A Consultant's Chronicles

Take-Aways For Business From This Year's Primary

Every time there is an election, I like to see what information can be mined for business. Like previous cycles there is no shortage of information to focus on but the one I've decided to write about today is one that repeats itself over & over again in both politics & business.

Treat Bad News Like Pulling Off A Band-Aid; Reveal It Fast

It's pretty simple. If you have news that you have to reveal that shall we say, paints you in a less than favorable light, get it out fast & get it out early [like pulling off a band-aid]. Why? Not only are memories short these days but if you do it this way, you get to frame the information instead of others doing it for you. In this case I am referring to Mitt Romney's coyness about his tax returns because he has paid such a favorable rate in spite of his enormous wealth. It unwittingly makes him the instant poster child for "Occupy Wall Street" [regardless of your feelings about the movement] because his taxes reflect the fundamental unfairness they have been shouting about. It doesn't even matter whether or not its true because its the perception that counts & that's powerful soup. In Romney's case, he has run for office so frequently & recently, that this is a galactic "unforced error." So when will CEO's & politicians finally learn this critical lesson? From the looks of things, I'd say not anytime soon.

RIP: Geraldine Ferraro- Wife, Mother,Lawyer. Politician, Icon

On the heels of losing one of the last remaining true icons of the "silver screen" in Elizabeth Taylor, this weekend another iconic woman passed away. This time it was groundbreaking former Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro. She was the bottom half of the Mondale Ferraro ticket losing to Reagan & Bush [senior]. Ferraro described their loss in her own inimitable way. She said:

"...only G-d could have beaten Ronald Reagan & 'she' was apparently busy this week..." 

Ferraro was a trailblazer who made the careers of women like Hilary Clinton, Sarah Palin, & Michelle Bachman among others possible. RIP.

Line of the Week 8-02-09

This week's line of the week belongs to op-ed columnist for the New York Times, Gail Collins. While noting that this week represented the 89th birthday for the matriarch of the White House press corps Helen Thomas, Collins described a conversation she had with the beloved journalist about covering stories during the Kennedy administration. According to Thomas, in those days, the press was so hungry for any story about the Kennedys that they were even willing to write about Caroline's hamster. Comparing things back then to the White House coverage today, Collins said:

"...This sort of thing would of course never happen now because the hamster would have its own Facebook fan page, updated hourly..."

We might not like to admit it but this is one of those quips that has far more than "a grain of truth!"

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?

Women's Rights: The Politics of 'Priorities'

A lawyer friend just sent me two photos that speak volumes for themselves. They reflect the politics of priorities when it comes to life & work [especially for women]:

George W. Bush when signing the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003

                                                                                                                                    

                                  

                        Barack Obama when signing  the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009

                                                                                                                       

Although not always, sometimes politics can be really sweet.

Line[s] of the Week 1-18-09

This week's Line of the Week was a draw [which happens on occasion] & all reference the inauguration [did anything else happen this week?]. First, describing the feeling on the mall before the actual ceremony, columnist Susan Collins noted that while there was a real feeling of community, it was also true that:

"...you could be trampled to death by thousands of very friendly people who were being moved around like the world’s most mellow herd of cattle..."

On the other hand noted pundit Maureen Dowd remarked on the part of the ceremony where a small error took place necessitating a "do-over" yesterday. About our new president & the current chief justice [that he did not confirm] she said:

"...There was also that match of the titan smarty-pants..."

Finally, coming straight from the inaugural speech itself, this last line was one I had to think about & digest for a while. To our enemies he said:

 "...We will extend our hand if you unclench your fist..."

Thinking about that I realized that in the last 8 years, all sides could be accused of having "clenched fists" starting with us!

*the lines were listed in no particular order

 

The Inaugural Line of the Day 1-20-09

People have been talking about today with great anticipation. Of course everyone was expecting phenomenal prose from the president but while his speech was touching & insightful, it wasn't the poetic masterpiece we have come to expect from him but there's at least one reason for this: with all the pomp & ceremony of the day, he was racing against the clock! The transfer of presidential power happens at noon EST according to the constitution & they were just a tad behind [which also might account for his slight stumble while being sworn in]. Therefore the Inaugural line of the week belongs to presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Speaking about Obama's immediate days in office without specifically referencing it, she discussed the importance of a relatively new term in business known as "onboarding." This speaks to the need for today's executives [& in this case Obama] "to hit the ground running" as a way to demonstrate that you are on top of things. Therefore one of the first things an executive needs to do is to quickly identify & realize small goals. About the immediate challenge Obama has in front of him, Kearns Goodwin said :

"...the perception of progress is [almost] more important than progress [itself] right now..."

This is truer than most people realize because perception trumps reality 9 times out of 10!

Line of the Week 12-28-08

NBC news pundit Nora O'Donnell gets the nod for the last "line of the week" in 2008. On the Chris Mathews Show [on 12/28] when asked about the pivotal moment in the presidential election, she selected [& I personally believe correctly so] Barack Obama's mid primary caucus run on Hillary Clinton, which was a part of his team's planned long-term strategy. She reasoned that:

"...Proper preparation prevents poor performance..."

Alliterative & true...in politics, business, & in life. Perhaps after 8 years of George W. Bush's mangled malapropisms, language is making a comeback?

Footnote: This post was officially created in 2008. As of 2009, I will have a separate category for my "line of the week" posts. Originally conceived as a kind of light-hearted way to end the week, I have found that they are hugely popular so this will enable you to find past posts far more easily.

Line of the Week 12-21-08

This week's line of the week stem's from the kerfuffle that erupted after Obama selected Rick Warren to officiate his inauguration. In my dispassionate view, the arguments made by both sides are completely defensible so without rendering a judgment either way, I would like to focus on something else Warren said which I think most people would embrace. When discussing political philosophy, he was asked if he was right wing or left wing & he replied:

"...I'm for the whole bird..."

Given the current dustup, one certainly might question the veracity of Warren's claim but at the very least I think it's the right goal & isn't that what Obama's candidacy was all about? What do you think?

Yuletide Greetings: The Business Year In Review & Beyond

  Merry Christmas! 

Here are some fun "bon mots" to bring you Christmas cheer that I found & just had to share :

At Christmastime 2008,
In this, our fragile fiscal state,
We search our economic soul
And find the world's a lump of coal,
Where many cover food and rent
Then wonder where the paycheck went,
Or, if they dare to peek, they gaze
At 401s with fractured (k)s.
Plus, as you're reading this, you'll find
The value of your home declined
(Poor Sheila Bair works overtime,
But still foreclosure figures climb),
Or if you sought a small-biz loan,
The bank just laughed you
off the phone.
You're Big Biz? Well, it's still no dice:
The credit market's Arctic ice.
The Dow fell stomach-churningly,
And Bear Stearns is a memory,
Nor is there any point in dreamin'
Richard Fuld will bring back Lehman.
Messrs. Paulson and Bernanke
Mainly leave folks dazed and cranky;
As the bailouts get rewritten,
The reaction? Less than smitten.
On the front page, Bernie Madoff;
On Page Two, new thousands laid off.
'08's theme, if such there be,
Is simply negativity,
Where every bond or fund or stock
Is in a state of constant shock
And every industry's dismayed
Enough to plead for federal aid.
In such a climate, can we cope
With anything that smacks of hope?
What, hope? That hoary, corny thing
To which a nation used to cling
When ears beneath fedora hats
Heard F.D.R. give Fireside Chats?
With every indicator down,
Against all odds, it's back in town.
So Christmas greetings first to him
Who made the outlook seem less grim:
For Prez-elect, salute so calm a
Presence as Barack Obama....

Click here to read the rest....

**Yuletide poem was created by Mark Miller & can be found in its entirety in BusinessWeek