Hartford Business Journal

20 Hartford Business Journal • April 8, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com OTHER VOICES The quiet before the legislative storm By Roy Occhiogrosso I recently had lunch with a former colleague from the Malloy administration who, in response to me noting how "quiet" the Capitol and Legislative Office Building seem these days, said: "Don't worry, the [s--t] will hit the fan soon enough." And, of course, he's right. We're in that somewhat quiet period between when the gov- ernor gives his budget speech and legislative committees face their deadlines for reporting out bills. Yes, there have been a few lively public hearings, but for the most part, the pub- lic hasn't really been paying attention. Once those deadlines come and go, however, and legislators begin going into session almost every day, surely the noise level will rise. And hopefully people will begin to pay attention because there are some serious issues being debated, the out- comes of which are far from clear. Let's start with the budget. Gov. Ned Lamont made his proposal on Feb. 20, but the real negotiating won't begin until the finance and appropriations committees report out their budgets sometime in late April or early May. That's when the "fun" starts because negotiations begin between the gover- nor's office and legislative leadership. Will Republicans be at the table? Will they offer an alternative bud- get? If the Republicans aren't part of the process, can House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz (D-Berlin) put together 76 votes for a Democratic budget? Then there's the issue of tolls (open and full disclosure for the umpteenth time: I'm working on this issue as a consultant). Lamont's proposal on tolls has gotten quite a bit of attention, and although his proposal, and others as well, recently passed out of the Transportation Committee, the issue is far from decided. CT Mirror reporter Mark Pazniokas recently made a good point on the WNPR radio show "Where We Live." He said the committee process isn't what it used to be. It used to be quite determinative in the sense that committees used to be the final resting place for issues that a majority of legislators were either against, or didn't want to vote on. Not anymore. Now it's often the case that legislators vote to move issues out of commit- tee and along to a fuller debate in the House and/ or Senate, while reserving their right to vote "no" in the end. I actu- ally think that's a good thing. Committees killing bills might prevent legislators from having to make some tough votes (not a good thing), but it also has the effect of stunting debate. For those of us old enough to remember, one of the more enter- taining moments of each legisla- tive session back in the day came when two legislative heavy-hitters — Democrat Richard Tulisano and Republican Bill Wollenberg — wowed their colleagues and a packed gallery with their back-and-forth debate on the death penalty. To the extent there was theater back then, that was as good as it got. Will we see debates like that in the next few months? Who knows, but I hope so. There are a lot of new legislators, and it'll be interesting to see if any of them step up and show they've got the chops to go toe-to-toe with each other in a substantive and entertaining way. There are plenty of issues that could rise to the level of the death penalty, in terms of the emotions they'll generate on both sides of the aisle, including recreational marijuana. This issue has been brought up for years in the legislature, but this year feels different; it feels like it might actually become law. A bill legalizing recreational mari- juana use has already passed out of the General Law Committee. What about casinos and sports bet- ting? (More disclosure: I'm involved in these issues as well.) Should we have Connecticut's first commercial casino? Who should have the right to host sports betting? Will paid sick leave and a $15-per- hour minimum wage hurt the economy? (Disclosure: I'm not work- ing on either issue, but I fully support both.) Should we ban the use of plas- tic bags? It's not really an emotional issue, but it will change the way we shop, for sure. Those are some of the issues that I think we could — and should — have robust debates on. So to use a football analogy, it feels like we're at halftime of a 0-0 game. No one's scored, and it's quiet. But we know points will be put on the board in the second half, and the crowd will get loud. There will be dueling press conferences, tweet storms, frayed tempers, and hope- fully, robust debates. People will say things they mean, and don't mean. Things will get messy, and loud. As they should. So enjoy the quiet before the storm. Roy Occhiogrosso is the managing director of Global Strategy Group in Hartford, a public relations and research firm. He also served as a senior advisor to former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. BIZ BOOKS Traits of breakthrough innovators By Jim Pawlak "Quirky — The Re- markable Story of the Traits, Foibles, and Genius of the Breakthrough Innovators Who Changed the World" by Melissa A. Schil- ling (PublicAffairs Books, $28). When we think of inventors and innovators, "eccentric" often describes them. Schilling explored the eccentricities and other characteris- tics of game-changers (GCs) and found that while "ordinary folks" share many of their traits, they don't think they can, so they don't try. Those who changed the game believed they could do it and did. Here are some highlights: Questioning and confidence — While the rules of math and physics are immutable, the rules made by men are not. By constantly questioning the conventional, GCs fix- ated on change. "Why not?" and "What's Next?" drove them. Elon Musk created his first computer game when he was 10. He saw the business-to-consumer and business-to-business potential of the internet and created (with help) Zip2 (city guides) and PayPal. He sold his interest in those and created Tesla, SpaceX and Solar City. Driven by achievement — GCs work on problems until they solve them (i.e. Thomas Edison found over 10,000 ways not to invent the lightbulb). They took on the most challenging tasks often in the face of negative feedback, which only increased their efforts. They see difficulty as "an indicator of opportunity for gain rather than a threat of failure." Their primary motivations weren't praise or saying "I told you so" to doubt- ers; intrinsic satisfaction drove them. Work was about "mastering skills, excel- ling at activities and completing tasks." Always Learning — Many of the GCs Schilling researched had difficulty with formal education and were home- schooled or self-taught. They were also readers with a wide range of interests. Elon Musk stated: "I was raised by books. Books, and then my parents." GCs found that reading helped them connect the dots from various sources to flesh out their ideas. In the concluding chapter, Schil- ling offers advice to managers and business owners on using employees' quirkiness to build creative and in- novative teams. Roy Occhiogrosso Jim Pawlak Book Review Opinion & Commentary We're in that somewhat quiet period between when the governor gives his budget speech and legislative committees face their deadlines for reporting out bills. Yes, there have been a few lively public hearings, but for the most part, the public hasn't really been paying attention.

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