In this engaging episode of Byers and Co, hosts Dave Anthony and his team dive into a variety of current political and economic topics impacting the day-to-day lives of Americans. Key discussions include federal policies, employee engagement trends, and intriguing insights into the sports world, particularly with the impending Super Bowl.
Key Political Insights
Federal Workforce Changes
Remote Work Policies: The episode kicks off with updates on federal workforce policies as President Trump urges federal workers to return to the office. To address the situation, he's offering buyouts that can amount to up to seven months of salary. However, not all employees qualify for these offers, with exemptions for military personnel and others in critical roles.
Spending Freeze: In another significant political development, the White House's plan to freeze federal spending has been halted by a federal judge due to potential long-term damages it might cause to essential services at state and local levels.
Employee Engagement
Declining Engagement Rates: Drawing on Gallup polling data, the hosts discuss alarming trends in employee engagement, noting it has hit a 10-year low. Only 46% of employees feel they clearly understand workplace expectations, and only 39% believe someone at work genuinely cares about their well-being.
Youth Disengagement: Engagement drops are particularly pronounced among employees under 35, who also face challenges in navigating job opportunities in an evolving economic landscape.
Leadership Deficiencies
- Scarcity of Effective Leadership: The discussion shifts to a newly published book titled Leadership Orbit, which highlights the urgent need for effective leadership within organizations. A lack of investment in training and robust leadership structures is pinpointed as a critical issue affecting employee satisfaction and company success.
Sports Buzz
Super Bowl Preview
Excitement Building: As excitement builds for the upcoming Super Bowl, the hosts reflect on the increasing popularity of football as a sport and the factors driving viewer preferences. They discuss ratings and how specific star players, like Patrick Mahomes, are likely to influence viewers’ interest.
Viewership Trends: The conversation touches upon viewership statistics, comparing audiences from various games and discussing key factors that impact ratings, such as timing and team popularity.
NFL Ratings and Viewership
- The Popularity of Live Sports: The episode reflects on the lucrative nature of live sports broadcasting and the escalating costs associated with streaming services like ESPN due to high demand for sports content.
Community and Economic Issues
Macroeconomic Landscape
- The Federal Reserve Meeting: The hosts also delve into the ongoing Federal Reserve meeting aimed at assessing the economy, predicting that interest rates will remain steady as inflation pressures linger.
Weather Report
- Weather Forecast: A brief weather segment updates listeners on an upcoming sunny day with temperatures expected to reach 46°F, followed by rain anticipated for the rest of the week.
Conclusion
This episode of Byers and Co not only provides listeners with valuable insights into political and economic trends affecting the nation but also captivates with discussions on the fervor surrounding the upcoming Super Bowl. Through a blend of humor and thoughtful analysis, the hosts engage their audience, prompting them to reflect on their own workplace experiences and the broader societal implications of these developments.
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They say the Constitution specifies only Congress can do that. The President's Office of Management and Budget sent conflicting memos on the scope of the freeze, which has now been put on hold by a federal judge as a result of a separate suit. More at now, Decatur.com. Don't want to go back to the office? Then just go.
I'm Dave Anthony Fox News, President Trump, who wants federal workers to stop working from home as offering buyouts. A memo sent to the federal workforce from the Office of Personnel Management is giving employees an option to leave their jobs with as much as seven months of salary and benefits. But employees must decide to resign by February 6.
Not all federal employees are eligible. There are exemptions for military personnel, postal workers, immigration officials, and others in national security roles. Fox is here at Halberd. A White House plan to freeze. A lot of federal spending and grants so it can be reviewed. Block by a federal judge who said it could cause irreparable harm. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer agrees. This money supports states and city school boards, hospitals, small businesses, families, firefighters, police officers, fighting fentanyl,
So many things just boom cut. States complain Medicaid payment access was cut off the White House's direct assistance like Social Security and other benefits would not be affected. Now to the Capitol where Fox's Ryan Schmels reports a controversial Trump nominee gets a hot seat this morning. Robert Kennedy Jr. Will testify before the Senate Finance Committee as the Department of Health and Human Services nominee
And we'll take questions on his stance on vaccines, abortion, and other issues. His cousin and former ambassador to Japan in Australia, Caroline Kennedy, making the pitch for him not to be confirmed. He likes any relevant government, financial, management, or medical experience.
his views on vaccines are dangerous and willfully misinformed. Knowing his opening statement, Kennedy plans to sell tell senators that Americans overall health is in a grievous condition with obesity, diabetes addiction, and a lot of mental and physical health conditions on the rise, adding he's not anti-vaccine or anti-industry, he's pro safety. Happy New Year, the lunar one beginning the Chinese year of the snake. New York's the first state to close schools today to observe this New Year holiday. America's listening to Fox News.
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These after President Trump warned Russia's leader Vladimir Putin. If he doesn't agree to talks to end the war in Ukraine, the US will impose new sanctions. Ukraine's president, Vladimir Zelensky, told Fox's Hannity through a translator. The Europeans understand that without guarantees of security from the United States, from President Trump, it will not be enough. Putin is not afraid of Europe. Unfortunately, that is so. And so we need such guarantees of security. North Korea has supplied thousands of troops to Russia to help fight Ukraine.
And once again, North Korea's leader is wanting his nuclear arsenal. Kim Jong Un toured North Korea's nuclear weapons institute and a facility that produces nuclear material. Kim reported by the state news agency as hailing amazing results in production last year. But he demanded staff go even further to counteract what he calls hostile forces. President Donald Trump's return to the White House has analysts asking if the two men will meet
They did so three times during the first Trump administration. Talks ended without agreement. Kim Jong Un has spent recent years forging an alliance with Russia, Jonathan Savage, Fox News. President Trump's invited Israel's Prime Minister to the White House for Talks next Tuesday. Today, the Trump Middle East envoy meets with Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, ahead of a new hostage released from Hamas and Gaza tomorrow.
The Federal Reserve will wrap up a two day meeting today to assess the economy and then... It's widely expected that Fed policy makers will keep interest rates steady at a rate between four and a quarter to four and a half percent after cutting the benchmark interest rate a full percentage point last year.
Fox's Hillary Barsky is unclear when the next fed rate cut might come as inflation has crap back up back up on the annual rate in the last few months on Wall Street stock futures are up slightly the day after a rebound for the NASDAQ up almost 400 points getting back more than half of the big plunge in the tech stocks sell off Monday. I'm Dave Anthony. This is Fox News. Don't let tax season overwhelm you.
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Good morning. Here's a look at your WSL live three day weather forecast today, sunny with a high of 46 tonight. Mostly clear low around 29 for Thursday rain likely afternoon increasing clouds high near 46 and Friday rain likely mainly before noon, mostly cloudy and high near 48 current temperature in downtown Decatur 33 degrees. Your WSL I time is 606.
Mhm.
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Good morning and welcome to the Wednesday edition of Buy Yours and Company. Clay Gerhard will join us in the Decatur Park District. We'll check in with
big event coming up, plus Tanya Andrichs, the company starts now.
Good morning and welcome. We're back here on a Wednesday. Hope we're having a great day. I miss the weather there next sunshine today or yes. OK, good.
you see the ratings are we're in for the weekend in football, which was really interesting to me. The NFC did not do nearly as well as the AFC. I think that's a time of day thing for sure. Also teams. I mean, this was this chief's bills thing was yet another big battle between the same two teams broke the record for the AFC Championship game.
57 million people. Not surprised. Yeah. Yeah. It's I mean, it's a big deal. It was in the right spot. It was at the right time. It had the right people and yeah.
What's amazing though, is even showing you those heat maps, you know, like who was rooting for the bills last time and who was rooting for the Chiefs. And now all that's kind of flip flop. Still more people tuned in to see just, I guess, changed the way they were rooting watching. It's a hard thing for me to understand hate, listening, hate, watching, hate anything. But I know it's a thing. I've found myself doing it. I've said that multiple times on radio personalities where I listen and I'm
sort of interacting with it because I'm having a conversation with the radio host. I mean, we know that formula.
And I'm thinking, no, you idiot. This is, this is what it is. 57.4 million viewers on CBS on broadcast TV. I mean, that's amazing. So you think that the difference, you know, 13, 14, 15 million fewer viewers is just a time of day thing probably. I would say it is sizable. It is a sizable part of it. But I think that the, I think that the Mahomes Kelsey
Swift. Oh, there's no doubt. No doubt because last year was the previous record against the Baltimore Ravens. Yeah, there if they flip flop the games, I think that the numbers would have been closer because they the boost that the Chiefs get.
and that time boost would have somewhat come closer to each other. But I think the day game would have still been a bigger audience. Actually, I don't know if they'd flip the conferences. Maybe. Maybe. But I think it would be close. The commanders are new. I mean, as far as not in a small market.
But, but I mean, they're new to the scene of being in the playoffs for most people's lives. You know, I think they said there were only a handful of players on their team that was even alive. You know, the last time they were, you know, in that kind of game to give you some perspective. But yeah, it's still just such a huge ticket. I mean, it is amazing to me that what a cash cow. Yeah, you know, I got an email yesterday.
from ESPN plus telling me that my rates going up. Imagine that because they want to bring me more live sports. What do you pay for ESPN plus ballpark? I think it's a I think it works out to $10 a month. Okay. And I pay annually. But I think that's about what it pays. I need to maybe look and see about bundling and all that because it's about to renew. But man, I just live sports is going to carry entertainment.
more than anything else. And if we needed any sort of confirmation, there you get it. But these billion and billion and billion dollar contracts for these startups and upshoots and streaming services and platforms, it's all tied to sports. I mean, that's where it is. Yeah. 47 five for the Eagles win.
well down that actually it was down on their average viewership for the title game a little bit dot ton but a little bit true.
And I think that's just sort of, you know, you love Philly or you hate Philly commanders new to the scene and being in the afternoon. I don't know how that rotation works. You know, I know that the Super Bowl rotates, you know, between the networks that have a little piece of the NFL. I don't know how, you know, those games happen at what time and what
It's got to be based on popularity, right? I would think you get the prime time game if you're the Chiefs no matter what. I'm sure they have an algorithm or at least the ability to decide, you know, to manually pick because they have the flex rules going into affected different parts of the season based on ratings and matchups and things like that. And then I think that
for me, the league is very smart in that way. And they are trying to get as many eyeballs as possible. There's a slight bit of competitiveness that's important. Well, having both teams play on the same day. Yes. To your point, last year, Fox had the San Francisco 49ers and the Detroit Lions for the NFC championship and they drew 56.7 million. So that was
know, you know, a different game. Clearly. Anyway, the numbers are in and guess what football is popular. Yeah, no question. Easy, easiest sport to follow, easiest sport to be a fan of. There's only if your season ticket holder, there's like nine home games plus two, you have to pay for that suck. And then you have, you have 18 weeks, four months, once a week,
Yeah. It's easy. Check it. Every single play that you watch has a nice break in between before the next one. They barely do. They play for like 15 minutes over three hours. And that's a fact. I know it's literally a fact. There is no, by the way, that's easier. Yeah, but most sports are that way. I mean, when you break it down, no, no baseball, I saw a very similar thing. Things a lot longer finish the game, but the actual time playing is a fraction of the time the game last.
Yeah. But they are shorter than NFL games at this point. They're two and a half hours on average. And the NFL says, well, we're three or three plus. We're not under three. Yeah. But in baseball, you get a nice pause and a nice break in between every pitch. That's true. But I mean, that's a hike in the football.
I know, but I'm talking about it. The reason they're two and a half hours is because you've got a nice break every time the batter stepped out of the batter's box. You know, you don't get a hike and then you don't get 45 seconds between. I mean, they have, they have NFL. They literally have plays where you just go down on the grass and let the clock run. I mean, that's
that sport is is way sneakier, less action than people realize. I love it. And I go to it all the time. But when you break it down, there's not a whole lot going on. Nope. And it's more noticeable in person than it is on TV. Well, but I mean, you just, you, you get the sense of them filling the time. It's probably more noticeable when you're working and you're on the work clock that you, but like in person, that's, Hey, let's
Here's what's going to happen. Let me get my nachos. I mean, so you're kind of filling your own time. But from a working standpoint, you're like, all right, stop, start, stop, start. Here we go. 11 minutes to 18 minutes is the live action difference between football and baseball. Those are the smallest amount of all of the major sports.
hockey takes you about two hours and 20 minutes to get a full game, but you actually get 60 minutes of live action. That's because they don't really stop. You need players off the ice and throw them over the floor over the thing. So I mean, I would be interesting to break down salaries, you know, based on that. Then you'd have to sort how many games and how long is the season. And by the way, is we're going to run this clock. Oh,
If we stop, we're going to add it like if they have. But when they add it, it doesn't seem like that much time. Well, stoppage. So I learned from a former professional soccer player. I'm like, I because I was getting excited about the sport. I was trying to get into it. And I was like, I don't understand this time thing. It seems arbitrary. And he explained to me, it's not really arbitrary. It's if an injury happens, it's approximately this much time. If a argument happens, it's this much. If you are screwing around with the ball,
we'll do this much time. And so they kind of sum it up and then boom, you might get up to eight minutes or something like that. Eight minutes doesn't seem like, I mean, if you add up all the time, as we were just talking about with all these other major sports and they're running nonstop. Well, that, that, I mean, the ball is moving, but if you're in the backfield, they're standing three quarters of the time, then you're on the guys are the chase in the ball or moving a lot. But when they do add that at the end, you feel like, man, if they did that with the NFL, yeah.
You'd be adding like an hour. Oh, you, you absolutely would. And they even have built in mandatory. Like, all right, this game's going way too fast. Let's go see commercial from country crock or something. And it will be back.
All right. I don't know how to feel about the Super Bowl. I mean, excited. I'll watch it. I mean, I always do regardless of, you know, who's playing. It's just it's a great match. American thing. Yeah, I think so loaded with stars. It is. I just don't know what to expect. I don't have any expectations. I think there's one thing you can you can probably take to the bank if anything and not outcome driven. Saquon Barkley is probably a
lock lock lock for one at least one touchdown. I think it's likely he'll get three. But I don't know if they're going to win or lose or get blown out. Yeah, you just feel like 60 yards or around every corner. And if they get down in the 11 and they don't touch push it or something, he's going to run the ball.
That's a good one. Yeah. But my I think and my homes will keep a minute. I don't know why I say Juan Barkley is not in the conversation for most valuable player. That's the thing that I don't understand because you just stated the obvious. There are two gigantic stars on that field. You know, not this weekend, but next.
Yeah. And you know, Patrick Mahomes will be a game changer or can do just about anything, right? Yeah. And you know, the same thing about say, Juan Barr. I think Jalen hurts. You still have like questions. He's a Hall of Famer. He is, but he's not playing like a Hall of Famer in these last, you know, number of games. You know, he didn't have a great game this past weekend. I think I had two passes or two or 19 yards, two catches. I mean, it wasn't a big game. I think he had at least one drop. I remember maybe a couple, but
I think they're I would think it's going to be not a track meet, but I think they're going to be scores. That's great, though. That's what people want, right? Yeah, I think it'll be exciting. All right. I've got a study. We get this stuff sent to us occasionally, not occasionally all the time, but occasionally one will grab my attention. You know, there's story pitches that come to the newsroom where they'll come to me and you know, do you want this author on or do you want to talk to this person or hey, take a look at this.
And there was something that kind of struck me with the one that I received yesterday about employee engagement across the United States of America. And according to this expert, employee engagement is that an all-time low.
That seems to where they define roughly for engagement. What does that mean? Well, let's do this. Let's do the commercial of the break in the weather forecast and we come back. I'll give you the parameters that they use. And I'm only using this email as jumping off points just to have the conversation. I don't know. I can think of something super obvious that when we come back to drive way down for averages and stuff. But I think that feels kind of right to me. But I also don't know that's situational, right?
Well, obviously. Yeah, I'm curious to hear the definition that we can will explore. That's I'm interested in the topic. I do because I think it's all. Well, I have my own thoughts as well. We'll get into it next. Got you three day forecast. It's a doozy. We'll back with more. No zero degree temps. Snow noise. Yeah, it's a good kind of doozy starting today being sunny with a high near 46 tonight. Mostly clear.
a low getting down to freezing 29 degrees. For Thursday, rain comes in. It's likely afternoon, some increasing clouds and a high of 46 Friday rain again up until lunchtime, mostly cloudy and a high near 48. The current temperature in downtown decators already above freezing at 33. Your WSOI time is 621. And this will get your weather brought to you by Staley credit union ready to bank better bank. Staley credit union.
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You're listening to Fires in Company, streaming live at nowditator.com.
Good morning and welcome. So the email comes in trying to, you know, a guy's got a book out called Leadership Orbit. His name is Matthew something, and this is a publisher sending this thing to ask for an interview. But the interesting thing about the thing was there was a link to Gallup polling inside the email to try to spark some interest around this story. And I'm a big fan of Gallup. I mean, I think consistently over the years,
They seem the last politically inclined. They seem to sort of just examine the data and produce it in a way. Uh, there's strength finders and all of that sort of thing you can use as a company or, uh, even as in your individual life about identifying the things you're really good at and the things you probably need to quit trying to be good at because it's just not you is very interesting to me. So when I saw Gallup and I saw Gallup in the link, I thought, okay,
I want to take a look at this. US employee engagement sinks to a 10 year low. This was published this month by Gallup and they do this annually. And I'll just give you the engagement trend and their key trends inside of this and then your thoughts and your takeaways on this. Clarity of expectations, just 46% of employees clearly know
what is expected of them at work. That's down 10 points from a high of 56 in March of 2020. Feeling someone at work cares about them as a person. Currently 39% of employees feel strongly that someone cares about them, a drop from 47% in 2020.
Someone encouraging their development, only 30% strongly agree that someone is at work encourages their development down from 36% in March of 2020. So the key trends all way down over the last four years. And if you go back to where we were in 2020, everybody was like on the edge. Working home.
don't see anybody, you know, the rise of, you know, Zoom is a word everyone's using in their everyday lives. And then they go into some of the workforce segments that are most affected. Workers younger than 35, you know, they split into some categories. And then there is what can leaders do, how to improve employee engagement as part of this this Gallup study. This feels right to me, just anecdotally. It certainly
I think what is the reported message or what you read about in stories or just in social media or in articles around work reform and things like that. I think that what you're finding is that COVID played a large factor into it. The way that things are done a lot of times
And also there's one major factor. There are jobs. Most of our biggest employers, if you look my state, there's like three or four employers that are the largest employers of states in each state. So like Wal-Mart's a major one in many of our states. There is no engagement from top level down. It is low paid workers doing jobs, generally churning and
be dropping off and replacing. So what is the experience there to even be had by most of our employees in the United States? None of those things really exist. And one other factor is the nimble nature and the changing of from one political party to the other political party. You're seeing companies adding and dropping policies and changing direction and following what the leadership is doing. And so
If you're an employee, you look up and you go, Hey, we were doing this this way. Now we're not doing it that way. We're doing a different way. And I didn't even hear about it because I didn't read the flyer that's up on the break room. And so I think there is a level of, I just show up and take my paycheck, man. And I think that that is a common thing for a lot of places.
I don't disagree with any of that. I think that's probably always been the case at a place like Walmart though. I mean, I don't know that that has changed dramatically, you know, post COVID or pre-COVID. I just assume, and that's all it is, is assumption. There's no scientific data behind it that somebody, you know, doing whatever at Walmart probably feels a disconnect.
because they're just a blue vest in a big world of, you know, take your paycheck. I mean, I don't know that that. I feel it though, like in areas, I don't, I think everybody went a different way on COVID and no one's really come back and sort of landed in the same area.
like management, some management learn to adapt and be, well, maybe we don't need to be in the office and we're getting just as much productivity at home. And then others are like, nope, we're going right back to where we were before. And there's not a lot of consistency.
I mean, I think everybody's experience is probably a little bit different. We have a completely different experience here. New company, you know, new ownership, new, you know, which all of that brings growing pains. And that's probably the anecdotal thing that makes me relate to this for us or for me anyway. It's way different than what you had a few months ago. Yes. But I do think there is a lack of leadership or even expensive.
Uh, it can be, but there are people getting paid really well to be leaders in this community that are great leaders. I mean, that's, that's not, they're not not good leaders because they're not getting paid. Oh, well, just, I'm going to point back to like the Walmart structure, for example, um, you know, the people that are getting really paid aren't talking to the
that the leadership that's getting really paid is not in really any sort of contact with the people that are not getting paid at all. And the people that are getting like, sizeably paid, sometimes that's just an expense that you'd rather go out, ring the next guy up and we'll start that cycle over. And then when we get all these raises up, we just churn it back down. It's mid-level churn. I think there's probably 800 answers and 800 different varieties of this. And I don't.
I just feel like what you're describing has sort of always been kind of the thing in that sort of work model of that kind of company. But you think it's unique that people like getting new ownership have different... No, no, no. That's an anomaly. I'm saying... Yeah, most people didn't get new ownership. You know, when I look at just
things in the community. Leadership is a hard thing to sort of come down to one point of view on. There's lots of ways you can lead and there's a lot of ways that are effective to lead. There is just a difference in the workforce right now and in the workplace, not everyone, certainly. And I'm not being specific about anyone. I'm just saying you can see it. You can see it in the community. There is less engagement.
Yeah, I think the term engagement for me is can mean a lot of things. So that's, you know, it's hard to, I think this is more like an abstract thought and it's fine. It's a good topic, but there's no definitive one reason. I think a lot of it comes down to expense and resources and willingness to invest in leadership and to stay and to toe the line to, hey, we've got to have,
Um, secession plan, not in terms of I'm going to die in the next man up, but like, hey, how, how is this chain being developed? Um, and I think that a lot of that comes down to an unwillingness to put money towards, um, training and, and development and, uh, and to even retain people. And so a lot of people are just liquid in the job market instead of staying where they're at.
And that's all true. I don't think there's a singular answer or even a dozen answers that are all like, we'll take care of everybody in this conversation.
But there I feel like we're still in this weird transition thing that everybody identified kind of what work meant before COVID. You know, you were very unique in the world, you know, five, six, seven years ago, meaning you were your own boss. You did your own work from home. You didn't have an office you reported to. And then everybody found themselves in that. And then now we're still in this weird hybrid where no one's really kind of defined what the new new looks like.
And so some people are still living in the eight year ago past. Some have said, no, we like this way better. And no one's really come to any kind of conclusion about what all this looks like in 2025. Not. I mean, they just sent out to every federal employee yesterday. This isn't to the point of like, OK, no, we're going back to this thing or else you can choose to lose your job and we'll pay you for eight months.
That's a lot of employees. Yep. We've seen that move. We've seen that move from corporations over and over. We know that move. We've seen that a hundred times. But I don't think there is a universal. I don't think there is either. But there's also not a definition. We don't even have categories that are easily defined.
I disagree. Like if you, if you are a software engineer or something, you just need to be at a workstation. You could work for many workstation. That's defined. That's easy. If you're, if you're the description of what you do is easy, but depending on the new CEO or the new boss who's coming at it instead of having, you know, kind of,
60 years of how you do this in the world of business versus now no one really kind of knows that could change. You could be absolutely effective in doing that and doing it really well. And then the new guy or gal comes in and all of that can change.
on a philosophy basis, like not based on whether it's working or not, just going, well, I'm old school, you've got to be at the office and wear that tie and be here 20 minutes early. And all of a sudden that culture changes with no real definition of what is productive. And it feels like to me, like it could just, it depends on who the person is. Yeah. Yeah. That's, I think that is.
always the case. I mean, you're not going to work remote if you're assembling a fender at a factory. So that's clearly defined. This is what you work. Pick one of these three shifts that works for you or we'll tell you which one. But this is the thing that you do. And certain industries know specifically what their thing is. And you're right, depending on the person with the magic wand, it could determine whether they uproot all of everything. But that's an individual thing.
But most you were in a small percentage of people who were working remotely most of your life. And most people went to an office, went to a building, went to a place. Whether they needed to or not, you and I aren't in any disagreement on that. I mean, there were plenty of people who could effectively do their job at home or remotely and not change a thing. But now it feels like the kind of the defined rules of what everybody was working on now literally depends on a personality.
Yeah. And a spreadsheet sometimes, hey, we have this expensive building that we're spending on. If we've got it, we're going to make it, we're going to, you're going to use it instead of figuring out how to quit spending the money on that expensive building. Yeah. I mean, there's just a lot of things that have been reshaped. Sure. But have they been redefined?
They shaped for sure. How do you redefine them? I mean, there's no reason for them all to be the same. No, there's not. But you would think by industry, by job, by category. They are, but you can't. They, I mean, they sort of are. But if you're right, if somebody comes in and goes, I'm not doing that anymore, then you're not doing that anymore. So like, like again, software engineers, we know how it could go. But if somebody comes in and goes, no, we're going into this building, then that's regardless of what the industry has sort of said, that's what we're doing.
I don't know. It feels different to me today in that there's not clear definitions of what an on the job kind of thing looks like to me even though.
We've learned massively throughout something that was forced on us. No one was, you know, asking for that, but it did and it happened and people were able to adapt. And some people were very, very productive by being able to do things in a different way. And some weren't. And now it just feels like, OK, well, the new boss says this or the new boss says that or the office manager says this or the it just doesn't feel as clearly defined to me as it did before COVID.
And in some ways, that's better. I don't think it's all a negative. But I mean, I run into people, you know, you'll have a conversation, you kind of like open up and it's like, oh, they're resentful. Man, I mean, these people want you locked to a desk in a place and they can't see past that at all. Even though we had a 100 year event that changed the way we do everything. Oh, yeah, I think there's a blend of all of that for sure.
I think it's probably hard for people as a whole to keep up with the technology, to keep up with the change and then having a 100 year pandemic that disrupted everything and then the aftermath of that and dealing with it and then letting go of your own, you know, I think management's an interesting thing. There are managers and everybody's had one of these.
I would think if you spend enough time in an office in anything you do, regardless of category, the guy or the gal that just walks and takes up more time. I mean, there's nothing productive about it. He justifies his job by checking in on you and then checking in on the next person and not checking into like offer a boost or to offer like some support. Just this is my style of management. I'm making sure you're doing your job.
Yeah, that's a there's that's the worst boss in the in the world to work for. Because you're like, you want to say, I'm right in the middle of doing the thing you're paying me to do. And you're taking time away from that justifying your job as a supervisor. And you go to the, what was Gary Cole or whatever his name is? Yeah.
It's been so long since I've seen that. It's a brilliant movie. But that's all I can think of. What was the name of the form? A TPS report. TPS report. Thank you. If you could fill those out, that'd be great. Thank you, Peter. But we definitely have the lowest in 10 years and particularly for people under the age of 35. Thoughts on the age category. It's more exaggerated for people under 35.
Is that what you're saying? No, I'm saying they they make up the largest contingency of this feeling about the workplace. Is that age category? Yeah, I think that a lot of that is starts at the application process or job searching, which is unbelievably frustrating. Now where they're the overall sentiment is their unreal expectations. And then you fill out 150 applications you hear
seven of them tell you no and you never get a, and then they'll say, well, you need 25 years of experience. And it's like, dude, I'm 19, but I just got out of college. There's no chance. Um, you know, and so I think the frustration starts there. Then you get landed in the spot. You're not tracked properly. And so you're looking around and go, wait a minute, what is going on? What am I doing here? And so I think that that sort of thing is
I think there's a frustration and confusion for people entering the workforce or under 35. I would tell you there's an equal, I think, on the other side of that.
I think the people with 25 years of experience, this is an interesting thing on LinkedIn. I read into all the time where they're considered too old. I mean, there's a flip side of that in some sort of bizarre way, like where people feel some of that same thing for the exact opposite reason. Oh, I 100% agree.
because of those people that you said that might come in and go here. We're going to make all this stuff go this way on a dime. I think that sometimes you're sitting there. You know, I've been doing this for 40 years. Why are you messing with me? This is this is going well and they just tip over your apple. But I mean, even also believe in the job market. Sure. Looking for jobs.
Yeah, that you've aged out, but not only aged out, but you're probably at a higher level of income. That's right. All of those. Yeah, aged out, not just mean physical age, but hey, you make too much money. We'll try. We'll go with we want this experience. We've put it right here for the 19 year old to say, but 50 six year old. We're not paying for that. That's right. Yeah, it's tough, tough nut to crack.
It really is. It doesn't seem like it would be if I had to presto start a company, you know, that and had the investment to do it and could create whatever it is widget we build or whatever. It doesn't seem like rocket science to me. Yeah. So there's a lot of a lot of businesses that don't last or even get the doors open, you know, but you're you're you're right. Fundamentally, it all can be forecasted, spreadsheet out, but then just like a
I consider McDonald's, in some ways, one of the most perfect organizations in terms of we know the data, we know the science, we know the best cooking method, we know all the things, and yet you get soggy or burnt fries. And it always just comes down to no matter how much planning and everything you do, if there's people in it, it doesn't go that way. And sometimes it's like, wow, we're way better than because of the people.
But a lot of times the weakest link is always the human component. I'm pretty sure the author of the book doesn't have the answer. So we didn't bother you with that. We just had the Gallup information 10 year low. Let's give the guy his name. You said his Matthew. Matthew Matheson and the name of the book leadership orbit. Oh, that's an interesting title. He says that his opinion is that leadership is the scarce resource in the world today. Oh, well,
There's some hyperbole, but I think he's right. There is leadership needs. They need to figure out how to develop more leadership and and cultures, individual businesses or could could do that themselves. They could they could mold around.
their policies or procedures and the way they do things. I think what happens is it becomes about the policies and procedures and not whether the policies or procedures are good or bad or effective or not. It's just in too many worlds. It's just about we have to have the policies and procedures instead of putting in policies and procedures that actually inspire people to be better. I didn't mean just the ones that are on the poster. No, but I mean, but that's what a lot of that is. Like one of the restaurants I worked at gave me
the steps of service. Like this is definitively what happens every time you go to wait on a table. And that's not so much like if you don't follow this year in trouble, it's just here's how we do this. If you do these things, you're set up for success.
And if you don't do these things, you're not doing the job right. It was a very clear way that everybody understood what's supposed to happen there. And when it doesn't, somebody else can look over and go, Hey, I got that and plug in the gap. So you're on the same card. Yeah, the procedure there in the policy should give a unified service to everybody that walks through the door unless something happens. But but I think that when you set up a good culture or a baseline, people march to it. They really do. They can respond to it positively.
And the obvious flip side of that is true. You set up the wrong culture or you don't set up a culture at all. And then people just sit around and go, man, what are we doing here? I think oftentimes it's not even somebody coming in and twirling the mustache and setting up a bad culture. They just don't set up a culture. Yeah. And you just are just a vacuum. Yeah, you're just here to get your check. And I like it. It's all right. I like the people I work with sort of, you know, and you just sit there and you're in purgatory. Like, what am I doing? All right. I don't know.
It's an interesting topic. And I think it's unique to anybody sitting there listening right now or something that they'll go. Oh, that's I know that person. All right. This is what it's like for me. But we couldn't cover all the scenarios. Yeah. I think when when management and this is my final note on this, we have to take a break. My experience over the years, not talking about anyone specifically, but just over the years when your only management role
When the only management role you have is only the bottom line dollar and that's it. I mean, that's it. And it doesn't matter how you get to that number. And it doesn't matter about.
turn and turnover and as long as that number is that number. And you have to have some of that in business. I mean, I'm not stupid. I get it. You know, you can't spend more than you bring in and there are fundamental rules. But if that person in charge, if that's the only thing they are assigned to do, you will not be a successful company.
Probably so. It might be fiscally. Yeah. Successful for a while. I have one nugget on that and I know we need a break. I met a I worked for a general manager.
that was financially driven. But he included us in that. Yeah. But then he is worried that he is taking a step further than what I'm talking about. But what I'm saying is, hey, this number is is our scorecard. This is the thing we are. This is all we're going for. But if you help me get there, some of that's yours. Hey, look cool. We did this thing together and we were part of it. If you strip away the nice and the prize or whatever, he's just going for the number.
I get that, but, but those are the kind of people that are just, all they care about is the number and they don't, they don't accelerate any growth because all they do, they feel like they can cut their way to prosperity. I mean, that is like, well, nothing's happening here. I can't inspire anybody to get anything done. So I'll just keep cutting and cutting and cutting to get to that number. There's a lot of that in American business today. Oh, for sure. And it doesn't work. Never has pre COVID, post COVID.
If it matters and that number is everybody's number and everybody understands their role in getting to that number and everybody's a team and fights to death for each other to get to that number, that's a whole different thing than we'll just cancel this and cancel that and cancel this to try to make that number that you're never going to make. There's a desperation around that that exists with a lot of folks.
And it's probably bad training on that end as well. I watched what's happened twice for the same guy, like, didn't work first time, brought him back again. Just lazy. I mean, like just literally, well, bring him back and we don't have to waste the time. You know what I mean?
Yeah, it's already up to speed. Well, but, but up to speed didn't work last time. No down. Plug and play. All right. We've got to take a break. We'll be back with more coming up. Clay will join us from the park district. Little later today. Mark Tupper and Tupper on sports. We've got Tanya and our friends from Milliken University. Give it away. Align eye tickets today for this weekend, right? Yep. Okay.
four tickets courtesy of the first mid-ticket window. That's coming up at the end of the show. Make sure you stay tuned. Back with more right after this. In our years of experience, we have seen that an investment in knowledge pays the best dividends. Because of the investment of passionate donors and the power of endowment, the heart of Illinois Community Foundation supports scholarship programs for workforce development, adult students, and graduating high school seniors in Macon, Piot, and Moultrie counties. It's here. The stories of people passionate about their giving
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You're listening to Buyers & Company, streaming live at NowDecatur.com.
We are back here on a Wednesday. I hope you're having a great start to your day. I will tell you that last night or yesterday, I still refer to it how I view it and not the actual, I'm sure it was available at 12.01 yesterday morning. Paradise made its debut on Hulu. It is a humdinger. I don't even know what that is. OK, it's a show. It's described as an American political thriller.
And it is Sterling K Brown, who's a wonderful actor who may have the best posture of anybody I've ever seen on screen. He looks clenched all the time. No, his posture is he's very rigid, but his face is like, I don't. But when he's jogging, posture, very rigid. Yes. So for a secret service agent, perfect, right?
I don't even want I'm not even going to tell you about it because you got experience and you'll know within the first hour. It's not one of these things where they're going to drag you along for eight episodes for you to uncover. OK, this isn't what I thought it was. Now, you don't know all the mysteries, but you go, Oh, wow, we just took a turn. James Marsden in that too. Yes.
Yeah, I saw a trailer the other day on, I think regular TV actually. Really? Yeah, I think so. It's Hulu released the first three episodes. Probably on Fox string football, I guess. Probably you're watching TV. It's a where I saw sinners vampires, by the way. We now know they released the second trailer yesterday. Anyway, it is a it's just give me something just a little different, right? Sure.
Give me the plot twists that work and the good acting and the slick production and all of that. But man, just give me something. I can't watch 800 other different ways on whatever platform I have at home, which is too many. But we watched it last night. What's the first two episodes? There's three. They released three and then there's one a week to a total of eight, I think, for the series.
And it is just one of those things and one of those series that you're just go, OK, I can't just take for granted what's going to happen here because this is anything but procedural. OK, good. Interested to check that out. The acting is great. They kind of jump back and forth in time, but in a way that's easy to follow. You don't find yourself like, wait a minute, what just happened there? I mean, you know, the story works.
And James Martins is great in it. So Sterling Brown, head of the Secret Service detail for president, former president, ex president, don't know exactly all that played by James Martins. And kind of like you think of John F. Kennedy's smart me kind of thing, but kind of likable. Okay. I mean, he's even nuanced. All right.
Don't know where it's going to go. I would just say two hours into the eight hour total. I'm all in. Very cool. I would wish I would have watched that last night. I tried to watch the golf thing, but they played on Monday this week. So I completely missed it and had to watch the problem. Yeah. And it was actually competitive and went into, well, it happened. So over time, so how in the world do they end up stacked up against the AFC championship game?
No, that was on Sunday. They played on Monday. I played on Monday. Yeah. So take a look at the schedule. They're doing three games on President's Day and all kinds of different things. That's fine. It's just with a new thing. Yeah. So I banged on it and I missed it. And I did watch a documentary on. Oh, it was on Paramount Plus that I had missed. Not missed, but finally got around to it. It's the South Park guys buying Casa Benita.
It's good. No, I remember watching the trailers for that. That's the thing that they grew up with or vacation to or whatever. Disney Land or whatever. They wanted to buy it for. They got it out of bankruptcy. COVID destroyed it. It's this huge 50,000 foot restaurant with caves and cliff diving and all these cool characters. And it's just like Disney World and they bought it for 3.3 million. And they instantly were like, it would be better for us to take a 10 million dollar loss.
and close it. Yeah, then to finish this project. So it's like the most expensive. Well, to our conversation about management, whatever, whatever. It's it's very, very cool. All right. I met to watch that. You know, when it came out, it's fun. Yeah, OK, definitely. I'll be going back because there was the whole thing like where they paid them more, like the servers and stuff. And then they wanted to go. Well, they also just during construction, they paid all the workers to just go work somewhere else like
and volunteer throughout Denver. And they did all that. And then the governor's like, hey, I'd like to thank Trey and Matt for raising our lowering our unemployment rate by 5% with all these contractors.
is very interesting. But it was the thing I was intrigued by watching the trailer. This has been back a while. It's been out for a while, right? Was the idea that they went in there in a very benevolent way and tried to do everything right by them. That's right. And even some of that didn't work. I mean, even trying to do the right thing. They absolutely did. I mean, they kept a whole staff on them. We're going to be open for a year and they're like, here, we'll just pay you guys to go volunteer in Denver. Yeah. I mean, they could have just stopped and then started anew. Yeah. I mean, they went about it for all the right reasons.
It's pretty good, pretty good documentary. I'll put that on the list to check out. It's low stakes. Listen, after the Super Bowl, we're going to go through that thing. Yep. What are you doing Sunday? That's right. Yeah, it's low stakes, easy, fun. What's it called? I think it's just called Casa Benita. Casa Benita. Casa Benita.
All right. They call it Casa. I know they do. Yeah. It's like the locals kind of like Casa. Casa Benica. All right. There you have it. There's a couple of great things for you to watch. Clay coming up at the top of the hour and we will also be checking in a little later today on the human trafficking reporting they do through the program at Milliken University. We'll visit with Mark Topper and Tupper on sports because this is the silly week, right? This is the week where we talk about what uniforms they're wearing. He's probably going to cover the Pro Bowl, I would imagine.
But yeah, this is the flag football game. Yeah, there's all kinds of off the field. We're not really talking football. No, I remember we used to go when we would go to Hawaii, like every other year before COVID and it was always in late January.
And, you know, that now we're a little even further than we used to be. Yep. You know, into February, it used to be by the time you got to January and the Super Bowl was, and the Pro Bowl was always like either going on or coming up or just finished everywhere in Honolulu. Yep. So the signage, the banners, like, I mean, it was
lot large humans walking around. Yeah, it was a big spectacle. Yeah. And good for Honolulu. I mean, I brought a lot of people in and people got to like, that was the whole, I think, allure. Well, we don't really care about the game, but we get a trip to Hawaii. That's right. Yep.
Now where do they do this? Orlando usually. And I think it has the ability to move or whatever. Saquan Barkley can't play in the Pro Bowl. Our guy, Bijon Robinson, filling in for him. OK. Our guy, meaning Atlanta. Yeah. And he's the closest thing to him in terms of video. Oh, yeah. Video game wise. He's he's the next one to know. OK.
And I'm not just saying that. My tie sucks, but this dude is like video game like Saquon. All right. That guy from Baltimore seems pretty impressive. He's different. He's a bowling ball. Like not a ball. He's a he's a he's a battering ram. Yeah, he's the tumbler tumbler. Yes. I can go fast and not run. He even makes up a little bit. But I will run through you if I need to. And I probably prefer to. Yeah, Derek Henry is very special, but different. Yes.
for sure. So anyway, you're going to have to set you up with all the things that you need to like catch and watch. And there's a lot of great stuff out, a lot of great stuff coming. That's center's movie, man. I am all about that. Might be back to the theater. Nice. Michael P. Jordan. Nothing. He's there. I will watch anything he is in.
Simply because he's in it. I mean, it's not a guarantee. I'm a love it, but I'm there if he's there. Yeah. Fruitville station, the creed movie, the wire. He was great as Jack Ryan. I heard Jack Ryan, John Clark, the other guy from a fancy character. If he didn't watch that Amazon series without remorse, that's unbelievably good. So good. Yeah, he's a money back guarantee. And he's in it twice. He plays smoke and he plays stack. Oh, nice.
Brothers twin brothers. Okay. It's takes place in Mississippi during prohibition. And the first trailer had me and then the second trailer was released yesterday gives away a lot. I don't know. It gives away everything. But now you know what they're up against. Then tricking love it. It is unbelievable.
trailer is as good as anything I have seen in a long time as far as sparking your interest to really want to watch something called centers. There's a couple of trailers out. I think it's coming in April to theaters. We'll be back after top of the hour news. A lot to get to here. We're only one hour in plus your chance to win a line tickets for this weekend. Stay tuned.
We're everywhere you are. WSOY Decatur 1340 AM and 103.3 FM streaming live at nowdecatur.com. This is RJ Christ with your stories now brought to you by shop on Maine. Illinois house lawmakers have already filed over 1800 bills during the new general assembly.
Those include a new alternative to incarceration, a ban on single-use plastic and paper bags, new end-of-life medical actions, and requiring BCFS to provide luggage for foster children. Keep in mind, most bills won't get passed, and the last general assembly, House lawmakers filed about 6,000
but only passed about 500. A new lawsuit from House Republicans argues the state legislative map violates the state constitution. The House Republican caucus is filing the suit with the state Supreme Court, hoping the high court will appoint a special master to redraw the legislative districts. The suit argues does
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