When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Together - Bob Sherman - MediaBizBloggers

What39s the difference between finger pointing and finger painting While they each are childish activities finger painting is not destructive We all hear and read that one of the understandable reactions to this quottemporaryquot economic reversal is a great deal of angst among those not already quotdownsizedquot The quotam I nextquot syndrome How executives react to this angst is an excellent metric of their skill and value and perhaps a pretty good indicator of whether or not the organization will quotmake itquotA survival of the fittest the sharp elbows and finger pointing culture does much more than make life miserable for everyone even for the perpetrator unless he39s been waiting in great anticipation for this inning of the game amp8211 because he39s either nuts or a bad guy This culture also greatly weakens the company39s chances for survival much less success during and following the down cycle If a pretty good IQ is let39s say 125 and you have six influential executives you can have each of them firing away at the others in which case they all run a pretty good chance of incurring mortal wounds or 750 IQ points in the aggregate trying to turn problems into opportunities for allA partner and I met with an institutional banker yesterday He manages his firm39s media portfolio and you can guess the kind of a year this has been for him He actually was visiting with us to see if there was opportunity to grow with us At one point I expressed if not sympathy a sensitivity to how stressful his work must have been since this time last yearquotActuallyquot Tim said quotthis has been a great year Our boss preaches that it doesn39t matter how we got here we need to put our heads together to forge where we39re going Our teams have been strategizing and planning everyone is wearing elbow pads so no one has to wear body armor and as a result we have a very sensible path to successquotHow39d you like to work for his bossLook it39s okay to be concerned But be concerned about the right stuff You have clients and prospects who need your help more than ever Whether it be to get through this period or make hay during this period they need help And if you are the one dedicated to providing it you will and an automatic byproduct of that behavior will be that you have nothing to worry aboutGreat SellingBob Sherman has 40 years experience managing relationships between media companies and advertisers in old and new media from radio cable and TV to the Internet and from sales executive to chief executive and from the biggest media corporations to his own entrepreneurial companies He is currently in partnership with Pilot Group LLC Bob can be reached at rshermanpilotgroupbizRead all Bob39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Great Sellers Go To Heaven MediaBizBloggersFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBlogger

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When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Together - Bob Sherman - MediaBizBloggers

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