Thank you so much for joining us today, September 23, 930 a.m. for the Arts and Historic Subcommittee Meeting City of Columbia. I want to say thank you to the clerk and her staff for bringing us all together virtually and our wonderful city staff planning department, our assistant city managers that are with us today. We're going to go ahead and get into the topic for today. A review of the Amplify Columbia study that has been done through Columbia Compass over several years' time. Lisa Nalgro with OneColumbia is here with us today to give us a brief summary of that study as it pertains to arts and culture and then bring forward some ideas for the arts community and the arts department could possibly look like as an official city of Columbia participant. So with that said, Lee, welcome today. Thank you for carving out some time for us today and all the work you've done with the Amplify group and our city staff at Columbia Compass. Thank you, Councilman. Thank you all for letting me join you today and talk about some of these items. I wanted to quickly introduce where I'm at. I'm joining you from our 1013 co-op which is a cultural space that OneColumbia now manages and has three partner organizations with in North Columbia. It's actually for some of those that you might be familiar, it's the house that the North Columbia Business Association was in for many years here in the Seminary Ridge neighborhood. So we've been in this space for about a year and working with our partner organizations to start developing a plan for really connecting with communities in this. And I say all that to just sort of preface some of the items that I'll talk about in my presentation about what OneColumbia has been doing and what we hope to be able to do and we can talk about what it'll take to be able to get to what we'd like to get to. So I'll go and share my presentation and dive right in. So I'm here to talk to you today about some of the recommendations that were made in the Amplify process, just as a quick refresher, Amplify was essentially a process that was run by OneColumbia and was a standalone process but was ultimately incorporated and thoroughly integrated into the Columbia Compass planning process that you all went through over the last several years. So most of what is in the cultural resources section of Compass is reflected in Amplify. And Amplify was specifically related to creating a cultural plan, sort of a standalone plan that we could use as a cultural community. So I'm going to talk a little bit about that relationship and what's similar in both and kind of how we got to this point. So we started off Amplify a few years ago and the biggest part of it was several years of research, talking to organizations, talking to individual artists, talking to many, many people that are not typically stakeholders in the cultural community or at least perceived as much. But certainly we feel like everyone in the city is a stakeholder in the cultural community. We did speak to a lot of social service organizations, people that were working in lots of different areas. We talked to lots of city staff members. So just a summary of the participation we had, we took in surveys. We had 72 different meeting locations across the city that we met at. They included 106 town hall meetings and conversations. And by our count, it was about just over 1,100 citizens that were directly involved in the process. And then we use eight artists facilitators and they met with neighborhood residents and other constituencies to really dig in on using an art project to really dig in on what their perception of the arts community was and how the arts community might better serve them. All of this was rooted in cultural equity, which is the idea that basically all of our citizens are entitled to cultural experiences and that they should be part of the cultural community and that they should have access to that cultural community. They should be able to attend cultural activities in their area or be able to participate in the city's cultural life. So we had lots of conversations and in Amplify, we provided a report of those conversations. Ones that are specifically relevant to what we're talking about today is that the arts community is very vibrant, but it is lacking in some leadership roles. Specifically, you know, the structure of it doesn't really allow for a lot of technical or management assistance, professional development, community engagement initiatives that really help bring all the organizations together and really connect to citizens of Columbia. Each organization does wonderful work. They're doing a great job. But you need that kind of connecting element to help everybody be working on the same page and certainly why we felt like it was important to have a cultural plan that involved everyone to give us the recommendations that would lead us over the next several years in a unified way. But we need some entity that does that role and serves in that role to kind of bring everybody together. And one Columbia, you know, I think we were created in early 2012. And I think we've really served in that role in the community thus far. I don't know why it's not changing slides. I apologize. There we go. So we have, by all accounts, and based on the research that was done in Amplify, served in the role of a local arts agency. But up to this date, we've never had that formal recognition by council. It wasn't. It just wasn't something. I think that when one Columbia was created that was made formal. We were, we've always had a contract with the city for services provided deliverables. And we'll talk about that in a minute. But we have never received any formal language that recognizes us as the city folk arts agency. And I'll talk a little bit more about what a local arts agency is, but also what a local arts agency does in this presentation. So what they are is essentially organizations that promote, support and develop the arts at a local level. They're very common. They are made up of a lot of different types of organizations. Some cities have an organization that is a nonprofit that serves in that role. Some cities have an office of cultural affairs that is a department of their city government that serves in that role. Some have both. Some even have actual cultural organizations that provide programming that kind of serve in that role as well and help to re-grant or connect the arts community overall. And what we're here to talk about today is specifically a few of the recommendations in Amplify. So the first four recommendations were policy-related recommendations in Amplify Plan and specifically we'll talk today about the idea of creating an office of cultural affairs and more specifically another recommendation increasing investment in a local arts agency. Both of those are actually connected to the Columbia Compass recommendation, which is evaluate the city's organizational support for arts and culture and restructure where necessary, which kind of captured both of those recommendations together and suggested that we would need to do some sort of evaluation, which I think we have done as part of the Amplify plan. And that is what I'm presenting to you today, sort of our recommendations for how to proceed. So local arts agencies, the things they do are they might make grants to local arts organizations. Those grants could come from different sources. They could come from municipalities, but they could also come from larger grants from a state arts commission or the national endowment through the arts and sort of pass through a local entity like the local arts agency and then go to those organizations. They can present their own programming. They can manage cultural facilities. As I mentioned, I'm in 1013 Co-op, something that one Columbia has started in the past year. They can provide service to artists and arts organizations, including professional development or technical assistance, participate in community cultural planning, advocate on behalf of arts-friendly policies and be a liaison to government for partnerships with all different types of entities, business leaders, business development groups, economic development groups, anything goes. And they're a connecting point to then connect, further connect whatever needs are to arts organizations that may be able to respond to those needs or can and add new creative responses to those needs and manage a public art program. And so they really, these kind of organizations really leverage the investment in them to provide an even bigger benefit. By being not so much a middleman but a connecting point, they can really leverage what's available nationally from private foundations and they can bring the arts organizations together in a way that makes all of them more competitive for external funding, funding from private investments, from foundations and from the national endowments for the arts. These are our current deliverables that have been in the contract that you all have reviewed for the last several years. As you'll see, they match up pretty well with what a local arts agency does and how, and so we've essentially been serving in that role but have not received that form of designation. I'm going to talk a little bit about here, about case studies. So earlier I pointed out that we had two recommendations. We had a recommendation for the creation of an office of cultural fairs and an investment in a local arts agency. I want to clarify the distinction between the two and also explain why we have proposed the system for Columbia that we have proposed. Some cities have an office of cultural fairs within their government. Charleston has that system. Their government has a department that serves in the role to promote culture and a lot of the activities that one Columbia does very similarly to carry out events, to manage their city gallery, to handle permitting or ticket projects and they exist within the city government and they have that role in connecting different departments of the lots of city functions. These, like Greenville, have a local arts agency that is a non-profit separate from the city government. And in Greenville, it's called the Metropolitan Arts Council. They serve the Greenville area. They handle some processes on behalf of the city. They connect with their public art policies. They connect with all their arts organizations and they lead some activities as well and market Greenville on behalf of the whole arts community and they work closely with city government, but they are separate and then the third model, the third case study, and we provided all these case studies as part of COMPAS. So we were already looking at this structure when COMPAS was approved. A third case study is Houston, which has a sort of hybrid model. It both has an office of cultural fairs within the city that is just a couple of staff, in this case three staff members, and they are charged with leading essentially in implementing a cultural plan, cultural policy. And they are in the room and in meetings and they are looking for opportunities where the arts can be integrated to other city functions. And they also work closely with a group called the Houston Arts Alliance that is a separate non-profit that is their local arts agency in Houston. They are the implementation arm in the aspect of the arts community there. They are bringing together the arts community. They are working with different partners and they're doing lots of different things including managing an arts calendar and trying to work with neighborhoods directly. And they have a slightly bigger stuff because they are the more implementation arm, but you can see the difference in budget sizes and how they're able to leverage the funds and the investment from the city government. And that's what we are proposing in Amplify. In lots of conversations that our consultant Margie Rees had with different entities, thinking through what gains have been made through OneColumbia or other organizations over the years in Columbia, thinking about our civic structure, she felt strongly and I think ultimately persuaded OneColumbia as well that the best suited direction for Columbia would be a similar hybrid model. If we were to switch to one or the other, we could potentially lose some ground. We are essentially working under the non-profit model such as Greenville, but what we lack is some person in the city government structure that has some cultural background that can be in the right spaces to think about what opportunities are available and as a way to kind of speak for the city's cultural community within city government. And so what we're proposing is a hybrid model. Now, I don't want to focus too much today on the specifics of an office of cultural affairs because we have sort of set that a little bit on the back burner. It is part of what we're discussing today, but I know that the city has been under a high increase due to the pandemic. And so it's not something I think what we need to act on immediately. It is something we should discuss again in the future. What we're specifically talking about today is recognizing OneColumbia as its local arts agency and sort of clarifying that relationship so that we can be serving this city better. The reason for that is because there are grant opportunities specific for, specifically for local arts agencies and a lot of them are regranting opportunities. So there are opportunities for Columbia to receive funds that then gets distributed to many of its arts organizations. We have missed one because we don't have a local arts agency that was designated from the NEA in the American Rescue Plan. And so there were funds available. I think grants were up to $150,000 that would come to local arts agencies specifically for subgranting and going to arts organizations. And no organization currently has the recognition needed in Columbia to be able to apply for this. And so Columbia was therefore ineligible. And there are other similar opportunities that Columbia should avail of certainly with the quality, the breadth and the size of our arts community that we should be taking advantage of. And so if we were to be able to move forward and have one Columbia serve in the role of an office of cultural fair, or sorry, I apologize for my language, a local arts agency, then we would be able to avail of these opportunities. We'd have an organization in that position to be able to take advantage of it and then work with all the collaborating organizations that we've worked with over the years here in Columbia and bring in new funds to the community and help strengthen everything. As it stated in Amplify, we have made great grounds under one Columbia's model, but we are still limited in being able to take on a larger role because we're not listed as the official local arts agency. And that prevents us from really availing of opportunities like I just described. So what we're ultimately here to ask today and specifically discuss any further, if you have questions is getting recognition by city council for one Columbia for arts and culture to be the official city of Columbia local arts agency in order to open us up for funding opportunities and to begin to act on the city's behalf in a more formal way. And then through that define more in our contract about our role as one Columbia and what we can be offering the city. So that we're really working closely with your vision for the city of Columbia. Mr. Chairman. Yes, Lee, thank you for that presentation. Councilman Devault. Lee, that was a very good summary of where we, the discussions we've had about one Columbia and a local arts agency. And I think that it's incumbent on us to immediately ask the city council to adopt a resolution at our next meeting to designate one Columbia as a local arts agency. Coming with that will be some support that we need to be able to give one Columbia for an enhanced role. I know that we have in our current budget a position for grants writer. And I think that we need to see if we can procure somebody that could be that grant writer to assist Lee and other departments in the city, not only one Columbia but others. I think a talented person coming in could help Lee keep his eye out for opportunities like the American Rescue Plan and other things and that some of those could be used as additional revenue for one Columbia to further staff up. When I had a conversation with Lee a few weeks back, I think if we could get that grants person hired, designate one Columbia as a local arts agency and start looking in our city of resources either this year or for next year's budget for around another hundred thousand dollars worth of support for one Columbia to staff up a little bit more for doing the roles that a local arts agency does. Lee is basically a one person shop. And if we are going to expect them to do the things that amplify, suggests can be done by a local arts agency, we do need to give them further support. But until we could get that support, I think that if we designate that local arts agency, it will give one Columbia the opportunity to look for other resources that are also that are already available that could help help them with staffing also. Councilor McDowell, please leave. You want to take it off share screen so we could see see everybody. I can't see who's raising hands. It is now on visibly. There he is. Are you going to? Hey, right. How's everybody? Lee, let me ask you this. Conceptually, yes, I agree with that. And I think the specifics of what we need. Can we get that? I think how to correct that grant writer would help in our resources and our funding capabilities. It would seem to me that that would be the first step. The specifics and all of this, of course, would sort of help us look at where the funding sources we could perhaps use to make this whole thing happen. So I think that's the first. Wonderful. Miss Wilson, thank you. And Lee, thanks so much. And I really appreciate the fact that we've gotten to this point today to have the discussion because Lee has been really patient on with our city staff trying to work through the amplify recommendations already have presented those to us and given us some things to think about. You know, I don't disagree with Lee's a focused approach on the two top things that need to occur, which is definitely the designation as a local arts agency. And a focus on the grant dollars. I guess what I would caution everyone about is where do we really want to end up? And if it's something transformational, as far as our approach to a hybrid model or either one or an expanded version of what one Columbia is already going into pulling it totally internal to the city with hopefully Lee's guidance along the way as we do that and possible ultimate participation as a city staff or whatever that would look like. If we can focus on arts agency, but I think what I'm hearing, if we designate one Columbia as such, then that sort of means that we're saying that one Columbia is going to continue to exist as it currently does. If we if we go to that immediately. And so if that's what the council committee's recommendation is to the full council, then, you know, I'm good with that. If the council committee is wanting to still explore some other possibilities about these models, I think we need to get maybe a little bit more information on what it would look like and how we would fund the hybrid model and or an office of cultural affairs for the city. So I know Mr. Brennan has done some research as well about other cities like Raleigh, for example, and I've talked to the staff about beginning that research on if there was a portion very small of hospitality tax dollars that was designated every year towards this effort to help fund an office and or a hybrid model, what would that look like? And and if so, with the designation still be with Columbia would be with the city's office of cultural affairs or what I said, I'm good with either way. I just think we need to think about before we say for certain where the designations going to go because that makes it does. Thank you, Miss Wilson. Councilman DeWall. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. City Manager, I think that we are not setting in stone the future. We are saying that we need to get up and running quickly and that the quickest way to do that is to designate one Colombian existing non-profit as our local arts agency. I think that would give us time to look at what I think a hybrid model, I think a small office of cultural affairs in the City Manager's office would somebody that could be the out front person for promoting the arts and culture in Colombia on your staff, attending staff meetings, listening to projects that are coming up to look for connections between the arts and culture with all the projects that the City of Colombia has on the drawing board and will have on the drawing board. But I think that could be re-evaluated on a yearly basis. But I think that what we're trying to do now is just get up and running because I think we're missing out on opportunities for funding that are coming down from the federal government and through the state agencies of the Arts Commission that designating the local arts agency being the first step but not the last step. Well, and I appreciate us getting up and running Councilman DeVall for sure. And I hope there is a way for us to do that. I guess because this discussion has been ongoing for so long and we continue to kind of kick the can down the curb. I'm advocating why we get up and running and before the next budget cycle that I have some more clear direction about what we really wanted to ultimately look like. And I don't want us to box ourselves into something that I can't give you all some recommendations on how to fund in the next budget cycle so that we can then begin to know with certainty what this is ultimately going to look like. If it's internal to the city type thing, then I want to try to take that on sooner than later so that the grants writer that we are in the process of hiring for the city can certainly get up and run in with helping with some of that. I don't think that that is the grants writer who would ultimately staff office of cultural affairs solely when that person already is attending to grants across the city. If this is to be what I'm thinking you all want it to be and what Lee is is asking for, that is a whole another probably staff person or a part of a staff person's responsibility just for that effort. And we have someone now we're contracting with the parts of recreation and Henry Simons is on as well, which has been working nicely for the parts and rent foundation. I think there's a lot of interconnectivity here with some things that we really need to kind of look at and see if there is an office of cultural affairs that could possibly encompass some of these various things. That's my thoughts and no way am I saying I don't want us to get up and running with the designation, but I would hate for us to make a designation and then have to, you know, somehow change that. I don't think it would be a big deal change this evening Mr. Chairman, but I don't think it'd be a big deal to change the local arts agency in the future if we had to do that if we thought that was the way to go. I don't see that in the next two or three years being the way we need to go because I don't think we can we'll find enough funding to do that. Councilman Dow, you had some comments. Yes, let me ask this Lee. I need more if we if we look at this in its hybrid model. I need some more specifics as relates to that. I think the implication of how it would relate to the city. It has to it has to be a sort of like a two-edged sword. I need I need more clarification and I know you can't give specifics right now. But that hybrid model, talk to me a little bit about that. Yes, sir, I'm happy to and that will respond to some of city managers comments as well. There are a couple reasons we identify the hybrid model as right for Columbia. One was that moving a one Columbia like organization into the city structure would probably. Change how arts organizations are are currently functioning in a in a way that might be disrupted. They would have to become used to a different structure and how they're working. There would also be a loss of some of the momentum we've gained. So one Columbia currently is doing lots of work on the city's behalf in terms of public art. In terms of some of the city planning actions like cultural planning or working on different parklet projects and working as a consultant for the public art process that you all ran with the parks foundation for those murals. So there are functions that one Columbia has been providing that would have to change pretty dramatically and could cause some significant disruption if that office becomes fully part of the city of Columbia. And what we're really recommending is it's sort of the idea that the city of Columbia would hire maybe one or two people in an office of cultural affairs that just generally kept carried out the work on the city's behalf in culture mostly responsible for defining and carrying out and enforcing the city's cultural policy. And yet we don't currently have a cultural policy that is one of the recommendations may amplify is to more firmly create a cultural policy that then that office would be responsible for. They would also be in some ways grant seeking. They would be building projects. They would be a person who sees the connection when the parks on the parks department or the parks foundation are making, you know, coming up with new projects to seek grants for or even work with public works or work with the planning department in lots of different ways and be a connector of city agencies in order to better integrate cultural activities. But we're not talking about an outsized office or, you know, carrying out huge significant functions of the city in terms of culture. Well, and then the high the local arts agency portion, the one Columbia aspect that we're suggesting would be more of the implementation. There would be the boots on the ground working with arts organizations, working with neighborhoods, working with all the citizens to implement those projects that come up that could be working with artists to provide services to neighborhoods to serve in the role of residencies and be active in the neighborhood setting. Or it could mean that, you know, one Columbia would likely and it would make sense based on what we're doing to be responsible for the city's collection of public art and creating and commissioning new ones like we already are, but also, you know, maintaining and being responsible for the existing pieces that are that city already has.  This would seem like the right approach because it both allowed us to not lose any momentum that has been built up over the last several years and still create new infrastructure that would then serve the arts community for many years to come and would help serve the city in integrating cultural activity into what's already a vibrant community. And so that's what we're saying. And I don't think that if you were to debt tomorrow to recognize one club is a local arts agency that if you change that model in the future and you were able to maybe during a cultural policy creation process, determine that Columbia is better suited. There's no reason that that couldn't be shifted or changed and adjusted because ultimately, I think our Indian goals are the same. You know, one Columbia was designed to work on the city's behalf and really serve the city. And so we take direction for many of the visions and policies that you're already creating in terms of how we operate and engage citizens in cultural activity and bring together the cultural community. So I don't think that there would be any issues in the future if if a structure was determined that it needed to be adjusted. But I think what we've seen and what our research has shown through the amplify process is that this sort of hybrid model would prevent disruption and keep us moving on the path we've been on, while also improving the communication and and clearly defining responsibilities among the different partners in the cultural community. Great. Thank you so much, Lee. Any other comments? City staff, Ed, Howard? No. Wonderful. Go ahead. Well, I think I think we got the ball rolling. No question about that. And I think that there's some additional conversations that perhaps as we seek to clarify what model and my position is trying to clarify what model that's going to look like and how it's going to be rolled out again. I think that grant writers position is critical. But that's just our first step right now. I tend to think that the model that hybrid model looks good. And I think it provides us with an opportunity to not only keep this ball rolling, but to at least keep that ball in par. Great. Thanks. Howard, any final thoughts? Mr. Chairman, I think we all would you like a motion? I'll make a motion that we ask the city staff to come up with a resolution that our next meeting designating one to one. Yeah, no motion. So we're kidding if you don't mind. Howard, what I would like to do is work work with. That's a that's a better question. That's great. This person is great. I'm sure about that. Howard, Mr. Meenask and Ms. Fowley, you were wrong about some. All right. What do they say? They said we don't make motions in so committee. One, I would like to look short term conversation with city staff immediately about the up and running aspects. I know time is to the essence when it comes to the federal grants that are coming through the pipeline with the American rescue items. So, you know, in the next couple of days, we'd like to catch up Ms. Wilson with you and staff and get feedback on the near term. I guess path forward the hybrid model, the need for for that structure, I think is a longer range discussion. I would also love to get feedback from other arts communities or participants in the communities about, you know, what these offerings bring bring for them, you know, the ultimate goal for one Columbia in a position like this is to, you know, at the end of the day, answer what what kind of support can we bring to the arts community in Columbia? That is that should be the goal and I want to work towards that. So with that said, is there any other comments, questions for Lee? Lee, I just want to say I thank you for your excuse me, I thank you for conceptually rolling this out. It has the opportunity to provide a real atmosphere in our city to not only expand the cultural arts in our city, but also to look at this thing holistically and say this is the good thing for our city. My my my thinking right now is to look at this to have I think all of us are going to be looking at this now and looking at how this hybrid model is going to fit in the parameters of what we want to do as a cultural center. Great point that this was thank you Councilman. I just had two quick clarifying questions for Lee. One, the 10 is a 1013 co-op Lee? Yes, ma'am. The space you're in. Is that where your offices are? No, we're still retaining our office downtown right now. We've been able to do that despite the sort of financial challenges with pandemic. This partnership at the 1013 co-op is funded by the partners. Each of us contributes a small amount to be able to make sure that this place stays open and we all contribute in kind effort to keep this activity going. So we have not moved our offices here. It is primarily for the three partner organizations we have. We do have a presence here. We're you know, I'm here now and I work here periodically. But really it was to retain some cultural space in the North Columbia area that had been created by Indie grits and also to really start building out some networks. We've already been in talks with the various neighborhoods up here, Hyde Park, Winter Springs and Seminary Ridge. And then and and we hope to, you know, have this space really serve the communities in this area with programming that is maybe derived from things that they're already doing in this area. But we have not moved our offices officially here. So operational support for your office space is still part of the contractual arrangement and funds you might get. Correct.  But we we think that our office downtown provides plenty of resources for arts organizations as well. We have many organizations on pre pandemic when people could actually meet in person. People are using our office regularly for those meetings. We had individual artists use that space. It was a available space for people to come and learn about the cultural community, what was going on and also to, you know, carry out their own professional development activities, connect with us in lots of different ways. So that office, the board determined that that office was still vital to the work that one can be. And then my second question, do you currently have staff or and or yourself who work on grants and will be able to work on any hypothetically the grants that you would be able to apply for through the designation? It is essentially my responsibility. So we we are a staff of two people, a director, position and an office manager. And the office manager is kind of the assistant. They're doing marketing. They're doing day to day budget record keeping, financial record keeping. They're doing some artist services working to identify opportunities for individual artists in some program management, but largely sort of keeping track of the day to day, making sure that artists and arts organizations have access to our resources, be they easels or our conference room or whatever. Neither of us is specifically focused on grants, but it would fall to me. And we have been able to get some over the years. We were fortunate enough at the beginning of the pandemic, we were in a position to be able to quickly respond and roll out artists emergency grants from the Knight Foundation through the Central Carolina Community Foundation because of the structure of OneColumbia being a similar umbrella organization, we were able to distribute those funds within a month. So receive them, identify artists that applied for them and quickly turn around and distribute them. So we've had success in sub granting quickly and efficiently and in a transparent way. And we've been able to do that with the staff we have. What we're kind of recommending at this stage is not necessarily overly focusing on a specific grants person because there, you know, I have some background in grants and we have if I could be freed up from doing some of the activities I'm doing with neighborhoods or with public art, then I think we could have, you know, the director position take a little bit more responsibility for building that relationship and working with those granting organizations. While then what we'd like to see is some step member that is directly working with neighborhoods One of the recommendations of Amplify is to develop neighborhood cultural plans and work directly with neighborhoods to identify what assets they have, what kind of cultural activities are happening there. And I think we could build a lot of really great relationships with the neighborhood organizations to then connect them to arts organizations so that there's a greater delivery of cultural everyone in Columbia in all parts of the city. And that's going to take some time. And then we also think that, you know, there's so much public art happening in the city of Columbia that we think we we could use an extra set of hand to carry out those public art projects and really manage the city's collection of public art and make sure it's still a prominent part of how the city of Columbia is recognized for tourism aspects and other things. Thank you. That was very comprehensive and I appreciate that. Mr. Simons. Good morning, everyone. Awesome presentation, Lee. I just wanted to add a comment that through the work of the Art Center with Brenda Oliver, you know, we do have an established relationship with the Saigon Arts Commission and we have received several grants. There will be more than one to work with you as well. Yeah. And I think the Art Center has done a great job. It serves a lot of roles in terms of workshops for citizens. I don't have some instruction, but it doesn't serve the role that I'm talking about a Office of Cultural Affairs or more specifically, a local arts agency does in terms of providing more blanket resources for individual artists. It's limited in its capacity, but it does a great job in terms of, you know, citizen connection to arts activities. And it's a necessary part. And yes, and what we're proposing is not to take away any opportunities that the Art Center or other agencies of the city would be able to avail of from the Arts Commission and all that. We're just adding to the pile and being a conduit for additional support and seeking additional funds and not trying to disrupt anything that might be already in existence. I think we're missing opportunities and we can expand on some of those opportunities that already exist. Well, so I do understand there's a difference in what you are. You are proposing versus what's actually going on. But I just wanted to share that there is a lot of UV around grant writing about in the arts center. So anything that we can do to help collaborate and work with you, we would want to do that. And just to clarify, we've had some key relationships with the Arts Commission thus far. We are the statewide organization that serves the Poetry Out Loud program. So we distribute funds from the Arts Commission to statewide partners to conduct activities that where students can participate in a poetry recitation competition. And then we also have recently built a relationship with them around professional development for artists and seeking to help artists that want to become entrepreneurs and build a business. That program just started. We had our first workshop this week about general business opportunities. We even connected, even though it's a statewide program, we're able to connect with the Office of Business Opportunities and they presented as part of that program. So we have a good, strong, established relationship with the Arts Commission. And I've already talked to them that they certainly could see opportunity in working with one Columbia as a local arts agency to help redistribute grant funds from the NEA that they already have in place. They would actually serve artists to expand the pot of resources that would be available to them that they were to apply for grants if we were to be able to create that stronger relationship. So I think there are opportunities that we have in hand if we're able to be recognized as a local arts agency. Great, thanks so much, Lee. Thank you, Mr. Simons. Erica, do we have any public comment, any public input? Anybody on the phone lines or anything? No, sir, we don't typically connect the phone lines during committee. Wonderful. Wonderful. Well, for residents that might be watching this now, if you have any questions, please feel free to email us as we as we learn more about this wonderful public presentation that Lee made today. I think it is important that we put this out to our residents in the form of this presentation to consider these proposals. Exciting, exciting stuff could come from this. So if there's no other comments or questions, I'd like to say thank you to everyone for participating today and look forward to more conversations very soon with city staff on the up and running approach for OneColumbia. All right. Thank you, Mike. Thanks, everybody. Have a good day. Thank you, Mr. Brenna. Thank you, Lee.


Hey guys, what's going on? It's Andy Elliott in this video I'm gonna show you how to crush an interview and get any job you want if you repeat the words that I say I promise you you'll have that job. Check this out All right guys, what's going on? It's Andy Elliott. I put a video out on the internet It was said how to get a job at a car dealership anytime dude This video has hundreds of thousands of views and literally people rave over it every day There's just seems like millions of comments and everybody's like Andy I got my job because of this by the way that would have worked in any industry Okay, so I'm gonna openly speak here for a minute.   Okay I've been known to be the hardest worker in the room. Okay I show up early and I leave late. My care is through the roof Matter of fact, my worst habit is out carrying my competition So if that bothers you you might need to ask me to leave now But if you're looking to hire somebody that will out care the competition and literally do more than what they're paid to do Well, that's my middle name now I want to tell you something one of the things that I believe is a big quality that I have to bring to the table again is Being super coachable. Okay, I'm like Kobe Bryant mastered basketball Kobe wasn't good at basketball and then he mastered the game and then all of a sudden he became the mom mentality Kobe Bryant he became a legend in an icon in your job the job that you're hiring for I know that you're not looking to hire the best in the world the best in the world probably wants more money than you're willing to Pay what you're probably looking to hire somebody who's extremely coachable that can learn the position fast and then rise up through the ranks and be a Needle mover because they're extremely coachable and they're willing to master the tasks at this job Would you agree and they're gonna be like yeah, and you're like bam good. That's me. That's what I do Hey guys, what's going on? It's Andy a lot of you leave comments Tell me that you need help do me a favor. I'm gonna tell you the best way to get a hold of me Shoot me a text message right now<PHONE_NUMBER><PHONE_NUMBER>. I'll help you with whatever you need. I got your back for life Let's get back to the video. All right in number two. This is extremely important You got to be confident. You got to believe in yourself. Listen to me. Nobody wants to hire somebody who doubts themselves Okay, you need to be so sold on you so sold that literally they give up their own like okay You know what? I'm not even gonna look for anybody else. You're get you get the job You may not even qualify. They don't even care.  Okay, so when you're talking to them, right? You ever notice how drill sergeants right when you walk into the military like they don't know you bet yet But they're speaking to you like you already owe them money and and and they know you this is what you need to do when you're talking to Somebody like hey Jay listen, I know you put the application out because you're looking for the right hire Look, that's the reason why I showed up. Okay, there's a million other places. I could be right now But you know what Jay? I'm not at those places You know I'm at I'm right here because you're looking for somebody to move the needle You're looking for somebody to master this job and you're looking for somebody who's willing to put the work ethic in look Jay. That's me They're like damn man. This is the person. I was looking for I don't care if it's a $10 an hour job or $100,000 an hour job You show up at this belief in this confidence that you are coachable. You're gonna get the job So with no skill Okay, you can take these two things that I just taught you watch this video a thousand times Share it with the buddy that's going to get a job and I got you guys back to life Hey, by the way, when you get the job Shoot me a comment below or you could just text me<PHONE_NUMBER>.  Make sure you follow me on official Andy Elliott on Instagram. Let's go Hey guys, I just want to tell you the true one percenters you made it till the end of the video do me a favor share it with the friend that Wants to go to another level make sure you like the video comment below so I know who you are set your Notifications and then subscribe to the channel. We got daily sales training videos dropping. I'll see you soon


Hi students, we are discussing mergers and acquisitions and in this topic we are going to discuss a case study of one merger Merger between Daimler-Benz and Kressler company this is one of the most famous mergers of the last century and We are going to discuss it from the perspective of human resource management How does effective human resource management affect the success of some mergers and acquisitions and what are the factors in human resource aspect that can be Consequential in the success of a merger or an acquisition So we are going to discuss it from the perspective of a case study Let's first introduce the two companies The first company is Daimler-Benz, which is a German company which was founded in 1926 The other company is Kressler. It is also a very famous American automobile company and it was founded in 1925 you must be knowing a very famous car known as Mercedes-Benz which was manufactured by which is still being manufactured by the Daimler-Benz company Both of these companies were automobile manufacturers one was in the European market one of the biggest companies in the European market and Kressler was the third biggest company in the American market Both of these companies they wanted to achieve synergies and economies of scale and integration between the two continents using and learning processes from both the sides of the world and That is the reason why this merger was initiated This merger took place in 1998 So it's about 30 years ago We are going to discuss this case from the perspective of human resource management We are not going to look at the other aspects like finance or marketing We are going to talk about the HR issues. So the main features of HR management in this merger Were that as you have already studied that there are four phases of a Of the evolution of a merger or an acquisition So in the pre-merger phase HR issues were not considered to be important even in the second phase the HR issues were They took the backseat To the extent that even the HR heads of the companies of both the companies They did not know that the merger is going to take place Until the third phase which was the integration planning phase in which the decision had been taken and In which the selection was made and in which the plans were all set out Until then the HR heads of both the companies They did not know because the whole thing was done very secretively and Then negotiations they were dominated by most of the legal and Financial aspects so they did not consider the HR issues or HR aspects of both the companies to be important enough to bring them to table while planning and Setting out for this particular initiative That is something which happened in the pre-merger and the second phase of This merger in the third phase the integration planning phase then HR issues and concerns were brought into Into discussion, but even then The only main important the most important issue of the merger was discussed with respect to Compensation that we have our managers go or our employees or work force go Compensate how to do after the particular merger has taken place So in that issue which was the most highlighted The top manager keep a is a more us may or German Germany may And they're both different stuff us top managers. They used to get a lot of Compensation a lot of pay whereas German managers keep a jothi top managers keep the high Naiti whereas on the other hand The lower at the lower levels the German managers and employees They were paid much better than the US managers and lower staff So you can well imagine that there was a lot of gap in a lot of distance and a lot of Segregation in the US Pay system and in the German pay system. It was more equitable. It was flatter There were lesser differences between the top managers and the lower managers And this is also something which is quite evident in the culture of European cultures and the American culture American culture is high in power distance and European culture is low in power distance So it was decided that those German managers, which were will be which will be given international responsibilities They will be Their pay will be raised to the US level That was one of the only major concerns which were raised in this merger of two huge multinational companies Then in the post merger integration phase The HR head of both the companies they were not even involved in the Chairman's Integration Council a chairman's integration council was made up of a number of top level managers of the company and they were supposed to you know to look after and to monitor and to effectively run the merger of the two companies and Within that a within that chairman's integration council the HR head of the both the companies They were not involved in that in that council. So you can well imagine how much importance the HR of Those companies was how much importance was given to them You can also see it from this fact that 1,000 projects of merger integration were initiated and only out of those projects 43 were related to the HR issues And and board member of HR was not part of the integration council so these were some of the mistakes or some of the shortcomings that were That took place in that merger from the perspective of HR HR was not given due importance it was not involved in the in the first two phases Then when it was involved even it was not given the due highlight and we have already studies Studied in one of the research studies that those organizations which involved the HR In the earlier phases of the merger and acquisition They are more successful in making the merger or acquisition more successful So although these were big huge companies from From two sides of the world Who were supposed to be well conversant with the requirements of management? they made this mistake from this perspective and That led to a lot of failures there there were other factors of The failure of this merger as well But one of the reasons could have been the HR issues which were not highlighted and which were not Taken into focus while the merger was planned and executed So by 2000 in 1998 the merger took place by 2000 there was a sharp decline in profitability and share price of this company. It was it fell by 20 percent Early on the company lost more than 20 top level executives. So people were not satisfied They were apprehensive. They were not happy with the way things who are Moving on so they left the company Within two years cultural issues they emerged a number of cultural issues were Such as inappropriate humor. People used to joke together. So they didn't understand each other political correctness You have two different cultures so you should understand the political views there. You should know how about them So political correctness was not there then there was perceived excessive formality by in from the perspective of the German managers It was considered to be It was considered to be excessively Informal from the perspective of the American managers. It was considered to be excessively Formal and then there were issues of sexual harassment and then there were private relationship issues in the company because there wasn't any formal policy of Controlling the behavior of people from both the continents so these kind of Weaknesses and these kind of blunders that led to huge financial losses in the coming years particularly on the Crustler side, which was the American side of the company particularly it was a failure for the on the on the US side They were not able to cope with this with this merger. They were not able to cope with the cultural issues They were not able to cope with With the political correctness that was required They were much more inflexible There are I mean There are instances in which it was told that the German managers they took special care to become less formal although they hadn't they had a Culture of formality, but they tried but on the other side the US managers were Inflexible in terms of changing their behaviors That led to a closure of several plants There was a cut down of 40,000 jobs in early years, but even then it was not successful and Merger that Took place. It was concluded it ended up in 2007 and the two companies they separated in 2007 so from this case We have learned that in order to make a merger successful It is very important to highlight the issues that are possible to be created In the in the HR aspect of of the companies because the company is going to be run by the people You need to understand the people's issues first of all in order to make the merger or acquisition work So this is a case study which Makes us understand and reminds us that HR is one of the most important functions of an organization and Particularly for mergers and acquisitions one has to be really careful about the HR policy of an organization And to manage it well is is what is required to make the merger or acquisition successful


As we keep the Lenten journey, we follow Jesus in the way of the cross, sustained by the Scriptures and moving towards Holy Week as we follow through the purposes of God. John's Gospel chapter 11 verses 38 to 44. Jesus was once again deeply troubled within himself. He went to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone was placed in front of it. Take away the stone, said Jesus.  It's the fourth day already. Didn't I tell you, said Jesus, that if you believed, you would see God's glory. So they took the stone away. Jesus lifted up his eyes. Thank you, Father, he said, for hearing me. I know that you always hear me, but I've said this because of the crowd standing around so that they may believe that you sent me. With these words, he gave a loud shout. Lazarus, come out. And the dead man came out. He was tied up, hand and foot, with strips of linen, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. Untie him, said Jesus, and let him go. It might seem strange that we read the story of the raising of Lazarus in the middle of Lent because the raising of Lazarus seems to us such an extraordinary, positive, powerful, new, that surely that should be an Easter story, and in a sense it is. But the way John has positioned it here is with Jesus on his way to Jerusalem for the last time. And when Jesus is waiting to see whether it's the moment to go, his followers are saying to him, let's not go back to Jerusalem.  If we go back there, bad things are going to happen. And so this raising of Lazarus is part of Jesus' own preparation for what he himself is to go through. And I think that's part of the meaning of the strange note earlier in the story when it says that when Jesus heard that Lazarus, his friend, was sick, and Lazarus with his sisters lived in the village of Bethany very close to Jerusalem, when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for a couple of days. You might have thought, and Mary and Martha did think, that if only he'd hurried up, he could have stopped Lazarus from dying. But something else seems to be going on here, something which is profound and powerful and ought to be sustaining for us as we go through Lent as well. Because when we get to the scene we just read with Jesus at the tomb saying, take away the stone. And Martha saying, no, no, no, his body will have started to decompose already. There'll be a smell. It'll be hideous. It'll be scandalous. And Jesus says, didn't I tell you that if you believed you would see God's glory? Then John doesn't say the crucial thing. As usual, John leaves it for us to work it out. Jesus says, take away this stone and they do. And then Jesus prays and says, thank you, Father, that you heard me. What does that mean? It must mean that Jesus, when he heard the news of Lazarus being very sick, had prayed that even if Lazarus did die, he would not decompose. That he would stay there ready to be raised back to new life. So when the stone is rolled away, I think the missing link that John leaves us to figure out for ourselves is that there isn't a smell. And Jesus knows that Lazarus is ready to be raised. Lazarus, he says, come out and out he comes, still wrapped in the grave clothes. Untie him, says Jesus, and let him go, which by the way could precipitate all sorts of thoughts about the way in which Jesus calls us out of the prisons, out of the graves in which we have hid ourselves in our sin, in our fear, in our depression, in our guilt. Jesus says, here's a Lenten discipline. Get yourself untied and find a new way to freedom. But at the heart of this story is of course Jesus coming to the place of pain. Jesus coming to the place of sorrow and grief in order to share it himself. A little earlier in the story we have that amazing picture of Jesus himself weeping at the tomb of his friend. Even knowing what he was called to do, that he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. Jesus weeps. And this is the Jesus who John has told us from the beginning of his gospel. Is God incarnate? This is the word made flesh. The one who was the all-powerful creator coming to share the sorrow and terror of our human lot. And that as we journey through Lent is part of the meaning of this story for us as well. That the Jesus who we follow, the Jesus who is taking us all the way to the cross and beyond, is the Jesus who didn't just sail through all that as though it was easy for him. The Jesus whose compassion resulted in him weeping at the tomb of his friend. I find that enormously comforting and just as comforting in its way as the promise of resurrection, the promise of new life, the other side of death. Of course for Lazarus it was a strange thing because he came back into the present life and he then in due course had to die again. And indeed because his new life as he had it was such a powerful evidence of who Jesus was there were some people plotting against his life as well almost immediately. But for Jesus this was the sign that he could go all the way to Calvary, all the way to suffering and death knowing that the God in whom he trusted would raise him from the dead. Only this time not coming back into this life but going through into a newly embodied existence and new life beyond the reach of pain and sickness and death. That is what sustains us in our Lenten journey. And so we pray, Lord Jesus Christ as you wept at the tomb of your friend and as you prayed that God's will would be done and his glory be seen in what you then did. So we pray for ourselves and for all those with whom we pray at whose tombs we weep or in whose sorrows we share. We pray that your glory will be revealed right there and keep us on track as we follow you on the pathway to Calvary and Easter. Amen.


Well, it's been a great pleasure for me to meet today with President Amin Jamail of Lebanon. Our talks have covered a full range of issues with particular focus on our shared objective of prompt withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon. We also discussed Lebanon's goals in restoring authority and control of central government in all parts of the country. In this regard, I reaffirmed United States support for the sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, and freedom of Lebanon. And I am pleased to have had the opportunity to establish close working dialogue with President Jamail, who deserves all of our support, as he and the people of Lebanon work to rebuild their nation. President Jamail can rely upon the help of the United States. It is my hope that our mutual efforts will lead to restored peace and prosperity for all the people of Lebanon and indeed in all of the Middle East. He has been most welcome here, and we are pleased to have had him with us. I am honored to be the first president of Lebanon to make an official visit to the United States. The Lebanese people deeply appreciate and will never forget your courageous and decisive effort to help bring an end to the suffering of my country. India's American commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a free democratic Lebanon has been fundamental to our survival. We see the U.S. role as the indispensable ingredient to bring peace not only to Lebanon but also to the whole region as well. We firmly believe that President Reagan's initiative has created unprecedented opportunities for peace. We in Lebanon intend to be active in the search for peace with all nations of the region. The relation between the United States and Lebanon is not only between our two governments, it is between our two peoples who share the same heritage and adhere to the same values and principles of democracy and liberty. The two and half million Lebanese have almost equal number of close relatives in the United States. We value enormously the unique dye provided by these American Lebanese among the most loyal of all Americans and we believe they have a leading role in keeping out in keeping our two countries together. Lebanon has been the most recent and for us the most painful example of the assault upon free man by the forces of darkness and occupation. We have fought to retain our freedom and the trends of our resistance has earned for us not only a restated pride in ourselves but also a re-entry into the ranks of the free world with equal resolve. I together with my people am committed to the immediate removal of all foreign forces from our soil and to work hand in hand with all sectors of Lebanese society to build a nation in which all citizens have equal privileges, rights and responsibilities. The historic US-Lebanon relationship is the cornerstone of building this new Lebanon. Lebanese friendship and assistance not only in peace keeping and peace making but also in reconstruction and rebuilding our armed forces are vital. We on our part intend to carry our share of the responsibility of this partnership by a full and reciprocal contribution to all US goals in its many noble endeavors as the leader of the free world.


So I came for this conference actually also because of the theme which is really how fighting corruption in non-governance can contribute to African development and as coming from the international coalition for us fighting corruption in non-governance is a very important topic. We work on this specifically and at least two commitments one commitment that deals with data and transparency. We call it commitment eight in ILC ten commitments but there is another commitment that deals with actions against non-grabbing and also it's really about fighting corruption in non-governance. So for us this conference is treating two main thematic areas among the ten thematic areas of ILC so we came here not only to run but also to share. We've been here actually for a week because last week we had our regional run forum here in Ibiza as a pre-event to this conference where we're sharing also on the same topic. We're sharing mainly how fighting corruption can promote women under rights, how fighting corruption in non-governance can promote community under rights. So for us this is the second weekend in Ibiza and we are looking forward to further running and sharing with now more participants, more actors or for more over the world about how transparency can be promoted in the non-governance area.


So YouTube team keep it clean. What's going on is engraving here with another video and Bucks we got the Bucks and That pressure the pressure zone the pressure zone big time because with this Bucks team they They have absolutely no pressure on them and that's something that I haven't even been thinking about this whole time Bucks have absolutely no pressure on them whatsoever. They got absolutely no pressure on them whatsoever Because they already done this season is already done. This this season is I guess I'll wash for them They getting ready to get a new quarterback probably next year unless Jamie Swenson continues to show some stuff for them But things are things are things are changing over there with the Bucks But things are changing with the Ravens too But with the Bucks they got nothing to lose so that makes them dangerous because you may see them being super aggressive Just trying to play spoiler and we can't let them do that We got to take full advantage of every single mistake. They may we got to make them make mistakes and just be on top of it I know the I know the I saw somebody mention that Joe Flacco's getting traded. It's like come on man Like I feel like some of y'all haven't been watching the videos for the past like four or five months six months We have been talking about this before the season even started We've been saying Flacco's gonna get either cut or traded after this year. We've been on that I know one of my homeboys one of my homeboys texts me earlier today. He texts me congrats, and I was like for what?   I said we've been talking about that before the season even started. That's not no news That's not like oh Joe Flacco being that's not that's not new news. That's not new news. That's that's old news Man, we've been on that been on that I mean cuz I mean and it's understandable that a lot of people who are not Ravens fans Don't follow this channel or other Ravens YouTube channels. Shout out to my boy Joe. Nubo. We still got work to do together Shout out to my guy SZG sports shout out to my guy. We flock together. Shout out to my guy Joey sport Joey boss sports, dude Hey appreciate that QC shout out to Some other Ravens channels like I can't oh my boy AK. We still got work to do together I'm trying to work with oh shout out to them over at Birdland BS to Shout out to a Edgar Allen shout out to my guy Ivan Evans the breakdown Kings So yeah, man. It's we out here. There's some Ravens channels out here, man So anyway And my guy trade to my guy trade who I know y'all saw a lot of y'all saw his The Lamar Jackson video that he put together and shout out to him He had told me that um he put a little clip what we were talking about Lamar Jack I love how he put the clip together and put everything together. But anyway, let's talk back to these bucks man this game is so important because because they It's just so important because again for What is this the third year straight? Three years in a row the Ravens again, they know how they need to make it They know what they need to do. They know what what it's gonna take for them to advance They know all this stuff. They got all this knowledge. They they have everything right in front of them and it's crystal clear It's crystal clear. There's no oh we need this team to lose and that team to lose. No, it ain't none of that There's absolutely none of that. There's none of that.  That's it That's it You win your next three games. You're in the playoffs. You don't need help from this person that person that team You don't need them to lose. You don't need them to tell you don't need you don't need that So Ravens for the first time in three years. They need to handle their own They need to handle their own They need to handle their own why nothing being said about The records Jackson is breaking what records did he break older? They're running the most Russian yards by a quarterback in the first What three games the first four games something like that that record me honestly? I don't care about those records most Russian yards. He got in the first half of many games. That's fine Just win Just win though Just win.  They've all done enough To get here to force to be at this point of the season and of course when Flacco was here, too Flacco obviously he won four out of the nine games So that played a big part too, so let's not forget about that But it's What's up D lava, but now It's Jackson's team and they got to make sure it's Jackson's team the gimmick stuff I got a feeling they gonna throw it in there I mean you kind of figure like oh, you know, they're gonna go to those goofy place, you know, they are But it's I don't go back to the records back cuz he was saying something about the records I don't I don't care about the Russian records. It's nice a nice little accolade to have nice something to put on a plaque Put on your wall at the house or whatever but when Just when When when when when when if the Ravens lose today is the season over no but they They would have to hope for a stealers still is lost Against the Patriots, but that's what I'm saying.  It cannot be a third year can't it is Gonna be raining today. They said it's gonna be raining heavy if it's raining today. I just I just know in two weeks I just know in two weeks because every time we go to Baltimore for some reason The weather is just crazy the first time we were gonna we went to Baltimore We're gonna go for the the open practice. It got rained out. It was raining like crazy Then we went back to Baltimore a couple weeks later for the opening game It rained the entire game the entire game So now we're gonna be going up there in two weeks for the Browns and the Browns in the Ravens game So I'm expecting it's gonna be cold. Oh, I'm expecting it to be cold and rainy I'm expecting it to be ugly, but either way They just got to make it happen, man. Uh, so Kenneth Dixon I Had um, I had tweeted earlier because the Raven showed him walking around in the air read Jersey I said, okay, Kenneth Dixon guaranteed about he about to have at least two touchdowns And one of them is gonna be from at least 20 or 30 yards out From one of them gonna be a long one. He's gonna have at least two touchdowns At least two Just cuz he got on that air read Jersey, of course, he's not gonna wear it during the game But just cuz he was wearing that pregame.  Kenneth Dixon at least at least I Expect this to be a game where our tight ends they get some more. I somebody told me the other day I forgot who it was. They say hey, don't call don't call him Katie cuz he ain't nothing like the real Katie Which is Kevin Durant Okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm sorry. Gus the bus. I hope he goes off too, man Hope those defenders slip right off of him when the last time he played in the rain the first time was against the First game was against the the bills Wasn't the bronc the Bronco game have some bad weather too, I don't remember Who's the other I forgot? Okay, yes, it's okay the bills. What were the other games where we're draining if the bucks let go of James Winston Where you think he's going? I don't know the Giants. Oh, it was the Bronco game. Okay, appreciate that Now man, awesome, you ain't been you ain't been seeing the recent videos See a lot a lot of people who asked that question.  I had to check the time my biggest thing with Kenneth Dixon It's yeah, I mean it ain't no surprise that the Browns ain't bad this year ain't no surprise Did you see flakko open for trade? Yeah, I didn't add he that's that's old news though We've been talking about that we've been talking about that since before the season started That's why the flakko news is not even news. It's old. That's old. But um, anyway um Oh with Kenneth Dixon My biggest thing with him obviously is him staying healthy. If you're not healthy, what good are you to the team? I still feel that way. No, are you good at? He don't apologize Um, I still feel that way For anybody if you're not healthy if you can't stay healthy, what good are you? But at the same time I did also save and I've said that before in the Kenneth Dixon videos I say it's a win-win for me regardless um, because with Kenneth Dixon Uh, I didn't expect him to make the team Well, I don't think he should have made the team from jump when they did when they first did the 53 man roster I didn't think he deserved it. I still don't think he deserved it Now he's been doing good the past couple weeks since he's been back But initially I did not think and I I still stand by that I never thought he should have made the original 53 I thought mark thompson should have made it over and Gus Edwards should have made it over him and of course alice collis, but um He made it and then they put him on injures there So he would have the chance to come back But I thought once he went on injures or I called him going on injures ever I said watch him probably get injured again first game of the season boom injured and they put him on injures there But then they ended and I thought that was going to be his last downplayed as a raven But they ended up bringing them back.  I said, you know what? I'm not Because I know a lot of people are doing it with this whole Lamar Jackson joe flacco thing Whether they like a player or not, whether they favor a player or not, whichever side they on But with me, but what what they do With some people who would rather Lamar Jackson over flacco They will want to one flacco to go out there and do really bad But some people who favor flacco over Lamar Jackson, they want Lamar Jackson to go out there and do really bad Me I'm not with that That's not me.  No No, that's dumb But that's what people would That's what people are doing with uh, Lamar Jackson that a lot of people just rooting for him to fail And I would never root for somebody who the team I'm going for to fail So with Kenneth Dixon that brings me back to Kenneth Dixon Am I the biggest fan of Kenneth Dixon? No, I haven't been But I'm I'm still hoping that he does good. That's my point. I'm hoping that he does good I hope he goes out there and kills it. Why because it benefits the team that we root for And it why would I cheer against him that wouldn't make no sense Why would I cheer against him? That would not make any sense Like that be foolish as much as I got on him about the injury history and that still remains the same He got to stay healthy He gots to stay healthy. Um, so yeah It is what it is man. Hey ricky. I agree man um Somebody said who are the inactives? Oh, yeah, we saw a brashar pair and a lot of ravens fans don't like that either And they don't like me for that too, which is fine. I don't mind. Um, they said oh the engraving Why are you cheering for brashar payment?  They can't develop wide receivers to save their lives And brashar is another example He is a and he is another example Oh, brashar got in the fight. Yes. Yeah, I saw when the dude swung on him. I saw when the dude swung on him So, I mean it is what it is, man It is what it is. The flakko has played the toughest schedule Flakko flakko played his tough schedule. He did There was some opportunities missed and there's been opportunities missed with lamar too. That's life. It happens Appreciate that alberto. Thank you a lot, man It happens what time is it is 12 49? So, I mean it happens Flak if flakko played the majority of the schedule So hopefully lamar will play the majority of this season And when I say that because flakko was four and five. So he played nine games So I want lamar to have to have played more games than flakko when this season is done Now some of y'all might wonder how would that be possible if flakko played nine games They would only be seven games left in the regular season Exactly. So that means I want lamar to start for those seven games Which he looks like he's on schedule for and then also in the playoffs. So that would mean we wouldn't make playoffs So I see a lot of y'all already got that before I had to break it down So shout out to y'all that got it up here. Maybe y'all should be our offensive coordinators. Anyway, um Whew, we almost there man almost there Like I said for this game, um, I feel like with this game it is It's a scary game But the way that I felt it that I thought think that it's gonna go see I can't even talk I'm over here sounding like Marty morning way the way that I feel like it's gonna go Um charm city hoodie sold out You might have to check on the plug, man But the way I feel like this game is gonna go I feel like in the first half Um, it's gonna be kind of close And then in the third quarter, uh, both teams with trade field goes early But then that's when I feel like the Ravens are gonna start taking off in the third quarter Hopefully a hopefully they take off from jump.  I want the Ravens to take care of business, man Don't have us over here stressing out. You saw what the Browns did. You ain't got a scoreboard watch You know the Steelers game starts at four.  Just take care of your business Just take care of your business. Who's my favorite Ravens receiver? Um Of all time or right now of all time Uh, we got Steve Smith senior even though he was he only had like one good year for us. Um, Steve Smith senior Oh right now, uh Oh, will he sneak will he sneak Will he sneak? um Yeah, will he sneak because will he sneak if it yeah right now is is definitely sneak because will he sneak is He is tough. He makes some very very tough catches. Yes. Yeah, John. I'm going to that game on the 30th.  He somebody said he got that ball. Oh, venom said he got that ball Yeah, he's he's he's he's strong man. And you when you see him block. He's not afraid He's not afraid He is not afraid Um, so yeah, will it definitely will he sneak man? Yeah, thank you drew breeze for what making will he sneak? Oh, Derek Mason was a beast too, man He was nice for us. I love Derek Mason love Derek Mason, um Will it but yeah over the years, uh, Steve Smith senior. Oh, you're gonna be there. Okay. I see you there, John Definitely. I see you there um So will he sneed Um, I gotta get I gotta get my plane ticket, man Um, but anyway, will he sneed? Oh over the years though, Derek Mason some of our better better receivers have been Derek Mason and Kwame Bolton, of course Tori Smith with that deep threat Uh Steve Smith senior for that one year Uh, whoa, Randy high Oh, sorry my fault Um, Jacobi Jones. No, he definitely wasn't one of our Better. He was he was one of our best return men Receiver though. No appreciate that Daquan. He said who that pulling for the Ravens today appreciate that new Orleans Those my guys over there. I'm saints, man I still expect them to be in the Super Bowl even though they had their struggles with Tampa Bay And they end up losing to the Cowboys a couple weeks ago I still expect and they even though they had their struggles with Tampa Bay They still won and they won by two scores, right? I believe they won by two scores either way Um, I still think they're gonna be in the Super Bowl. Jacobi for the win against the past though Hmm What can you talk about? Yeah, man figures. Oh number 16 that old uh return man Shout out to Yemen figures, man. Wow That guy mark now mark Clayton. He wasn't bad. He wasn't like good good for us. He wasn't bad though Was he a first round draft pick? Well, technically. Yeah, but did he play like it? No, but Yeah, well, okay. We got about five minutes. Um Tim White, oh gosh, y'all are going crazy now, man Yeah, still isn't got James Conner. So that that's big. That's very big.  He brought up Perryman Yeah, we can win the afc north as long as Ravens take care of business It can not necessarily be handed to them But it's the afc north is like here you take it steal it first Ravens would almost looking like oh Let's get it then Ravens were like no you take it give it away Then the Steelers have been like, okay. Yeah, we got this. We got this then the Steelers is like, you know what? We don't want it you guys take it and then the Ravens are like, uh Man, we got a chance to get it. You know what?  So Brown's trying to put their hand in the pot too So it's like man Ravens can get this thing man. All they have to do when out That's it I know it's not that simple, but It's right in front of them and all they got to do is make it happen A lot of people think we're gonna get whipped and murdered and killed by the charges I don't think so I think we got an excellent chance against the charges charges gonna be tough But I think we can match up well with them. Why because of philip rivers Now I know philip rivers is a beast. He got his weird throwing motion. Lamar got that too Put a home philip rivers gets that ball on the money He's a nice quarterback very underrated and very underappreciated by the NFL period, but with philip rivers He's not mobile He's not mobile Ravens have went up against Julio Jones They're gonna go up against mike evans today They went against obviously, uh, sunil calvin ritley. Um, they went up against tyreek hill They went up against travis kelly even though they didn't do so good against travis kelly. Um, but my point is they they went up against Beasts beast of receivers They went up against these guys but They hung in there They matched saints receivers too, even though that was when jimmy smith was getting killed that game But we didn't have malin Humphrey. So remember that but Ravens can match up and it ain't like philip rivers is gonna be doing all this all this mobile stuff and be running around like that and be making plays on the run Not saying that he can't while he's scrambling, but he's not a scrambling guy So that gives us an advantage in that column. Somebody said king and allen's gonna be out that week We'll see when we get there. Um, because it's it's way too early But we can do it man. I know that they can I know they can We might be might stub hub centers the worst state in the league There's like 12 charges fans that go into their games. Yeah, that too Ravens flocks show up. Oh man. It could be a beautiful day or beautiful night Out there and that's in six days. Yeah, they got joey both. I know their defense is still nice, too But i'm as far as our offense as far as their offense. I mean we can match up, man We can match up Yeah, that tight ends are slow at least antonio gates is but cj mosey. It don't matter with him We saw ben watson beat up cj mosey in the same scheme we So cj mosey, it don't matter if the titans slow fast whatever they're gonna be over So, yeah, melvin guard more than melvin gordon should be back against us. That's true.  He said been been watching the goat though. Should I get tickets right now to the ravens charges game? Do it, man Go show that love man.   It's savings, man Both on hold and I want to donate both and hold. Oh, hey appreciate that man Raven's moving on from draft to this season the report just came out I got I got a link y'all the video man I got a link y'all the video man Because again, we've been talking about that from a long time ago long time ago Long time ago links to watch live. I appreciate that all day grind. Thank you, man Links to watch live write this down write this down real quick If anybody that's trying to watch any games live and you can use this link every single week Every single week write it down. Please Yes, please write it down text it to yourself Write it on a sticky note or so you could put it on your computer on your team Reddit R-E-D-D-I-T-T is it two Ts in reddit? I forgot how to spell reddit. I don't know if it's two Ts or one T Um, y'all know you don't have to pay. You do not have to pay. It's reddit.com Slash r slash NFL streams Yeah A one T. Okay. Appreciate that. So no, I'm not gonna stream doing this game. I I can't reddit R-E-D-D-D-I-T Dot com C-O-M Slash r Slash NFL streams That's it That's it. That's it Listen, we all got the same scenario in our heads when today and lose next week and lose against the Browns Oh and lose against the Browns we got to I know you're thinking at night, man No, we've thought about that We've thought about that But that's not the scenario we got in our heads, man They just got to make it happen, man I appreciate that again to Kwame and thank you all day ground and hopefully more does good Ravenverse Saints and the Super Bowl Saints win We get to the Super Bowl, man. Oh That would be something I know a lot of people not expecting us to Ravens fans included Anything's possible though anything's possible if Ravens got they they got all the ability in the world to But their biggest problem has been finishing close games against good teams Good teams find a way to finish games That's been Ravens problem Today it needs to start where they fix it appreciate that all day grind They they they got to fix that last week. They had a chance. They had several chances, but they didn't do it This week they need to just they need to finish this game early So they need to get it to where the defense can sit back and just attack that pass rush can just go after james winston Appreciate y'all love y'all. Thank y'all. I will see y'all


Another thing that's important to note when you're starting to look at, okay I want to start to create a culture, create a group of men that is proactive, that is going out to meet girls or to create a lifestyle that's interesting, is the ideal group is like the X-Men. It has multiple characters in it. Because if you're hanging around just the same type of people, even if they're really proactive and interesting people, nice people or whatever, if they're all introverted or analytical thinkers, if they're all in one sphere of work, then you are fairly limited by what you know, who you know. And we see this. Most groups are fairly homogenous. They're the same race, the same age, the same work that they're doing, similar kinds of temperaments. The groups that I have built and moved into and hung out with over the last 10 years have all sorts of different characters. And these are an ideal tribe of men, who is a macro thinker, a micro thinker, extroverts, introverts, someone who is really good at connecting with people one-on-one, someone who is a social butterfly, who's good at holding the attention of groups. And if you look at the groups that I hang out with, I'm the macro thinker and the person that makes deep connection with people one-on-one. Liam is very extroverted, he's very good at dealing with group dynamics and he's also a deal maker, somebody who finds out what somebody's good at and immediately brings them into the fold and gets something happening with them. He's also the guy that as soon as an idea appears, he takes action on it, whereas I'm actually more of a cautious thinker and I'll plan and plot things for too long. So he and I work really well as a team together. The idea appears, Liam's like, let's do it immediately. And I go, hang on a minute, buddy, let's think about it.  Tony Solo, who's one of our coaches, is an absolute workhorse, incredibly disciplined person who once he gets something in his mind, moves meticulously and moves in a linear way. Then we bring in outside plugins such as Gareth Jones who you guys would have all seen a couple of days ago, who is an amazing people person, very, very social, very good at keeping a party going, great social butterfly and so on. And in amongst that group, it means that we have access to all different types of people, all different ways of thinking.  It's really a dynamic place to be.  Those are, that, I mean, it can work and if you're looking at the two ways of getting girls into your life, which most men work on, one of them is to try and build a social circle that's like some kind of Venus fly trap which attracts women into it. And that was the old way of doing things where you would try and become part of a social scene, join a band, that's why I started music, was to try and get girls, because there would be girls in the vicinity. And I've worked with clients who've owned nightclubs, owned modeling agencies, owned hairdressing salons where there's lots of girls and it has the effect of bringing people into the social orbit but it doesn't actually close a deal. It's not enough in and of itself. And then on the other side you have the guys that only do cold approach and it's just about them and the girl each time. If you want to learn to be the most effective seducer possible then what you want to do is both those things. You must be able to see a girl that you like somewhere on the bus, in the park, wherever, go over there and make an impact. Otherwise you are limited to a very scarce pool of choices. But at the same time if you can do that and then bring a girl into a social circle which is fun and interesting and dynamic and where the men respect each other and when you walk in with the girl that everyone has your back then that makes your job so much easier. Because of course at the end of the day the girl is going to be interested in you. If she's going to have sex with you or start a relationship it's because of you but it certainly doesn't hurt having a group where she comes into it and it's interesting where there's people who are holding more of the social atmosphere together. I know for me I'm not very good at that in big groups that's not my... I can stand up in front of a big group and talk but holding together big social groups is not my forte. But having someone like Liam or Gareth around means that that element is done for me. So I can bring the girl in and then the social circle act as this seduction washing machine and out the other end comes a relationship.