Statements You May Not Realize You're Making

Think about this:

One afternoon at 4:30 p.m., a corporate CEO announces tough decisions - he lays off 3,000 employees, cuts benefits, shutters factories and takes away things like company picnics and holiday parties.

The next morning at 7:55 a.m., he drives in to the office in his $120k luxury sports car to start the day.

There's something wrong with this picture if you happen to be the ex-employee, current employee or local citizen.

There's a statement being made that no longer works. It used to be if your CEO drove that $120k car, it implied that your company was on the rise, going somewhere. Now that statement could be interpreted as: there's a CEO looking out for himself (or herself) who doesn't care about the little guy.

I think corporate business jets, if properly utilized, can help grow business. But there's no real rationale for the $120k luxury car parked in the CEO's parking space.

By the way: I'm not in any way throwing stones at the CEO. The car is probably on lease or part of the employment package. But it will be judged nonetheless.


Barry LaBov
LaBov and Beyond
www.labov.com

Ice Cream Truck Song

A buddy of mine told me a funny story that illustrated how differently we all can view the same situation. Think back to summers as a kid. It was hot; you were bored. Then, all of sudden, you heard "Pop Goes The Weasel" being blasted from the bullhorns of an ice cream truck. What happened next?

Well, in my neighborhood, all available kids ran outside to find the truck, flag it down and grab a chocolate cone. I was conditioned to connect the ice cream truck song with "run out and find ice cream."

My buddy's mother took a very different tack. When her kids heard the ice cream song, she told them that it meant the ice cream truck was out of ice cream. None left, so no reason to fly out of the house to eat ice cream. I never met her and assume she was a very nice, smart lady, but wow, what an approach! And it worked. The kids never ran out for ice cream, never ruined supper or lunch by stuffing down a cone beforehand. (They also missed out on some good ice cream, of course.)

I won't judge her approach either way, good or bad. But it does show us that life is very often based on interpretation.

Today, we all know that business is tough, the economy is struggling. That's the song we all are hearing. Question is: How do you respond to it?

Does it mean "give up" or does it mean "run out there and grab some opportunities?"


Barry LaBov
LaBov and Beyond Marketing Communications
www.labov