“Things do not happen.  They are made to happen.”

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

 Profiles in Courage

The fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is being observed this week. There is no end to the commentary, analysis and documentaries that have already aired or been published.

What has been overlooked and is not well known is that JFK wrote two books. The first, Why England Slept”, published in 1940 after Kennedy graduated from Harvard, was a ‘real time” analysis of England’s failure to anticipate Hitler’s rise. It’s reception was critical to his early recognition in the public arena. The other was published in 1956 during his first term as Senator from Massachusetts:  Profiles in Courage which looked at eight relatively unknown US Senators who had faced crises of conscience and how they chose integrity over expediency or political survival (could we find eight such senators today?).

Another book, not authored by Kennedy but about him, is PT-109.  During World War II, Lt. Kennedy commanded  a “PT”  (Patrol Torpedo) hull number PT-109. These were fast attack boats made out of plywood and assignment to them was dangerous duty. Kennedy’s boat was cut in half one night by a Japanese destroyer. PT-109 recounts Kennedy’s courage and resolve in getting all those who had survived the initial collision to safety. ( A movie of this incident was made in 1963 starring Cliff Robertson as JFK.)

No stranger to war or danger (his older brother Joe had been killed flying a bomber in Europe),  Kennedy was no doubt influenced in later decisions by this episode. Kennedy acknowledged the effect his military service had on his life when he wrote just a few months before his assassination, “Any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction, ‘I served in the United States Navy'”.

Intelligence vs. Judgment

 We have access to more information than ever before. Then why do governments continue to make such horrendous errors in using it, such as missing the threat of the Tsarnaev Brothers who committed the Boston Bombing or failing to head off Major Nidal Hissan’s murder of 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009?

 Former assistant CIA Director and Vistage Speaker Herb Myer has a few thoughts on the matter. As the man who used the information available thirty years ago to make the bold call that the fall of the Soviet Union was just a matter of time, he’s well qualified to offer  “A Judgment on Intelligence.” C-Level executives would do well to ponder Mr. Meyers comments. Access to a lot of information is no substitute for hard thinking about it.

30 Something shares 20 things 20 somethings don’t get

Parents and employers alike often bemoan what they take to be faults of today’s twenty somethings. If that describes you, perhaps an article from Forbes will be of interest. 34 year old entrepreneurial success Jason Nazar of Docstocs is not so far removed from his twenties that those still under 30 will see him as either old or irrelevant. Check out 20 things  that Nazar thinks 20 year olds don’t get . (Frankly, I know a lot of 50 year olds that don’t get it either).

 Along the same lines,  psychologist Meg Jay is an expert on the issues of 20 somethings…..see her video at the end of the article or click here for her TED Talk,  (featured in a previous edition of this newsletter) “Why 30 is not the New 20.”

And if you are an employer, you might get a wry chuckle out of this Millennials in the Workplace Training Video.

Econ Recon:  QE, Properly Understood and  “Northern Exposure”

Janet Yellen will soon be taking over as Fed Chairman and Brian Wesbury in his latest Wesbury 101 video, The Chairwoman and QE, suggests that if she continues QE (quantitative easing) it will not have (and has NOT produced), positive effects on the real economy but has created the potential for real hazard.

Vistage Staff Economist and ITR Economics Principal Alan Beaulieu looks at that country on the other side of the 49^th parallel and suggests a little “Northern Exposure” could be good for the USA.