On any given day in Indianapolis, hundreds of people will volunteer their time tutoring children, stocking food pantry
shelves, raising funds and providing leadership for not-for-profit organizations that are making a difference in our community.
Understanding the customer and his or her motivation is priceless, but it’s
old-school and just half of the solution. The other half, making it easy
for the customer to engage, is what sets growing organizations apart from stagnant ones.
Anti-smoking advocates like to push the image of servers forced to work in a smoke-filled bar because they have no choice. Sorry my friends, in real life the facts tend to lead otherwise.
Indiana officials appear to be working hard to get our share of the 5 million “green jobs” President
Obama says he’ll create. Sounds like a good idea, except for one problem: No one can really say just what
a green job is.
As an all-too-frequent flier, I’ve had a chance to get the full-love experience of the new airport terminal numerous
times in its first year. The summary is that it’s both tolerable, and I have no choice.
This month, the Federal Trade Commission announced new rules
aimed at increasing transparency in social media advertising. Starting Dec. 1, bloggers and other users of social media tools,
such as Twitter and Facebook, must disclose if they have received any type of payment in exchange for promotion, advertising
or endorsement.
I see Mayor Greg Ballard’s plan to demolish abandoned homes as a sign of failure, an acknowledgment
that our leaders—those whom we elected, business leaders, policy people, and leaders of not-for-profits—have failed
us, much in the same way leaders dramatically failed the auto companies, investment banks and mortgage companies.
I happened to be in Indianapolis the week before Mel Simon passed away on Sept. 16, and talked with his secretary about visiting him briefly, because I knew he was very ill. But he was too ill to see me.
While on a long flight recently, I noticed that the woman sitting next to me was using a “Kindle,” the e-book
device that allows one to download books and click through pages. I mourn the fading away of the tangible,
the sensual—books, newspapers, letters.
Whether we
do so out of fear, greed or a sense of duty, relentlessly volunteering for more work is one of the worst choices we can make
at the office.
Although women now make up 60 percent of the work force, they occupy only 20 percent of executive positions. There are even
fewer in finance, especially the high-risk areas like hedge funds. This may be one important reason we are in our
economic chaos.
Downtown Indianapolis has a housing problem. I am not referring to the abandoned and foreclosed homes that blight many of
our neighborhoods. This is a problem of new, prominent construction projects that are out of place in our built environment.
There are some pretty basic things out of whack in our society. Not too long ago, a local newspaper reported that a union
member from an area General Motors Corp. plant, with a job title of something like “assistant tool room organizer,”
was being paid in the high $20-per-hour range, not counting benefits. The only requirement for the job—maybe a high
school diploma.
Flawed decisions destroy organizations, not company size or lack thereof.
Marsh Supermarkets quickly realized it could not honor the flood of redemptions of the $10 coupon it recently offered to its
Facebook friends.
One of the biggest challenges facing our nation is health care reform. Despite development of the most innovative and significant
advances in medical treatment, our ability as health care professionals to provide high-quality, cost-effective and continual
patient care too often falls by the wayside as a result of misalignments in our health care system.
Later this summer, architects, urban planners, economists and hydrologists from around the city and around the nation will
come to Indianapolis to begin planning for the redevelopment of the area near 22nd Street and the Monon Trail. Known
as the American Institute of Architects Sustainable Design Assessment Team, it will work with neighborhood organizations
and city leaders to develop a renewal plan to turn this blighted area into a thriving neighborhood.
In case after case, we see businesses and not-for-profit organizations launching initiatives, holding
events and undertaking other activities for the sole purpose of “awareness raising.” And
in case after case, we see that the public failed to respond the way the organization expected.
While transparency is a stated goal of many corporations, deliberations regarding distribution of shareholder property
to executives are not subject to light of day or to review. Instead, decision-making is camouflaged by
thousands of words that appear substantial but disclose little.
The folks who control executive compensation are often executives themselves. Boards must realize that their self-dealing,
self-benefiting ways are grossly out of line with the true value of one’s contribution to a business and society.
