The Chief Business of the American People...

“The chief business of the American people is business.” That’s Calvin Coolidge in 1925 and the quote came to mind right after Hallowe’en when the Christmas (we say ‘Christmas’) decorations began appearing in stores and Black Friday special offers started filling the inbox.

At about the same time, the Republican Party said the American people provided them with some sort of mandate by rejecting the President’s leadership and giving them a Congressional majority and a chance (again) to govern. We’ll wait to see which Republican Party shows up to govern when it comes to immigration reform, climate change, health care and the Islamic State. Or will it be abortion, gay marriage and the right to open carry?

People always say the economy is a primary concern when voting for candidates and issues but who really faults the President’s leadership in our recovery from the economic disaster he inherited upon taking office? The disgruntled are those who wanted to see real change in financial reform and the banks and brokerage houses punished; those folks remain embittered at the President. Democratic incumbents and candidates never rallied around the chant, “It’s the economy, stupid,” tacitly conceding that maybe we weren’t better off today than we were two years ago.  We didn’t see the financial system reformed; we didn’t see tax reform. What we saw was employment and the stock market recovering, wages stagnant, the gap between rich and poor widen. But did people really want “real” change?

After all, this is a capitalist country and “The chief business of the American people is business.” It’s a relentless business: the bizarre coupling of “holiday” (holy day) with “retail” has become an established norm and hawked in the vocabulary of words like “special” and “savings” and “exclusive”-- nonsense, of course, like restaurants that serve “breakfast” all day. Hallowe’en is a big retail holiday; people don’t buy gifts for Thanksgiving, it only makes sense to begin the business of selling holiday gifts right after Hallowe’en.

The church bazaars and holiday craft sales gear up in November and I like those. I think the advertising efforts of the big box stores, Amazon and online spamming are distasteful. But that’s business, isn’t it? What feels so distastefully wrong when experiencing the barrage of every special retail holiday message year round is the lie that all of the American people can fully take part in the business of America. You still drink the Kool Aid that says everyone could become a millionaire? Sure, everyone can and will participate as consumers but more and more people are excluded from doing business as Americans because of their education, immigration status and race. That’s not the way it always was in this country; that’s the way it is now and that is the real sadness of the broken dream of failing to move towards “real change.”

Ring those retail holiday bells; they toll for thee.

--Mike Sato

All The News That Fits, They Print

Best wishes to reporter Christopher Dunagan who last month ended 37 years of reporting at the Kitsap Sun. Chris says he will continuing writing his periodic Watching Our Water Ways blog  but for those of us who have followed and worked with environmental “beat” reporters, we’ll miss the deep knowledge and perspective a seasoned reporter like Chris brought to his writing.

Chris’ “retirement” leaves John Dodge at The Olympian as pretty much the last man standing among the beat reporters who can remember writing stories about the early days of the Shoreline Management Act, the state Model Toxics Control Act, secondary sewage treatment and the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority. John has moved to feature writing, and the consolidation of newsrooms at The Olympian and The News Tribune of Tacoma has left both papers without any environmental coverage to speak of.

Makes it tough to be an aggregator of Salish Sea environmental news when the coverage gets noticeably thinner.

Today’s environmental reporters like Craig Welch and Lynda Mapes at The Seattle Times are much more selective in to what they report on and work hard on larger, feature stories like climate change and Elwha River restoration. Gary Chittim at KING5, another seasoned reporter, covers stories with a wider feature angle. “Beat” reporting on Sound-wide issues is left to reporters like Ashley Ahearn at KUOW/EarthFix and Bellamy Pailthorp at KPLU who still cover meetings and hearings and press conferences while champing at the bit to do feature reporting. It’s rare to see consistent local environmental news coverage but the Skagit Valley Herald affords reporter Kimberly Cauvel the time and space to cover local issues as a “beat.” Noah Haglund and Bill Sheets sometimes do what might be considered environmental stories at The (Everett) Herald; meanwhile, after the retirement of the tireless John Stark, environmental stories shrank away at the Bellingham Herald.

I guess I still miss the powerhouse duo of Robert McClure and Lisa Stiffler (and before them Rob Taylor) at the old Seattle Post-Intelligencer, where online, Joel Connelly is still able, sometimes, to rock the establishment’s boat when it comes to Victoria sewage.

Of course, media animals will always flock to cover coal train and coal port protest stories, oil train and oil tanker stories, ocean acidification and oyster industry stories, and salmon and killer whale stories but the more day-to-day, month-to-month, year-to-year kinds of stories about nearshore development, restoration funding, pollution enforcement, citizen engagement and just plain poop, both regional and local, that a reporter like Chris Dunagan provided can only be done on a “beat,” paid for by one’s employer publication. And they’ll pay for that kind of coverage if they think environmental stories sell papers.

Perhaps the business model is the reason why we don’t see more environmental news coverage: publishers and editors don’t think they sell newspapers. Environmental news coverage in the McClatchy-owned papers (The Olympian, The News Tribune of Tacoma and the Bellingham Herald) is sadly lacking; it’s flaccid at the Sound Publishing-owned The (Everett) Herald but better at the Peninsula Daily News; and it’s too early to tell at the Scripps-owned Kitsap Sun.

So we should be thankful that it makes business sense to the Seattle Times to invest in the amount and kind of environmental coverage they get from their reporters. And kudos to the Skagit Valley Herald for its local beat coverage. We can thank the competition between public radio stations for the continued environmental coverage. And there’s always Gary Chittim at KING to try to talk into doing an environmental story.

At the Vancouver Sun and at the Victoria Times-Colonist, it’s heartening to have long-time reporters Larry Pynn and Bill Cleverly, respectively, pounding away on the environment beat.

Thinking about the quantify and quality of news coverage in Puget Sound inevitably leads to thinking about who owns the print media in Puget Sound. Sound Publishing owns, in addition to the Everett and Peninsula daily newspapers, 34 weekly newspapers and numerous monthly publications in Puget Sound. Sound Publishing is a subsidiary of Black Press Group, a privately-held media company based in Vancouver BC with ownership of Canadian publications. (Principal David Black is also seeking to build an oil refinery at Kitimat.) Black Press Group also owns the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and other island publications.

Like the family farm, the days of the family-owned newspaper are quickly passing.

--Mike Sato

Screw The Land and Water, There’s Gravel In Them Thar Hills

Pit-to-pier terminus (Peninsula Daily News)

 ‘Mining Puget Sound’ sounds like an anachronism, a by-gone day of coal mining which gave us locale names like Black Diamond and Newcastle. Mining these days promises to bring us coal on rail cars for export to far away lands. But what ‘mining Puget Sound’ these days means is ripping the land apart for gravel— and loading and shipping it out to far-off lands via the nearshore.

The most recent poster child for this kind of screw the land and water operation was the abortive attempt by the international conglomerate Glacier NW to mine Maury Island and ship its gravel via shore side barges staged in a state aquatic reserve . After a decade-long battle waged by the local group Preserve Our Islands, actions by newly elected Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark and the federal court held up Glacier NW long enough for a buy-out deal to be reached. ['State lawmakers approve funds to buy out Glacier Northwest gravel mine' ]

(Proud disclosure: Preserve Our Islands evolved into Sound Action on whose board I sit.)

Whack-a-mole: Over in Hood Canal Fred Hill Materials had been pushing for years to build a four-mile conveyor belt system to send gravel mined from its Shine pit to a 998-foot pier in the undeveloped nearshore for barging. Fred Hill Materials ran into financial difficulty but the project burrowed back under the ownership of Thorndyke Resources and has been moving forward through the Jefferson County planning process. Many of us thought the permitting process would end when Lands Commissioner Goldmark and the U.S. Navy signed a conservation easement restricting industrial development in Hood Canal waters. ['Wash., Navy sign Hood Canal conservation easement'] Now we find the process alive as a deadline approaches for comment on the project’s draft Environmental Impact Statement.

The dEIS is found at the Jefferson County site and a county public open house will be held next Monday, August 4, 5:30-8 PM, at the Port Ludlow Bay Club, 120 Spinnaker Lane, Port Ludlow. Written comments with name and street address should be sent via email  by 5 PM August 11.

John Fabian who leads the Hood Canal Coalition explained that, "when hundreds of millions of $$$ a year are out there in one’s fantasy world, people act in the most remarkable ways," meaning that the project proponents will not give up.

The Washington State-U.S. Navy easement restrictions will go to court and most likely be the subject of legislative action. If the agreement holds, the project dies.

The project proponent thinks the project will be allowed despite the conservation easement. Lands Commissioner Goldmark at the state Department of Natural Resources thinks not. ['Project manager: New state, Navy conservation easement for areas of Hood Canal won't halt pit-to-pier']

So the proposal to screw the land and the waters because there’s gravel in them thar hills continues until the project proponent withdraws the permit or lose in court or the legislature.

Well, let’s turn the screw the other way by standing for the land and the waters. Stand up, speak up, write on. It’s our turn now.

--Mike Sato

Other Voices: The Dope Diaries

Three marijuana retail stores will be permitted in San Juan County, one each on Orcas, San Juan and Lopez islands, under regulations proposed Sept. 4 by the Washington State Liquor Control Board to implement Initiative 502, which legalizes marijuana production, processing and retailing. The Islands Weekly
Dear Mom and Dad,

You’re probably surprised getting a letter from me and wonder what in the world could be important enough for me to write to you and you’re right, there is something that’s important. My friend Jimmy, you know him—he was the one in the third grade who made those noises with his hand in his armpit which made us kids laugh and want to be like Jimmy. Well, we were doing some heavy talking and, well, maybe it’s best to start from the beginning. You’ve probably heard about how everyone’s going to be able to buy marijuana and not worry about the cops any more, haven’t you? Well, that’s going to change a lot of things and change some of the ways Jimmy is making his living so we’ve been talking about going into business together. We were sitting around and, uh, well, maybe it was Jimmy or maybe it was me who thought that, no, maybe it was me, yeah because I was the one who said we knew a lot of people and where were they going to get their dope and who could they trust. Anyway, it doesn’t matter if it was my idea or Jimmy’s. Not really, I guess. But maybe it was his idea first. Anyway, the idea was we could go into business together and sell marijuana, totally legal now, because Jimmy knew all the ins and outs of the business and we knew a lot of guys, really a lot of guys, who would buy from us. I mean there’s the guy who works on your truck, dad, and the guy who cuts your hair, mom, and the nice lady at the Fred Meyer who always asks about grandma, I mean you’d be surprised to know how many customers we’d have.  This isn’t any back room type of store we’re thinking about. We’re thinking more like those espresso places with dark wood and comfy chairs and clean bathrooms where people come to meet friends, smoke some, take a stash home for their family or friends. And racks and shelves of munchies—chips and candies and nuts— this is where I get really excited because this is the part I really know a lot about., like the best kind of bean dip to go with the Tostitos and even the kind  of organic cashews and celery the coop kind of people buy. I know because I watched this one lady at a party talk on and on about the organic vegetable section at Whole Foods while she had a drop of avocado dip on the front of her blouse and I wondered how long it had been there and how long during the party it would be there but she was gone when I came back to check or maybe she was in the bathroom or somewhere else. Now Jimmy may know a lot more about whether the pot shipment is as good as he’s been told by his supplier and a lot more about the right kind of handguns to use (don’t worry, mom, I don’t touch that stuff) but when it comes to the munchies, I’m the man. I haven’t told Jimmy but I’m telling you that I’ve been working on an idea that is a killer. You know those hot dog warmers you see in movie theaters and the 7-11, the kind where the hot dog is speared on to a spindle that goes around and around like a ferris wheel? If you’re like me, you’ve probably watched those hot dogs go around and around. Well, imagine if every time they go around the hot dogs get dipped in soft cheese and when you get one of these hot dogs it’s warm and covered with warm soft cheese. That would be awesome, something to die for, don’t you think? I still have to figure out how to get the hot dogs dipped into the cheese every time it comes around but something like this would make our store famous. People who weren’t even buying marijuana would come to watch the hot dogs go around and around being dipped into cheese, sort of like how people watch that salt water toffee being pulled by the machine at the store. You know the one I’m talking about, don’t you? Well, now you’re probably really wondering why I am writing this letter. It’s because Jimmy and I are going to be partners but we need to have some money to apply for one of the licenses to open a store and show we could start a business. Of course, it would be a loan and I’d pay you back as soon as the store started making some money, which I think would be pretty quick. I know you’ve been concerned about me and my future and I thought this would be a good opportunity to show you that I do think about my future. I think my opening a store to legally selling marijuana would have some personal benefits to our entire family because the stuff is medicinal and I’m sure you and dad will need it some day and you can be sure that I’ll give you a big discount. Also, our store would be a lot safer place for little sis to get her stash, much safer than the way she now deals with that Jose or Hue or whomever she hangs out with after middle school. And, finally, at my age, it would be time to move out of your basement and you could rent it out and make some money which would be like not having loaned me the money at all. This would be a good deal all around, don’t you think?

Your dear son, Johnny.

My Newsroom Lies Over The Paywall

Last month the Kitsap Sun set up their paywall and cut Puget Sound readers off from reporting by Christopher Dunagan, one of the few remaining environmental journalists covering Puget Sound water quality and habitat issues.

Sun editor David Nelson believes erecting the paywall to limit online access to print and digital subscribers will make the Sun a better publication. He wrote on May 11:

“A digital subscription covers all of our online coverage, but readers will always be able to access certain ‘free’ stories — our daily weather report, news with a public safety element such as fires or inclement weather. Certain other stories, such as government decisions that make a difference in your life, or sports scores, will be available to all for a limited number of hours before becoming “premium” stories only for subscribers.”

After “a limited number of hours” Chris Dunagan’s stories are pay-for-view at $10 a month.

I like newspapers and I like Chris’s reporting but I don’t think paying $10 a month is going to give me any more or better environmental reporting nor is it going to give Chris a bigger paycheck. David Nelson couches the Sun’s paywall decision as a decision about better journalism. It isn’t. It’s a financial decision and a last-ditch effort to boost paid subscriptions to sell advertising.

Subscriptions alone have never paid for reporters’ salaries and, in that respect, their product was and is in large part “free.” Advertising revenues paid for most of  the newsroom salaries and, in the days of shrinking ad revenues, newsrooms get slashed and fewer reporters now cover multiple beats.

 Last Friday, PR Daily reported that the Chicago Sun-Times laid off its entire photo staff. The Sun-Times justified it not as a financial decision but as a journalistic one by writing:

"The Sun-Times business is changing rapidly and our audiences are consistently seeking more video content with their news. We have made great progress in meeting this demand and are focused on bolstering our reporting capabilities with video and other multimedia elements. The Chicago Sun-Times continues to evolve with our digitally savvy customers, and as a result, we have had to restructure the way we manage multimedia, including photography, across the network."  

Readers won’t get better journalism. Sun-Times reporters will now take news photos. Will they get paid more and the journalistic product improved? Don’t think so.

The Sun’s paywall decision leaves only the Sound Publishing-owed Peninsula Daily News and The Herald of Everett as Puget Sound daily papers for now without paywalls. The Herald’s circulation had been dropping before the purchase last April by Sound Publishing. According to Greg Lamm in the Puget Sound Business Journal, “The Herald saw its average daily circulation — which included print and digital subscriptions — shrink 15 percent for the six month period that ended March 31, compared to a year ago. Sunday circulation declined 8.4 percent. The declining numbers suggest Sound Publishing will be focused not only on growing revenue through added readers, but also on looking for more ways to cut costs.”

Paywalls, anyone?

We live in a time of diminished expectations and shrinking baselines when it comes to news coverage on many issues like the environment in Puget Sound. I’ll risk sounding like an old guy by saying it used to be a lot more fun and a lot more interesting when there were many more reporters competing to get a story in print and on the radio and TV about an environmental issue or event.

I’m not sure what the price point is for paying for quality news reporting but I know what I’m paying for currently isn’t quality in coverage or depth. The Columbia Journalism Review reports that the Orange County Register’s investment is in hiring more reporters and giving readers good journalism— and charging them for it. Will it work? If we knew the answer to that we wouldn’t be in the fix we’re in. But if it does work, maybe the days of print journalism with its material costs will finally evolve into more cost-efficient and timely digital versions.

I never believed the civic line that we had to have big sports arenas and professional sports teams in baseball, football and basketball in order to be a world-class region. But I always believed that we needed to have quality news reporting to be a world-class region. Maybe we can have both.

--Mike Sato

Erecting the Paywall to Save the Product

The Seattle Times tried putting itself in the same class as the New York Times when announcing Sunday that, like the New York Times and 400 other daily newspapers, it would begin charging for viewing its online content next month. In putting its content behind a paywall, Fairview Fanny now puts itself in the same class as the McClatchy Papers (Bellingham Herald, The News Tribune of Tacoma and The Olympian), the Skagit Valley Herald, and the weekly Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber. David Black’s Sound Publishing purchase of The Herald of Everett and the Peninsula Daily News may mean paywalls there may be coming soon, leaving only the daily Kitsap Sun as yet unaccounted for. (Up north, you will find paywalls at the Vancouver Sun, Victoria Times-Colonist and the Globe and Mail.)

Seattle Times executive editor David Boardman described the decision thus: “The reasons for this development are simple: The economics of the news business, and of the newspaper industry in particular, have changed dramatically over the past decade. More people than ever are reading our content in print and digital formats, but our primary source of revenue — advertising — is declining locally and nationally and no longer supports our costs to the degree it once did.”  ("Digital subscriptions needed to support quality journalism")

In December, the Bellingham Herald’s owner and publisher Mark Owings described his change this way: “Now, it's never fun to ask anyone to pay for something that has been free. But providing unlimited access across all platforms for a small amount makes sense. It also gives us the ability to protect our most valuable product -- our content. I know it really doesn't need to be said, but I'll say it anyway -- a business that gives away its most valuable product for free is doomed.” ("Pay-To-Read —What?")

Sadly, the online content of the local McClatchy papers and the Skagit Valley Herald are no different pre-paywall and post-paywall. How valuable was that product being ‘given away’ for free, and now is charged for? As I wrote in the December blog, “Let me rephrase Mark Owings’ dictum this way: “A news medium that doesn’t provide its most valuable product — its content— is doomed.”

Maybe the Seattle Times will become content rich in its online edition like the New York Times and it will be worth paying for access to online content, but I doubt they have the resources to do it, especially if they are relying on pay-to-read subscribers. Linda Thompson at MyNorthwest.com writes that the online-only subscriber rate will be $3.99/week, which comes to about $207/year. ("The state of Seattle journalism, as the Times puts up a paywall ")

Print subscribers will get access to online content included in their print subscription— which makes some marketing sense if the Seattle Times thinks they will build circulation by driving online-only readers to buy a print subscription in order to keep reading content online “for free.” Maybe they’ve done their market research and they’re carrying out a well-thought out strategy— including analysis that says the $3.99/week price-point will move their market.

I doubt they know and there is much desperation as advertising revenue shrinks in the digital age and the recourse is to start charging for content much like public radio with its marathon fund drives. David Boardman may want to say, “More people than ever are reading our content in print and digital formats,” but print circulation is down and print advertising revenue is down. If more people are reading content in digital format, digital advertising revenue has not  supplemented print advertising revenue. The business model of digital format being a digital version of print format hasn’t worked for advertising.

And, according to Derek Thompson in this month’s The Atlantic, the challenges for advertising in digital format will get worse. The market is moving beyond desktops and laptops to mobile devices: “For the next 10 years, as mobile penetration screams past 60 percent, 70 percent, 80 percent, this will be the trillion-dollar question: How do you build a thriving business selling ads on a four-inch screen—and what happens if you can’t?” ("The Incredible Shrinking Ad")

“One of the biggest problems with mobile advertising is that it’s not interactive, it’s just a passive ad,” Thompson quotes Scanbuy CEO Mike Wehrs. “We can make it a full interactive engagement: ‘Thank you for scanning. Do you want to watch a video? Are you interested in sellers nearby? Would you like to order it online?’ ”

Consider that kind of interactivity for mobile content across news, culture and entertainment platforms— and call that the new “newspaper.” That would not only be worth paying for, it would also be where advertisers might be looking to interact.

--Mike Sato

Build Them In Washington

Long before the ‘buy local’ movement got going, environmentalists and labor unions worked together to get legislation passed that would give a leg up to Washington shipbuilders to build new ferries locally. That was the Build Them In Washington campaign.

Twenty years later, legislators want to open the bidding (and the building) to shipbuilders in other states if they can save on cost. ( See: “Lawmakers want new audit to focus on costs of 64-car ferries” and “Lawmakers want audit of spending on newest ferries” )

Dave Groves, editor of the Washington State Labor Council’s website, took a trip down memory lane in his weekend guest editorial, “Buy Washington! Yes, including ferries” reminding us that, “The Build In Washington law has been renewed several times in a bipartisan fashion, most recently in 2008 when lawmakers authorized the emergency replacement of the WSF's steel electric-class boats due to hull erosion. That work went to Seattle-based Vigor Industrial, formerly Todd Pacific Shipyards, which will soon celebrate a century in business. But now, some legislators are wondering if we should build cheaper ferries elsewhere. The Build In Washington law passed because lawmakers recognized the importance of spending our tax dollars here, to create jobs here, and to sustain an industry here. Those jobs have a multiplier effect on our state's economy, creating more jobs and sustaining more businesses.”

From the environmental point of view, we supported giving in-state preferences because Washington shipbuilders had to comply with stricter environmental protection laws than shipbuilders in other states, like Louisiana, which gave out-of-state shipbuilders competitive advantage. Giving a preference in the bidding leveled the playing field. Giving a preference didn’t only benefit the economy, it benefitted the environment as well.

The Build Them in Washington campaign and the Jobs in the Woods campaign, legislation that created living wage restoration jobs for laid-off timber workers, were sterling examples of environmentalists and labor working together. These campaigns are also poster child examples of how what is good for our environment is also good for our economy.

Try to remember these successful campaigns, especially when environmentalists and labor supposedly end up on opposite sides on issues such as building coal export facilities. There has to be leadership on both sides that can find common ground to put truth to the mantra, “good for the environment, good for the economy.”

--Mike Sato

Locals Only-- Costco For Americans

We used to dislike drivers with California license plates. Now we don’t like Canadians buying gas, goods and groceries— at Costco?

CBC News reports on a Bellingham-instigated Facebook page giving vent to locals fed up with long lines and rude Canadians parking and buying gas at the Bellingham Costco-- "Bellingham Costco needs a special time just for Americans."

Shame on our fair “City of Subdued Excitement.”

I’ll let the Chamber of Commerce types tell you how much Canadians contribute to the local economy by buying local.

I’ll call shame on those who use “Canadian” as code for ethnic groups who come to shop and don’t behave like “Americans.” European Americans.

I’ve sat with friends and listened to their complaints about the Canadians at Bellingham Costco. These are good friends, people who behave well— maybe some of them are posting to the Facebook page. I hope not.

How about living in China for awhile, some time in Islamabad, Mumbai? I probably would screw up local customs pretty quickly.

How about visiting some rural Hawaii beach and feeling bad vibes from the local kids when where you wanted to surf was considered “locals only”?

Shame on them for betraying the spirit of aloha. Costco for Americans? Shame on Bellinghamsters.

--Mike Sato

Winning in Sports Isn’t Everything. It Is Everything

Associated Press

Ichiro on Monday goes from playing for the team with the worst record in major league baseball to playing for the team with the best record.

But that’s not like Rosie the Waitress winning the lottery. Rosie got lucky, good for her. Ichiro’s worked at his craft for his whole life and cashed in on his equity.

Give the younger players a chance, he reportedly said, putting the best spin on past and current seasons of miserable losing seasons brought to us by disappointing player management.

Ichiro now gets a chance to be on a winning team, to play in the league playoffs and maybe the World Series on what’s been called “the best team money can buy.”

Give our Seattle fans credit for showing they are a class act. They gave Ichiro a standing ovation at his first at-bat in Yankee pinstripes.

Sports and baseball aren’t metaphors for life. Sports is a business based on revenue and expenses and returns on investment. Be wary when qualities that we might seek and find in real life — truth, honor, character — are talked about in any business  (“We make money the old-fashioned way... We earn it.”)

Penn State and coach Joe Paterno branded their business of college football as an embodiment of character and honor, thereby making the uncovering of years of child molestation and cover ups all the more disgustingly squalid. But they get to keep their football business by paying a fine and having all the games they won during the years of shame wiped off the record books. Like banks and bankers, they get to play again.

After all, it’s not just a game.

--Mike Sato

Still Looking For The Silver Bullet: 30 Years After 'In Search of Excellence'

If you’re old enough, you’ll remember the excitement that business consultant Tom Peters brought with his seminars and books in the 1980s: In Search of Excellence, Passion For Excellence... Managers in government agencies and electric utilities I knew were swept up and inspired by examples of how to be a successful business: reward action, trust your intuition, listen to your customers, cut red tape, match authority with responsibility...

I think we all liked the kinds of stories Tom Peters told. We liked the story about how astronaut Frank Borman insisted on clean tray tables when he took over as president of Eastern Airlines. If you can’t take care of the tray tables, why should the customer think you can take care of the engines? “Now clean your desk,” we’d joke. We also like the one about how a worker took the initiative to charter an airplane to get some important delivery through. “Get the helicopter,” we’d joke.

The eight ‘themes’ Peters and coauthor Robert Waterman highlighted were:

1. A bias for action, active decision making - 'getting on with it'. Facilitate quick decision making & problem solving tends to avoid bureaucratic control
2. Close to the customer - learning from the people served by the business.
3. Autonomy and entrepreneurship - fostering innovation and nurturing 'champions'.
4. Productivity through people- treating rank and file employees as a source of quality.
5. Hands-on, value-driven - management philosophy that guides everyday practice - management showing its commitment.
6. Stick to the knitting - stay with the business that you know.
7. Simple form, lean staff - some of the best companies have minimal HQ staff.
8. Simultaneous loose-tight properties - autonomy in shop-floor activities plus centralized values.
   

You’d think that with advice like this, American businesses and governments would be in ‘excellent’ shape. Next year is the 30th anniversary of the publication of In Search of Excellence. Maybe the celebration is yet to come but it’s hard to hear much talk these days about Tom Peters and the themes in In Search of Excellence.

Those must not have been the silver bullets we were looking for.

--Mike Sato