Every four years about this time a popular question arises - 'if so-and-so is elected, how will the stock market react? It's a fair question because presidents set the tone for government policy for the coming four or eight years. These policies can be beneficial or harmful to various businesses and industries, directly impacting their profits and stock prices.

Persistence is defined as "continuing without change in function or structure." Webster's second definition of politics is "a person's opinions about the management of government." Persistence describes a purposeful struggle against shifting winds to hold a course, while politics and politicians seem more and more purposeful in going with the shifts.

We had some really bad weather this week in North Carolina (as did other places in the Southeast). Between tornadoes and severe thunderstorms and all that accompanies those events, it was probably enough to make you think more deeply than you're accustomed to about what's really important.

Today's Brief is inspired by Seth Godin's blog entitled How to talk about your project. We've taken the liberty of broadening Seth's focus from project to "life goals." Like Seth encourages his readers to look beyond marketing, we encourage you to think big picture, of purpose, life goals, and how you communicate them 'strategically, to yourself, your partners, your coaches and your investors (yes you have investors).'