World: It's Not Personal, It's Business

President Barack Obama has been criticized as being a bit chilly -- need I say more impersonal -- in his dealings with other world leaders.

"My own sense is that he doesn't really have good buds" among world leaders, said Peter Hakim, president emeritus of the Inter-American Dialogue, a think tank. "He can pick up the phone and talk to any leader and get a good response, but it's business."

How could it be any other way?

Read:  "For Obama, It's Business Before Friendship With World Leaders," The Republic

Photo credit here (President Obama and United Kingdom Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband)

Do Small Businesses Benefit From the National Export Initiative?

I've been wondering about this for some time. Do small businesses really benefit from the National Export Initiative? Every time a journalist/reporter asks me about it, I say the same thing: I am not so sure.

Has the number of U.S.A. small business exporters changed much over the last two decades let alone the last four months? I've tracked a number of anywhere from 240,000-270,000 SB exporters.

Anyone know what the current number is considering the BIG export push?

Please weigh in if you have the facts, thanks.

Read more here.

FYI: small business Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Jim McNerney is Chair of the President’s Export Council