect cup of espresso through a nationwide training video, commitment to get rid of the foul smell of burnt cheese in the oven from overtaking the natural coffee aroma in the stores, baristas’ ability to make eye contact with customers over the brewing machine, etc.
• His every effort to connect with customers and to bring coffee to life (Relevance): implementing Starbucks Rewards program, asking leadership to redesign Starbucks stores, using social media, commit Starbucks to community service, utilizing crowdsourcing through MyStarbucksIdea.com, and constantly innovating – rolling out Pike Place Roast and VIA to revitalize Starbucks’s core competency.
• His repetitive emphasis for Starbucks to be about people (Soul): ethically sourcing coffee throughout the Starbucks supply chain – leading the industry as the number one buyer of Fairtrade-certified coffee, never let go the “sacred cow” that is the comprehensive health care package that all Starbucks partners and baristas enjoy, his conviction to improve the company morale and culture through a large scale leadership conference for 10,000 Starbucks partners and managers in New Orleans, his leading effort to build more farmer support centers in East Africa to allow coffee growers to increase their productivity yield, thus more money in their pockets, etc. 

Howard Schultz wrote this book with much humility and humanity with little corporate pretense. From time to time, you can pick up on his disdain toward the financial guys, the Wall Street people, who do not understand what Starbucks is all about. As part of the Transformation Agenda he and his team drafted to turnaround Starbucks, the new bold mission for the company reads: “To inspire and nurture the human spirit one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time” The number 40,000 – the desired number of stores Starbucks would have liked worldwide – used to intrigue Schultz, but then he realized that number would not mean anything without the focus of one. Going back to an earlier post I wrote, Starbucks epitomizes the kind of 21st century corporate responsibility model that multinational firms need to adopt, in which the leadership puts a human dimension on corporate success, where profits come with social responsibility for the very people and communities affected by the business.

Schultz’s renewed emphasis on customer service, on human connection, on constantly refining and improving Starbucks’s value proposition made him an admirable 2nd timer CEO who righted his ship of enterprise and steered it toward financial stability and regained the trust of its own people and consumers at large. An amazing documentary narrative and memoir worth reading. I would recommend Onward to anyone who looks to be inspired by organizational leadership, love, passion, conviction, decision making, and effective communication in uncertain times. This book serves as a valuable, personal inspirational piece examining these topics through the eyes of a CEO who is leading one of the most resilient and innovative beverage corporations in the world.