When I first joined SCOA years ago, there was an orientation program that included an introduction to Japanese culture and a starter series on Japanese business terminology. I credit those early lessons with teaching me how to deliver my business card in Japanese and providing me with insight into the very different ways Americans and Japanese approach the world around them.
This week, D.C. felt like D.C. Not the D.C. of the last five years, but the D.C. BC (before Covid). My metro rides to and from work were crowded; there was a line at Subway for my Wednesday guilty pleasure—the Meatball Marinara “Meal of the Day;” and downtown happy hours on outdoor patios spilled into the sidewalks.
I live in Maryland’s 8th congressional district; my condo sits less than 12 miles from the White House, and the district rests almost entirely within Montgomery County.
What do Ted Williams, Michael Jordan, and Wayne Gretzky all have in common? That they were the greatest players of all time in baseball, basketball, and hockey, respectively? A good guess, but another answer might be that each was also a terrible head coach or general manager.
My wife and I just returned from a vacation to the British Virgin Islands (BVI). There we sailed the islands Christopher Columbus “discovered” during his second voyage to the Americas in 1493.
There is the seen and the unseen. In Washington, Congress can quite literally be seen in action when it is in session. But when it’s in recess, like it has been for the past two weeks, Capitol Hill is somewhat of a ghost town. In economics one can also find the seen and the unseen
It’s spring break in Washington. Climb Capitol Hill, ride the Metro, or visit the National Mall, and you’re bound to see packs of teenagers in identical t-shirts roving the cityscape.
The morning of what President Trump referred to as “Liberation Day,” I found myself sitting at a conference room table across from a member of Congress and his Chief of Staff. The meeting had been scheduled several weeks prior as way to provide businesses with a progress report on the status of the reconciliation bill, tax policy, and deregulation.
In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens wrote that “Spring is the time of year when it is summer in the sun and winter in the shade.” How right he was. Consider that it’s March Madness, and while my team Maryland made it to the “Sweet 16,” they had to face Number 1 Florida to advance. They didn’t.
My first “real” job was at a company that stood just a block away from where SCOA’s Washington office sits today. During, and following, my senior year in college, I landed a role as a public relations assistant at a sports marketing outfit. ProServ was the name of the firm founded by former Davis Cup captain Donald Dell to represent tennis stars such as Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, and Stan Smith.