#5SmartReads - November 10, 2022

Hitha on how elections are called, Tyler James Williams, and the economics of choice

November 10, 2022

I love Steve Kornacki and his khakis and the magic board as much as the next politics loving nerd…but he’s not making the election calls, just reporting on them.

Folks like Rob Farbman - the EVP of Edison Research, who conducts polling for the National Election Pool - are responsible for conducting the polling whose data the networks use to make calls. Folks like Anthony Salvanto, CBS’ election and surveys director, analyze said data and make those actual calls.

This is a smart read OR smart listen (my nerdy self did both), and I highly recommend it if you watched way too much West Wing in your early twenties and obsess over random counties in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Nevada every two years.

“I walk to the kitchen, make my cup of coffee, and take that cup to a different room in the apartment where I spend 20 minutes in silence and thought. I center myself, and try to focus on things that I’m grateful for. Then I spend 20 minutes learning something. I pick up a magazine or scroll on my phone to look for something off the headlines. After that I spend at least 20 minutes working out. There’s a sign in my gym that makes me smile. It says, “Sweat like a pig, look like a fox.””

This might be the greatest (and doable!) morning routine I’ve ever heard (minus the hour that Kim Godwin wakes up). And when someone’s literal job is the news (she’s the President of ABC News), she also shares some incredible tips on how to stay informed without the news taking over your life, and how to integrate your work and home lives.

My longtime goal has been to be a host on The View. The thought of working for Kim, a leader I admire so much, is just another reason I want to make that goal a reality.

First off - a huge congratulations to my friend Janna for spearheading VCs For Repro. Over 100 VC firms with $100B+ in assets have joined the coalition that stands for reproductive freedom and that criminalizing abortion is a violation of human rights.

Janna has been a force in inviting men into the conversations that are too often reduced to as “women’s issues”, both in this initiative and in her board service for A Call To Men. We will never make the change we seek without the active participation of men.

Charlie is a friend and a force in New York’s venture community. I’ll leave you with his words on this topic:

“I’ve written checks to three companies with pregnant co-founders. These women are all amazing and I’m honestly not sure how they pulled off what they did—but what I do know was that all of these pregnancies were planned. I don’t know if it’s possible to have it all, truth be honest, but I don’t think you get it accidentally. It requires thoughtfulness and preparation—something we can ill afford to give up if we truly want a focus on innovation.

Marc Andreessen in his call to “build” says that we should be “taking care of people who are building”.

In what world is it taking care of the builders to take away a woman’s choice to delay having a family until after she finishes building something great?”

Abbott Elementary is my joy trigger of 2022. The show never fails to bring a smile to my face and joy in my heart. And Tyler James Williams is a big part why.

Williams has been in the business for a long time, getting his first break on Sesame Street, then as a young Chris Rock in Everyone Hates Chris. It’s easy to assume Williams is the character he plays, but the real Tyler James is reflective, thoughtful, and refreshingly open and vulnerable.

I recommended Abbott Elementary no fewer than 81 times to folks in my DMs who needed an alternative to watching election returns, and I stand by the recommendation.

There’s no better time to join the Abbott bandwagon. Or the Tyler James Williams one.

“Griner was first detained for carrying less than a gram (0.04 oz.) of hashish oil into Russia when she arrived for play in the Russian women's professional basketball league earlier this year. In August, a Russian court sentenced Griner to nine years in prison.

In court, Griner admitted to mistakenly packing two vape cartridges in her rush to pack her luggage — but provided documents that showed the oil was legally prescribed by her U.S. doctor for pain management. She also never failed a drug test.”

But because of “justice” in Russia, she’s being sent to a penal colony to serve a nine year sentence.

Our news cycle is quick to jump to the next story that’ll capture our attention and time, but this story is too important to look away from or forget about. Until Brittney comes home, justice will not be served.

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