There are lots of kings, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Stephen King, Billie Jean King, Larry King, Don King, Elvis (the King) and my favorite, B.B. King. The name has English, Scottish and French lineage, the former of which means tribal leader. The Scottish one was often given to Irish-American immigrants to Anglicized the surname Conroy. The French genesis of the King surname is associated with orphanages where children were given the last name of Roi (or Roy), French for King.

B.B. King passed away May 14, 2015 at age 89 after six decades of playing the blues. His guitar's name originated from two men fighting in a club over a woman named Lucille. Both men died in a fire that broke out and B.B. decided on the moniker as a reminder to not fight over women. Born Riley B. King in 1925, his break came in 1948. After 43 albums, 15 Grammys, #6 Rolling Stones all-time best guitarist; he was considered the King of the Blues. Not bad for a 10th grade dropout. His soul strategy, "Blues singing is like singing any other kind of song, you still try to tell the story. Your music is life."

By all accounts, he was a "nice guy" though his iconic tune The Thrill is Gone must have been fleeting, since he had 15 children with 15 different women. He mentioned often that Lucille brought him from the cotton plantation to fame. He felt his most memorable show was in 1972 at Sing Sing Prison.


Have you ever asked yourself, if you were King what would you do? If you had unlimited powers would you know where to start making decisions? Below are things off the top of my head I'd like to see if I was King of our Republic, in no particular order:

1. Provide EQ (emotional intelligence) and entrepreneurial education as part of public education with participation by local business leaders.
2. Include mental health as part of education curriculum starting at middle school; also reduce its stigma.
3. Teach parents that helicoptering makes children weak and robs their coping skills; they will be outmatched on the competitive world economy that's emerging. Provide love not anxiety.
4. Decriminalize, regulate and tax various recreational drugs concurrent with reducing prison population by 20%.
5. Pay as you go healthcare, catastrophic insurance only, lawsuit waivers for patient and doctor.
6. Allow euthanasia with restrictions - we provide more humane end of life care for our pets.
7. Business-balanced yet effective energy policy with phased-in implementation requirements.
8. Reverse the Supreme Court's scandalous 2010 rulings in Citizens United and SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission, which brought us corporations are "people" with 1st amendment rights and unlimited covert campaign contributions with Super Pacs respectively.
9. Constitutional amendment to have mandatory balanced federal budget (10 year phase in).
10. Undo Dodd-Frank's (and subsequent bank policies) section that took appraisers out of the business process under the good intentions of "independence" leading to commoditization.

So as the king of this newsletter, I bequeath to you for the next few minutes, unlimited power to change anything, your life, your appraisal company, your family, your government, your whatever. Now that you're in an omnipotent state of mind, what's on your agenda?

Are you singing the blues when it comes to your appraisal career, is your thrill gone? If so Susan Polis Schutz, an American poet, gives us some clues of what to do with our kingly powers - "This life is yours. Take the power to choose what you want to do and do it well. Take the power to love what you want in life and love it honestly. Take the power to control your own life. No one else can do it for you. Take the power to make your life happy." As Mel Brooks taught us, "It's good to be the king."