Strictly Business on KSVY

We will talk about: 1) Your family has been at this for 105 years - surprised it has lasted so long?, secret to longevity of the business?, 2) You started as a ‘retail associate’ 24 years ago - what did that entail?, what did you learn? 3) 8 gas stations in Sonoma - which does the most business?, competition- stable over the years?, 4) Is ‘type or brand’ of gas interchangeable (from consumers’ per...

We will talk about: 1. The bakery changed owners at least 6 times before 1981. Why, in your opinion?, 2. 1981 - When your parents (Karl - golf pro and Nancy - nurse) purchased the business from the Costeaux family (owned it for 8 years), they had no professional baking experience - why did they buy the business? 3. Then what did they do? 4. Jean Costeaux taught your father to make sourdough bread....

We will talk about: 1) Is the World Cup the biggest inspiration for youth soccer development?, 2) Is the World Cup the biggest inspiration for donations to SRU?, 3) How has youth soccer grown over the years (players, clubs)?, 4) How many people participate in SRU programs?, 5) How do you define the ‘fundamentals’ of soccer?, 6) 6) Have SRU player development techniques changed over the years?, how...

We will talk about: 1) Why did LeFever/Mattson target Sonoma for real estate purchases?, 2) When did you first cover this scandal?, 3) Were purchases random or did they fit a pattern?, 4) Were objectives more than real estate fraud (political or religious)?, 5) Had LeFever not discovered questionable transactions by Mattson, would anyone else have uncovered this fraud?, 6) Was the town of Sonoma s...

What we will talk about: 1) First transitions - when the executives at companies like Connecticut General or General Foods decided to pack up their urban offices - what was the defining financial or cultural trigger point? 2) Did abandoned cities try to fight to retain their corporate citizens - how and why did they fail? 3) A landscape architect’s dream: what was the cost of these landscapes, rol...

1) What does Kennedy Center debacle suggest about leadership in the arts? 2) Renee Fleming (has performed at GMC), among others, cancelled scheduled performances at the Kennedy Center - was she right to do so? 3) Role of the Board in steering the direction of the Green Music Center?, 4) How you have changed the direction or content of thew Green Music Center since you assumed the ED role?, 5) What...

What we’ll talk about: 1. How did you feel when Alden Capital showed itself as a likely buyer of Sonoma Media Investments?, 2. How differently was the PD run vs. other newspapers you’d worked with (Omaha World Herald, the Oklahoman, Birmingham News, Arizona Republic)?, 3. Why nonprofit digital news vs. alternative publication like Sonoma Valley Sun?, 4. Why go nonprofit instead of a low-cost, for-...

What we will talk about: 1. Why the book thesis and project?, 2. Why is ‘financialization’ a dirty word?, 3. Financing vs. financialization - the difference?, 4. Did ‘Hollywood accounting’ draw scrutiny from ‘financial actors?, 5. Was operating record of studios, broadcasting companies and labels subpar, on average, drawing attention of activist investors?, 6. What was returns record of studios, b...

1. Has the store experienced an incarnation with each new family owner over the past 111 years?, 2. You’ve said that as you were growing up, you always knew you wanted to run the store (family business)- why?, 3. How big a burden is ‘legacy’ in managing a family business?, 4. How big a burden is ‘longevity’ in managing a family business?, 5. Changes you’ve made over the last 34 years?, 6. You prid...

What We’ll talk about: 1) Why write the book now? 2) What have been, or should have been, the obvious economic lessons from inflationary periods post WW I, post WW II and OPEC oil crisis in the 1970s?, 3) Why 40 years of ‘manageable’ inflation?, 4) 2008 - deflation - aggregate demand shock, liquidity trap, interest rates lowered to 0 - still trouble reviving demand = colossal economic aberration b...

We will talk about: 1) Why the move into wealth management in 2003 after 18 years as a tax accountant?, 2) What constitutes ’high net worth’?, 3) How liquid are the assets of high net worth individuals?, 4) Do you find that clients have historically overpaid their taxes?, 5) How well do clients understand the ‘structure’ of their finances when they come to you?, 6) What kind of restructuring of fi...

1) Many ‘job changes’ - which taught you the most about organizational leadership and performance?, 2) You’ve said your career path was ‘serendipitous’ - what do you mean?, 3) How do you recommend that a person become more risk-oriented in his career?, 4) You’ve written humorous books on corporate ‘wisdom’ - why humorous?, 5) Why ‘bullet books’ on business vs. ‘treatises’ on management and workpla...

We will talk about: Your almost 30 years in information technology - amazing changes?, Is AI in its infancy or is it maturing quickly?, Is AI a productivity enhancer or cost reducer? How well do you think the public understands the promises and the perils of AI?, Is Sonoma County a model of AI governance?, why?, What constitutes responsible AI use, data protection, and efficiency?, What are the bi...

We will talk about: You opened a pottery school (1967) a year after taking your first pottery class - why?, what potential did you see or anticipate?, did you learn pottery on a kick wheel?, You never claimed to be a fine ceramics artist - did you want to be?, Lacking enough money to buy wheels, you made your own wheels (with help from an uncle who was an engineer) - what did you want from a wheel...

We will talk about: 1) your role as President and CEO of the NBBCC, 2) the efforts of the Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow Foundation, 3) how and why you got started in the NBBCC, 4) competitive factors which have affected black entrepreneurship in Sonoma County, 5) the services and support offered by the NBBCC, 6) industries in which most black-owned businesses in Sonoma County compete, 7) how black ent...

We will talk about: How did you learn to restore furniture? How has technology changed furniture restoration? What is the difference between restoration and refinishing? Does refinishing or repair harm my antique’s value? How do you determine what to charge for furniture restoration: size of the piece, age/fragility of the piece, time required to restore?, Did Antiques Roadshow, first on PBS in 19...

We will talk about: What the advertising industry was like when you started?, Why you started your own agencies, What constitutes an effective ad?, How advertising has changed over the years, The mechanics of creating an advertisement for a client, How much time it takes to create an advertisement, from commission to completion, What is the ‘shelf life’ of an advertisement (how long will a client...

We will talk about: Your 33 years at Sports illustrated (1984-2017, eventually senior writer covering NFL, college football and the Tour de France) - how did coverage of sports change over those years, how did access to athletes change, how did you change?, How did your coverage of sports evolve - the ‘angle’, the depth/length of stories, the challenge vs. the outcome?, What did you want your spor...

What we will talk about: Jim, a computer expert, will bring us up to date on scams (Internet, AI, etc.) and ways to protect our identity, privacy and possessions online and offline. Guest URL: http://cafemac.net/

Guest: Serafina Polandech, ED - Sebastopol Center for the Arts (Art Trails) We will talk about: How Art Trails got started, What were its original objectives?, How has it changed/grown over the years?, Why you sold your interstate in Hip Chick Farms in 2018, Why you switched from food to art, How you found your way to the Sebastopol Center for the Arts?, Why Sebastopol Center for the Arts took ove...

We will talk about: Why you got interested in avocados as a topic to write about, How far back does California’s involvement with avocados go?, How big is U.S. avocado production vs. Mexico? Why were Mexican avocados banned until 1997 (ending an 83-year-old import prohibition), Why was there a major shift in consumer preference starting in the early 2000s?, How many varieties of avocados, how do t...

We would ask you about: Your 40 years in the book business: how it has changed, how you have changed? Your 13 years at Copperfield’s - what has changed?, How have readers’ tastes changed over that time?, Do readers’ tastes vary with store location at Copperfields? How do you work with publishers for display purposes in Bookstores? How important is book display to book sales?, How long do recent re...

Guest: Daniel Casabonne, Award Winning Wine Country Realtor We will talk about: Why you decided on a career in real estate, How your ‘production’ evolved over the years as you rose to #11 of all Sotheby’s agents in the U.S., What the Sonoma real estate market was like when you began, How has the market changed over the years, Is the value of annual real estate sales in Sonoma County a reflection o...

We will discuss: Why you started Trellus almost 5 years ago, why so passionate about small businesses solutions?, Why start Trellus in Marin & Sonoma counties (long way from NY) - demographics?, Do you work with local Chambers of Commerce, Merchant participation expectations?, Main selling point for merchants - Logistics on demand?, Foot traffic vs. phone traffic - destination vs. impulse buyi...

1) when you first visited the village in the Andes at 14,000 feet = essentially half-way up Mt. Everest, 2) what you found when you got there, 3) how difficult was it for you to assimilate with the women artisans there?, 4) what the Peruvian women artisans were making with alpaca before you got there, 5) when you realized there was a market opportunity for their work, 6) did you have to convince t...