G. Robin Smith plays Benjamin Franklin Ben Franklin, played by Chautaqua presenter G. Robin Smith, joined us to share his ideas about creating successful business relationships, his dislike for patents, Facebook and even open source code. He was the country's first postmaster, so we also asked him what he thought the future held for the U.S. post office. It's not pretty, but it certainly was enlightening and entertaining. And by the way, he believes there's more to life than earning money. Imagine that, from one of the more successful entrepreneurs of his day.
Podcast:
| 02_23_13.mp3 |
Intro:
Business or how we conduct business is in a constant state of flux. Creators are driven by the desire to stand out from the competition. Buyers demand the next shiny object or the latest fix for a thorny problem. But it isn’t always the drive forward that consumes us. We often look backwards as well. Take the latest boom in knitting or the maker movement, a DIY subculture that combines high tech with metalworking, woodworking, arts and crafts.
This tension between the old and the new is good for us. It’s good for business. The collision is where some of the most interesting ideas are born. Take Instagram, the photo app with the ability to capture an image with an iphone and the software to instantly turn it into a tinted retro-print.
Our guest today was there at one of the most fluxating periods in recent human history. He was born when everything was done by hand. By the time he was in his fifties, around 1760, the industrial revolution had begun. He was there when the scientific discoveries made in his youth were being put to practical use -- the application of steam power and the development of machine tools for instance.
Today, we’re stepping into the Minding Your Business time machine to meet Benjamin Franklin to discover how business was done back in the 18th century. You heard that right. He’ll be sharing with us how he got started as a newspaper editor and moved on to becoming one of America’s founding fathers, and helped shape what we think of America today.
Business or how we conduct business is in a constant state of flux. Creators are driven by the desire to stand out from the competition. Buyers demand the next shiny object or the latest fix for a thorny problem. But it isn’t always the drive forward that consumes us. We often look backwards as well. Take the latest boom in knitting or the maker movement, a DIY subculture that combines high tech with metalworking, woodworking, arts and crafts.
This tension between the old and the new is good for us. It’s good for business. The collision is where some of the most interesting ideas are born. Take Instagram, the photo app with the ability to capture an image with an iphone and the software to instantly turn it into a tinted retro-print.
Our guest today was there at one of the most fluxating periods in recent human history. He was born when everything was done by hand. By the time he was in his fifties, around 1760, the industrial revolution had begun. He was there when the scientific discoveries made in his youth were being put to practical use -- the application of steam power and the development of machine tools for instance.
Today, we’re stepping into the Minding Your Business time machine to meet Benjamin Franklin to discover how business was done back in the 18th century. You heard that right. He’ll be sharing with us how he got started as a newspaper editor and moved on to becoming one of America’s founding fathers, and helped shape what we think of America today.
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