On this week’s show, we examine the role that our elected leadership plays in overseeing the effectiveness of our transportation system, as well as the importance of networking, referrals, and relationship building to success in business and personal growth.

-The current flap in New Jersey regarding the recent lane restrictions on the George Washington Bridge that temporarily brought Fort Lee, New Jersey to a halt, and the ensuing “Who Knew What And When?” questions that could potentially derail Governor Chris Christie’s Presidential bid have cast a negative light on the role that government plays in facilitating effective traffic operation in a region. Suffice to say that the situation in New Jersey is most certainly an outlier for the REAL means by which government can oversee traffic utilization in an area, and on Sunday, Pennsylvania State Senator Jim Brewster, one of the region’s premier advocates for effective transportation management, joins Raja to discuss what needs to be done in the State of Pennsylvania to ensure that motorists can get around efficiently, with as little hassle and frustration as possible.

-”Giver’s Gain”

Those two words, the underlying premise of philanthropy and charity in a nutshell, are also the foundation of one of the foremost business networking organizations in the country, BNI (Business Networking International). Founded in 1985 by Dr. Ivan Misner, BNI is an organization devoted to promoting the importance of referral-based business growth, and bringing businesses together via netowrking, in order to create a greater good in the national economy (last year, over $3 billion was generated in business throughout the U.S. thanks to BNI Networking) and the regional economies of the local chapters. On Sunday, Raja talks with George Zacherl, the Executive Director of the Western Pennsylvania chapter of BNI, about the importance of networking and referrals to building a successful, sustainable business, and some tips for you to start to build your rolodex right now to generate the most results for your business.

-In Western Pennsylvania, just as in the rest of the United States, entrepreneurship is a driving force that continually propels our culture forward every day.  (Don’t think so?  Think about how you’re reading this message, and the entrepreneurs who were involved in the process of transmitting this message from the staff of Your American Story radio to you, just as an example.  Was this even possible 20 years ago?)  But what makes entrepreneurs different?  And can entrepreneurship be taught?   Regular listeners of Your American Story know that Raja draws a lot of inspiration for the show from The American Entrepreneur, the late Ron Morris, who, in addition to being a successful entrepreneur, was also the Founding Director of the Entrepreneurial Studies Program at Duquesne University, and as such, wrestled constantly with the question of “Are entrepreneurs born or made?”  This Sunday, Raja talks with another professor of entrepreneurship, Scott Hammond, a professor at the Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, about who entrepreneurs really are, what makes them tick, and how, despite their status and leaders and drivers of business and the economy, they are akin to people who are lost in the woods, doing what they must to ensure survival.

-Recently, Raja discussed the question of “Is print dead?” with Alan Robertson of the Pittsburgh Business Times.  And while the business publication has found ways to adapt to the changes in the newspaper industry, is the future of print equally as pressing an issue for the magazine industry?  Raja talks with Jack Tumpson, the Publisher of Whirl Magazine, about Jack’s remarkable story, how a concert promoter found himself atop a successful suite of magazines in 2014, what sets Whirl apart from other options on the magazine rack, and what the future holds for not only Whirl, but the magazine industry in general.