I have heard about the upcoming Obama Jobs Summit. Any time I hear that someone in government is “working” on the jobs issues, it just makes me go crazy. Having said that, I did work some of the frustration off by submitting 11 IDEAS FOR THE JOBS SUMMIT over at US News and World Report today.
Here is that piece:
11 Ideas for Obama’s Jobs Summit
I hear some of the folks in Washington talking about creating jobs and I just cringe.
Obviously, out here in the private sector one does not “create” a job. We create businesses that solve problems. Some of those businesses require people to run them, service accounts, and build stuff. While there are businesses that don’t require many workers, that’s still OK, because the person who figured out how to do more with fewer employees goes out and buys a new flat screen TV, new garage doors, and upgrades the furnace.
Since I will not be invited to the upcoming White House jobs summit, I thought I would mail in a few of my suggestions:
1. Create an advisory Cabinet on jobs–er, business creation. Get Mark Cuban, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Scott Adams and Seth Godin as members. Get them to commit to a month-long “Entrepreneur Tour” (move over Britney), during which they would give free but meaty seminars about how they made it and how you can too. Book the megadome because people would come out in droves. Make a movie out of it. And, make members of Congress attend two of these events. Maybe something will stick. All eighth graders get extra credit.
2. Give $100,000 to every proven entrepreneur. Qualification: Must have built at least one successful business before. Directive: Go build another one.
3. Support small businesses as much as you support the unemployed. Maybe then the unemployed could become the employed.
4. Want entrepreneurs to create some new businesses? We need to know the rules. What’s the impact of this cap-and-trade deal? We are waiting to find out. What’s the fallout from the banking crisis? We will hold off on seeking new loans until that gets sorted out. And healthcare reform? Will I be able to run my new business and afford the new requirements? I am waiting.
5. New business tax plan. If you start a business in the next year, there will be no taxes when you sell it. Zero capital gains tax. None. Zero. Same deal if you invest in one. But you have to hold it for two years.
6. Provide incentives for neighborhood groups and angel networks to offer funds for startup businesses. These are the people now funding raw startups, since most venture capital firms don’t invest in new ideas any longer. (Wal-Mart should be guilted into matching 20 percent of every dollar raised this way. After all, they single handedly destroyed most of small-town retail environments.)
7. Every chief executive who comes before Congress to request help in any manner should be fired immediately. This might end the race to the money spigot.
8. Ask Glenn Beck, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and Bill O’Reilly to attend a three-day seminar on “How to Improve Your Manners.” They are setting an ugly tone.
9. Generally speaking, instead of rules, regulations, and restrictions–think about incentives.
10. Don’t demonize business. Sure, throw the book at Madoff, but celebrate the people who have made it work fairly, honestly, humbly, and unselfishly. Too many young people grow up hearing only bad things about businesses and the people who run them.
11. Elevate the national discourse. Given how low it’s fallen, we need someone besides Jon Stewart to really embarrass some people. Where is Will Rogers when you need him?
I am sure you have some ideas too. We’d all like to hear them.
G. L. Hoffman is a serial entrepreneur and venture investor/operator/incubator/mentor. Two of his companies have traveled the entire success path from the garage to IPO. Currently, he is chairman of JobDig, which operates LinkUp, one of the fastest-growing job search engines. His blog can be found at WhatWouldDadSay.com.
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Dammit, I want an invite.
Wait. You are NOT invited?
(1) 10% flat corporate tax.
(2) Repeal the estate taxes.
(3) Kill the FED.
(4) Sell the gooferment lands to retire the debt.
(5) Return to gold / silver as money.
(6) Cut the income tax to a flat 10% (no deductions).
(7) Nuke the Department of Education, Agriculture, etc. etc.
That’s for starters!
Love this GL! Great list!
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GL,
Once again, you nailed it. All 11 points you made are my faves (I can’t just focus on one!).
That said, I’ll pick a few to chat about: #10 re: “Don’t demoralize business … celebrate the people who have made it work fairly, honestly, humbly, and unselfishly.”
Many of us grew up in humble, hard-working environments, and though we sometimes slip into the heat of competition and divulge a bit of ego, at the core, we want ‘good’ and we want ‘honest’ and ‘ethical.’ We aspire to contribute and to make-good on our promise to not only reap what we sow but to provide value to others in the community, locally and abroad with or without direct credit and fanfare.
As well, items #3, #4 and #9 resonate! There is so much traction happening among small businesses that should be encouraged and fueled (versus tamping it down with rules, regulations and disincentives). Create a rising tide to lift small businesses (versus a consistent drumbeat of gloom and regulatory wet blanket).
Thanks again, GL, for piping up with rich and resonating words and insight!
Jacqui
Wow, GL! I am both enlivened and frustrated by so many of your excellent points.
From my perspective, #2 and #3 are intimately tied and are the greatest source of angst for many small businesses who wish they had half of the breaks given to big businesses. Since boot-strapping my business in 1997 it’s been clear that in most cases, one has to have money to make money. The business model (service vs widgets) may impact how far $100,000 will go but the real point is that many solo-preneurs will not become boutiques and boutiques may never become mid-sized businesses without the resources. I still wistfully recall the years when as a corporate exec, I had the budget and support to breathe life into a new idea. That fruits of the idea justified the headcount that created new jobs that made the company more competitive. The $100,000 that you propose for each proven entrepreneur would surely create new jobs; a return-on-investment no-brainer rather than simply keeping people afloat.
Great list. I’d love to hear a politician tell people that they’re going to have a tough life if they think jobs in manufacturing are going to be found in America over the next few decades without government subsidies, and that those subsidies will be going away over time.
So…is anyone from Twitter invited that you know of? Why weren’t you and some of the most influential minds included? Anyone know the demo of the invitee list?
Hi GL,
Great list. I’d like to see more money go to community colleges to retrain the unemployed for the many, many good jobs that are open – not enough skilled people to fill them.
Phyllis
I hate these kinds of lists. They get me excited that someone actually has a brain, and then I remember that you don’t work for the government (hence the existence of gray matter). Great points, GL, and they need to be said. The public is being trained to hate business, and most have no idea what goes into the process of running a successful organization.