LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Infiniti Research is the world's leading independent provider of strategic market intelligence solutions. Our market intelligence services are designed to connect your organizations goals with global opportunities. Today's competitive business environment demands in-depth, accurate, and reliable business information to ensure that companies gain a strong foothold in domestic or foreign markets. Our global industry specialist teams ensure the international consistency of our research, enabling powerful access to the real story behind market changes. Request a complimentary proposal for more insights into our solutions portfolio.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, demand for masks, gowns, gloves, and other protective gear has grown exponentially. To meet this demand for supplies, PPE manufacturing companies will need to reimagine their supply chains with a redoubled focus on agility, resilience, social responsibility, and humancentric needs, says a market research expert from Infiniti Research.

Engagement Overview:

The client is a personal protective equipment manufacturer based out of the United States.

With the current unpredictability of the personal protective equipment market due to the COVID-19 outbreak the client faced inventory shortages. The client also faced challenges with aligning their production cycle with the patterns of patient demand and increasing frequency of the manufacturing process accordingly. Long-lead times caused difficulty in on-time delivery of products based on demand. Reverse logistics challenges, the lack of supply chain visibility, and highly manual processes resulted in increased costs throughout the supply chain for the personal protective equipment market client. To address these challenges the client aimed to secure their supply base and respond to customer needs faster. They also wanted to accurately forecast demand for supplies during the ongoing crisis, understand true risks to supply, and the ripple effect on quality, timeliness, and service delivery, as well as enhance visibility into supply levels. To achieve these objectives, the personal protective equipment market client approached Infiniti Research for their expertise in Demand Management Solutions.

Due to the current global crisis, personal protective equipment manufacturers are facing challenges relating to supply chain efficiency. Infinitis demand management solutions can help you address these challenges and prepare for unforeseen business contingencies. Contact us here.

Our Approach:

Business impact of the demand management solution for the personal protective equipment client:

Using the Infiniti Research demand management solution, the personal protective equipment market client created transparency on multitier supply chains. This was achieved by establishing a list of critical components, determining the origin of supply, and identifying alternative sources.

The personal protective equipment manufacturer was also able to:

The personal protective equipment market is currently facing various challenges, these challenges need efficient and long-lasting demand management solution. Request more info to learn how we can help personal protective equipment manufacturers address demand-supply management challenges efficiently.

About Infiniti Research

Established in 2003, Infiniti Research, is a leading market intelligence company providing smart solutions to address your business challenges. Infiniti Research studies markets in more than 100 countries to help analyze competitive activity, see beyond market disruptions, and develop intelligent business strategies. To know more, visit: https://www.infinitiresearch.com/about-us

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A Personal Protective Equipment Manufacturer Minimized Overall Cost to Serve with Demand Management Solution | Infiniti Research's Success Story on...

Jon Batiste, the jazz pianist and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert bandleader, has spent the last three weekends marching in the streets of New York, leading musicians and protesters through hymns and songs like We Shall Overcome and Down by the Riverside. Those without a horn or drum sing and, at Mr. Batistes exhortation, say their names: George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. And many others.

On June 12, however, Mr. Batiste opened his protest concert, part of a series called We Are, seated at an upright piano in front of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, wearing a mask and bright-blue protective gloves. Unaccompanied, surrounded by hundreds of silent protesters, he dug deep into a song that he says demands reinvention: The Star-Spangled Banner.

We all know that Francis Scott Key owned slaves, Mr. Batiste said of the songs lyricist in a Zoom interview last week. In Mr. Batistes hands, the national anthem seethes, mourns and aspires, drawing on the rollicking stride piano of Fats Waller and the volcanic eruptions of Art Tatum.

The way that Jimi Hendrix took the song, the way that Marvin Gaye or Whitney took it that tradition is what I am thinking of when I play it, Mr. Batiste, 33, added. The diaspora that they infused into it is a response to the toxic ideologies that are embedded in the song and thus in the culture.

The history of jazz is in many ways a history of protest, of celebrating blackness and insisting on individual freedom. The composer and bass player William Parker, who has taken free jazz from community centers to Town Hall, traces this spirit to works like Duke Ellingtons 1943 Black, Brown and Beige to later suites by Max Roach and Sonny Rollins, and the free jazz and loft jazz movements of the 1960s and 70s. Then came the 80s, when everybody went to sleep thinking that we had accomplished something, but all we really got were the leftovers, Mr. Parker said in a Zoom interview. Artists like Mr. Parker, of course, have performed and recorded revolution-minded fire music through the 1980s and up to the present, and the last decade has seen a resurgence in political jazz music, especially from the downtown, avant-garde and Brooklyn scenes.

Its certainly rare, though, to see a jazz musician with a household name and a national platform like Mr. Batiste inviting thousands into the streets. And the pianist has the support of Mr. Colbert, who has carved out time on his broadcast to discuss his musical directors activism.

In the present darkness that constitutes so much of the national conversation, Jon, by his example and his spirit, gives me hope I might do my job and maintain my own humanity, Mr. Colbert said in an email. I believe long after no one knows who I am, the name Jon Batiste will be spoken with admiration. Im grateful to know him.

A genre-crossing virtuoso and crowd-pleaser, Mr. Batiste is particularly suited for a moment of protest in the streets: Hes from New Orleans, where the citys famed Second Line marches have built a tradition of catharsis and release, he said, in which music lifts anguish or outrage toward a collective joy. He grew up surrounded by musical relatives and draws special inspiration from his grandfather, the president of a New Orleans postal workers union, who marched and organized for his workers.

Jon is walking in that lineage, and not just musically, said Brian Blade, a drummer and composer with his own strong New Orleans connection. Its in the essence of our feet on the ground, moving forward, gathering a movement through example.

A spirit of collective humanity has always powered Mr. Batistes art. His Late Show band, Stay Human, is a diverse ensemble known for marching right into the crowd during performances. The protests take their name from We Are, his new single, a pop gospel showcase written and recorded last year that features the marching band from St. Augustine High School in New Orleans. He recorded The Star Spangled Banner, with all that thunder, on the 2013 album Social Music. And at the marches the music is indisputably social.

It was such a powerful day, the saxophonist Grace Kelly, a frequent Batiste collaborator, said of Mr. Batistes June 6 march from Union Square to Washington Square Park, which organizers say drew 5,000 people. There were over 10 tubas, 30-plus trumpets, and maybe 50 saxophones. It was louder than we could speak. Louder than we could sing.

Mr. Batiste and his organizers are weighing the logistics of taking the We Are protests to cities across the United States in the coming months, focusing on a practical goal: voter registration and the exposure of voter suppression.

There are three candidates that were dealing with, Mr. Batiste said. Donald Trump, Joe Biden and the candidate of apathy. Apathys insidious. It comes from having a weight on our collective shoulders for centuries that has made us feel that we dont matter, that were not seen and that our vote doesnt count.

Like many of the citys jazz players, Caroline Davis, a saxophonist and composer, has protested at several Brooklyn and Manhattan rallies in recent weeks. Its inspiring to be with people who are in this for the long haul, she said, after marching with Mr. Batiste on June 6, the first time shes gotten to play music with colleagues in person since March.

Ms. Davis co-teaches a course in jazz and gender at the New School and feels a responsibility to honor jazzs history of protest. I feel that, as Nina Simone said, its the artists job to reference the time in which we live, she said.

Mr. Parker has dedicated his career to nurturing that activist spirit. He has marched dozens of times since 2016 with the Artists for a Free World marching band, a loose collective organized by Arts for Art, the nonprofit organization that hosts the annual Vision Festival and is currently presenting Zoom concerts and salons.

Ive been talking for the last, oh, 40 years or so about how every once in a while a window opens up and things can happen, Mr. Parker, 68, said. But we have to have numbers, we have to be persistent, and we have to really lay it out in the consciousness of people.

Last week, on Bandcamp he released the searing and mournful Baldwin, a track from an upcoming 10-disc box set of new material dedicated to those who want to eliminate hate, racism, sexism, greed and lies.

Hes not alone in sharing fresh music keyed to the cause: The drummer Johnathan Blake and the vibes player Joel Ross both released pre-Covid commissioned concerts from the Jazz Gallery on YouTube. The sets, titled My Life Matters and Being a Young Black Man, come with requests for donations to Black Lives Matter and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. And the poet Camae Ayewa shouts: Enough! Enough! Enough! over the free-jazz squall of Irreversible Live in Berlin on a pair of blistering live sets from the protest-minded quintet Irreversible Entanglements.

Music is a wake-up call, Mr. Parker said. After the protest, you listen to it and it helps keep you awake. Because the problem is not to wake up its not to go back to sleep.

Mr. Batiste believes its his responsibility to use his platform to keep the crowds awake. That platform is also expanding. Mr. Batistes fingers will power the music in Soul, the first Pixar feature to center on a black lead, slated for a Nov. 20 release. He has maintained the kind of proudly unpredictable career common to 21st-century jazz musicians. In 2019 he released a pair of in-the-tradition Verve albums recorded at the Village Vanguard. Since then hes debuted a funk-favoring band of all-women collaborators on NPRs Tiny Desk Concerts and improvised on an independent release, Meditations, with the guitarist Cory Wong.

Despite his personal success, he remains focused on the inequality hes committed to fighting. Four hundred and one years of people and their voices being completely marginalized has led to systemic racism and sexism that has been perpetuated even in our triumphs, he said. The idea that we can have triumphs and also perpetuate toxic ideologies is a nuance that we have yet to explore in the public dialogue. But now theres a chance for a real collective consciousness shifting.

Continued here:
Jazz Is Built for Protests. Jon Batiste Is Taking It to the Streets. - The New York Times

In the wake of the current civil unrest occurring throughout our country, many companies are now seeing the gaping corporate hole where cultural diversity and inclusion initiatives should have been. Some may think its too little too late or be timid to jump into the discussion, but now it is imperative for companies to take the first step admit past faults, take action and begin to create change.

At Power Home Remodeling, our purpose is to improve everything we touch from our customers homes to our employees lives to our communities in which we live and work. But when we looked at our efforts in diversity and inclusion, it became clear we needed a formalized program to attract, retain and grow diverse talent making Power an inclusive place to work for everyone. In 2017, we launched our Cultural Diversity & Inclusion Initiative (CD&I) to breed open, educational dialogue and awareness, while developing formalized programs to drive more diversity within our walls.

Like many others, we still have a long way to go. Research studies show that around 30% or more diversity is a proven organizational tipping point when it comes to large-scale social change related to a minority group. At Power, our goal this year is to exceed 30% with hope to strongly exceed that proportion in the years to come as we continue to grow our programs, push for honest dialogue and make Power a place where everyone feels comfortable in their skin, without alteration. Its something we strive to be better at every day, and hope to empower others to do the same.

I recommend starting with listening. When you foster an open and safe workplace, employees feel comfortable sharing their voice and speaking their mind. But in order for these voices to be heard, you must encourage active listening from all parties. It is then you can strengthen your awareness and understanding and take this candid feedback to help shape how you address topics moving forward with your employees.

One way that we encourage listening and sharing is through our annual Cultural Diversity & Inclusion Summit. Natasha Maye, scrum master, started at Power the same week of the annual CD&I Summit in 2019.

Natasha Maye. (Photo via LinkedIn)

Looking back, to see hundreds of diverse individuals come from all branches of the company, to have conversations about their diverse realities all to break through personal bias this made me very emotional, said Maye, who is Black. To top it all off, this coalition was started and led by a woman who looks like me. At that moment, I knew Power was a place I could stay for the future of my career.

The conversations that are fostered by Power are the conversations Ive prayed for especially to have them with individuals whom we spend more time with on a daily basis than our own family.

Much of the acceptance and positivity surrounding our differences within our walls is largely due to both leadership and employees who have created that space for our diverse colleagues. Not only does this foster an inclusive workplace from a company perspective, but it is championed down to a department level.

Powers Business Technology (BT) department is a group where its leadership is steadfast and determined to hire and onboard more diverse employees. Tim Wenhold, COO and partner at Power, makes it a point to consistently recruit for diverse tech talent and when we cant find it, we build diverse tech talent from within. Through Powers Code Academy an immersive six-month coding bootcamp that trains employees from other departments at Power for entry-level developer roles on the BT team. Recruiting and retaining diverse talent is critical, but what you cant lose sight of is developing that talent and Code Academy is one way we remained committed to that.

Timothy Wenhold speaking at a past PTW Dev Conference. (Technical.ly file photo)

Jonathan Levy, a Nitro support ninja, has seen this push for more diversity firsthand since coming onboard in 2017, both from a hiring perspective and from an educational perspective.

Our CD&I Initiative enables and fosters conversations about race and equality, said Levy. Specifically, in BT, weve had members of our team present and educate our group about members of their own community that have been pioneers within the technology space, and how they contributed to the betterment of society. Ive learned quite a bit from Kelly Tran, a [committee] member of CD&I. She continues to educate me personally more and more each month on her Asian Pacific American heritage, and how women from her culture have contributed to the industry.

Jonathan Levy. (Photo via LinkedIn)

Being an employee at Power and being exposed to the CD&I Initiative has allowed for continued personal growth for Levy and a deeper understanding of why racial equality in the workplace is so important, believing that all communities must have the opportunity to display their talents and contribute to the betterment of that business and the success for all.

CD&I has changed me in a myriad of positive ways, said Levy. One that stands out is my approach to others outside of my own community. I have learned to be patient and to foster conversations that educate others, so that we might come to a better understanding and be more successful together.

For companies that have already been prioritizing diversity and inclusion within the workplace, do not take your foot off the gas. And for those whose eyes have just been opened, start today. Listen to your employees to make your workplace an inclusive one. Make it a goal to recruit diverse talent. Develop programs that help retain and develop that talent. And, keep listening, learning and growing with your entire workforce.

Power Home Remodeling is committed to fostering and supporting an inclusive and diverse workplace for all. To learn more about career opportunities at Power, visit workatpower.com.

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Diversity in the workplace: If you're going to talk the talk, you need to walk the walk - Technical.ly

Around 249 flights will have been completed when Airbridge, an effort launched at a time when the US faced dire supply shortages, ends, according to an agency spokesperson.

Still, administration officials have left the door open for Airbridge to restart if necessary.

In mid-June, administration officials indicated that Airbridge would be phased out by June 30, but stressed it remains an option for future needs for personal protective equipment. FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor told reporters that any decision to restart Airbridge will rely on information from states and the White House coronavirus task force, among others.

In late March, the federal government partnered with six major US distributors to rush equipment overseas to the United States. FEMA covered the cost of flights, averaging between $750,000 to $800,000 each, and six companies -- Cardinal Health, Concordance, Owens and Minor, McKesson, Medline, and Henry Schein -- distributed the equipment in the US.

Project Airbridge accelerated the shipment of supplies from weeks to days and got supplies straight to the frontline workers, according to Gaynor. Half of the supplies flown in went to designated hotspot areas and the other half went to distributors' customers, some of whom might also be in those critical areas.

CNN's Leyla Santiago contributed to this report.

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Trump administration ends 'Project Airbridge' effort to get supplies to the US - CNN

Wyzant

Customer success management is essentially relationship maintenance, built on the foundation that the client feels genuinely attended to at all times, especially when problems arise. But when it comes time to scale up, managing several accounts, including enterprise ones, requires more time. Hiring more customer success managersisnt always sustainable.

Thats where technologies like CRM systems and macros that prefill emails come in. Effective automation allows companies to tactfully respond to a large number of clients at once while still empowering CSMs to give greater attention to the biggest problems.

Built In spoke with tech professionals from three Chicago companies Fusion Risk Management, Aptitive and Wyzant that have seen rapid growth. Wyzant, for example, went from two founders connecting students and tutors on college campuses to 2 million users and 80,000 instructors worldwide in less than a decade. They said automated customer success is inevitable, but it cant succeed without human touch. All three respondents mentioned that customer success teams need to know how to analyze data and determine whether an issue can be solved through automation, or whether it requires personal outreach.

Fusion Risk Managements team analyzes their conversations with clients through a CRM, while Wyzant examines email language to determine whether it requires an automated response or a human one.

Tracey Rice

Senior Vice President, Customer Service

Tracey Rice, SVP of customer success at Fusion Risk Management, said automation only comes into play following conversations CSMs have with clients. At the Chicago-based provider of risk management services, reports and dashboards offer the birds-eye view that CSMs need to create high-level strategies for clients.

When it comes to scaling your customer success team, what are the most important considerations and why?

Its important that our customer success team is filled with empathetic, forward thinkers who are willing to go the extra mile for our clients. Their personalities are important. We also want a balanced client to customer success manager ratio so our CSMs can dedicate adequate time to each client in their portfolio. Were using metrics like product adoption, license utilizationand others to track their growth before and after joining the customer success program. We also lean on Fusions other departments to provide their subject matter expertise so we can focus on our roles account management, product, delivery, supportand solutions engineers which all have an impact on the success of our clients programs.

What tools or technologies do you use to make customer success more scalable?

Right now were leaning heavily on virtual events and video to connect with all our clients regularly. We rolled out a three-part recurring series of engagements to foster a network of sharing among our clients. We hold monthly webinars spotlighting our client success stories during our customer spotlight series and new ways our products can be used during our product showcases. Since we had to postpone our seasonal, in-person regional user group meetings, we launched a weekly community exchange so clients can candidly discuss the challenges, successesand questions they face day-to-day. Letting our communities learn from each other gets them excited about new ideas, and the CSMs can help the ideas come to fruition more efficiently.

Automation comes into play when we take what we learn from our conversations, input it into our CRM and let the analysis do the work from there.

How are you striking the right balance of automation and human touch?

We rely on regular conversations with our clients to ensure we have full insight into their program goals, executive priorities, challenges and opportunities. Were a data-driven organization, so automation comes into play when we take what we learn from our conversations, input it into our CRMand let the analysis do the work from there. Reports, dashboards and scorecards are generated so we can analyze the breadth of our clients programs and strategize where the biggest opportunities to help them may be.

Aptitive CEO Paul Corning said the Chicago-based data and analytics consulting firm develops customized templates and tools for individual clients based on previous successes so they can be repeated throughout the customer lifecycle. But no template will suit every client, so the templates are unique to each based on their own processes.

When it comes to scaling your customer success team, what are the most important considerations and why?

We want repeatable successes for our clients, but we have to consider what makes each client unique to achieve that. Our technology projects have to address the people and process side of every client if we want to be successful. The most important thing is to reuse designs and maximize the productivity of our consultants with templates and tools, while still customizing the people and process solution for each client.

What tools or technologies do you use to make customer success more scalable?

By leveraging our prior project successes, we can apply best practices and be more likely achieve the customer success that our clients want. We also extensively train our consultants in the latest technologies and build frameworks and templates that help our small teams be highly productive for client project work.

We hire only the brightest consultants and rely on their expertise to balance automation with high-touch people and process solutions.

How are you striking the right balance of automation and human touch?

The key for Aptitive is a focus on high productivity across a small team of experts. We strive to deliver value to our clients aggressively and let the consulting team leverage the tools and automation that best apply in each client project. We hire only the brightest consultants and rely on their expertise to balance automation with high-touch people and process solutions.

Tim Janis

Customer Support Team Manager

Wyzants customer support team manager, Tim Janis, said the Chicago-based edtech platform handles a significant number of its 2 million users issues at one time by keeping multiple modes of communication open, sometimes even bypassing personal customer support by providing self-service solutions or auto replies to common problems. This allows CSMs to personally address more sensitive issues.

When it comes to scaling your customer success team, what are the most important considerations and why?

As a web-based platform, our product is constantly evolving. So one of our biggest challenges is ensuring training materials are up to date with changes on all of Wyzants platforms. Thats why the skill we seek most in a new team member is the ability to adapt to changes on the fly and incorporate new information into their daily processes. Even after six years at Wyzant, I still learn new things about our front-end and back-end platforms. As comprehensive as our training is, there is no way to distill every single thing a new hire will encounter in their day-to-day work into the process. So along with the ability to stay current with platform changes, curiousnew team members must also be collaborative, tech savvy and creative problem-solvers.

What tools or technologies do you use to make customer success more scalable?

In order to assist as many customers as possible, we offer support through a variety of channels throughout the day. While we traditionally focused on phone and email support, it can be very difficult to assist multiple customers at once using these channels. Live chat has really helped us increase the number of customers we can service concurrently. Because we deal with a lot of similar customer interactions over time, we also use email macros to be as efficient as possible. Macros that prefill customer information and add a customizable email response really help make sure we can serve as many customers as possible while still providing a personalized touch. We have also started experimenting with automated email replies for common issues that do not require personalized assistance. By looking at the type of email a customer is replying to or the language used in their messages, we can automatically reply to provide a solution to their issue. Of course, we let the customer know that if they still have issuesthey can reply once more soa representative can assist further. Maintaining up-to-date self-service resources for customers is also extremely important for scaling services. Providing customers the answers to their most frequently asked questions before they even reach out not only improves the customers overall experiencebut also ensures our representatives are available for inquiries that require more hands-on assistance.

We take a data-driven approach to everything we do at Wyzant, including our support operations.

How are you striking the right balance of automation and human touch?

We take a data-driven approach to everything we do at Wyzant, including our support operations. All our customer interactions are tagged with metadata so we can review why the customer reached out and how we resolved their issue. This information has helped us automate support provided for issues that are always resolved the same way. Simple inquiries like account navigation and platform functionality are easily automated since the answers rarely change. More sensitive situations, such as customers' purchasesor those involving multiple users or variables, should always be handled by an actual representative. These interactions are harder to automate, and customers want to feel there is a real person there to take care of them and listen to their concerns while providing a solution tailored to their specific issue.

Continued here:
How to Scale Customer Success Without Losing the Personal Touch - Built In Chicago

In a hectic world where technology is evolving at a faster rate, where artificial intelligence (AI) and robots are able to handle basic humans tasks, where conflicts and wars routinely break out, and where long-term relationships seem to be harder to maintain, emotional intelligence is more important than ever.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) or Emotional Quotient (EQ) refers to an individuals capability to understand, manage, and use their own emotions and those of the people around them in positive ways.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to distinguish between different feelings and identify and understand them to communicate effectively, empathize with others, relieve stress, conquer challenges, and defuse conflict.

American psychologist and science journalist Daniel Goleman is one of the most inventive writers on the topic of emotional intelligence. In his book Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ, the author argues that EI is twice as important as IQ (Intelligence Quotient).

IQ is relatively a fixed intelligence while EI includes behavioral traits that can be learned and improved for significant benefits, from personal happiness and well-being to career success, he underlines.

Goleman defines EI in five key categories:

Self-awareness: Self-evaluation, understanding your emotions, and recognizing how they affect your thoughts, behavior, and the people around you. Self-awareness helps you have a clear picture of your strengths and weaknesses and allow you to feel more confident and fulfilled.

Self-regulation: The ability to be in control of your emotions, impulses, or disruptive thoughts. People who self-regulate are flexible and adapt easily to changes and situations, and they are great at managing conflict and taking responsibility. Self-regulation can help you think before you act, allowing you to be more thoughtful without compromising your values.

Self-motivation: The ability to self-motivate, determine what motivates you, and achieve self-gratification without waiting for validation or praise from others. People who have high emotional intelligence are usually motivated and work consistently towards their goals, and are highly productive and effective in everything they do.

Empathy: The ability to recognize and identify other peoples feelings, wants, needs, and viewpoints and how to respond to them in social situations. Empathy helps you understand the emotions of others even if they are not obvious. It allows you to listen well, judge fairly, avoid stereotypes, and give constructive feedback.

Social skills: The ability to use your understanding of others emotions to build better relationships and connect with people using social skills such as listening and verbal and nonverbal communication. People that use social skills are usually friendly and easy to talk to. They are diplomatic in nature and experts at managing conflicts and helping others succeed.

The importance of emotional intelligence

The importance and benefits of emotional intelligence are immense, both professionally and personally. EI improves relationships, confidence, and communication skills to achieve academic and professional success.

Emotional intelligence is important in forming and developing peoples growth, which is why psychologists have suggested teaching EI in schools Emotionally intelligent children grow up to become emotionally intelligent adults and productive and compassionate members of society.

Some benefits of strong emotional intelligence include:

Better communication

Having high emotional intelligence improves communication, allowing you to express yourself clearly while staying calm in difficult situations. Strong communication skills will earn you respect and appreciation from others.

Being a good communicator helps you persuade and influence others, solve problems effectively, and have better and stronger relationships either in the workplace or personal life.

Good communication in a company helps maintain a peaceful work environment with energetic employees that get along with and respect one another, enabling longlasting professional success.

Teamwork

Highly intelligent people recognize their strengths and weaknesses, and they always put others into consideration, making them great communicators in a team. They are able to respect and value their coworkers input and points of view while listening in a positive way, building trust with their peers.

Having high EI also helps individuals be confident and open to share their own ideas without controlling the teams dynamic to get what they want, as they prefer to work in teams to increase creativity and promote ideas to help achieve the teams goals.

Adaptability

Emotional intelligence helps you adapt and adjust to new situations easily, even if they are difficult or unfamiliar, without feeling frustration or any other negative emotion resulting from the change.

People with high EI are open to change and can manage the stress, anxiety, and other challenges that come with it. Emotionally intelligent people make change an opportunity for success and growth while instilling trust and confidence in others by helping them through these changes, as well.

Leadership

Great leaders are emotionally intelligent people. They are considered, thoughtful, strong communicators, and respectful of others. They are able to understand their emotions and others thoughts, feelings, and actions and determine how to influence them and inspire them positively.

Having a deep understanding of your own and others emotions can help you be in control of your life and have a better connection with those around you, nurturing stronger relationships built on clear communication, trust, and a positive attitude.

Motivation

Understanding and managing your emotions can have a positive impact on your life. You will know how to deal with conflicts and difficult situations, leading to an increase in motivation and productivity.

Emotionally intelligent people believe that they are in control over their own lives. They are often optimistic, hard-working, and driven by a sense of ambition to be successful, no matter what obstacles they may face.

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The Personal and Professional Importance of Emotional Intelligence - Morocco World News

It is a DallasBasketball.com tradition to re-run the accomplished journalist Glenn Yoders 2011 Dallas Mavericks NBA title reflection on the anniversary of that incredible time. and it all brings rushing back Yoders work, at the top of his game on Dirk, at the top of his. Happy ninth anniversary. Enjoy .

With about a minute left in Game 6 of the 2011 NBA Finals, and the Dallas Mavericks having effectively deflated the Miami Heat's championship hopes, I turned wide-eyed to my group of friends and the packed Denton bar surrounding me. The words shot out loudly as the realization washed over the gathered crowd.

"Oh my God... They're going to win!" I must have yelled that 10 times, each holler louder than the last, and within 30 seconds, as Dirk Nowitzki's face showed that he was experiencing the same thought, I cried.

In adulthood, crying over sports is silly since you're not directly involved. It's like when I received over 20 congratulatory texts within minutes of the game ending nice, but I didn't do anything to earn that praise, other than devote years of hopes and cheers to a basketball franchise that happens to be in my hometown.

Millions of fans do the same in 29 other NBA cities each year, many of which never experience this wonderful pay-off. Players may say it is about the fans, and when things go right we feel rewarded for our commitment to the team (worse, on the other side of the coin, some of us feel "owed" when things don't go so well), but in a twisted way LeBron James is kind of right:

Our lives do remain the same, regardless of the outcome of a sporting event.

What made this win particularly special for Mavs fans is that it wasn't just about bragging rights or our validation for supporting the team through all these years. It was bigger than that, more intimate than your run-of-the-mill title. The feeling was personal, yet somehow not about us, the fans, at all. As a friend of mine tweeted that Sunday night, "Championships are so much better when you feel happier for the players than yourself."

But of course, this isn't about multiple players, even if this was a "win for team basketball," as Dirk put it. Yes, it's heartwarming to see a bunch of deserving ring-less veterans like Jason Kidd, Jason Terry and Shawn Marion finally reap the fruits of their labor. But even all of them know the truth. This was for Dirk. ... Chuck Cooperstein's call touches on that as The UberMan hits the Game 6 dagger ...

Obviously, far superior writers than I have already detailed how fantastic it is to witness Dirk's loyalty triumph over Miami's stir-and-serve recipe for success. It's a critical, beautiful storyline to this dream finale, but it only scratches the surface of a much deeper well of emotions. In short, Dirk loves Dallas, and Dallas loves him back.

In 2004, my second year living and working in Boston, I covered the celebration when the Red Sox won the World Series. I vividly recall sitting in a cramped apartment full of college students as the team closed out a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals. Even in the ninth inning of Game 4, the Boston fans were convinced something was going to go awry (turns out this fear is buried inside me as well). But the jubilation that followed the Sox' victory was sweet for Bostonians for a totally different reason not better or worse than this Mavericks' win was for us. The Sox' championship was deeply personal to the fans, the culmination of 86 years of waiting and praying, parents and grandparents passing their fandom onto their kids and grandkids, and so forth. In the Mavericks' case, this title may be a pot of gold after 31 fruitless years passed down over a few generations of fans, but throughout this playoff run, I believe the vast majority of Dallas fans removed themselves from the equation. Even Mark Cuban took a backseat by going silent.

Why? It was all about how Dirk felt.

Under normal fan circumstances, we would simply be happy with a Mavericks championship. Dirk's personal success, which thankfully runs concurrently, should be secondary to us after all, he's a man most of us don't know personally. However, the script got flipped. In Dallas, seeing Dirk become a champion became Priority No. 1, while the fact that it also meant a Mavericks title became the bonus.

There's a simple explanation for this. Our feelings for Dirk, and frankly, his personal well-being, grew to be extremely personal over time. That's what happens when you watch an awkward player who looked like Bambi trying to walk on ice during his first season develop into the saving grace of your moribund franchise and then come oh-so-close to a championship in 2006. His struggles made us proud of each of his successes and appreciative of his tireless work ethic. We started taking personal offense when other fans, who clearly didn't regularly watch him play through countless sprained ankles, labeled him "soft." We vigilantly defended his honor when lazy national writers attempted to place Pau Gasol above him on the league's best European player list (that debate was settled convincingly this year, right?).

Soon, we began worrying about Dirk as if he was our own son out there on the court how is he going to feel about losing to the Warriors in the first round then quietly accepting an MVP trophy? How will he react if he believes his best friend got low-balled on a new contract, causing that friend to sign elsewhere? He never asked for this doting concern from us and he never would. But he certainly earned it.

Dirk toiled in the gym every day not to enhance his own legacy (his rebudding of endorsements makes it crystal clear he honestly doesn't care about his mainstream image), not just to know how it feels to be a champion for his own personal sake, but largely because he appreciated the rollicking support of Dallas, both the city and the organization. It's why he often said it wouldn't feel the same to win a championship elsewhere as was widely suggested by those who said he could never play the Batman on a title team, and should just become another team's Robin.

"I can't even tell you how great the city has been to me over the last 13 years. They've been by my side through ups and downs, fighting through a lot of stuff, and they always stuck with me," Nowitzki told Hannah Storm after the Game 6 close-out, sniffling through the interview. "They took me like one of theirs when I came there 13 years ago, and this is for them."

The second part of that quote is particularly significant: "Took me like one of theirs." For a 20-year-old German with spotty English playing in loud and proud Dallas, Texas, that's huge. But Dirk, don't defer credit: You earned that acceptance. Many of us have watched the Mavericks since long before Dirk knew where Dallas was on the map, but never felt the affection for a single player as we have for him. Dirk is everything you could want in a franchise player, as well as a humble spokesman for our city and team and an ambassador for the game itself. That those facts were so woefully misunderstood by the at-large NBA public for the duration of his career led to Mavericks fans embracing Dirk tighter still. He became one of us.

No wonder Mavs fans thanked him in true Texan style, putting Shiner Bock on his doorstep after the Finals. Dallas and Dirk have been inextricably linked for years, and amazingly, after all these seasons of wondering whether championship windows were cracked or closed, that union paid off. Big time. In the sweetest way possible, with all sorts of fun storylines about revenge and vindication and The Decision. But it didn't really matter who Dirk won a championship against. We just wanted him to get one for him. And if he didn't? We would have loved him just the same.

I spent a long time that Sunday night justifying those tears to my friends who snapped photos of my crumpled face. But there wasn't any need. They understand. The connection with Dirk runs deep his tears are our tears, and vice versa. He may have hidden his tears from public view when he jumped over the scorer's table as Game 6 ended, running into the locker room showers while covering his face with a towel to hide his emotion.

But I am proud of mine, silly and embarrassing as they may be. They're for Dirk. He earned them.

Glenn Yoder is a lifelong Mavs fan, a friend of DBcom and a veteran newspaper journalist. This article first ran on DBcom on Aug. 1, 2011.

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Happy 9th Mavs Champs Anniversary: Oh My God, Theyre Going To Win! - Sports Illustrated

Becomes second recreational marijuana store to open

Alicia Jaimes, alicia.jaimes@pioneergroup.com

Opening in Big Rapids just last month, KKind General Manager Joe Keck said business has been steadily growing ever since. (Pioneer photo/Alicia Jaimes)

Opening in Big Rapids just last month, KKind General Manager Joe Keck said business has been steadily growing ever since. (Pioneer photo/Alicia Jaimes)

Opening in Big Rapids just last month, KKind General Manager Joe Keck said business has been steadily growing ever since. (Pioneer photo/Alicia Jaimes)

Opening in Big Rapids just last month, KKind General Manager Joe Keck said business has been steadily growing ever since. (Pioneer photo/Alicia Jaimes)

Cannabis business growing in Big Rapids

BIG RAPIDS Joe Keck, general manager of Big Rapids' newest marijuana dispensary, said business has been steadily growing since opening in the area.

Our budtenders really enjoy engaging with members of the community, and it really feels as if we are building long-lasting relationships with our customers, Keck said of the business, KKind.

All the way from Kalamazoo, KKind a state licensed cannabis provisioning center opened its second recreational store in the city of Big Rapids.

I have suffered for years of pain and anxiety, and cannabis has helped me provide myself a better quality of life most days, Keck said. I have even recently been giving my grandmother CBD Transdermal Rubs to help with her arthritis in her hands and knees, and its really been making a difference.

My dog even has his own unique blend of CBD oil provided by a local vet that has helped with his anxiety.

Enjoying having the opportunity to help people in his line of work, Keck said he considers himself a personal success story when it come to using cannabis as a holistic medicine.

We are helping people daily with pain management, anxiety, stress, depression, loss of appetite and just uplifting their spirits, he said. KKinds patient advocates have extensive training in cannabis science, including the proper dosing levels of all cannabinoids.

As well as hoping to provide relief to area residents, Keck said he hopes to hire people from the area.

We hope to provide living wage jobs for locals that we hire from the Big Rapids community, and to offer another option in town with different and new products to choose from, Keck said.

Current hours for KKind is 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday thru Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays. Keck said they are hoping to expand their hours soon.

Keck said KKind is also offering a limited contact curbside service.

My goal has always been to help people, whether its through music, art or cannabis, he said. I believe its our duty as cannabis professionals to educate patients on proper dosing levels, appropriate methods of use, and how our products may provide symptom relief.

If I have earned someones trust and have helped them find a way to take control of their quality of life, then Ive done my job.

Excerpt from:
Cannabis business growing in Big Rapids - The Pioneer

When Bob Zimmermann was trying to decide where he should pitch in college, he wanted to go to the school that gave him the best opportunity to go to the College World Series.

He looked at the names on the Bears' roster. He knew Bears first baseman Ryan Howard from high school and had a few conversations with him before making his choice.

"It just seemed like a good fit," Zimmermann said.

Zimmermann went on to be named the Missouri Valley Conference's Freshman of the Year in 2000 and was a first-team All-Conference selection. After his freshman year, he was elected to be a member of the USA National Team in 2001 and 2002.

For the Bears, he could start or come out of the bullpen. The team looked to him as a player whowas able to step up for his team when it needed him the most.

"The personal success is always nice, but there's nothing that can compare to when you're having team success," Zimmermann said. "It just makes things better and makes things more fun and enjoyable to be around everything. I think baseball is a sport where personal success can contribute to team success, so it was nice to have both ends.

"The teams I had my freshman and my sophomore year both teams I think we had a team that could've made a run. I feel like we got snubbed out, but we were able to use the experience to help our team my junior in 2003 that helped make that run in the postseason because of the experience."

For the second year in a row, the Bears were sent to the Lincoln Regional. This time, they would be the No. 3 seed and would open against Coastal Carolina.

The year before, the Bears lost in the opener to Marist before eliminating Milwaukee and Marist the following day. Their season came to an end when they played Nebraska and lost 14-3 instead of forcing a winner-take-all regional championship game.

What happened in the 2002 regional wasn't forgotten. It served as extra motivation for a team that didn't expect to be in the NCAA Tournament in the first place.

"I think going back was a good thing," Bears head coach Keith Guttin said. "Guys were familiar with the stadium and everything. It was an easy trip by bus. I think there was a little comfort there."

"I thought it was the perfect place to go," centerfielder Dant'e Brinkley said. "We needed that revenge. We had all the confidence in the world and we were ready to go. We knew that team because we had played them the year before and we didn't lose too many guys."

Brooks Colvin didn't want things to be the same as the Bears' trip to Lincoln in 2002. The situation was starting to feel too familiar when he was on deck, so he had an idea.

Colvin decided to flip over a circle that served as the batter's box. It had the Nebraska logo on it even though the Bears were playing Coastal Carolina.

"I didn't think it was that big of a deal at first," Colvin said.

That's when the grounds crew decided to get on the field and flip it back over to show the logo. Again, Colvin flipped it over.

"It didn't feel right to sit there and hit off of Nebraska's logo," Colvin said. "I just felt like they had a good team and good program so we had to do something to spice it up a little bit and get everyone hopping and going. It definitely did it."

Colvin became public enemy No. 1. Every time he batted all tournament long, fans booed. Every time a ball was hit his way, fans booed.

"It was awesome," Colvin said. "I just remember loving hearing them. It definitely got blown out of proportion but once it got there, I thought it was awesome."

"Aww, man, he was always doing everything," Brinkley said. "That's who we were. We weren't going to be a second-class citizen to no team. Him flipping over that batting circle was kind of our statement like 'we're here and we're ready to go.'"

Pitcher Chad Mulholland got the nod to start against Coastal Carolina. Back then, the team's top arm, Brad Ziegler, would typically throw the second game of a weekend series. Because of a Saturday doubleheader that featured a seven-inning game before a nine, starting the No. 1 pitcher in the seven-inning game would help ease the stress on bullpens.

But Mullholland was noslouch either. He finished the year 10-4 with a 3.08 ERA in 119.2 innings pitched as the team's Friday starter.

"Chad Mullholland was pretty damn good," SMS pitching coach Paul Evans said. "He was a workhorse."

Against Coastal Carolina, Mullholland got behind early. Heallowed two home runs. His five innings made for his shortest outing since the second game of the regular season.

Southwest Missouri State trailed 3-2 after four innings but the Bears kept their composure.

Three walks, including one with the bases loaded, aided the rally. Brinkley and catcher Tony Piazza had RBI singles and Clay Wheeler hit a sacrifice fly to knock Coastal Carolina's starter out of the game.

"There was talk going into that Coastal Carolina game that they had two lefties who were going to shut us down and we took it personally," Brinkley said. "It was like 'Hey, you guys aren't going to take our dream away from us' and our dream was to win that regional. We never looked past where we were. Weren't looking to the College World Series or the Super Regional. We wanted to win the Regional."

The Bears' dream of winning the regional got off to a good start after the team pulled away for an 8-3 win over Coastal Carolina in the regional opener. Brinkley helped SMS in the rally by hitting a pair of home runs.

Not only did the win advance the Bears closer to their first regional championship in program history but it also set up a chance at revenge againstNebraska whichwas then the No. 9 team in the country.

Southwest Missouri State was going to have its ace, Brad Ziegler, on the mound but Nebraska was going to bring its big gun too.

The Cornhuskers were going with Aaron Marsden. He was just named the Big 12's Pitcher of the Year after allowing three runs or fewer in 19 of his 20 appearances.

"I remember having to have that mindset that I wasn't facing him and that I was facing the hitters," Ziegler said. "Our hitters are going to have to face him, but I don't. I'm facing their hitters and it's my job to get guys out and not worry about what he's doing on the mound."

That mindset worked.

Brinkley and Colvin hit back-to-back doubles in the fifth to break a 1-1 tie. Wheeler followed with a two-out single to give SMS a 3-1 lead.

The Huskers came back with a run in the top of the sixth, aided by a balk call on Ziegler that moved a runner over to second. Nebraska later scored on a two-out single to bring the game within one.

Ziegler worked six innings and allowed a lead-off double to start the seventh before handing the ball over to closer Shaun Marcum.

Things didn't start off well for Marcum as he tossed a wild pitch to advance the runner to third before he walked his first batter with no outs.

Marcum forced the next two batters into flyouts while both runners stayed put. Perhaps the biggest play of the game followed when Piazza caught the runner at first napping and picked him off to end the inning.

SMS was able to hold on to give Ziegler the school record for single-season victories.

"We just walked out of there having beaten the home team on their field, and because of the mindset of thinking that we're not going to get in the tournament and then when we got in, we felt like we had nothing to lose," Ziegler said. "We weren't supposed to be there in our minds. Everything we got after that was a bonus. We were able to play free and not care if we got beat. Everyone expected us to get beat so it wouldn't have been that big of a deal."

Later in the day, Nebraska bounced back with an 18-2 win over Eastern Michigan to stay alive and force a rematch with the Bears. The Huskers would have to win two-straight to win the regional, while the Bears just had to win one.

Nebraska scored six runs in the second inning after the Bears failed to record an out on two sacrifice bunt plays. Both times the Bears unsuccessfully attempted to get the lead runner.

SMS was able to cut the lead in half after a Wheeler RBI single and a two-run single by Marcum but it was still too much to overcome.

In the bullpen, Zimmermann found himself warming up until things started to spiral out of control. The Bears knew he was going to be needed for a winner-take-all game, so they sat him down.

"Sometimes in those situations when it's do-or-die, you have to punt and not use your guys as much as you don't want to lose," Evans said. "Sometimes you have to say 'we have another game to win, let's save our bullets' and Bob was certainly a bullet for Nebraska that day."

Southwest Missouri State lost the game 9-5 to force a winner-take-all contest. Either the Bears would leave Lincoln with their first regional title ever or they would go home.

"We just got beat," Guttin said. "Nebraska's at home and they're good. It was really, really hot and they had a place for us between games. We had some food and some cool drinks. We chilled for a little bit and chatted just a little. There was no 'rah, rah' speech. We just said that "this is who we are.'"

Zimmermann was going to get the start for the championship game and he usually starts warming up about 45 minutes before the game but this one was different.

He and Piazza found a spot in the clubhouse where they were able to take a quick 10-minute nap. The next thing Zimmermann remembers was a teammate walking in and saying that the game started in 15 minutes.

Show caption Hide caption Southwest Missouri State pitcher Bob Zimmermann, right, and teammate Dante Brinkley hug after defeating Nebraska 7-0 in an NCAA regional game in Lincoln, Neb., on... Southwest Missouri State pitcher Bob Zimmermann, right, and teammate Dante Brinkley hug after defeating Nebraska 7-0 in an NCAA regional game in Lincoln, Neb., on Sunday, June 1, 2003. With the win Southwest Missouri State advanced to the Super Regionals.Nati Harnik

"We were both like 'aw, crap' and had to get our uniforms on," Zimmermann said. "Starting there and having that rush to not think about the things going on may have made it a little easier to react and be athletic as opposed to overthinking things. Pitchers can get into big trouble when they're overthinking."

Zimmermann admitted that he had nerves, but he knew what he was capable of. He felt he could shut them down.

And he did.

"My fastball command was really good that day," Zimmermann said. "It makes things a lot easier when your fastball is working for you. I feel like it was strike-one to every single hitter. I never started out with a ball and I got ahead and had that feeling that I could throw anywhere."

"He was really on that day," Evans said. "He was a guy who feeds off emotion. He was kind of our wildcard a guy you can use in so many different ways. He and Tony were really clicking. I just remember we were going away, away, away, away and Bob had a good arm with a good fastball. His breaking ball was OK and he was just feeding it, man. He was just going right at him and attacking and they didn't have much success."

Zimmermann threw the game of his life and ultimately put together one of the great performances in program history when he threw a five-hit shutout to help the Bears defeat Nebraska 7-0 and give SMS its first-ever NCAA Division I Regional Championship.

"I would say it's at or near the top certainly with what was on the line," Guttin said of where Zimmermann's performance ranks in Bears baseball history. "He was just phenomenal. Unbelievable amount of first-pitch strikes and putting guys away. It was a great win."

"I was confident but you could've given me a million-to-one odds and I wouldn't have bet a single dollar that he was going to pitch a complete-game shutout," Ziegler said. "That was a big ol' burly man who decided he was going to put the team on his back."

When the final out was recorded and the Regional was won, there was no celebration.

There was no dogpile or Gatorade being dumped on Guttins' head. Nothing.

For a team that didn't think it was going to make the NCAA Tournament in the first place, avenging its loss from the year before and winning the first Regional in program history was somehow expected.

"It wasn't anything to celebrate," Brinkley said. "We expected to win. For me, I'm a different kind of example and I'm never satisfied. I never have to outright celebrate something that I should be doing and that was something that we should've been doing. We knew our fight wasn't over and that's just what it was and then it was on to the next."

Show caption Hide caption Southwest Missouri State's Adam Pummill, center, celebrates after scoring against Nebraska in the fourth inning of an NCAA regional game in Lincoln, Neb., Sunday, June... Southwest Missouri State's Adam Pummill, center, celebrates after scoring against Nebraska in the fourth inning of an NCAA regional game in Lincoln, Neb., Sunday, June 1, 2003. Southwest Missouri State defeated Nebraska 7-0 and advanced to the super-regional round of the NCAA baseball tournament for the first time.Nati Harnik, AP

"Our thing was 'let's act like we're supposed to be the winners,'" Zimmermann laughed. "We're supposed to be here and not showing our ass basically hooting and hollering. We have more business. We wanted a really professional win and then take the work on to the Super Regional that we weren't finished and not just content with winning a Regional."

"That was their thing," Guttin said. "They came up to take care of business. They did their celebrating off the field, I can tell you that. It's a lot easier to say that 17 years later."

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email atwwheeler@news-leader.comor join the conversation on Twitter where his handle is@WyattWheeler_NL. You can also sign up for his free "Bears Beat" newsletter by subscribing on News-Leader.com.

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The Bears' first Regional Championship 'wasn't anything to celebrate' - News-Leader

Rigged

America, Russia, and One Hundred Years of Covert Electoral Interference

by David Shimer

In the bleak midwinter of a political year in Washington, a top out-of-power partisan contacts a Russian diplomat at the embassy in Washington.

The topic of discussion: What their governments might do for each other in the coming administration.

This scene may sound familiar, only it wasn't former national security adviser Mike Flynn. The American political figure was former Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson, who went up to the Soviet embassy in January of 1960 to see Ambassador Mikhail Menshikov.

After "caviar, fruits and drinks," his excellency the ambassador produced a message from Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev.

"We are concerned with the future, and that America has the right president," the Soviet leader wrote, per Stevenson's later recollection. Moscow wanted to get behind him against what it considered a distasteful hardliner: Vice President Richard Nixon. "Because we know the ideas of Mr. Stevenson, we in our hearts all favor him," Khrushchev wrote. Continued the letter:

"Could the Soviet press assist Mr. Stevenson's personal success? How? Should the press praise him, and if so, for what? We can always find many things to criticize Mr. Stevenson for because he has said many harsh and critical things about the Soviet Union and communism! Mr. Stevenson will know best what would help him."

This overture which Stevenson rebuffed is one of many gems unearthed by David Shimer in his important new history, Rigged: America, Russia, and One Hundred Years of Covert Electoral Interference.

Stevenson's encounter encapsulates the essence of a very old game.

If Russia's attack on the 2016 election and other elections in Great Britain and Western Europe seemed like bolts from the blue, they shouldn't. Shimer's authoritative book places them in their proper context as only the latest installments in the long-running and sometimes grim practice of statecraft.

To be clear, the experiences of 2016 and since were novel in key ways, of which more below, but the premise of the work the goal of a nation to bring about a desired outcome within the politics of another was not.

Comrade Lenin

The Russians, Shimer argues, had a head start, one that derives from the ambitious and paranoid aspects of early Communism in the Soviet Union and its progenitor, Vladimir Lenin.

They also had a standing, peacetime secret intelligence service, which the United States, in the 19-teens, did not. Lenin and his successors made foundation stones of the agencies that became and then evolved from the KGB and the army's GRU.

Washington tried to catch up.

After World War II, it and the then-new CIA also got into the business of trying to change the course of events within nations around the world.

This work made the CIA infamous in many places, but Shimer focuses his attention in Rigged specifically on the influence of democratic elections, not on coups or armed operations.

The American stories haven't been excavated as often and make for fascinating reading, as when President Harry Truman ordered the CIA to help defeat communists in Italy's 1948 election. It did many things, including infuse a lot of cash.

"We had bags of money that we delivered to selected politicians to defray their political expenses, their campaign expenses, for posters, for pamphlets," as Shimer quotes one CIA officer.

But election influence also wasn't that simple: Much of the American suasion in the Italian election was as plain as day and wielded in the open.

The inside game vs. the outside game

Washington threatened to withhold post-WWII aid if Rome went communist; Italian-Americans wrote letters to relatives in the old country urging them to spurn the communists; Frank Sinatra and Joe DiMaggio contributed radio broadcasts.

History records that Italians elected the Christian democrats who were Washington's preferred interlocutors and kept the communists out of power.

So how much of that was thanks to the public messaging from the United States and how much because of the CIA's hidden hand? This question about causality and efficacy will linger.

Inside the Agency and around Washington, however, the answer was obvious. Shimer's research and reporting shine in sections like this one, in which he characterizes the sentiment about how much the CIA believed its own work: He quotes one official saying it, then a second, and then a third.

Although the efficacy of covert action might never be provable definitively, leaders in Washington and Moscow continued to believe in the value of this kind of work through the Cold War and beyond. Then-deputy CIA Director Robert Gates was reporting to Congress in secret about Soviet election interference in the 1980s.

And President Bill Clinton whom Shimer interviewed for this book described his desire to put Uncle Sam's thumb on the scales in the 2000 election in Serbia that ousted its infamous president Slobodan Miloevi. The State Department helped opponents and civic organizations and trained activists to monitor polling places.

"For Washington, overt democracy promotion, rather than covert electoral interference, had become the rule," Shimer writes.

Comrade Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin was watching. He complained to Clinton about the American military operations in the former Yugoslavia and appears never to have dropped his belief that the United States was worming into elections around the world and especially in his front yard.

Meanwhile, the world moved online. That not only made individual American political targets vulnerable to foreign cyberattackers but also millions of people available, in a new, "neutral" medium, to the very old arts of persuasion or agitation.

In the old days, a group with a name such as "the World Peace Council" might have circulated pamphlets. Or an explicitly communist group might have made a straight-ahead case for world revolution, as Shimer writes.

By 2016, an influence specialist in Saint Petersburg, posing as a fellow citizen, could metaphorically tap an individual American on the shoulder. They formed groups. They shared memes. They organized rallies that took place in the real world.

And in key cases, as, for example, with black voters, they hammered a message: "We" Russians pretending to be black American citizens can't win with either of these candidates, so "we" real black voters must stay home.

And so on.

Disinformation is consequential. Based on nothing more than the apparently comforting or affirming nonsense they've been told by a stranger, people will take action. Some even will take actions that endanger their own children, and others, by keeping them from being vaccinated.

Many people, even most people, may not respond to these kinds of suggestions in this way. But in an American election that can be decided by small margins fewer people than fit into Michigan Stadium on a typical autumn Saturday to see the Wolverines reaching and changing individual minds isn't nothing.

If you could get a message to 100 million people and affect the behavior of 1 percent of them, that could do the trick.

What difference does it make

Does that mean that Russia elected Trump in 2016?

Shimer recounts the story in ample detail and includes the views of both those who think it was determinative and those who believe it wasn't. His section about the torturous deliberations within President Obama's administration about how to respond to Russia's active measures is comprehensive to the point of encyclopedic.

Shimer's purpose is less to answer the question after all, the spies and diplomats still don't all agree about the U.S. efforts in Italy in 1948 than to establish that after roughly a century of dirty tricks and active measures, the reach afforded by Facebook and Twitter changed the old game for malefactors such as Russia's "Internet Research Agency."

"The CIA focused on manipulating the psyches of Italian voters," Shimer writes. "Today, billions of people have uploaded their psyches to the Internet, exposing them to targeted manipulation. The platform is new, but the goal of shaping people's views is not."

Later, in assessing 2016, he writes: "What must be beyond debate is that the IRA influenced the minds of unsuspecting voters. Its divisive content spread far and wide, reaching more than 100 million Americans," he writes.

That also has brought a new default kind of practice in statecraft and politics.

Political campaigns must be on guard for attacks, as must elections officials across America's thousands of individual voting jurisdictions, as must spies and security officials and Washington. Political cyberattacks continue apace.

The United States has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to buy new machines, upgrade IT systems and change its practices to try to protect ballots from interception, sabotage or other mischief.

But as Shimer writes in his painstaking book, this game has seldom been about changing ballots as much as it has been about changing minds.

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In 'Rigged,' A Comprehensive Account Of Decades Of Election Interference - NPR