Joseph L. Kagle, Jr. Essays

Thoughts after Attending the Third Annual World Business Forum 2006

or The Messenger is the Media of the Message

"I am in two new, innovative non-profit organizations: a Rotary eClub and Rotary Global History. Can one use your techniques of leadership in this area since it was proven successful at General Electric, turning that company around?”

I have just attended the Third Annual World Business Forum 2006, a live broadcast with the possibility to send in questions and comments to Radio City Music Hall in New York. Since one had to pay for each speaker that you attended, I choose three. I heard Jack Welsh, billed as the most admired CEO in the world; Wynton Marsalis, a great jazz musician and named as one of Time’s 100 most influential people; and Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Blink. I will limit my comments to Welsh and Gladwell, since Marsalis talked of the need for creativity of thought (and I have talked of that in other essays).

Welsh spoke on business Strategy, his four principles behind successful leadership (which he put candor above all and people management next; innovation and sustainable results were the outcome of the top two). I asked, in writing, this question: “I am in two new, innovative non-profit organizations: a Rotary eClub and Rotary Global History. Can one use your techniques of leadership in this area since it was proven successful at General Electric, turning that company around?” His answer was: “Of course, my principles are not based on profit but people. You can use my 20-70-10 concept to continually improve any organization.” His 20% are the top people: you give them what they need to succeed: freedom of action, thought and the fellowship of individuals who want to grow as they do; his 70% are most of the workers who know their job and do it with rewards and praise as an incentive; and his 10% who if they do not rise to the 70% level are in danger of being let go. The secret to his success was an on-going conversation, training and evaluation of people, letting them know where they stand in the organization and rewarding them for rising to the next level. When Welsh first put this in place, it took three years of talking to everyone and making them know the goals of the organization before the 10% was let go but from that date on, the lower 10% were fired and new, innovative individuals were recruited. Fifty to seventy percent of Welsh’s time was spent with people, being honest (candor) with them about what was expected and where they stood in the organization.  

Gladwell was asked the same written question when he spoke on Marketing and Innovation. His answer was similar but from a different point of view. He told how social power could change the climate for business. In the past, most analysts talked to the organization about economic power (how much change would cost) or political power (control from the top which trickled down to the workers). Gladwell gave examples of quick change that surprised the traditional analysts.

For instance, David Sarnoff at RCA (when he was young and just starting) went to the Board and asked if he could broadcast a boxing match between Dempsey and a French fighter (the “fight of the century” in 1921). The Board answer was a strong “No.” They thought it was a “trivial” idea. He went back several times and finally they said, “OK, but you get no funds and no equipment from RCA.” Sarnoff knew a man who knew a man who could “borrow” radio equipment from the army for one night. He knew a young man who knew another young man who knew everything about boxing (and Sarnoff asked him to be the first fight broadcaster). Since no one owned a radio, Sarnoff got on the phone and called all the RCA reps in the country to place radio speakers in all the bars, stores, banks, hotels, etc. in their towns. He convinced them that it would be in their best business interest. They said that they would. The army equipment only lasted four rounds before it blew up but luckily for Sarnoff Dempsey knocked out the Frenchmen at the end of the third round. In the first month after that broadcast 1200 radio sets by RCA were sold and in the first 12 months an additional 1000 companies opened selling radio equipment.

The problem had been “framing”. The Board framed the objective of the company as selling “news” over the radio which was already being covered by the print media. Sarnoff saw the framing of the radio equipment as “bringing the world into your living room on a minute-to-minute basis.” The same thing happened later with seat belts. The audience first resisted the government or business telling them “they had to have a seat belt” (only 15% did). So one bright young man said, “Let us frame it differently by asking the public to protect their children by making kids wear seatbelts.” Every family wanted their children to be safe so the kids had to wear seatbelts. Whereas the people would not listen to the businesses or the government about wearing seatbelts, they did listen when little Johnny in the back seat asked, “If I have to wear a seat belt, why are you not wearing one too, Mommy/Daddy.” Within several weeks, 65% of Americas were wearing seatbelts. Therefore, the appropriate framing is critical to change.     

Another critical element to making change is the use of social power. In a world where we now get anywhere from a hundred to two hundred emails a day, we only answer or open those that come from connectors or mavens. Connectors are those who know many people in diverse circles (when a test was done, most people have maybe 20-30 people that they know well that come from: family, work or their school backgrounds. Connectors know 200-300 people from maybe ten to twenty diverse circles of acquaintances). Mavens are those we go to so that we do not have to travel over all the data about some product or subject. Mavens are the people with specialized knowledge (who are also flexible in their thinking and interested in how their field intersects with others). Therefore when trying to start change, we need a small circle of connectors and mavens to spread the word and know what the words should be.

Both Welsh and Gladwell see this combination of elements as the basis for the “rules of change management”.  What creates a revolution is: 1) a realistic framing of the situation and 2) selection of connectors and mavens to get out the word and have specialized knowledge that can be trusted.

So how does all this theory come down to practical actions in working with Rotary eClubs and RGHF (that has a frightening amount of data and material to wad through to get specific information)? As Gladwell would ask us to do, we “thin slice” the problems:

An eClub is not and can never be a luncheon meeting Rotary Club therefore we frame the selling and purpose of Rotary eClubs as a network of connectors and mavens to help everyone get through the problems of 21^st century life. We sell the people (who believe in and can advise on the principles) but who are there in the club as people who “know a lot of diverse individuals” (who YOU should get to know) and as people who “can cut through all the diverse data” to give you an honest opinion on what to buy, do, or be.  Instead of hiding the membership behind false names or covers, we announce to the world “This is our membership and what they have done and can do”.

The same idea is behind Rotary Global History. We sell the people "behind the data;" the people who helped to create the diversity and volume of data; the people who know and can advise.  Our problem with framing the data is that the process of framing the magnitude of data turns off the viewer because the effort in today’s world is too enormous. The guides are the key to seeing through the labyrinth of material. They are those that should be heralded. Just as Paul Harris is honored as a guide in the beginning of the 20^th century so should all the present “Paul Harris” 21^st century guides be advertised up front. These people are the Paul Revere(s) of today. “Peace is coming. Peace is coming. Peace is coming. History is coming. History is coming. History is coming.” The message here will only be heard if we trust the messengers. 

Therefore, using Welsh’s 20-70-10 concept, we find the 20% to sell as messengers in diverse fields (and we do not limit it to Rotary Global History because that is the data that we will draw from but is not the ultimate message). We keep it open so that the 70% can sometimes be featured. We sell that 20% (which we already do within our own circles) to the world.

In the 1950s we left, “The media is the message,” and now exist in a 2006 world where the “The messenger is the media of the message.” This is based on trust and candor. It is based on those who can frame situations in realistic and visionary spheres (sometimes overlapping spheres).  It is honestly selling the messenger so that the message is believed and used. 

For Rotary eClubs, it is letting the membership be the “programs” for each week (at least until people outside know the membership and their area of “mavenship” or “connector-ship.”) This might take several years to complete.

For RGHF, it is featuring a member at the beginning of a viewer’s entrance into the site and allowing for that time for him or her to emphasize their area of understanding of their field, their interest, their passion, their hopes and visions, sharing it with the visitor until the person pulls out of the website. It may be possible to have multiple entrances that lead to an individual who knows an area of expertise. We do that somewhat now but not to the degree that this essay suggests.  

I say it again, THE MESSENGER IS THE MEDIA OF THE MESSAGE.

As an endorsement of Joe Kagle's "THE MESSENGER IS THE MEDIA OF THE MESSAGE"

Joe Kagle, through his fifty years of artistic, and management experience, has gathered critical knowledge and a compelling strategy for Rotary eClub of The Southwest, USA; Rotary Global History, and any enterprise that needs to gain acceptance to further its mission. As Paul Harris wrote, "There is nothing new under the sun." Nothing about this is "new" but Joe's synthesis of these ideas have immediate application for, as GE's Jack Welsh pointed out, both commercial and non-profit enterprises. I strongly recommend this treatise for an "organizational meditation." Jack Selway, Founder & CEO,  RGHF