Mason's Morning Minute

Change Or Decay?

"Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future." —John F. Kennedy

Here’s an exercise anyone can do. Count the number of times in a week you hear someone say, or allude to, either, “That’s how we do it here,” or “It’s the way we’ve always done it.”

It’s easy to do, because we’ve all found things that work for us, some of which have delivered huge success in the past. It’s common to want to stick with something that has worked in the past, especially when it’s made you what you are today. But it’s also dangerous, because what made you a success today won’t make you a success tomorrow. Everything about us is moving at such a speed that “common wisdom” is being replaced on a monthly basis. The worst part is we have to decipher what seems to be coming from what will be coming.

I remember what the sales manager at the first station I programmed said to me, “The only constant is change.” I sort of understood what he was saying, that nothing stays the same way for long, but had no idea what that would mean 30 years later – that everything is changing on a continual, ongoing basis. Sometimes I feel like I’d rather not get up in the morning because I know I’m going to have to deal with some sort of change.

But deal with it we must – hiding under the covers isn’t really a very good strategy. I mean that literally and metaphorically, because many of us are hiding under the covers by grabbing on every possible opportunity to keep things they way they are. From research reports that motivate us to say, “I guess we’re doing OK and don’t have to change anything,” to cutting off anyone who indicates the need for change, we’re engaged in a battle to stop the world.

But as JFK says, those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. We need to build an infrastructure of change assessment, keeping the radar on at all times so we can better judge what the inevitable change means to us. We need to learn to assimilate and embrace change, for the opposite is to die a relic of the past with no future.

Where's Our Howard Schultz?

“We want to have the courage to do the things that support the core purpose and the reason for being and not veer off and get caught up in chasing revenue, because long-term value for the shareholder can only be achieved if you create long-term value for the customer and your people.” Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO

Where’s Our Howard Schultz?

I hate the fact that this is happening on April 1, because I want to make sure people understand it’s not a joke. The article in this issue of Time Magazine caught my eye, but these words practically made my eyes bulge our of my head; “…they’ve designed a plan to yank Starbucks’ focus from gaining efficiency and appeasing Wall Street back to selling exemplary coffee with the kind of service and ambiance that makes a $4 latte worth the price.”

“Starbucks will once again grind beans in its stores for drip coffee. It will give free drip refills, offer latte upgrades, and provide two hours of wi-fi to anyone with a registered Starbucks card.”

Carl Gardner has brought Lee Abrams into the fold with the title, “Chief Innovation Officer,” and I have high hopes for that combination, but the rest of the industry seems bereft of innovation or creativity. Why does it seem so many other business are taking notice of focusing on the brand, but not radio? Doesn’t any of the leadership of the mega-groups understand the comparison with radio?

Where’s our Howard Schultz?

Who's In Charge Here?

"Keep in mind that you cannot control your own future. Your destiny is not in your hands; it is in the hands of the irrational consumer and society. The changes in their needs, desires, and demands will tell you where you must go. All this means that managers must themselves feel the pulse of change on a daily, continuous basis.... They should have intense curiosity, observe events, analyze trends, seek the clues of change, and translate those clues into opportunities." — Michael J. Kami

I was out in the Philadelphia area for the weekend, helping a radio station through their first ever music test, and working wit them to understand that the audience really didn’t like every song they played. It was a huge amount of change management, but to their credit they understood and grabbed hold of the concept of turning the music over to the listeners. I was really proud of them for their ability to embrace change, even when it made them uncomfortable.

One of the most challenging, and least practiced strategies is to understand that the consumer is not in charge, not us. We can’t continue the long standing era of “push programming,” where the listener got what we wanted, whether they like it or not. The listeners are in control, and the more we fight that the more we will fall behind as an industry.

We don’t choose the music we play, the listeners do, because they’d much rather hear what they want than what we want. We don’t create brands, the listeners do, because whatever they believe we are is what we are, and what we must learn to deal with.

Of course, this is totally unacceptable to the accounts running so many radio companies. How dare the listeners think they’re in charge, when it’s the scions of the industry, with their calculators and bromides about “share holder value” who really understand the business.

But unfortunately for so many, it’s the accounts that are wrong. They are not the great strategists they think they are, instead they are ghosts of the past who don’t even realize their time is over. There are a few broadcasters, mostly small companies, who do “get it,” and they have a much better chance of lasting another five years than a Clear Channel, CBS or Citadel. These are companies that really do understand the change around them, and are preparing for the future instead of trying to hang onto the past.

So pay attention, you’re looking at an industry in change, lead by a group of people who see radio as a series of mathematical factors, none of which involve the Hu, or human factor. I don’t think it’s over for us, but I do think it’s over for some of us. But like the dinosaurs, their central nervous systems are so small that they don’t’ even feel the first signs of decay.