Kurt Warner's Wise Words

I've now pretty much wrapped up the Toronto portion of my marketing initiative. I had some good meetings but, so far, no engagements. I think I might have overestimated the need that Canadian private equity firms and pension plans have for U.S. transactional counsel. In any event, it's time to take my show to the bright lights of New York! I've identified ninety-five middle market private equity firms that I believe could use my services. I've started contacting the dozen or so that have listed Canada as a geographic market of interest. I fully intend to keep riding this Canada horse until it drops dead, rolls over and rigor mortis sets in!

It's probably still too early to get discouraged but I have to admit that I'm incredibly frustrated. I'm trying to take a little inspiration from Kurt Warner. I've always liked Kurt Warner and not just because he played for the Giants in 2004, as seen below:

I really admire how Kurt never lets adversity get to him. He takes everything in stride and just goes about getting the job done. He went from Super Bowl MVP with St. Louis to backing up Eli Manning in New York and Matt Leinert in Arizona before re-emerging as Arizona's starter and taking them to the Super Bowl.

In one pre-Super Bowl interview I saw, the interviewer asked Kurt if he ever lost confidence in himself or his abilities during the downswing in his career. I'm paraphrasing here, but his answer was something like: "No, I never questioned my own abilities. I knew what I could do. I'd done it before. What I did lose confidence in was the game--the league--the way things work. I wasn't sure I'd ever get another chance to do what I knew I could still do and do much better than other people."

Kurt Warner's wise words really resonated with me then and resonate even more loudly with me now.

Canadian Justice?

OK, given the title of this post you're probably expecting a diatribe about how somebody was dealt with unfairly by the Canadian legal system. WRONG! I'm using the word "justice" as a synonym for judge.

This morning, the "short list" of candidates being considered by President Obama to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States was released. One of those being considered is Jennifer Granholm, the Governor of Michigan, shown here in full politician mode:

In addition to being the Governor of Michigan, Ms. Granholm is--wait for it--a Canadian! As set out in her Wikipedia biography (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Granholm), she was born in Vancouver.

To heck with all this crap about appointing "the first Latino justice"--how about "the first Canadian justice" instead!

Where Is Canada's Next Supermodel?

My wife subscribes to Vanity Fair. This month's edition features Gisele Bundchen on the cover. I realize that I'm going to surprise a lot of people by saying this, but I don't think she's really that hot. Check out her cover shot:

Although the makeup and airbrushing magicians have managed to deal with the issue here, I'm always struck by how "manish" Gisele's face looks. I know that sounds mean, but if you're going to be held out as the top supermodel in the world, you have to expect a few dissenting opinions....

Who do I think is the hottest supermodel on earth? That's an easy one. Here's my pick, Bar Refaeli, on the front page of the Sports Illustrated website:

Isn't she awesome! In addition to being physically perfect in pretty much every way, she also has an incredibly alluring Israeli accent. All in all, Bar looks and sounds like a sexy super spy from a classic James Bond movie! Here's another shot of Bar in all her swimsuit glory:

Mercy. See what I mean about Gisele looking like a man?

So, where's Canada's next supermodel? The last widely-recognized Canadian supermodel that I can think of is Linda Evangelsita. Guess what? She was born in 1965. She's older than me! Let's go Canada. Show us what you got!

Gainey and Putin: Twins!

As I scrolled through the sports section of the on-line edition of The Globe & Mail yesterday, I noticed the following photo:

"What the hell!" I exclaimed to myself. "Vladimir Putin is coaching a hockey team?"

I then looked at the caption and realized that the photo is of Bob Gainey. Bob Gainey! Wow, he doesn't look anything like the Bob Gainey I recall from when I was living in Montreal and Gainey was playing for the Canadiens. In fact, he doesn't look anything like the post-Habs Gainey in management roles either.

If you're not sure about my confusion, check out the following photo of Vladimir Putin talking to some Russian miners:

Eerie, isn't it!

"Simply The Best"--Canadian Style!

I was quite the guy "back in the day" earlier this decade when I was a senior associate running billion dollar M&A transactions. When my young assistant asked me in her Brooklyn accent what my personal theme song was, I responded without hesitation: "Simply the Best, baby, you know--that Tina Turner song!" My assistant and all of the other assistants in the area roared with laughter. From that point on, any time I was feeling self-congratulatory, I would look around feigning bewilderment and ask: "Hey, can anybody else hear that Tina Turner song?"

Needing a little motivation the other day, I went to YouTube and typed in "Tina Turner" and "Simply the Best." As I relived my former glory watching the video, my eyes shifted to the related videos on the right side of the screen. I noticed a version of the song by Celine Dion. I actually like Celine Dion but I wasn't expecting her to do much with "Simply the Best."

Boy, was I wrong! Celine does a great job! Check out the video for yourself here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEQaF64w_uw&feature=related

Now, wasn't that something!

Smile And Dial!

I spent the month of May and the first two weeks of June 1987 hanging out in Montreal and taking one summer-school finance class at McGill.

The finance class didn't take up that much time so I took a part-time job at the Montreal Gazette selling subscriptions over the phone. I knew going in that it would be an absolutely brutal job. However, I was only planning to do it for four weeks and I figured that learning to cold call people might be a handy skill to have later in life.

As I expected, the job was agonizing. I thought that the Montreal Gazette might provide some sort of training. It didn't. When we arrived in the morning, a scrawny assistant manager with feathered hair and a cheesy, wispy little moustache would hand us a list of names and telephone numbers. Once we were seated, the manager, a grossly overweight bald guy in his early forties, would stand among the bank of phones to report on the prior day's results. Of course, they were never good enough. After beating us down, the manager would offer us some words of encouragement. He'd end each speech the same way--bellowing: "SMILE AND DIAL!"

Although I detested the job, I was right about the experience teaching me not to fear the phone. Any time I find myself hesitating to call a prospective client, I just think of the fat manager at the Montreal Gazette, laugh a little and then yell: "SMILE AND DIAL!" It works every time.