A Consultant's Chronicles

The End Of An Era: After 'That's The Way It Is'

Like most people I was saddened to learn of Walter Cronkite's passing this weekend. It clearly marks the end of an era. However, odd as it sounds, my sense of loss was mostly "historical" in kind. Whether things seem retrospective or not, there is no doubt that Walter Cronkite left an indelible mark in the country, the industry & defined the term "news anchor."  According to Dan Rather, the man who replaced him [after he retired], Cronkite "walked us through history." He was the one people turned to when the Kennedys were shot, when MLK was shot, & when man walked on the moon for the first time. In fact, according to EIN News,  a global news service I read this weekend, his name has become the term for news anchors in Sweden & Holland. For example in Sweden these folks are called "Kronkiters*." I don't think today's generation of news consumers can have the same emotional connection to the event. For me the sudden loss of Tim Russert was far more significant even though his role was somewhat different. Generation is everything I guess.

That's The Way It Was

If that's true, who are the people today's twenty year olds will look to for trusted reportage. Roger Simon of Politico? Arrianna Huffington of the Huffington Post? Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report? I don't think so. The problem with looking to news reporters on the web is that there is no mistaking a reporter's political leanings. Unlike Cronkite & Russert, there is no one on the web who comes to mind that even tries to report just the unvarnished news [read; without bias].  He was known as the "most trusted man in America" & those are mighty "big shoes to fill." Rather may be respected but he couldn't come close. Most people don't watch the news at 6PM nightly anymore.  Why should we be so restricted when it can be obtained on a computer, a mobile phone, or an ipod? Who will be the web's "Kronkiter" or is the model gone forever? According to the newsclips, Cronkite used to end his show with the line "and that's the way its." Today it's perhaps more accurate to say "and that's the way it was." 

*Whether or not the term "Kronkiter" means news anchor is disputed by some bloggers. Since the idea comes from some credible sources including Cronkite himself in his memoir, I'm guessing it was more commonly known in Cronkite's time as an anchor but it's a guess.

Behavior In the Workplace: The YouTube Guide To Life

Recently I read an article, which offered many different & useful tips when it comes to managing in a crisis. The source of these tips came from consultants, academicians, authors & CEO's alike. However, there's a tip that really caught my eye. It comes from columnist Bruce Weinstein & it is something that I believe every manager should heed at anytime. It requires screening your actions in a very simple way. Always ask yourself "can my actions pass the YouTube test? If you wouldn't mind seeing what you've done [or plan to do] "going viral" in a video clip great but if not, stop right there! Actually this is a pretty egalitarian guidepost since it could easily be applied to managers & employees alike.

Line of the Week 6-21-09

This has been a week full of events, some inspirational some sad, & some pathetic. Between the revolution in Iran, Governor Mark Sanford's peccadilloes, & the deaths of Michael Jackson & Farrah Fawcett, it seems fair to expect at least one worthwhile quip or directly relevant standout line but I didn't find anything fitting [read: printable]. I did find something that is at least in part, applicable from Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal.

Sharp Targets

Like many others on both sides of the political aisle, Noonan is concerned that Obama is trying to do too much [particularly when our country's bankroll is a little thin]. More pointedly she quoted something Claire Booth Luce said once said to former president Kennedy, which provides every president with a very sharp target. Of Luce, Noonan wrote:

"...'a great man is one sentence. His leadership can be so well summed up in a single sentence that you don't have to hear his name to know who's being talked about. 'He preserved the union and freed the slaves,' or, 'He lifted us out of a great depression and helped to win a World War.'  You didn't have to be told 'Lincoln' or 'FDR.'...' "

The Standard For 'Greatness'

It seems to me that this concept of greatness can be applied to people in all areas who make their mark. "He discovered electricity" or "he was the boy wonder of tennis." In these two cases no one needs to be told they referenced Thomas Edison or John McEnroe respectively.  What, if any will be "the sentence" for Michael Jackson?

Line of the Week 6-07-09

When it comes to the line of the week today I have to give it to a "that says it all" line by Alan Feuer of the New York Times. "Finger pressed perfectly on the pulse" of what's going on in "big law" as well as companies large & small all over the country today, quoting a young lawyer at White & Case he wrote:

"...Many office doors are shut — not because of meetings, but, as one associate put it, so that “the man with the ax” cannot find the occupants..."

People have heard & continue to hear those particular "footsteps all over the country.

 

The Ethical Layoff: Lose the Job But Keep Your 'Face'

In this financial climate jobs have been decimated across almost every industry even those, which were traditionally immune like the law. In some ways comparing a struggling factory worker's job loss to that of a lawyer in a "white shoe" [read; conservative & elite] firm is like comparing "apples to oranges" but at the end of the day, a layoff is a layoff. This brings me to something that impressed me in an article in this past Sunday's New York Times. It was about White & Case a century old Wall Street firm that recently cut 200 lawyers off their payroll, both junior associates & partners alike. These days there's is nothing remarkable about a big company laying off employees. While much of the article was spent discussing whether or not this move represented a paradigm shift for the profession as a whole, what struck me was how they conducted the process. 

Keeping The 'Face"

According to the chairman Hugh Verrier, they could have done one of 3 things:

• they could have done nothing [considered unhealthy for the firm's survival]
• they could have dissembled alleging poor performance
• they could tell the truth; basically they could no longer afford the larger staff

While the first option clearly sounded like a death knell for the firm, there are many companies today that opt for "plan B:" asserting the reason is poor performance or [gasp] some other malfeasance. What's the difference between alleging poor performance/malfeasance & the truth? Aside from the fact that it would be untrue, it therefore also opens them up to legal liability. However doing what White & Case opted for generally puts the company on the hook for more money [especially at the partner level]. What their choice did NOT do was destroy their employees' "face," their professional & personal prestige. Instead White & Case decided to be candid & reveal that as a firm, that they were ill prepared for a financial downturn, a move that tarnishes their brand further.  As a result, their employees "only" had to deal with the layoff & could at least take [cold?] comfort in their ability to market their skills elsewhere with the general expectation of supportive references. A difficult task but done in a cleaner & far more ethical manner. Now if only they could take "ethics" to the bank... 

 

 

 

Line of the Week 5-31-09

This week's line of the week belongs to Chris Mathews of Hardball. After critiquing the president's speech in Cairo yesterday he made the assessment that it was wise to speak to the young intelligentsia in the Muslim world since more frequently than not, they are the ones who inspire & plot terrorist attacks. He said the speech will initiate dialogue among them & summed things up in a folksy but pointed way. Mathews said:

"...If you are sitting around a Cairo cafe listening to kids talk, are they saying 'do you want to go to Michigan State or do you want to blow up Michigan'..."

While I don't suppose any political science textbook would use such terms, the fact of the matter is, that pretty much says it all.

Sophia Loren, Your Child, & The Recession

After reading a piece about children growing up in the recession  by Susan Berfield, an associate editor for BusinessWeek recently, I was reminded of a Charlie Rose interview I saw with the venerable Academy Award winning actress Sophia Loren a few years ago. What does Sophia Loren have to do with children growing up in the recession?

When asked by Rose about her fame & wealth, Loren replied that as a child of the Great Depression she doesn't see herself as someone who is rich & never will. Moreover money will always be a concern for her. She said her sons can & do see themselves as wealthy because they have no memory of dire financial struggles since they've grown up basking in their parents' collective success [Loren is married to Italian director Carlo Ponti]. Given the global dramatic effects of our current financial predicament, how the recession will likely effect today's children holds some interesting parallels to what Loren experienced herself.

Age Related Effects Of the Recession On Children

According to Berfield, a child's age group will likely influence how they are effected by our recession. Accordingly:

-Young children will likely be most deeply impacted because they will have no memory of "better times." Furthermore since they are likely to pick up on their parents' anxiety, the world will seem like an anxious & uncertain place. She indicates that their own career & financial decisions may be far more cautious as a result. This outcome is borne out by Loren's current feelings & views about money as a child of the Great Depression. Therefore the hypothesis that the recession may have a deep impact on today's small children seems very real.

-Teens & tweens reportedly are more likely to experience a sense of loss, which may make them attend to business issues more carefully in the future. For children at this age, the loss of material things may feel profound  & personal. They also are likely not to assume that they will be higher achievers than their parents.

-Young adults represent the favored & cosseted millennial generation who are entering the workplace at an unfortunate point in time when jobs are tougher to come by. Additionally, this may influence career decisions, which may have long-lasting consequences. They may also resent their parents for promising them a brighter future than what presently seems possible.

What Can Parents Do

How parents deal with their children's reactions seems to be largely dependent on the family's financial circumstances. If their finances [& therefore their lifestyles] are simply "dinged," many parents seem to opt for keeping the burdens & worries to themselves in order to maintain their children's lifestyle before the crash. To do this, they are tapping into 401k's & scrimping on themselves. If however, parents have taken a significant financial hit that leaves them with little or no resources, they are drastically changing their lifestyle & doing it as a family where sacrifices are shared & nothing is hidden. It seems that in this, there is no "one-size-fits-all" solution. 

Line of the Week 5-17-09

Unless your head has been buried in the sand you know that even though his term is up, Dick Cheney has been in the news...a lot! Remarking on the former VP's currently low popularity rating, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter got my vote for this week's line of the week. Quoting a GOP source on the Ed Show this week, he said:

"...Dick Cheney's popularity is somewhere between the old drinking age & the new drinking age [putting it at about 20%]..."

Putting this assessment into some kind of context, by comparison President Obama's popularity is almost at the point when people begin collecting their Social Security checks making a benchmark like the legal drinking age little more than a dim memory [or at about 60%]. Maybe we've discovered a new "rule of thumb." Business has the 80/20 rule [aka Pareto Principle] & perhaps in politics we now have the 60/20 rule?

Safety-net Sales: A New Sales Pitch Or A Gamble

You read it here first! Back in mid-January I wrote about a new kind of sales pitch-one with a "safety-net" attached. I first saw it employed by Hyundai but since then many other companies have adopted similar policies. Companies that sell big-ticket items are no longer the only ones using this strategy. Yesterday I was booking a flight & noticed that JetBlue had built a safety-net structure for booking airline tickets. Not only is this creative & adaptive marketing but also it is good PR since it puts the company on the side of the consumer.

A Sales Pitch Or A Gamble

Similar to rebates, my bet is that that most companies using this sales model are betting that once the purchase is made, the statistics swing in their favor. Right now it's hard to get people to part with their cash but psychologically, once the item is in hand, it's becomes harder to return the merchandise. Rebates are an appealing inducement to consumers at point of purchase because the companies believe that either a. most people won't even bother mailing in the rebate form or b. will do so incorrectly [ex. mail it in too late, forget the sales slip, or other requested information]. Times like these demand creative marketing. Not surprisingly, those who adapt will thrive & those who don't will get left in the dust.

Line of the Week 5-10-09

Commenting on the reviews of Wanda Sykes' performance at the Correspondents Association dinner this past Saturday night, syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker reiterated the fact that a couple of one liners from Wanda Sykes about Rush Limbaugh simply failed which seems to be the general consensus [whether you are a Limbaugh fan or not]. However, she also acknowledged something important about attitudes towards this event that can certainly be applied to many different scenarios. She said:

"...There’s nothing un-funnier than Saturday night’s jokes reviewed by the caffeinated light of Monday morning...Which is why we probably shouldn’t quarterback a comedian over coffee when she was performing for a crowd primed on cocktails..."

Too many Monday morning pundits overlooked this one simple fact. Having said that, in this case, even the crowd "primed on cocktails" didn't see the humor in those "over-the-top shots" at Limbaugh. Why? In a more general sense, while it's essential not to under-estimate the importance of context, some things simply reflect poor taste & judgment under any circumstances.