what's in a name? i'm michael smerconish in philadelphia. smerconish, not a bad ring. i might ask cnn to change the

branding of the program. we can go with the more accurate polish version or how about the ukrainian spelling and pronunciation? the polish version probably closer to my roots. i'm not the only one with name pronunciation on the brain these days. florida governor ron desantis kicked off his presidential run last week. perhaps the only thing more confusing than trying to launch the campaign was hearing the candidate's last name. >> come again. the same day he released that video, he appeared on fox news and said this. >> anybody that's so inclined to help us, i would love to have your support. >> this was low-hanging fruit for the trump campaign. >> i'm ron desantis.

>> this is governor ron desantis. wishing everyone a merry christmas. >> who knew the long versus short version of a vowel could cause all this political calamity. the governor seemed unphased when asked what the final word on how to pronounce his name. he said this. >> this is ridiculous. the way to pronounce my last anytime, winner. >> while a name change in the midst of a presidential campaign is unusual, sir name all teratis intended to americanize, that's a time-honored tradition for many families, among the presidential, bill clinton changed husband name from william jefferson iii. gerald ford changed his. and former senator gary heart was born gary warren in november of 1936. his faem changed husband name

long before the thought of running for office entered his mind. the trump family is not immune. it's not always been trump. it's originally got changed sometime between the 1600s and when his late grandfather arrived in the united states in 1885. however, he pronounces his name, the governor of florida finds himself in an even more crowded field of challengers to the former president proving the point i med here last week. everybody is jumping in the candidate pool despite the lead in the polls.h9qñ no doubt because his standing is imperilled by prosecutors. they are all ready declared. next week foral announcements expected from mike pence, chris christie and governor doug burr gam.

and chris sununu is mulling it over. trump claims he's baffled as to why he has so many opponents, but seems to relish them all cutting into desantis' second place. >> i don't know why people are doing it. they are at 1%. you really go after the one who is second. i don't think he's going to be second that much longer. he's going to be third or fourth. >> trump's a analysis assumes everything remains stat you can, but that's highly unlikely. this week in the classified documents investigation came the news that federal prosecutors have an audio record ing acknowledging he held on to a pentagon document after leaving office. and the document in question still seems to be mia. sources tell cnn in mud march, trump attorneys turned over material connected to a military document. it's unclear if the document was

returned to the government. and then there's the ore side of the aisle led by president biden, or should i say the president's roots are irish. his name evolved to what it is today during emigration to the united states. last night the potus took a victory lap after solving the battle over the debt ceiling maybe because he wanted to turn attention away from a tumble. to name a bill with a unifying title. in this case, biden's term for the fuss call responsibility act, he call it is a bipartisan budget agreement. it actually appliapplies. the resolution of the debt deal got done in the senate. that included 17 republicans and 314 vets in the house, 149 of them republican. speaker kevin mccarthy was able to herd enough cats in his caucus and work with the

president. and it should be noted in the end, president biden did negotiate. the extremes in both parties, they were the outliers. analysts offered different opinions as to who won politically, to which i say, america did by staving off default. here's how "the new york times" puts it. the compromise was structured with the aim of enticing votes from both parties. it allowed republican ares who refuse to raise the debt ceiling without conditions to say that they succeeded in reducing some federal spending even as funding for the military and veterans programs would continue to grow while allowing democrats to i say they spared most domestic programs from severe cuts. here's hoping there's more come pr miez to come on other issues. despite the fact that president biden used his skills to orchestrate a bipartisan solution to the debt ceiling crisis, the news this week d dominated by an unfortunate video of the president taking a stomach tumable as he completed

handing out diplomas. he later joked he had been sandbagged. interestingly when a reporter in iowa gave trump the opportunity to reenforce the right wing talking point that this tumble showed biden's old age, trump was uncharacteristically charitable. >> i hope he wasn't hurt. you got to be careful about that. because you don't want that. even if you have to tiptoe down a ramp. that was the best speech i think i have ever made. and it was pouring rain and it was horrible and cold and windy. they have a ramp that was pure ice skating rink. so i tiptoe d down and suffered. they never covered my speech. but everybody, the smart people understood that. that's too bad. if he fell, it's too bad. >> pouring rain, you saw. maybe trump knows that all of his challengers are waiting for him to slip and fall.

we're still eight months]iz fro votes being cast but the campaign seems to have a fra nettic pace to it. a majority of attention on two unpopular front runners. and when all is said and done, i'm still wondering if neither biden nor trump will be their party's candidate. all the gop jockeying is to see who can best position as a trump alternative if and when the field should whittle. and if it's not trump for the republicans, even more pressure is going to mount for a biden alternative among democrats. remember, it remains a marathon. not a sprint. and america may still be searching for other names however they are pronounced. up i head, it's pride month, but big national retailers with campaigns and products that celebrate the lgbtq community are experiencing threats and

boycotts and plummeting market value. is such affinity marketing more harm than help. go to my website at smerconish.com and answer the poll question. is it in the best interest of companies to embrace pride month. plus it's graduation time and many commencement speakers are telling students to follow their passion. is that actually a bad idea? scott galloway has some thoughts and he's here to share them. ♪ ♪ voltaren. the joy of movent. ♪ ♪ ♪ a bunch of dead guys ma up work, way back when. ♪

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it's commencement season. is it sound advice to say to graduates to follow your passion? so many speakers do exactly that. it's what raphael warnock said to the 2023 class. >> challenge you to find your passion. i fchallenge you to find that thing in the world that feels like such a demoral that you cannot be silent. you have to express yourself. you have to stand up and try to make the world better. find that thing that you would do for free, except that you have to pay the rent. >> senator warnock effchoing

similar words back in 2019. >> i heard you, good times and bad, keep moving, keep finding your passion. i honestly say to every single soul in this coliseum. if i can do this, if i can do what i want, so can you. >> in fact, through the years, many leaders have given similar advice. here is steve jobs and oprah addressing stanford graduates. >> you have to find what you love. that's as true for work. your work is going to fill a large part of your life. the only way to be satisfied is to do great work. the only way to do great work is to love what you do. >> when you're doing the work you're meant to do, it feels right. and every day is a bonus regardless of what you're getting paid. follow your feelings. if it feels right, move forward.

if it doesn't feel right, don't do it. >> joining me to discuss is scott galloway, professor of marketing at nyu school of business. he's an entrepreneur, the host of the professor g. podcast and author of several best-selling books. always great to have you. so many in gen z look up to you. do you buy into the conventional wisdom about just follow your passion? >> it's great to see you. it's terrible advice. when i heard from your producer, i realized last week was the 30 year anniversary of my commencement at berkeley. and this is a brag, i was the student commencement speaker. and the guy after me gave the same advice. follow your passion. in the audience, was my mother who lived her life as a secretary who had cancer. we had $40,000. i had a bunch of student debt.

i was supposed to go follow my passion. what utter bull. this is your job. your job is to find something you're good at. invest 10,000 hours and becoming great at it. sacrifice that it's guaranteed and become great at something. become great at something that people will pay you for. you had an actor giving a commencement address. 98% of actors don't make a living. your chances of becoming a fashion designer are 1 in 160,000. the bad news is if you become great at something, the acue tramts of being great, relevance, pride, comradery, will make you passionate about whatever it is. when someone tells you to follow your passion, it means a couple

things. it means they are already(÷t ri. typically the guy else teling you to follow passion, find something you're good at that people will pay you for, and then making money in a k capitalist set and taking care of your parents and taking care of your kids and yourself will make you passionate about whatever that thing is. here's the problem. people mistake passion for hobbies. and work is hard. and you will struggle. you might stop and think, i'm not loving this. it might not be my passion. that's called work. >> what if i'm good at it, but it sucks. is that still your advice? >> no. you can't be good at anything that you think is drudgery. i got a job in investment

banking. i hated it. if it you hate something, you're never going great at it. i left and did something else. if you're good at something and have a shot the a being great, it means that you don't hate it. it means that you have an aptitude for it and it will start to like it more and more because being great at something has a tremendous amount of reward. so they are ox sumo mrespondent. >> i heard your reference to 10,000 hours. i take it you buy into that school of thought that you have to invest a lot of time before you are expert in whatever that chosen field might be. >> not only risk, but perseverance. the key to our success is rejection. the only thing you know that's going to happen to you is you will get fired and you will endure rejection. if you want to be successful professionally and romantically,

the key is batting 100. if you're in the tsa or the antiterrorist group, you have to bat 1,000. the mlb, you have to bat .300. if you're not willing to endure rejection, you need to bat .100. try things. be aggressive. express friendship. ask people out. express romantic interest. call people you don't know and ask for an interview. and guess what. if you get rejected, that means you're on your way to success. the key so to success is getting beamed in the face and getting back to the plate. >> you don't know this about me, but i delivered a commencement address a couple years ago. i walked through all of the times i have been rejected in this business. all of the hosts for whom i had guest hosted, thought i had sweat effecty and in five circumstances, i didn't get the

job. i don't know if it resinated that day with the grads, but that's exactly the tact that i took. >> look. people think success is a line that's up and to the right. it's not. it's a squiggle line. i'm considered a success. i started nine companies. i'm generously two, three and four. the key to my success is rejection. i have been beamed in the face a few times professionally and personally. and i never lost confidence. the key to success is the ability to mourn, give yourself time to be upset if you're fired or something happens tshl personally, and get up and move on. there's no person that's successful that i know that hapt endured real failure. that's part of it. if you're skiing and not wiping out, you're not going to get better. they have wiped out severely several times.

that's okay. rejection means you are on your way. but this notion that you should go into fields with 2% employment rates that's a recipe for upset. beyonce followed her passion and is now a billionaire. assume you are not beyonce. >> can we do this over a drink sometime? i want to tell you about the five years that i was the fill-in host for bill o'riley's program and he signed off and said you're not a known name and went with fred"z. thompson. same five years i was chris matthews' fill in. you do a great job, but we're young, liberal and nerdy. you are none of the above. you're not going to get this gig. so let's catch up and have a cocktail and swap our war st stories. >> i just want to finish with one thing. i look at this due to context of my experience recognizing the circumstances maybe different.

the only thing i can tell recent grads with 100% certainty is write a list of everyone at your graduation and call them and tell them you care about them. expression os of affection always age well. thaps the only piece of advice i know to be true. >> and i'm going to add to that. don't do it in an e-mail. write it out old school if you really want it to be heard. you know i love it when you're here. thank you so much. >> thank you, michael. via social immemedia, kathe, what do we have? that was fun. passion in a career is a rare phenomenon. those who have it, why not follow it. when ai takes over, the safest professions today maybe the foirs go. i know from prior conversations with scott f he followed his passion, he would have been pursuing a a sport for which he didn't have the expertise. it makes total sense.

you have to figure out something you have a skill set. your passion will come. the total reverse of each of the commencement addresses we played a at the outset of the program. up ahead, the military reported on friday in 240 hours, russia carried out 62 airstrikes, 15 airstrikes. as the war intensifies, poland is setting up a training schedule to help pilots learn how to fly f-16s. is that going to help? the united states ambassador to poland is here to discuss. and it's pride month. yet companies that have tried to reach out to the lgbtq community like bud light and target find themselves in the cross hairs of a costly cultural war with their market value dropping by the billions. might it be better for corporations to stay out of it. just be switzerland. go to my website at smerconish.com and answer this question. is it in the best business

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the war most resinating with americans has nothing dood with ukraine. instead it's the domestic war on pride. this year pride month, a commemoration of the 1969 stone wall uprising is staking place during strong pushback during the lgbtq community. and the conflict has been costing some of america's biggest corporation dearly. companies that created pride-friendly campaigns, including disney, bud light, target, kohl's, north face and others have been suffering the punishing consequences of boycotts often from both sides. things are now so complex that even chick-fil-a, a company with christian roots, is finding itself accused of being woke.

it's proving to be a no-win situation. their atempts to respond haven't pleased either side or investors. and target's stock went on its longest losing streak in 23 years. the value has taken a hit of $13.8 billion. anheuser-busch estimated to have lost $27 billion in value. so what's driving the battle? it depends on who you ask. this week ron desantis described his fight against disney and others as being against the sexualization of children. >> i'm standing for parents. i'm standing for children. and a company that sexual liezs children is not consistent with the values of florida or the values of a place like iowa. >> is it that or a cloak for old-fashioned bigotry. target angered certain customers for selling a pride month collection that included a transgender friendly swim suit.

it was represent mist represented as being aimed at children when it was for adults. after there was some rough altercations in some stores, the company pulled some of the items citing the need to keep workers safe, which then angered some of the lgbtq community. in a statement, target's ceo said, quote, it's been gut wrenching to see what you have confronted in our and then reaffirmed to the lgbtq community we stand with you now and will continue to do so. not just during pride month, but each and every day. the war on pride comes at the a tame time when according to the human rights campaign, 520 anti-lgbtq bills are in play in state legislatures including ones restricting access to gender-affirming care for youth. so what's a company to do? on a recent earnings call, the anheuser-busch ceo was asked about the boycott over its campaign using their influencer. he said while beer will always

be at the table when important topics are debated, the beer itself should not be the focus of the debate. i want to know what you think. please visit my website at smerconish.com and answer the poll ke request. is it in the best business interest of companies to embrace pride month. joining me now to discuss is daniel deermiter, a management scholar. he's the author of several books on corporate reputation, most recently reputation analytics, public opinion for companies. thank you for being here. reputation for business. that's your yours. i notice that a lot of times the conflict here between the employees of the business and a large swath of the public. so how do you deal between those competing thoughts. >> good morning, michael. this a new environment for companies. it's different even compared to a year ago.

companies were very much thinking about how to embrace different stakeholder groups and constituencies. but they are now living in a hyperpolarized environment. and that polarization is among their customers, but it can also be between different employee groups or customers. and the first thing that companies have to understand is how does it affect their business. there's no general answer here. what is good for patagonia may not be good for budweiser. the second question is to think carefully about how do you want to communicate your stance, your positioning in a way that is least likely to inflame these kind of culture wars. >> do you think that increasingly businesses will just decide to stay out of everything? >> i think the period when businesses were willing to take a stance on almost anything, that's coming to an end. i think business will be much more reluctant to get involved in areas that are beyond their

business. but very often it affects the operations. what products they are selling, what their marketing campaigns are. my sense is that they have to take this more seriously. companies take a lot of time to get their logo just right, but make decision on these political issues in a very, very polarized environment with much less intentionality. i think they are a little behind the times. they will look at these and be more thoughtful and more intentional about how to do this next time. >> does it matter whether the nsh play directly pertains to the business that you are running, the business is running? does it matter if it's far from where their mission statement might be? >> absolutely. i think that there was a period where companies were willing to comment on broad policy issues

really driven by the sense of a kind of social responsibility, but now i think that this is more and more challenging territory and politicians have been willing to push back. certain aspects, you have to be clear about how that affects the business. and the second one, if it does, how are you going to position yourself? we saw this with the controversy and getting these decisions right when their business is tricky in this environment because it's so hyperporl rised. and many of these things are related to culture wars. so they are issues by themselves have a high impact of how people feel about a company. >> chancellor, the anheuser-busch example is the most stunning. they were never intending to i dylan mulvaney's image. instead an individual in marketing thought it would be wise to use a social influencer by sending the cans and using them for social media purposes.

but the backlash against it was stunning. and by the way, i know you're a political scientist, i made the comment to somebody this week. if you want to understand why donald trump starts at 40%, no matter what it is he may have said or done, just look at the blowback against bud light. >> this is all the same phenomenon. what we have seen over the last decade or so is that polarization is the united states is much more calcified. it's defined by identity politics and culture issues than traditional economic issues. what's driving politics for the national campaigns, it's the same dynamics affecting companies as well. when you're taking a decision like that, my ubsing from what bud light wanted to do is reposition a brand in a particular way, you have to understand that you're now doing this in a hyperpolarized environment. what's driving politics is driving brand perception in the same way.

>> let's answer a social media together. i'll read it aloud. put that on the screen. this individual says, should corporations be guided by money and not morality. equal rights is worth fighting for. what would you say to that individual? >> successful companies almost always have a purpose. and that purpose is driving the decision every day. you just have to be clear what your purpose is and how it relates to your company and then be smart about how do you live your purpose. so when nike was embracing colin kaepernick in their commercial over the black lives matter movement, that worked well because nike has more of an edge to its brand compared to pepsi or budweiser. budweiser wants to support its lgbt community, but it has to do it in a way that accomplishes that without embroiling the

company in an ongoing polarized battle. so getting this, it's not so much about stepping away from support ing your people. you want to support your people, but the question of how to do that is really important and tricky. >> i agree with you. you have to do the right thing, but at the same time, there's a retiree whose 401(k) is dependent upon the stock in your company. the idea that their retirement would be jeopardized because of not understanding the political perception has got to be factored in. thank you so much. i appreciate your time. >> my pleasure. thank you. >> answer this week's poll question at smerconish.com. it's going to be interesting to see how this one turns out. is it in the best business interest of the companies to embrace pride month. go vote. up ahead, with the war in ukraine again intenses if iing,

secretary of state antony blinken spoke in finland where he said ukraine's membership in nato will be a matter for allies in ukraine, not rush, to decide. one of those allies has been neighbor ing poland. the u.s. ambassador to poland is here to discuss what's ahead. he snores like an angry rhino you've never heard an angry rhino baby i hear one every night... every night. okay. i'll work on that. save 50% on the sleep number limited ition smart bed. plus, free home delivery when you add an adjustab base. only at sleep number.

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you've evolved. you've changed. so have we. that's why new dove body wash now has 24-hour renewing micro moisture for continuous care. new dove body wash. change is beautiful. as the war between russia and ukraine intensifies, volodymyr zelenskyy admits his country's membership to nato will have to wait. the newest member spoke about russia's strategic failures and why imposing a cease-fire would only help russia. the alliance requires countries to assist fellow members if they are attacked. po poland, ukraine's western neighbor, they became the first neighbor to pledge fighter jets to assist kyiv back in march. a year ago i had the privilege

of being in war saw and spoke with the u.s. ambassador to poland about the war efforts and how poland was helping. the ambassador is back with me now. great to see you again. i remember that day well. what's changed in the last week, and who's winning? dwz. >> >> thank you for having me. and great to see you again. what's changed in the last week is that nato has expanded in a way that just emphasizes the strategic failure of putin's decision to invade ukraine.t0! did putin invade ukraine to bring finland into nato? no. did they invade to have 1 million people, that we see here in poland benefitting because russian scientists assimilate here. did they invade ukraine to have

1 100,000 russian casualties in the last six months. and putin's all about money. so did putin invade ukraine to see a 43% drop in oil revenue. what we are seeing is an amplified total failure on the part of putin regarding his decision to invade poor, weaker ukraine. there's no way, no way putin's war in ukraine has improved the lives and the futures of the russian people. that makes this a true tragedy. >> the news far removed is always about the spring offensive or summer offensive and counteroffensive. there's never a report of peace negotiations. are there peace talks taking place between ukraine and russia today? >> i was so proud that my boss in a speech yesterday welcomed

finland in its membership in nato, made clear that diplomacy is a path russia could choose. every minute of every day, the american government stands ready to advance the path of diplomacy. but instead, russia is advancing the path of aggression. what i thought was particularly important that secretary blinken emphasized yesterday and we're going to make sure not only that the ukrainian people win this war and survive, but that they thrive. and that when they win, it will be the biggest endorsement of political democracy and free market economy in this part of the world in 100 years. you have to take a step back and look at this from an historical perspective. 30 years ago, the soviet block fell apart. 26 countries emerged out of the rubble. some were successful like

poland. and some were weaker and victimizable like ukraine and mal doe va and others. and as you can see in the case of ukraine, were vikt tim miezed. we're committed to a path of making sure a lasting peace includes a complete reconstruction of ukraine and a drawing into it as it want thes into the western institutional orbit. and that is the opportunity here to have a renaissance emerge out of this crime of a war in eastern europe. where if you consider all the countries, 330 million people live. so it's a big block of humanity here being put under siege by putin. >> mr. ambassador, here at home, it's game on for the 2024 election. how worried are you about continued support for ukraine being at issue in the

presidential election and potentially being jeopardized by whomever wins this thing. >> i can tell you this. when i was ambassador to sweden, i hosted over four years six members of congress. in the last year alone hosted over 150 members of congress, republican and democrat, kevin mccarthy, nancy pelosi. and what i have seen is that in this crisis, politics stops at the water's edge and that our members of congress are political represent i-s support the people of ukraine and the good part of this story is, as well, the ukrainian people are winning. they are pushing back the ed adon't think anyone anticipated.

and the person who called this right from the very beginning, the person who read the room when it comes to central and eastern europe was president biden, who before the war broke out shared intelligence to carefully clarify for our allies over here what are the defense and offensive structures of the military, and what does putin intend to do with it in ukraine. that decision by president biden allowed us over here to get ready. we were ready on game day. when millions of ukrainian ref refugees began to pour across the border into poland. and the reactive mobilization of the people who embraceden ukrainians brought them into their homes and their apartments. they did that because the pols did not feel scared. yet this is 1939 for poland and finland. this is an invasion by an

oppressive foreign attacker. >> i saw it for myself in a refugee facility. before lose you, let me quickly 3put up on the screen a social media reaction. this whole idea that ukraine cannot attack the country that attacked them is probably the dumbest way to win a war in military history. quick response from you, ambassador. >> ukraine is showing the world that it knows how to fight, and the people who wrote that post, are the russian soldier who marched into the meat grinder of russian men in ukraine right now. >> nice to see you. thank you. i appreciate it. >> thank you as always. still to come, more of your best and worst social media comments and the result of the poll results.

have you been to smerconish.com yet? answer this question. is it in the best business interest of companies to embrace pride month? i hired local talent. if i knew about upwork, i would have hired actually talented peopople from all over the woworld. instead of talentless peoplele from all over my house. -grandpa... -shh.. shh.. shh.. -but... -shh.. shh... shh... -but... -oh... ♪ this is how we work now ♪ what's the #1 retinol brand used most by dermatologists? it's neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair® smooths the look of fine linesn 1-week, deep wrinkles in. so you c kiss wrinkles goodbye! neutrogena®

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all right, there's the result of this week's -- wow, look at that. 27,890 votes. is it in the best business interest of companies to embrace pride month? 61% say damn the torpedoes, yes, do it, regardless of what happens to your bottom line. but how about the point that i made to the chancellor from vanderbilt, where i said how about the retiree out there? maybe the corporation thinks

they're doing the right thing, meanwhile there's a retiree whose got whatever they have parked in a 401(k) that has as investments businesses that now see a hit, like target and like anheuser-busch is now sustaining. what do you say to that person? we got involved in this culture fight and now your retirement is in jeopardy. it's complicated. social media reaction, what do we have? the answer to the poll is it depends. no, it's not a good idea if your business is near cracker barrel. yes, it's a good idea if your business is near whole foods. what about me? because i have a cracker barrel and a whole foods within two miles of one another near my house and i go to both of them. can't we all just get along? and what happened to live and let live? i'm going to turn away from bud light because kid rock shot up a bunch of cans? if i like the beer, i'm drinking the beer. give me another one.

republicans buy sneakers, too, said michael jordan. yeah, i remember that quote. i almost dropped it in. one more if i've got time, and i think i do. it's as simple as many people just don't want the intrusion of politics when they leave the house. it isn't trans or homophobia. i don't know, steve. i mean, i get that there's age-appropriate material that ought not to be in a classroom. i also think that some people are just so damn bigoted, they think if my son or daughter sees that, they might turn out that way. guess what, it's the same answer as it's always been. it's in your dna. what will be will be. i'll see you next week. ths the f fine l lines in 1-week, deep wririnkles in 4. so you can kiss wrinkles goodbye! neututrogena® the subway series is taking your favorites to the next level. hold on, chuck! you can't beat the italian bmt. uh you can with double cheese and mvp vinaigrette. double cheese?

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