"A genuine leaders is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
I found this quote on the inside of Ebony magazine. It was placed as a a tribute to the opening of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington D.C. this August by the company Chevrolet.
The quote caught my attention for a couple of reasons. First, it reminds me of the idea of leadership where you walk your talk and are congruent with your mission, values, and beliefs. It should not be my goal as a leader of OSL to seek consensus on how the organization should be lead and challenges met. Instead I should have an idea of how to address issues and mange the organization based on what I know, learn, and want the organization to be. This is accomplished through paying attention to the culture of the organization and the needs and desires of the constituents, the UCSB students and administration. I then need to influence support and build consensus to accomplish the said mission. Dr. Matin Luther King Jr. is an excellent example of a person who knew how to harness and build support for a mission.
Second, the quote makes me feel good about the company Chevrolet. Advertising works when meaning is made for the viewer and it positively influences the potential buyer to feel good about the product. Chevrolet is kicking butt with their advertising right now in my opinion with this advertisement and the one they debuted during the Superbowl (I really only watched the commercials and half-time show) where they uplift the town of Detroit where their cars are made. It made me believe in American made products and feel good about building back up a city our country abandoned as manufacturing moved to other counties, like China.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Our second visit
Our second visit to the print organization was just as great as the first. It started a bit wearily, just like the first time as Robby forgot to let Tanya, the face of the organization, but she quickly warmed up to the idea as we introduced ourselves and he (Robby) came out to say sorry and asked if she didn't mind giving us a tour.
She was spunky, spicy, cheeky, sassy, and for sure in charge. She walked us through out the building introducing us to people and showing us the important parts - and she accompanied the parts with good stories.
We spoke extensively with one of the production artists who managed the design of the advertisements. We were throughly fascinated by her wall covered with interesting pictures that represented good times at the paper. We met the woman she works closely with (Sarah) and Sarah's dog - what a cute dog!
The other person we spend a good amount of time interviewing with Matt, the managing editor. He has written for other print organizations and is well known for his work. He doesn't particularly like to manage, but he does really like the freedom and is incredibly proud of the paper. He is down to earth and I really appreciated the time he took - even though I knew he was really busy. He too graduated from UCSB and knew a bit about my organization.
The last person we interviewed was Todd, the CFO, the person we started with through email that wasn't as inviting as we hoped. I asked Tanya at the end of our extensive tour about him and said that we should probably at least say hello (and I noticed he was the one person's office we didn't see). She says to me "Okay, you asked for it!" I said that we didn't have to if she didn't think it was a good idea, but she said "it was too late now." So, we walked into his cave and he really was the odd man compared to the rest of the employees. Megan, the production designer wore incredible jewlrey that she designed and dressed in a hip comfortable style. Matt wore a simple shirt and jeans. Most people looked comfortable and some even stylish comfortable. Todd wore a suite - he stuck out like a sore thumb.
He said yes, that we could ask a few questions. I was lost for words - everyone else was so easy to talk with, but with him, I didn't know where to start. I noticed (his office was full of stuff and quite messy) a box on the floor that said 401's. So, I asked about the benefit of working there and why he stayed for so long (20ish years). He rattled off the benefits (401K, medical, dental, vacation, sick leave, and even sabbaticals). He then said why he stayed so long was because of the opportunity to do his trade, accounting, at a well known organization instead of doing taxes for people his whole like. He seemed to lack the passion and respect for the paper that the other employees had about the place. I wasn't sure if he was really just like Eeyore and constantly gloomy by nature or not.
Our next step is to check in with Kate and get her feedback and suggestions and then we hope to interview the owner, Marianne. We may not be able to make that happen, but that would be okay as we got a lot of stuff from our two visits.
She was spunky, spicy, cheeky, sassy, and for sure in charge. She walked us through out the building introducing us to people and showing us the important parts - and she accompanied the parts with good stories.
We spoke extensively with one of the production artists who managed the design of the advertisements. We were throughly fascinated by her wall covered with interesting pictures that represented good times at the paper. We met the woman she works closely with (Sarah) and Sarah's dog - what a cute dog!
The other person we spend a good amount of time interviewing with Matt, the managing editor. He has written for other print organizations and is well known for his work. He doesn't particularly like to manage, but he does really like the freedom and is incredibly proud of the paper. He is down to earth and I really appreciated the time he took - even though I knew he was really busy. He too graduated from UCSB and knew a bit about my organization.
The last person we interviewed was Todd, the CFO, the person we started with through email that wasn't as inviting as we hoped. I asked Tanya at the end of our extensive tour about him and said that we should probably at least say hello (and I noticed he was the one person's office we didn't see). She says to me "Okay, you asked for it!" I said that we didn't have to if she didn't think it was a good idea, but she said "it was too late now." So, we walked into his cave and he really was the odd man compared to the rest of the employees. Megan, the production designer wore incredible jewlrey that she designed and dressed in a hip comfortable style. Matt wore a simple shirt and jeans. Most people looked comfortable and some even stylish comfortable. Todd wore a suite - he stuck out like a sore thumb.
He said yes, that we could ask a few questions. I was lost for words - everyone else was so easy to talk with, but with him, I didn't know where to start. I noticed (his office was full of stuff and quite messy) a box on the floor that said 401's. So, I asked about the benefit of working there and why he stayed for so long (20ish years). He rattled off the benefits (401K, medical, dental, vacation, sick leave, and even sabbaticals). He then said why he stayed so long was because of the opportunity to do his trade, accounting, at a well known organization instead of doing taxes for people his whole like. He seemed to lack the passion and respect for the paper that the other employees had about the place. I wasn't sure if he was really just like Eeyore and constantly gloomy by nature or not.
Our next step is to check in with Kate and get her feedback and suggestions and then we hope to interview the owner, Marianne. We may not be able to make that happen, but that would be okay as we got a lot of stuff from our two visits.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
A Whole Other World!
As Monica and I entered into the world of print media I found myself outside of my comfortable daily life at the university. Although we begun the journey with a rough introduction, the experience turned out to be fun, interesting, and dare I say educational (as we were to avoid any business that focuses on education, but education should be embedded in any business, right?).
Our first point of contact was with my husband vetting the idea of us visiting through the CFO and a follow-up email from Monica and I. The CFO's response was terse and vague. He set-up two interviews for us but cancelled due to sickness our first the night before we expected to visit. My husband was encouraging and said we should go anyway and see what happens. He does computer work for this organization and knows the staff.
We entered the building nervous and worried about our reception. The woman at the front was temporary and I was talking with her discovering this and wondering what we should do next my husband found staff he felt comfortable introducing us to and set-up interviews for us. The next thing we knew we were in our first interview with one of the sales people.
Mark was incredibly friendly and informative. We learned that most employees were long term, he was one of the newest as of one year. He shared how he was trained and the philosophy of the sales/business department. There are two sides of the house in this world of print media. The business side and the creative/writing side. In many of organizations like these there is actually tension between the two sides of the house. This organization seems not have this problem as they know their places and respect the work of each other. Mark feels good about working at this establishment and has no trouble selling add space because of the strong reputation of this paper.
Our next interview was with Nick. He is an icon of this paper - well known and extremely respected. He has been with this organization since its beginning. He shared with us the nature of his business, dropped the F bomb a few times and continued to sprinkle his speech with colorful language. He spoke of some of the politics around a competitor in town and the transformation of this paper as the politics were heating up of the other paper and there were some majors events happening in SB - the fires. This paper then went on-line and started to provided much desired coverage of important events in Santa Barbara daily instead of just weekly. It was a perfect storm of events for this paper - one paper going through tough political stuff, disasters happening in town, and a new medium that added value was launched.
Our last interview of the day was with a manger of multi-media sales. Robby was talkative and shared many stories about the organization. He opened the organization to us for full disclosure and became our priestes. He came to this organization via a professional organization where he met the owner and editors and they swayed him to relocate. His office is full of artifacts such as buttons, memorabilia and pieces that represent how they once put together the paper. He was animated about sharing with us how they used to wax everything - he had a special shirt he would wear the day they put the paper together, and showed us how it was done.
We left that first day in awe and full of information. We saw chaos in offices with paper layered on desks, walls pasted with pictures, buttons of all kinds, dogs in offices who came over for a pet as we walked by, casual dress, and happy faces with smiles.
The trip began for us with some fear and regret and it ended with my headed spinning from the experience of viewing a new work environment as well as learning a new language and craft.
We will be going back again on Friday to get a tour and meet some more people!
Our first point of contact was with my husband vetting the idea of us visiting through the CFO and a follow-up email from Monica and I. The CFO's response was terse and vague. He set-up two interviews for us but cancelled due to sickness our first the night before we expected to visit. My husband was encouraging and said we should go anyway and see what happens. He does computer work for this organization and knows the staff.
We entered the building nervous and worried about our reception. The woman at the front was temporary and I was talking with her discovering this and wondering what we should do next my husband found staff he felt comfortable introducing us to and set-up interviews for us. The next thing we knew we were in our first interview with one of the sales people.
Mark was incredibly friendly and informative. We learned that most employees were long term, he was one of the newest as of one year. He shared how he was trained and the philosophy of the sales/business department. There are two sides of the house in this world of print media. The business side and the creative/writing side. In many of organizations like these there is actually tension between the two sides of the house. This organization seems not have this problem as they know their places and respect the work of each other. Mark feels good about working at this establishment and has no trouble selling add space because of the strong reputation of this paper.
Our next interview was with Nick. He is an icon of this paper - well known and extremely respected. He has been with this organization since its beginning. He shared with us the nature of his business, dropped the F bomb a few times and continued to sprinkle his speech with colorful language. He spoke of some of the politics around a competitor in town and the transformation of this paper as the politics were heating up of the other paper and there were some majors events happening in SB - the fires. This paper then went on-line and started to provided much desired coverage of important events in Santa Barbara daily instead of just weekly. It was a perfect storm of events for this paper - one paper going through tough political stuff, disasters happening in town, and a new medium that added value was launched.
Our last interview of the day was with a manger of multi-media sales. Robby was talkative and shared many stories about the organization. He opened the organization to us for full disclosure and became our priestes. He came to this organization via a professional organization where he met the owner and editors and they swayed him to relocate. His office is full of artifacts such as buttons, memorabilia and pieces that represent how they once put together the paper. He was animated about sharing with us how they used to wax everything - he had a special shirt he would wear the day they put the paper together, and showed us how it was done.
We left that first day in awe and full of information. We saw chaos in offices with paper layered on desks, walls pasted with pictures, buttons of all kinds, dogs in offices who came over for a pet as we walked by, casual dress, and happy faces with smiles.
The trip began for us with some fear and regret and it ended with my headed spinning from the experience of viewing a new work environment as well as learning a new language and craft.
We will be going back again on Friday to get a tour and meet some more people!
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