>> business news from the capital region. this is "washington business report" with abc7 national correspondent rebecca cooper. [caponed by the national captioning institute which is responsible for its caion content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] the is a lot to talk about this week. the gop says it is taking the president and obamacare to court. withesses side administration action on ininnovation, but want him to oo more. we will tackle it all in the roundtable. spotlight,l business tricks that work for you. this week, w we sat down with te of the mosted one recognizable names in online retail, overstock.com.

edward burns is anything but your typical ceo. patrick burns is anything but your typical ceo. thanks for joining us. usually, i start by introducing someone as ceo and asking them immediately about business, that you are a little harder to quantify. overstock ceo, e-commerce pioneer, martial artist, three-time cancer survivor, virtual currency advocate, virtual stock market founder. about school choice, advocate for shelter pets, rren buffett protége. you are pretty hard to sum up. right now, what inspires you the most? >> for kids, first of all. that is all sound and. , signifying nothing.

the sues that concern me most of all our education and wall street. the propellersn the ship that we formepublic are how human capital and how we marriott to financial capitalal, to financialry it capital. that is education and wall street. those are the things to fix to get the country moving. >> you are one of the most admired ceo's in america. what's they were grading on a curve back them. >> you have a hugely successful company you founded and grew and took a book. -- took public. and yet you have this philosophy of, the corporate world is broken. wall street is broken. ceo.re the most admimired othersrs describe you as brilliant. others describe you as eccentric. >> i get that a lot. >> how do you marry your two worlds? you are still growing this company, innovating, and yet you are a disruptor.

>> when i became the ceo, i thought people expected me to give up my first amendment rights. i have a lot of ideas of how things could be improved. being around wall street since 2002, but figured out a lot. ias up there in the mix with the brokers and hedge funds. it became very obvious there was a lot of criminality going on. some hedge funds were working together to do illal things. guys got indicted and go to jail. i arted thinking about how that couldld be exposed. eventually i decided that washshington does not really do its job protecting us. i started thinking about ways we could approach the problem. the technology presented itself, with bitcoin. not cryptoit is currency, but creating a crypto finance system, a stock market

based on this technology, rather than wall street as it exists. >> let's talk about overstock. you have got 1500 colleagues or more at your company. you seem to say that you would like for them to come up with their own solutions and ideas. you have proven that by letting people within n the company -- people who started as camps have taken you all the way to branding and other things. >> one of our president started as an eight dollar an hour temp. she is like our own aaron brockovich -- erin brockovich. >> it takes a ceo who says,k, former temp. take it all the way. what is yo philosophy of management? >> the dilbert cartoons are correct. the pointy haired manager in the corner thinking he has a the knowledge and is going to make all the decisions -- the truth is that what e economists call e

knowledge frontier is where the decisions should be made. the people who have the knowledge of the customer servant -- service agents, the people on the marketing floor -- th have the knowledge. my job is grading the institution such that they can make the decisions that push the company forward. i do not want to be the 23rd manager in the corner trying to rule by edict. -- the pointy haired manager in the corner, trying to rule by edict. >> let's start with how you took overstock and made it into what it is. idea in the beginning. let us take extreme liquidators, people on the street that have 100 mattresses they are trying to get rid of, and make that model bigger. your business now as a liquidator of stock -- >> i commend you. you have done your homework better than just about any journalist i have ever spoken to.

i went to walt whitmaman high in bethesda, maryland, and i kne this guy named charlie, this tough greek kid. whatever you wanted in high school, he would say, i got a cousin who will get it for you cheap. >> we love those friends of ours. >> we never quite understood where thatas coming from. was it hot or something? we learned he was ju p plugged into this network of what are called [indidiscernible] knows a i know a guy y who guy. he has the warehouse. those kinds of guys. what i realilized was that whate andd do was form a company hire about a dozen of those charlies, and have them wheeling and dealing. we would be like one of those discount outlet stores in brooklyn, getting good stuff from warehouses, and companies that went bankrupt. we would not have everything that amazon had, but what we did

have, we would be able to sell muchore cheaply. we wenfrom the original idea of that sort of jobbing and liquidating to becoming morere f a general purchase site. i have this relationship when i was about 13, this fellow -- i was living in bethesda. this fellow from nebraska. i thought he was a farmer he would shoup in jcpennnney suits, brown shoes and a black belt. even at 13, i knew you did not do that. he would teach me. he made a fantastic amount of time for me. he would come and visit, stay in our home. he would talk about an acre of corn and 400 bushels per acre and walk me through these examples and teach me something. but he also talked about stocks. this is a farmer who seems to know a lot about stocks. we were grt friends. when i was in college, i started to see his name in the paper for the first time.

his name is warren buffett. he was this dutch uncle to me, teaching me about business my whole life. it is kind of funny. at the height of the.com boom -- the dotcom boom, people re dropping out of business school and raising $100 million on a onpage business plan. i had worked with buffett and run my own company. i thought, it is going to be very easy for me to raise money. i went up and down sand hill road in silicon valley, seeing 80 venture capitalists, and i was s turned down by 80 venture capitalists. this glorious thing happened called the.com crash. -- the dotcom crash. a bunch of companies went under. the system we set up to liquidate inventory it worked very well obankruptcy. i wonder liquidating 18 bankrupt bycoms that had been funded

the same venture capitalists who turned me down for money. i promise i am much too mature to make any satisfaction from it. , are was a series on this guy withth exactly that business vulture.com. my ce anduomo from abc did . he said, how do you feel about making money off the distress of other companies? i said, warren buffett taut me the first rule of business is, if you are not goingo kick a man when he is dowown, when are you going to kick him? >> our conversation with patrick ha just gone. we wl air the rest next week. he talks about taking on wall street, his lawsuits, and his brushes with death. when we return, some staggering stats, and titips for you. ♪ ♪

>> telececommuting, working from home, being a viral worker -- whatever you choose to calit, it is the wave of the future. statistics prove it. but it doe not work for everyone. can youou stay focused? calawyers mntain a relationship with a team member who is not sitting nearby? atare j joined by my abbajay riverstone group. as always, you are right on topic for whatany businesses struggle with, small and large. interesting statistics on scream out making a comlling case for why we should embrace teleleworkg. yowill also talk us through how managers and employees can be more successful at making it work.

let's ststart with the manager, tips for sucuccess. >> this is great for small businesses because ican save you money on office space. you are going to have a virtual woworkforce or a workfce that is going to be telecommuting, firs of all, be really clear on the policy and expectations. really thi through what it is going to look like what are the policies arnd it? what are your expeations of the workers? what kind of work is conducive to the teleweworking? number two is, learn to manage by resul. this is very different than when i am managing in persoson, nineo five. you work for me now, rebecca. these are the results i am oking for. you have to know your people you have to know the strengths d weaknesses and what kinds ofof suppt you can ve them. >> we are gng to start showing so of these statiscs.

you have somome factcts to backp that it can increase your pructivity. itan incncrease your bottom line. u make a compelling case for a lot of employees -- they will over highermuting salary. >> thehe thing that surprises ople is how mucactivity iss raraised, especially in jobs tht require creative thinking or are like g goodhougs. repetitivehoughts, not really. t if you want people to be thoughtf, at home creates some productivity. >> every day, my job is telecommuting. there is thaadrenalineush of constantly shaking things up. i have to constantly figure out, where am i going to work? .he donald has wi-fifi can i reach the plug if i stand on the chair? and i hahave to. a trick of the trade. it is the only way we caget the air. usually, you areoingo ben your h home office.

i find t there can be distractions. the laundry, allf these different things. employee be successful and productive? >> you have to have ththe right space. carve out an appropriate workspace. sitting on the couch probably is not your be workspace. make sure you have a landline if possible because there is better reception. have a p place for your compute. it is space where you can remove distractions. if you have children, teworking is not substitute for child care. you still have to carve out that time. you need to make sure you keep a routine. it is not an excuse to sleep in late, because you -- you have got to keep route. keep the same office hours as her colleagues. >> as a writer, i found i could wait and get started until 10:00, have my coffee, work hard until 1:00, take an hour-long break, and work another three

hours and be more productive in a six-hour day. like you did not have toet out of your pajamas. last thing is really be available. if yr boss calls you, make sure you call that person back. you have got to stay plugged in. most of all, respect your personality. if you are an extrovert likeke e know you are, it probably is not going to serve you well to work alone in your house for more than a day or two in a weeeek, because you will go crazy. that is when y have to find out about arnold's and starbucks. >> mary abbajay, thanks so much. >> it is time for the

roundtable. those cool temperatures outside last week k were a sharp contrat to the hot tempers in washington. e fights are breaking out on issues impacting the econo and business, most notably obamaca and immigratation. with the gop and president squaring off, we thought we would jump into the fray wh regulars who loves sring t the pot. -- of the and send his call withd the call to work the pentagon and innovators is -- - a big pu from the jonathan, i have to start with you. you founded this organization calling for pentagon and innovators to o work more closey together.

the secretary of defense is rolling out a whole program to do just that. >> i would like e to take credit for that but cannot. we look at trends. realted states is in need for national security innotion from new places. the pentagon is a knowledge in that. it is a big al. our main challenge for washington, d.c is s that he announced this initiative inin silin valley. akinthe point that is where they see innovation. >> that is the message we are trying t to spread. we have more softwarere enginees silicon valley. nontraditional innovation happens in northern virginia every day. >>he pentagon says they are frustrated with some of their bigger contractors. theyrch and delopment -- say they mht reward companies that plow more money into r&d. >> defense contracting in thee

u.s., the defense strategy overall is due for a reset. we wilbe rethinking our structur in terms of getting more of whwhat we have with chia and russia pulling lots ofig reurces. the trick is to leverage the innovation from thprivate sector. you are not paying for everhing you usese, because it is being developed forwo purposes. > explain this to me. one of the comments on "the wall street journal" said, we have an agency that exists for that, darpa, created in the 1950's so weould be ahead on research technology and innovation. >> darpa is wonderful. dark butut possibly ththis is to fund innovation. whate are talking about is, innovation is more demratized. , inappens i in small groups garages. it is very rapid. we need access to those people. >> pre-competitive research is the stage between research and

development and when you actually create a product. there are lots of people creating products that can easily be adapted to t military and give us more bang for the dollar. they are spreaall over the country. they are not just in silicon valley. you have got to learn to be a better customer. a big ise weould devote an .our a day to the president ruffled a lot of feathers with republicans by saying, if you do not pass a bill, i will act independently. they say, we have got a bill. it is justst not the one you wa. >> the president has to decide whether he igoing to accept or reject it. the republica -- this is not an impeachablerime he has committed. that he has done something extraconstitutional. it will be difficult for the republans to sue him, cause who has been harmemed? whin the republican leadership has be harmed? >> there are lsuits pending on

obamacare. businesses embrace what the presidenhas ne on immigration, but say he did not go far enonough. you did not fofocus enough on te workers we nee >> innnnovation is a mess s andl continue to be a mess until we embrace the issue. as you point out, there a are different kinds of immigrants.s. some come totart businesses, have skills, a able to contribute. others may need help to contribute to society. because we have so much dysfunction downtown, we cannot have an inintelligent conversation. lexus was done in a political way, not to benefit the economy. >> you are not a big fan of the president, but make the case as an ecomist for what should be done on immigration. what should be done is very different from what just happened. we should be focused on committi people to immigrate who have skills that we need, capacities we lack. heent for thvote the people that will naturalizeeventually, the

dreamers, whwant this to happen. he is saying, i am going to get work permits to your parents. riday,ig lawsuit on republicans nally found a lawywyer whoho would take the c, and are filing suit saying the presidident has overreached specifically on obamacare. good news, bad news? >> newsflash from the monkey hoe. seriously. [laughter] >> i have togree. >> first of all, this reflects -- -- this reflects high-level dysfunction in government. every president makes executive action. there is n no lel outcome at cabe achieved by this lawsuit under e constitution we have. >> it all comes down to whether the ffour liberals can get justice roberts to go with them. the rest of the court is goingng to vote in a block. the reality is that for business this is gointo mean morere dysfunction.

>> statuned.

>>hanks for joining us ts we and b be sure to stay ted next week for more wi patck burns of overstock

>> "governnt matters this week this week on "government matters." lawmakers consider time and attendance abuse. >> how far have they gotten? where arare they sending the fis to? >> a cyber attack on the u.s. state department. >> there are hundreds of other they can lose their businesses. resellers of i.t. worry about the impact of the proposeded rule change. "governmt matters" starts right now. >> this is "government matters." to our viewers around the world on the american forces network and here in the nation's capital, thanks for joining us.