Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Dear Nicole,

I had to read your question three times. On first reading it I was
a little miffed. On second reading I was stunned. The third time round I was angry.

I take it here that you're talking about the best places to work in a certain west coast state with a well known governor and a financial crisis that's making unsettling headlines?

Well, what you DO NOT do is pull the program. You calmly but politely tell your team of leaders to grow a pair.

Pull the program? It's this kind of "how do we take the easy way out?" attitude, this kind of "Gosh, this is awkward, how do we make the buck pick up speed here?" mentality that flushes what could otherwise be great events for even greater companies down the toilet.

And with those hopes goes the morale of countless people, and just when many of them need it most.

In what is perceived as a flagging economy what the world needs most of all is NOT whining quitters: what the world needs most is leaders. And this is where your group comes in.

The true message of your "full marketing efforts (e-mail campaigns, social media, website announcements, newsletter articles, etc.)" needs teeth—it needs to be driven by someone with the balls and the ability to inspire, lead, command, and captivate people's vision because he or she connects with people and makes them want to act, want to get of their backsides and do something worthwhile.

With this kind of stewardship your "woefully low participation" won't be a problem.

How do you not lose face? How do you not lose credibility? How do you think Santa would avoid losing face if there were no presents for millions of little kids who truly BELIEVE in Santa come Christmas morning? How does the Tooth Fairy look when little Billy finds nothing under his pillow?

Your group doesn't avoid losing face because your group gets up off its backside, it ramps up its efforts and it bloody well MAKES the event work, that's what you do!

Thank your lucky stars you are not leading a charge in battle because your troops would be cut to ribbons by grapeshot. Your group's assumption here appears to be that it's economics that leads the world of business.

Wrong.

Innovation leads the world of business, innovation, the desire to
do something different TO BE NOTICED, and the intention to be remembered for a powerful act that inspired, not for an act that makes people sorry they ever became involved.

You have TWO YEARS' WORTH of momentum behind you, bloody well use it to FUEL inspiration!

Do away with your application fee, use the news as an incentive that you're all in this together, and make the best of it BECAUSE YOU CAN, because you're an AMERICAN, and because when it comes to meeting a challenge face on, THIS IS THE BEST DAMN COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!

What the hell is wrong with you people? This nation put a man on the Moon, damn it! The only way out of a hole is to stop digging and fashion an escape, and if you cannot do this, and if your company is the company I'm thinking of, the one that's been doing the same thing in your state since 1896, then you might as well roll up the tent and wade into the Pacific.

YOU CAN WORK THROUGH THIS ... but the bigger question is, does your organization want to? On your company website, if it's the company I think it is, your group claims it "provides [members] with 360° of resources that ensure [members] achieve [their] goals."

That's a lofty and noble vision. Your challenge now is not to back down from this plan but rather, to live up to it.

What are you waiting for? Act. Do it.

I hope this helps.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA