Can You Believe How Low Some Can Go?
"Some Miss. hotels tell Katrina evacuees to move
BROOKHAVEN, Miss. (AP) — Hilton Hotels, the parent company of Hampton Inn and other brands, is trying to find other rooms for the evacuees. However, the company says it warned evacuees when they checked in that their stays would be limited by room availability.
A Hampton Inn in Brookhaven, about two hours north of where Katrina struck, asked Barbara Perry of Folsom, La., to move out last week. She was living in the hotel with her parents and her three young children, and she was driving almost 90 miles a day to work.
"They told me if I didn't pick my clothes up, they were going to call the police," Perry said.
Her mother, who uses a wheelchair, and her father, who is blind, were also told to check out, but they were granted an extension after a Red Cross volunteer intervened, said Perry's mother, Betty Myers.
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has asked hotel managers to let evacuees stay longer, but they aren't required to do so. Gov. Haley Barbour "has decided to let the private sector handle those issues without government intervention," said his spokesman, Pete Smith."
I suppose you could say that the former head of the Republican Party fund raising is just being true to his beliefs and ethics, eh? Which include naming his nephew to his state's commission of rebuilding Mississippi and making sure that FEMA gives a firm that he used to go to for big contributions, a huge contract for debris removal.
Gov. Barbour has installed his nephew, Henry Barbour, as executive director for the 40-member Katrina recovery commission he had appointed two weeks ago.
AshBrit, according to the Times, paid $40,000 in the first half of 2004 to Barbour, Griffith and Rogers, the Mississippi governor’s old lobbying firm, which he had founded after leaving the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee. They have been given a $568 million no-bid contract by FEMA for debris removal.
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Friday, October 07, 2005
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Katrina and Rita Greatest Double Disaster of Decade -- Line Up Everyone; Time to Cash In!
Everyone except the dead, casualties and survivors it seems, loves a big disaster; it gives everyone something common to talk about and best of all it provides a focus for everyone's favorite solution, crisis, bias, or wannabe behavior.
The people, talk show hosts, politicians, and journalists who don't generally live in the devastated area think its the perfect time to have a discussion about what should or should not be done in the area devastated.
And there is a whole bevy of experts who want to be and sometimes actually are "go-to experts" seek out a way to sell/share their "insider knowledge" or are sought out by reporters and politicians.
Among the "experts" in an Oct. 4, 2005 NYT article by Cornelia Dean, one is quoted in a story titled "some experts say it's time to evacuate the coast (for good)" as saying: "Even the fate of New Orleans should be open to discussion, Dr. Schrag said. "Spending hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild a city that puts it in harm's way once again and relying on technology such as higher dikes and levees seems to me a very dangerous strategy," the more so in an era of global warming. " The article was not just about New Orleans, they were talking about the Gulf Coast:
"As the Gulf Coast reels from two catastrophic storms in a month, and the Carolinas and Florida deal with damage and debris from hurricanes this year and last, even some supporters of coastal development are starting to ask a previously unthinkable question: is it time to consider retreat from the coast?"
I have this photo passed down to me from my mother of one of the main streets in Providence, RI from September, 1938 , the sign on the theater says, Boys Town with Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney! You can see a row boat in the middle of the street left by the 12-15 foot storm surge that came up Narragansett Bay when the "Long Island Express" Hurricane hit Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts after ravaging Long Island.
The experts conveniently focus on the most recent storms that hit the Gulf and make little on no mention about all the coastal cities stretching from the Carolinas to Cape Cod that are subject to the same damage.
I don't hear them suggesting that all American cities on a coast subject to devastating natural disasters be abandoned. The reason you don't hear them saying that Miami, New York City, Boston or Long Island should be phased out? Too many people would say, "That's nuts!" It's also the reason they are not talking about all those cities on the West Coast which are not only all at risk from devastating earthquakes but from tsunami's as well. Not everyone can click their heels and transport themselves to Kansas.
And the talk show hosts, politicians and others talking trash about whether to rebuild the Ninth Ward of New Orleans at the same time they "feel" for the victims of Katrina?
Well it's a little bit the same as the "go-to expert wannabes" and more racism and elitism than can be swept aside under the guise of "thinking outside of the box," being cutting edge, or "Gee, we're just thinking about what we could do with a clean slate."
Why don't we try this: Let the good people of New Orleans, Biloxie, Bay St. Louis, Western Louisiana and Northeast Texas where Rita did her thing decide what they want to do with "their" cities that they and their families built over the past 150-300 years. Then let's help them do just that. Why?
They deserve our support, not meddling. Look at the facts and figure out how much fuel comes from them to power the rest of us and how much moves through their ports to bring profits all the way back to Kansas City.
If I were down there with them, I think about now I'd start thinking about suing two thirds of the nation for polluting the Gulf (it drains 2/3s of the nation's waterways) if they don't want to treat us as family.
Get real folks or go back to numbing your mind watching fake reality shows and living their lives instead of those in New Orleans or Biloxi.
Go here to see that most of the big storms hit the East Coast and not the Gulf. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/history.shtml#new
The people, talk show hosts, politicians, and journalists who don't generally live in the devastated area think its the perfect time to have a discussion about what should or should not be done in the area devastated.
And there is a whole bevy of experts who want to be and sometimes actually are "go-to experts" seek out a way to sell/share their "insider knowledge" or are sought out by reporters and politicians.
Among the "experts" in an Oct. 4, 2005 NYT article by Cornelia Dean, one is quoted in a story titled "some experts say it's time to evacuate the coast (for good)" as saying: "Even the fate of New Orleans should be open to discussion, Dr. Schrag said. "Spending hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild a city that puts it in harm's way once again and relying on technology such as higher dikes and levees seems to me a very dangerous strategy," the more so in an era of global warming. " The article was not just about New Orleans, they were talking about the Gulf Coast:
"As the Gulf Coast reels from two catastrophic storms in a month, and the Carolinas and Florida deal with damage and debris from hurricanes this year and last, even some supporters of coastal development are starting to ask a previously unthinkable question: is it time to consider retreat from the coast?"
I have this photo passed down to me from my mother of one of the main streets in Providence, RI from September, 1938 , the sign on the theater says, Boys Town with Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney! You can see a row boat in the middle of the street left by the 12-15 foot storm surge that came up Narragansett Bay when the "Long Island Express" Hurricane hit Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts after ravaging Long Island.
The experts conveniently focus on the most recent storms that hit the Gulf and make little on no mention about all the coastal cities stretching from the Carolinas to Cape Cod that are subject to the same damage.
I don't hear them suggesting that all American cities on a coast subject to devastating natural disasters be abandoned. The reason you don't hear them saying that Miami, New York City, Boston or Long Island should be phased out? Too many people would say, "That's nuts!" It's also the reason they are not talking about all those cities on the West Coast which are not only all at risk from devastating earthquakes but from tsunami's as well. Not everyone can click their heels and transport themselves to Kansas.
And the talk show hosts, politicians and others talking trash about whether to rebuild the Ninth Ward of New Orleans at the same time they "feel" for the victims of Katrina?
Well it's a little bit the same as the "go-to expert wannabes" and more racism and elitism than can be swept aside under the guise of "thinking outside of the box," being cutting edge, or "Gee, we're just thinking about what we could do with a clean slate."
Why don't we try this: Let the good people of New Orleans, Biloxie, Bay St. Louis, Western Louisiana and Northeast Texas where Rita did her thing decide what they want to do with "their" cities that they and their families built over the past 150-300 years. Then let's help them do just that. Why?
They deserve our support, not meddling. Look at the facts and figure out how much fuel comes from them to power the rest of us and how much moves through their ports to bring profits all the way back to Kansas City.
If I were down there with them, I think about now I'd start thinking about suing two thirds of the nation for polluting the Gulf (it drains 2/3s of the nation's waterways) if they don't want to treat us as family.
Get real folks or go back to numbing your mind watching fake reality shows and living their lives instead of those in New Orleans or Biloxi.
Go here to see that most of the big storms hit the East Coast and not the Gulf. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/history.shtml#new
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Latest Clueless CEO Scam? Healthcare Costs
The Latest Clueless CEO Scam?
CEOs at General Motors and Delta Airlines say: 'If we could just get our workers and retirees to make concessions (pay more or give up contracted benefits) on our healthcare costs, we could be more competitive.'
The whiners are saying that '"so and so" competitor only has $20 of healthcare costs in their cars and we have $125.' Oh woe are we with greedy workers and retirees.
GM is looking at its bottomline and over its shoulder and what does it see? Toyota getting ready to become Number One in North America and Internationally.
Is Toyota's success due to some mythical lower healthcare costs?
Toyota's formula for success is simple:
1. Our job is to get butts in seats - seats of Toyota products.
2. To get butts in seats, Toyota listens to what customers say they want and we give it to them. And their customers say that regardless of which particular product we want, we want a quality product at a reasonable cost.
3. To give their customers quality products at reasonable costs, they continuously focus on improving the quality (effectiveness and efficiency) of the processes used to design and produce their vehicles.
4. To give their customers quality products at reasonable costs, they continuously focus on improving the quality (effectiveness and efficiency) of their workers with training and involvement in improving the quality of their work.
Southwest Airlines uses a similar formula to succeed as an airline -- Some thing that Delta used to do but has forgotten how to do.
The most important part of the success formula?
Your job is to get butts into seats by offfering customers services and products of quality and good value.
Got it?
Or are you too addicted to finding something other than your own cluelessness to blame your woes on?
CEOs at General Motors and Delta Airlines say: 'If we could just get our workers and retirees to make concessions (pay more or give up contracted benefits) on our healthcare costs, we could be more competitive.'
The whiners are saying that '"so and so" competitor only has $20 of healthcare costs in their cars and we have $125.' Oh woe are we with greedy workers and retirees.
GM is looking at its bottomline and over its shoulder and what does it see? Toyota getting ready to become Number One in North America and Internationally.
Is Toyota's success due to some mythical lower healthcare costs?
Toyota's formula for success is simple:
1. Our job is to get butts in seats - seats of Toyota products.
2. To get butts in seats, Toyota listens to what customers say they want and we give it to them. And their customers say that regardless of which particular product we want, we want a quality product at a reasonable cost.
3. To give their customers quality products at reasonable costs, they continuously focus on improving the quality (effectiveness and efficiency) of the processes used to design and produce their vehicles.
4. To give their customers quality products at reasonable costs, they continuously focus on improving the quality (effectiveness and efficiency) of their workers with training and involvement in improving the quality of their work.
Southwest Airlines uses a similar formula to succeed as an airline -- Some thing that Delta used to do but has forgotten how to do.
The most important part of the success formula?
Your job is to get butts into seats by offfering customers services and products of quality and good value.
Got it?
Or are you too addicted to finding something other than your own cluelessness to blame your woes on?
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Corporate and City Summer Reruns
Re: Cincinnati Teen Homicide, GM, Delta, and Cincinnati Reds Crises
Summer Reruns - Again!
"Press, Leaders and People React"
Have you noticed how hard it seems for people to get a new idea or face the fact that they need to do something really different?
Look at Tuesday's headlines and you begin to get the idea that react means just that re-act, or play the same role or scene again and even though we know the movie will likely have the same ending, we can pretend that this time there will be a different ending.
Teen Turf War Turns Deadly
Press, Leaders, People React
Community meetings, crisis experts walk and talk,
Get Tough, Care More, Why Can't Things Be Like They Used to Be?
GM Loses One Billion, Market Share Still Sliding, 25,000 to Lose Jobs
Press, Leaders, Shareholders React
GM CEO: 'We Have a Plan: Downsize, Control Costs, Get Concessions from Employees and Retirees.'
Delta Chiefs Cite Cost Crisis; May Go Chapter 11 in Fall
Press, Leaders, People React
"We will wrestle with the problem, We Have a Plan: Control Costs, Get Concessions from Employees and Retirees.'
Reds Run Pitiful:
Press, Leaders and Fans React --
Fire Manager, Trade Loyal Team Star, Get Tough, Try Harder, Why Can't Things Be Like They Used to Be?
Cincinnati Ride By Homicide: React. Rerun the crisis movie, quick!
When local homicides shot up to more than 50 a year in 2001 and stayed there, we as a community "decided" to get used to it as if the deaths were like weekly variations in the price of regular gas. Getting a new idea was too hard and facing the fact that something was terribly wrong and needed the whole community's effort was too much for a city used to letting the"experts, the professionals, the business and community leaders" take care of things.
Corporate CEOs in Crisis React Too, or should we say: "Corporate CEOs React II."
Hey folks, you media, government, civic leaders -- the answer is the same to all four problems: Face Facts, You Need a New Way to Get Butts into Seats
Kids, parents, relatives, government and school leaders all need to figure out how to get their respective butts into seats talking and working together until they re-write the script for being a successful young man in Cincinnati today.
GM and Delta may need to control some costs and share the pain but what they really need to do is figure out how to get new and old customers into their "vehicles."
The answer to getting a new idea and approach to winning for the Reds may also be an answer to the Cincinnati homicide crisis, as well as Delta's and GM's profit crisis:
Take advantage of the University of Cincinnati's Re-Action to not being a "classy" campus (they want Basketball Coach Bob Huggins to leave... because he and "his" players, although winners, are not "classy"): Hire Coach Huggins to work with you on how to create a competitive winning strategy based on teamwork, working on achieving your personal best, and recruiting people who want to win.
Summer Reruns - Again!
"Press, Leaders and People React"
Have you noticed how hard it seems for people to get a new idea or face the fact that they need to do something really different?
Look at Tuesday's headlines and you begin to get the idea that react means just that re-act, or play the same role or scene again and even though we know the movie will likely have the same ending, we can pretend that this time there will be a different ending.
Teen Turf War Turns Deadly
Press, Leaders, People React
Community meetings, crisis experts walk and talk,
Get Tough, Care More, Why Can't Things Be Like They Used to Be?
GM Loses One Billion, Market Share Still Sliding, 25,000 to Lose Jobs
Press, Leaders, Shareholders React
GM CEO: 'We Have a Plan: Downsize, Control Costs, Get Concessions from Employees and Retirees.'
Delta Chiefs Cite Cost Crisis; May Go Chapter 11 in Fall
Press, Leaders, People React
"We will wrestle with the problem, We Have a Plan: Control Costs, Get Concessions from Employees and Retirees.'
Reds Run Pitiful:
Press, Leaders and Fans React --
Fire Manager, Trade Loyal Team Star, Get Tough, Try Harder, Why Can't Things Be Like They Used to Be?
Cincinnati Ride By Homicide: React. Rerun the crisis movie, quick!
When local homicides shot up to more than 50 a year in 2001 and stayed there, we as a community "decided" to get used to it as if the deaths were like weekly variations in the price of regular gas. Getting a new idea was too hard and facing the fact that something was terribly wrong and needed the whole community's effort was too much for a city used to letting the"experts, the professionals, the business and community leaders" take care of things.
Corporate CEOs in Crisis React Too, or should we say: "Corporate CEOs React II."
Hey folks, you media, government, civic leaders -- the answer is the same to all four problems: Face Facts, You Need a New Way to Get Butts into Seats
Kids, parents, relatives, government and school leaders all need to figure out how to get their respective butts into seats talking and working together until they re-write the script for being a successful young man in Cincinnati today.
GM and Delta may need to control some costs and share the pain but what they really need to do is figure out how to get new and old customers into their "vehicles."
The answer to getting a new idea and approach to winning for the Reds may also be an answer to the Cincinnati homicide crisis, as well as Delta's and GM's profit crisis:
Take advantage of the University of Cincinnati's Re-Action to not being a "classy" campus (they want Basketball Coach Bob Huggins to leave... because he and "his" players, although winners, are not "classy"): Hire Coach Huggins to work with you on how to create a competitive winning strategy based on teamwork, working on achieving your personal best, and recruiting people who want to win.
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Two Small Tragedies
http://www.positivefuturesguide.com/free/smalltragedy.html
Two Small Tragedies Can Lead To...
The first tragedy -- A couple of weeks ago, we had a big rain that dumped nearly two inches in less than twelve hours. There were a number of traffic accidents, people were hurt and there were also a number of homes with flooded basements. All tragedies of a sort to those involved but not the one that effected me.
There is a "walk about" pond next to a major highway in my neighborhood that I include it in my daily walks on urban streets. I love to see the redwing black birds there in the spring, a few turtles that sun themselves, a musk rat or two and a pair of Canadian Geese who annually nest on a small "islet." In the week before the big rain, they had built their nest, a clutch of eggs were laid and the month or so of sitting had begun.
I walked by the afternoon after the rain had subsided and saw the the whole pond was flooded higher than I had ever seen it. I quickly noticed that the "islet" was under water and the geese were nowhere to be seen. The next morning, I visited early and saw that enough water had run off that the "islet" was reemerging. The geese were there and seemingly looking for their clutch of eggs and nest. Both were gone. That was the first small tragedy for me. No goslings to see in a month or two or finally figuring out how the mother goose gets her goslings across the highway before they can fly.
The pair is still in residence, feeding every day but there is no nest this year.
The second tragedy -- Last week, I was out and about early; walking swiftly and then stopped dead in my tracks. On the shoulder of the street next to me, I looked down at a bit of "road kill" a mostly flattened Peregrine Falcon. The sudden sadness and anger I felt was not just because these Falcons are rare in this area and endangered, I could still see the beauty of this "jet fighter" predator -- its swept back wings, and simply but elegantly designed talons and beak but I would never see it in action, I could only imagine it in flight.
I took it out of the street, went back home and returned with a plastic bag to put it in. I took it home, reported the death to those keeping track of the few in our area and then buried it in our back yard -- in an area where we "intern" family pets that have left us.
Both small tragedies saddened me but also got me to thinking about the beauty of the geese, the goslings, and the falcon. Their beauty is in part just an expression of their life force but in large part for us, it is in their form, coloring, grace while flying.
Yesterday, I was thinking about both small tragedies, the beauty of the geese and the falcon, and then about human beauty. What are the most beautiful, most expressive aspects or "parts" of the human animal.
The eyes, definitely -- the eyes. My father had taught me early to just look into people's eyes rather than how they dressed, how they spoke, their shape, color or anything else we often resort to in making judgments about people. And hands! People's hands are what they use to create all sorts of external beauty and often express -- as much as the eyes do -- the state of their spirit. The mouth, especially when it is formed into a smile. Somehow, I think they are all connected, aren't they.
If someone is really happy or filled with joy and spirit, their eyes, mouth and hands are all "smiling!" The phony smile is easy for most to see because you can see no "smile" in their eyes.
Smiles make us all beautiful - no? And they really are contagious, aren't they?
So just in case you need one just now because -- well just because -- I want to share with you my collection of smiles of a variety of people who put their smiles up on the web.
And if these aren't enough - go to Google or Yahoo search and under an image search, type smile and then sit back for a page full of them.
April 14, 2005, 8:45 P.M.
An added note: Just returned from another round about the local pond. I did not mention before that earlier this week, the pair of geese which had lost its eggs during the recent storm, "invited" another mating pair to the pond (they had earlier chased off all interlopers). The "invited" pair stayed and a nest was built on the "islet" today and this evening, one is sitting on a new clutch of eggs -- hooray!
Ned Hamson
Two Small Tragedies Can Lead To...
The first tragedy -- A couple of weeks ago, we had a big rain that dumped nearly two inches in less than twelve hours. There were a number of traffic accidents, people were hurt and there were also a number of homes with flooded basements. All tragedies of a sort to those involved but not the one that effected me.
There is a "walk about" pond next to a major highway in my neighborhood that I include it in my daily walks on urban streets. I love to see the redwing black birds there in the spring, a few turtles that sun themselves, a musk rat or two and a pair of Canadian Geese who annually nest on a small "islet." In the week before the big rain, they had built their nest, a clutch of eggs were laid and the month or so of sitting had begun.
I walked by the afternoon after the rain had subsided and saw the the whole pond was flooded higher than I had ever seen it. I quickly noticed that the "islet" was under water and the geese were nowhere to be seen. The next morning, I visited early and saw that enough water had run off that the "islet" was reemerging. The geese were there and seemingly looking for their clutch of eggs and nest. Both were gone. That was the first small tragedy for me. No goslings to see in a month or two or finally figuring out how the mother goose gets her goslings across the highway before they can fly.
The pair is still in residence, feeding every day but there is no nest this year.
The second tragedy -- Last week, I was out and about early; walking swiftly and then stopped dead in my tracks. On the shoulder of the street next to me, I looked down at a bit of "road kill" a mostly flattened Peregrine Falcon. The sudden sadness and anger I felt was not just because these Falcons are rare in this area and endangered, I could still see the beauty of this "jet fighter" predator -- its swept back wings, and simply but elegantly designed talons and beak but I would never see it in action, I could only imagine it in flight.
I took it out of the street, went back home and returned with a plastic bag to put it in. I took it home, reported the death to those keeping track of the few in our area and then buried it in our back yard -- in an area where we "intern" family pets that have left us.
Both small tragedies saddened me but also got me to thinking about the beauty of the geese, the goslings, and the falcon. Their beauty is in part just an expression of their life force but in large part for us, it is in their form, coloring, grace while flying.
Yesterday, I was thinking about both small tragedies, the beauty of the geese and the falcon, and then about human beauty. What are the most beautiful, most expressive aspects or "parts" of the human animal.
The eyes, definitely -- the eyes. My father had taught me early to just look into people's eyes rather than how they dressed, how they spoke, their shape, color or anything else we often resort to in making judgments about people. And hands! People's hands are what they use to create all sorts of external beauty and often express -- as much as the eyes do -- the state of their spirit. The mouth, especially when it is formed into a smile. Somehow, I think they are all connected, aren't they.
If someone is really happy or filled with joy and spirit, their eyes, mouth and hands are all "smiling!" The phony smile is easy for most to see because you can see no "smile" in their eyes.
Smiles make us all beautiful - no? And they really are contagious, aren't they?
So just in case you need one just now because -- well just because -- I want to share with you my collection of smiles of a variety of people who put their smiles up on the web.
And if these aren't enough - go to Google or Yahoo search and under an image search, type smile and then sit back for a page full of them.
April 14, 2005, 8:45 P.M.
An added note: Just returned from another round about the local pond. I did not mention before that earlier this week, the pair of geese which had lost its eggs during the recent storm, "invited" another mating pair to the pond (they had earlier chased off all interlopers). The "invited" pair stayed and a nest was built on the "islet" today and this evening, one is sitting on a new clutch of eggs -- hooray!
Ned Hamson
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Second 25,000 Miles
Had some losses over last few days.
Lost a friend (40 years old) who knew he had to change but didn't, or thought he still had time. He didn't.
I'll miss him, I'm sad he's gone, I'm pissed at him for not changing and myself for not being able to find a way to move him.
May well lose an organization friend, the Symphony Orchestra Institute (www.soi.org) which has worked hard for nearly ten years, I think, to help symphony orchestras rethink and reinvent themselves into positive futures for the people in them and their audiences.
So I am sure that its founder Paul Judy of Chicago, must feel somewhat the same as I do about my friend and myself -- a mixture of sadness and being pissed off at those who know they should change but don't and at our own efforts to help them change.
I like symphony music (not to the exclusion of other types of music -- I bleed blues.) and I think society in general will lose something when more symphonies close or shrink because they cannot get "out of their box," or the way they do business and
the way they see their possible futures.
They have "boxed" themselves into being more and more dependent on corporate funding and a shrinking number of well-to-do patrons. They are trapped into working harder at doing the things the way they always have rather than working smarter and in ways that will enable them to live on, grow, learn, innovate.
They cannot "see" themselves as an entertainment and cultural destination competing for a family's discretionary spending -- and that they are competing with destinations as varied as casino resorts, entertainment parks like Kings Island or Seven Flags, and events like NASCAR, the NFL or even major league baseball. The funny and sad part is that even if not structured for the whole family as yet, they are the "best buy" because it costs less for a family of four to go to the symphony for an evening or afternoon than it would cost the same family to go to any of the destinations noted above.
Instead, some - most - see themselves as competing with the theater, opera, and ballet for a fixed or shrinking "fine arts" marketplace.
I could BLOG-on but I think you get the idea -- a little clearer view of where they really are and a willingness to get an expanded view and do something about it could change the situation.
The same applies to my friend who is now gone.
I suppose my hope is that in reading or hearing about processes that work and people and organizations that have changed will help them change.
But. I can't count on it, so I will keep rethinking and working at getting out of my own boxes to find better ways to help people and organizations change.
I'll miss you buddy -- more than you knew.
Lost a friend (40 years old) who knew he had to change but didn't, or thought he still had time. He didn't.
I'll miss him, I'm sad he's gone, I'm pissed at him for not changing and myself for not being able to find a way to move him.
May well lose an organization friend, the Symphony Orchestra Institute (www.soi.org) which has worked hard for nearly ten years, I think, to help symphony orchestras rethink and reinvent themselves into positive futures for the people in them and their audiences.
So I am sure that its founder Paul Judy of Chicago, must feel somewhat the same as I do about my friend and myself -- a mixture of sadness and being pissed off at those who know they should change but don't and at our own efforts to help them change.
I like symphony music (not to the exclusion of other types of music -- I bleed blues.) and I think society in general will lose something when more symphonies close or shrink because they cannot get "out of their box," or the way they do business and
the way they see their possible futures.
They have "boxed" themselves into being more and more dependent on corporate funding and a shrinking number of well-to-do patrons. They are trapped into working harder at doing the things the way they always have rather than working smarter and in ways that will enable them to live on, grow, learn, innovate.
They cannot "see" themselves as an entertainment and cultural destination competing for a family's discretionary spending -- and that they are competing with destinations as varied as casino resorts, entertainment parks like Kings Island or Seven Flags, and events like NASCAR, the NFL or even major league baseball. The funny and sad part is that even if not structured for the whole family as yet, they are the "best buy" because it costs less for a family of four to go to the symphony for an evening or afternoon than it would cost the same family to go to any of the destinations noted above.
Instead, some - most - see themselves as competing with the theater, opera, and ballet for a fixed or shrinking "fine arts" marketplace.
I could BLOG-on but I think you get the idea -- a little clearer view of where they really are and a willingness to get an expanded view and do something about it could change the situation.
The same applies to my friend who is now gone.
I suppose my hope is that in reading or hearing about processes that work and people and organizations that have changed will help them change.
But. I can't count on it, so I will keep rethinking and working at getting out of my own boxes to find better ways to help people and organizations change.
I'll miss you buddy -- more than you knew.
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