MORRIS: Rested and happy to be back to work

The holidays are behind us and it feels good to be back in the office and focusing on work again. I didn’t take more than a few days off work here and there during 2014, so the two, back-to-back, five-day “extended weekends” I enjoyed over Christmas and New Year’s really felt great.

While I’m always tuned into email and somewhat on call, I was able to mostly detach, and I feel refreshed and ready to hit it hard again. Everyone is different, but I try to save vacation time to extend the year-end holiday season and I look forward to it every year. It’s a time of reflection and looking ahead with a clear mind, free from the usual day-to-day, semi-controlled chaos.

Of course, many of us never totally detach from work while we’re allegedly on vacation, but that’s all right by me as long as you don’t let it consume you. So, on call or not, many of us had a nice break.

I hope you share my optimism about the upcoming year. I’m not blindly optimistic. I believe our success will necessitate a supreme effort pretty much every day, even greater than the prior year. That’s most likely an understatement. But generally, I’m optimistic about showing improved financial results in 2015. As Cuba Gooding Jr. said so eloquently in the movie “Jerry Maguire”—“Show me the money!” That’s exactly what I plan to do.

I’ve talked about some of the steps in preparing for the New Year in previous columns, but since we’ve all slept a few times since then, I thought I would update some of those thoughts. This is the time of year I “sharpen my saw” and get organized for the adventure ahead.

Sharpening the saw is described in Steven Covey’s acclaimed book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” It is the seventh habit—the one that keeps you fresh and enables you to practice the other six habits. According to Covey, sharpening the saw means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have—YOU. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental and spiritual.

I’ve reacquainted myself with those projects that are important to complete but were delayed because they weren’t absolutely critical at the moment. However, many of those delayed projects now have risen to critical status and the time for action is now.

The holiday down time has also enabled me to actually take some extra time to strategize, analyze and plan. I think I read somewhere those activities are an important part of my job. In fact, I’m sure of it. I work hard every year to create more time for these critical tasks.

Out of necessity, I know, many companies have cut expenses and stretched their resources to save money. Our company is no different. As a result, long-term planning and investment often take a back seat. If the bottom line isn’t there, you have to do what is necessary to survive and maintain profitability. Keeping your eye on the ball in the short term is essential. However, there’s a price to pay for focusing too much on the short term without investing an adequate amount of time and money in a long-term strategy.

I always find that additional revenue solves a lot of problems and enables you to take a longer-term view more often. Easier said than done, generating more revenue is the only real answer to ensuring future success. Cutting expenses and creating greater efficiencies in your business are key strategies that need constant attention. But more revenue has to be the focus. It’s awfully tough to save your way to profitability and success.

With that thought in mind, in this year’s budgeting process, I focused on investing in long-needed technology and tools that create greater value for our customers: subscribers and advertisers. In 2015, we are redoubling our efforts to provide news, information and innovative products that help our customers grow their business (and themselves). Obviously, when our customers are successful, we’re successful.

I’m hopeful everyone had time over the holiday season to enjoy and appreciate the really important things in your life. And I trust you are rested and prepared to make 2015 a profitable year for you and your company.

I offer my sincere thanks to those who read and support IBJ. And I wish you good health and much success in the new year.•

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Morris is publisher of IBJ. His column appears every other week. To comment on this column, send e-mail to gmorris@ibj.com.