An article on Entrepreneur.com "In This Economy, Everything's (Re)Negotiable" got me thinking about how hard it is to make changes in a business. Aside from contracts and other commitments, it's difficult to retrench because it means redefining how you think about yourself and success. Running a business is hard work because you have to be able to adapt to the market with the necessary steps to keep your business healthy--especially when the economy goes limp. Times like this can be a great opportunity to realize that renegotiating contracts and cutting costs are NOT signs of weakness and failure. The real success stories are the people who recognize that the time to make change is BEFORE you need to. They have the internal strength to roll up their sleeves and do what it takes to keep their business alive and well. This means not getting hung up on the size of your office, the view out of your window, or the kind of car you drive. If you … [Read more...]
Defining Positive Media
What makes positive media? There is a huge pile of research looking at the negative aspects of media, particularly related to advertising. There are studies addressing social concerns about the impact of media on how people define themselves, success, society and, well, pretty much everything. The quality of the research varies, of course, but there are many legitimate issues to be addressed. There is a pretty unified chorus against negative media, however you define it. But what is positive media? There isn't much literature on what exactly constitutes positive media. (In fact, I don't know of any. So if you do, please let me know.) Does the fact that advertising, for example, is produced by a company with a profit motive mean by default that no media they produce is positive? Does media have to address social issues head on to be considered positive? What about fun, creativity or interaction? A post by Amy Corr in Media Creativity (Talking Puddles) got me thinking … [Read more...]
