Email to the editors of SmartBrief

I wrote the following email to Jesse Stanchak and Robert Jones, editors of SmartBrief for Entrepreneurs.

Dear Jesse and Robert,

I went to Babson for my MBA and I love to read these little stories that you publish. They are informative and often inspiring. However, today I noticed a story, indeed, one endorsed by Robert Jones, that caught my eye. It seemed way out of line and extremely out of character for SmartBrief.

From what I've learned, through my own experiences and that of others', is that more than anything else, leaders are agents of change. Everybody can stay on the beaten track, it takes a leader to lead them onto a new path. And entrepreneurs are no different. In fact entrepreneurs are the distilled essence of leadership. They are change agents, sometimes disruptive enough to change the way we live. Not only are entrepreneurs change agents, they are also highly competitive. Change and competition are almost synonymous with entrepreneurship. So it is surprising that your journal would take a shot at the President's new health care option. It introduces new competition to the market and it changes the way the game is played now, in an almost disruptive way. It seems almost entrepreneurial in character.

Shouldn't you be celebrating?

Instead you opine how it will increase costs for "entrepreneurs". Well, from the entrepreneurs I know, I don't think they are too concerned about health care reform right now. They spend more time thinking of their own fledgling businesses, they don't always even pay in cash (but equity) and many would love to get such an issue off their hands so they can concentrate on the problems they face day to day. Your poll is completely out of character and even diagonally opposed from what entrepreneurship is about and is in total antithesis with your journal and its spirit. Besides, when you mention a poll, I am sure you know that you need to mention the number of people polled, the demographics of the polled sample and the margin of error. Without those facts, that can be independently verified, your poll is meaningless.

I could go off topic and tell you that health care is a form of physical protection, just like the police or the fire department, or even the military, and physical protection is the raison d'être of the existence of a civil society and even the State. Even if you cut everything out, physical protection must be there in order to have a functioning society. But that's a different debate that I might have with you on another day.

Let me conclude by saying that not only have you gone off character in your newsletter today but there is another thing that experienced editors would never let slip by unnoticed. When you wrote "The Devil You Know: President Barack Obama..." although you were referring to something else (viz. the known health care problem), yet by the juxtaposition of those words you were probably trying to make a subliminal association that is absolutely uncalled for. I do not believe that experienced editors like yourselves did not notice that particular word arrangement and did not think of the connotations it brings. So my conclusion would be, it was a deliberate choice of words and their arrangement. You are a newsletter bringing news of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. All that is well and good, but when you foist your personal political beliefs on others in the name of a "poll" I think you become a demagogue.

I will certainly forward this letter to Babson College and seek their opinion on this matter, since I am an alum of the school and their name appears on this newsletter and ask the opinions of my classmates and other fellow alums.

Thank you.

SmartBrief for Entrepreneurs has published their daily newsletter. Today's issue can be found here SmartBrief August 5, 2009. Near the bottom of the newsletter there is a "poll". I put poll in quotes because there was no accompanying data of the demographics, sample size or margin of error. To summarize the "poll", it seems a large percentage of entrepreneurs think that the public option for healthcare will increase the cost of running their businesses. Immediately following the poll are these words:

The devil you know: President Barack Obama has been making the case that businesses will save money under a federally mandated health plan, but so far entrepreneurs don't seem to be buying it. In fact, even if every undecided respondent were to break in favor of the Obama plan, opponents would still outnumber supporters by about 25 percentage points. -- Robert Jones, Smart Brief on Entrepreneurs contributing editor (original emphasis)