“Chapter 22″

It’s when a business files for bankruptcy (chapter 11), twice. This week, Hostess earned the term “chapter 22.”

Upon hearing the news that Hostess is filing for bankruptcy (again), a voice in my head uttered “this is supposed to be a good thing.” A good thing because “Hostess is bad, ‘m-kay.”

I get it. Junk food has the word “junk” before the word “food” for a reason. But there’s something rather sad about the fall of Hostess (again).

Certainly there’s sadness associated with the loss of jobs. Those are real families that are now out of work at a time when being out of work in a food manufacturing gig means re-invention time. Never an easy endeavor.

But more than that, there’s something so supremely American about Hostess. And this coming from someone who’s always had an affinity for Tastykakes.

I understand we are suffering an epidemic of obesity. But these kinds of hyper-preservation-rich/nutrient-free foods have been around since forever. Can we blame a company for providing a food that people want to eat?

Maybe the fall of Hostess is a reckoning. A mark of a turn in our tastes that points toward a desire to eat more healthy foods.

According to the Wall Street Journal story:

“Last year, 36 percent of Americans ate white bread in their homes, down from 54 percent in 2000, according to NPD Group. Meanwhile, about 54 percent ate wheat bread, up from 43 percent in 2000.”

This is a good thing, to be sure.

Hostess has made some efforts to address these trends with lower calorie treats. But they have been feeble, at best.

More to the point, it seems, is the tendency to see traditional business structures like Hostess formed in the early part of the 20th century facing extinction across the board. High costs of doing business, including overhead associated with embedded labor contracts, is no longer viable in today’s fast-moving/global business culture.

In light of the “Chapter 22″ status, it bares noting that Hostess employees are unionized while most of its competitors aren’t.

There’s a perfect storm at work here. Supply at Hostess doesn’t meet the changing demand of the marketplace at the same time that the cost structure for doing business makes it nearly impossible for it to invest in the kind of transformative product offerings the company may need to survive.

One should never celebrate the demise of any business, particularly one as iconic as Hostess. But perhaps there is some reason to celebrate not just the health trends of our tastebuds, but also a trend in more healthy structured businesses. Bloat is never good. It’s not good for the waistline and it’s not good for business.

This is the reality we live in, and if we are to celebrate the demise of Hostess because of the health-trends it points to in society at-large, we also need to acknowledge and celebrate how business has adapted to a global economy to become as lean as the folks who advertise the latest diet craze on TV.

But still there is a sadness. After all, we may be eating healthier and our businesses may be more efficient, but how many granola bars evoke poetry like this:
 
Twinkie Oh Twinkie (author unknown)

oh Twinkie you are my friend
you are always there until the end
creamy filled goodness thru the night
my sponge cake, loving, happy delight
cellophane wrapper with a sugary smell
you are my heaven, my bliss, in this earthly hell
Twinkie oh Twinkie..in the starry sky
i need your ecstacy.. i need your high
if Twinkie had a voice..it would sing a song
if Twinke had arms..it would hold me all night long
Twinkie is freshly packed and stamped for me
filling me with comfort that he is healthy
i know in my heart Twinkie is da man
with his cowboy boots and hat
that Twinkie the kid is p.h.a.t
all is well in hostess land…
Twinkie plays with Strawberry Shortcake
and Mr. Ding Dong on hand
a menage a trois of delectable delight
i dream of my Twinkie in bed all thru the night
The End

This milestone is supposed to mark the launch of the presidential campaign season. I have come to think of it instead as an event that marks the end.

We are supposed to see Iowa as a bellwether predictor for the delegates moving into the general election.

This year, with an incumbent president taking half the game out the equation, we are really only concerned with one party at this point. And that party has struggled with ferocity for the past year to identify a clear front-runner.

I like the concept of a caucus. I think the Republican caucus process in Iowa where voters gather across the state and after hearing from candidates, either write a name on a blank piece of paper or fill out a pre-printed ballot or, as happened in 2008, take a vote by show of hands.

Simple and inclusive.

The Democratic caucus process in Iowa is a bit more complicated, consisting of different phases and viability thresholds, but it ends up with the same idea of attempting to gather the opinions of voters on who they would like to see represent them as president.

While I understand the notion that for the sake of story, we need to have some kind of beginning. And Iowa seems as good a place as any to mark this beginning. But over time, it has felt less and less like a real start.

It already feels like we’ve been at this thing forever. The front runner on the Republican side has changed so many times in the past year, the mud has been slung, the name-calling is already well underway.

More and more, it seems as though our presidential process is more about stamina: economic stamina (how deep are your pockets); physical stamina (how long can you run on no sleep); and emotional stamina (how many personal attacks can you stomach).

We end up perhaps not with the best candidate, but the one with the most stamina.

While Mitt Romney squeaked out a win this week, he’s hardly a “favorite.” In fact, he seems to hang around because he is well-resourced to do so. He has economic, physical and emotional stamina.

Meanwhile, voters keep clamoring to try to find someone else to support.

Over the course of the past year, each time a candidate emerges that seems to even have a remote chance of being an alternative to Mitt, he has a meteoric rise to the top.

Note:

Rick Perry
Herman Cain
Newt Gingrich
Ron Paul
Rick Santorum

Each of these candidates has almost taken the role of “at least its not Mitt” for the voter who is already decided that Obama is not their pick.

But then eventually the shine is eroded from these “at least its not” candidates, the skeletons in their closets emerge, they turn out to be flawed (just like the rest of us) and those flaws are amplified until we are right back to a Mitt who seems to now just be hanging out, stumping, and letting the “at least its not” candidates duke it out.

Is the process now to just exhaust the voter until we vote just to get the damn thing over with? Almost as if we get to a point where we say, “FINE!! I’ll vote for you if it means I can turn off the noise and get back to my life!”

Voter stamina is a real thing, too. And it’s getting harder to sustain as the election process extends for as long as it has.

In light of this, Iowa hardly seems like the beginning of the political season. If it is the beginning of anything, it is the beginning of the end. At least when we get to Iowa we can start to see the finish line.

I know there are people who enjoy this process. Who are true political junkies. I for one, would prefer substance over stamina. From where I sit, November can’t come too soon.

It’s a New Year. It’s Pink Plus or Minus’s fourth year.

Approaching this milestone, it was my intention to relaunch this blog with a new focus. I’ve given it a lot of thought, read through past posts, discussed the matter with those close to me, and have come to a singular conclusion.

The one constant with this blog (and with much of the way I approach both professional and personal matters) is to challenge the way things are supposed to be done.

Perhaps it stems from the teenage rebel who never quite lost her voice inside me, but more than anything I think I just don’t know any other way. The moment someone tells me that there is a way things are supposed to be done, my inclination is to search for another way. I might very well come to the same conclusion, but I don’t fancy the proven path for getting there.

When you move through life challenging the latest conventional thinking, people often will question you. Doubt you. Think you crazy.

Good.

I’m not interested in those people.

As the great Walt Whitman so famously wrote: “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself. I’m large. I contain multitudes.”

So for this year, the focus for this blog is really nothing new. The original foundation of Pink Plus or Minus was standing on the precipice of change in an effort to test the mobile office by living in my car, driving cross country, and running a business from the road while interviewing leaders in my industry.

Not exactly the way you are “supposed to” do anything.

But moving forward, I want to have a broader focus on ideas and theories of both life and work that challenge the supposed to’s. Think of it like an anti-cynical version of Andy Rooney’s “Did you ever wonder why….” segments.

These may include challenging emerging sentiments in marketing and communications (does every business “need” a twitter handle? Is SEO the best thing for lead generation?) to more mundane considerations (how many extracurricular activities are too many for kids? Is golf really a sport?).

I don’t know exactly where this path will lead, but every day I find myself facing so-called experts espousing the latest ideas on what is “supposed to be.” And many of them mock those who challenge those assertions.

Perhaps they are right.

But I’d like to use this space to critically think it through and enjoy getting to conclusions through the back door. Or maybe at times by digging a secret underground tunnel.

Ideally, I’d like to create discussion along the way. And please, if you disagree with me, feel free to post it in the blog. One thing I’ve noticed is that folks who disagree will often send me a disagreeable email, rather than post their thoughts publicly. I invite all disagreement. I enjoy it. It makes us all smarter to have our thinking challenged. So please, if you disagree, would you mind terribly doing it out in the open?

Only, do remember…there is a difference between disagreeing and just being disagreeable.

Thanks and Happy New Year. Here’s to challenging the status quo and never getting lazy in our thinking.

It shocked me to see that my daily, turned weekly, turned monthly, blog posting schedule is now officially “quarterly.”

It all brings to mind an inescapable fact of life…everything changes. Let’s examine the phases of this blog:

1. Testing the boundaries of the mobile office.
2. Collecting insights from industry leaders around the country on emerging trends in marketing and communications.
3. Dissecting the pros and cons of small business ownership vs. the traditional gig working for someone else.
4. Translating entrepreneurship to all areas of work/life.
5. Teaching old dogs new tricks. Like fish. And surfing.
6. General thoughts on finding one’s place. And navigating life/work/school balance.
7. Smatterings of random musings.

So while I can certainly point to a busy schedule as an obstacle in my blog writing, it’s a rather boring obstacle. And one that I don’t even buy. If it’s important, you find time for it.

I think more than anything, like a lot of things in life, I haven’t written because I haven’t had a clear strategy or focus for some time now. What do I write about? The theme has shifted so much since June 2009 that it’s time to re-imagine the purpose and reignite my passion for writing.

So often as communications professionals, we work with organizations to help them navigate this process. When a business has outgrown or evolved beyond its original intent, we come in and conduct key messaging seminars, interview stakeholders, work on brand identity and help them tell their story.

It’s time I did the same for my own blog. Pink Plus Or Minus deserves a little TLC.

As we close out 2011, PPM is going to boot camp. The wheels will be spinning and PPM will reemerge reinvented.

Until then, enjoy the holidays and remember “presence” is more important than “presents.”

Peace out.

When our family had the opportunity to visit the memorial of United Flight 93 two years ago, I was reminded that in tragedy we can also find hope.

Everyone had a different reaction to 9/11. In my case, my reaction was to decide to have a baby.

We had been talking about it for a while. You know the conversation, “can we afford it?” “should we wait until our careers are more established?” “should we move out of Belltown first?”

When I saw the planes collide with those towers, and began thinking of all the people I knew who lived and worked near ground zero, it was solidified for me.

Life’s too short to wait for the perfect time to do anything. Let’s have a baby. Now.

Fortunately, Johannes agreed.

It was exactly one-year later, to the day, that Julius was born on 9/11/02.

His birth, and his life, will forever be intertwined with those events. The doctors and nurses in the delivery room all commented on the auspicious date of his birth. During his baptism several weeks later, his grandfather (who also happens to be a Lutheran pastor), noted the hope that can come out of tragedy in his message. Julius himself is now very much aware of the connection, and while he may not quite understand the significance of that day on a global scale, he knows that he is forever tied to it.

Today marks the first day of my new life as a ferry commuter, as I start my new journey at The Fearey Group.

We moved into the now-confirmed-house-within-walking-distance-of-the-ferry on Saturday afternoon. Today feels like a break from the incessant business of the past week. Packing, cleaning, statistics, closing out 1.5 years of work, resigning from boards, reassuring children with the promise of McDonald’s and otherwise feeling always two steps behind.

Today, I feel like I’m actually finally stepping in time with where I’m supposed to be.

Sure there are loads of boxes to unpack but that’s to be expected and none of it has to be done by any set deadline.

But the feeling I now have is one I want to remark upon briefly as it’s one that I believe can only be truly appreciated after chaos.

LIke the calm AFTER the storm, or the sunny day after 90 days of rain, or the rest stop that comes just in time.

You don’t realize just how close you were to losing it until you don’t have to worry about losing it any more.

It’s so important to sit back and give thanks in these moments. Appreciate the many blessings of life and recognize the good fortune one too often takes for granted. All the more so when everything simply seems to fall in place.

Seamless.

With Day 1 behind me now, I take this moment to simply gaze out across the water and savor the now of it all. Content that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. I’ll worry about all the boxes marked “MISC” later.

Passion is everything.

I think that hits the nail on the head much more than the standard statement that “content is king.”

People can tell if you care about what you are writing about. If your idea is to influence people in any way, you need to find a way to infuse enthusiasm into your content. We’ve always talked about creating “evangelists” and social media is a powerful tool to do this. But only if you yourself are an evangelist. You can’t create passion for your product, service, or idea if you yourself don’t have any.

That being said, I was a bit disappointed to see Mr. Singer use what I would call the “lazy” approach to deriving interest and/or attention throughout his presentation.

Namely, he peppered his speech with profanity.

“You need to give a F***.”

“Don’t write B***SH**.”

Really?

Maybe I’m just not cool enough to get this need to go there, but I’ve always been of the mindset that profanity is for the most part simply lazy language.

Note, I say “for the most part.” There is a place for the deftly placed 4-letter punctuation mark. But its place is rare and its use must be expertly weaved into your speaking voice for any credibility.

I like to point to Monty Python as the pinnacle for how to expertly use profanity. Let’s take a look at the Life of Brian, for example. For those who haven’t seen it, it’s the story of “Brian” who is born on the original Christmas, in the stable next door. He spends his life being mistaken for the messiah and the film documents all the hilarity that one could imagine goes along with such a ridiculous theme.

You watch the Life of Brian, and it isn’t until the final scene that you hear profanity. And it’s in the midst of such a contradictory scene with a host of men being crucified and Eric Idle giving a bit of a “pep” talk via song as he hangs there. In other words, the landscape and context is expertly crafted as the culminating scene unfolds with the little ditty:

“Always look on the bright side of life”

About 90% through the song, and against that ridiculous backdrop, it’s hilarious when suddenly you hear “life’s a piece of SH** when you think of it.”

It jars you because you aren’t expecting it, and the contradictory tone of the song with the surreal scene of the film makes it all the more powerful.

It works because it is unexpected and done not in a mean way, but in a humorous and absurd way. If the film had been laced with profanity, or even just held a smattering of profanity, this final scene and this last punctuation of SH** would not have been nearly as clever.

I don’t mean to get down on Mr. Singer alone. Or even hold him against the creative writing standard of Monty Python, which is grossly unfair. It’s simply that I find this lazy use of profanity has become an epidemic. It’s a problem I’ve found escalating as the mountain of content out there seems to grow exponentially. Most of the stuff you see on the web doesn’t have an editor (including what you are reading now), or even just another set of eyes.

So I’d argue that while Mr. Singer is absolutely spot on when he underscores the importance of passion, you need to be careful and thoughtful about the language that informs that passion. Words are the building blocks of content and should be chosen wisely.

Clearly the blog is a less formal content category than, say, The Wall Street Journal. But that shouldn’t give us license to give up on thinking about our language choices or strive for an authentic voice that doesn’t lean on cheap tricks in the form of four letter words.

Language is a powerful tool. After all, God literally SPOKE the world into existence.

“Let there be light.”

He didn’t say, “let there be f-ing light” in order to make a point.

As content professionals in marketing and communications we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard and put language in its rightful place as a powerful tool.

Content is still king. Passion is the engine that makes that content work. But legitimate passion doesn’t need a four letter word to make itself heard.

To say that I’m nervous would be an understatement. That said, I have been excited to see that to-date I’ve found the classes at WSU’s MBA program not only interesting from a theoretical perspective, but also immensely useful in real life.

From the studies on leadership styles and management to the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) class I am now wrapping up, I find myself applying and considering the ideas learned in class in my every-day business.

It is this latter topic of CSR that I want to address in today’s blog post.

I find myself revisiting the journey I took cross country when I was privileged to meet with marketing and communications professionals from every corner of our nation representing all sizes and demographics of the business and non-profit community.

While often our conversations centered upon how they applied modern communications to their unique world, it was difficult to find a single example of anyone who didn’t allude to the importance of social responsibility.

As I’m drafting my final paper for this class, I find myself mulling over the very ideas that were brought up by the many leaders I encountered on my journey two years ago.

What was perhaps the most interesting, is that without prompting, almost every person I spoke with alluded to the value of corporate social responsibility. Not just a as a “feel good” PR program, but as a real value to business and to the bottom line. There’s a sense that in today’s nano-second communications world that consumers have a heightened awareness of the global impact that their local decisions have. These include decisions about what to buy and from whom to buy it.

We are also forced to reconcile the fact that even on our worst days, U.S. citizens in -general have an exceedingly fortunate existence. We may bemoan the relative success of our schools, but at least we have a system that assumes that all children have a right to education. We may begrudge our staggering unemployment figures, but at least we all are afforded the opportunity to advance and attain careers, regardless of our gender, race or religion. And even if we cast aspersions upon our law enforcement officers from time to time (usually through the driver’s side window) our society by-in-large does not tolerate abuse, rape or murder as a means of maintaining “peace.”

Any business, especially those operating globally, needs to consider these important issues. Not as a subsection of its marketing/communications plan, but as a transparent code that transcends all areas of its business. The most successful companies are doing just that, giving back where it can and making a difference where it should.

It’s not about activism. It’s simply about being accountable to the privilege granted us as citizens of a country that still adheres to a sense of freedom and justice that is unprecedented in the world.

Certainly a company still needs to make profits. It needs to hold its operations and executive team accountable to the shareholders who invest in its business. But not just financially accountable. Socially accountable, as well. The good that can be done in this way far outweighs the risks of doing it. And ultimately, that good will be felt in the bottom line.

Halfway through my second class in the MBA program at WSU, I’m thrilled to say that I am so far not regretting my decision. I am already learning a ton from excellent professors and extremely high-level executives I am privileged to call classmates.

I still haven’t managed to learn how to clone myself, however.

I have also become much more cognizant of the quality rather than the quantity of time in my day. I have had to abandon baseball, for example, because it takes up too much time to watch. TV in general is not a priority. I don’t mean that in the annoying “I’m better than you because I don’t watch TV” way.

I hate those people.

It’s just a matter of needing to make tough choices. Besides, I can occasionally find moments throughout the week to catch up little by little on programs I like via hulu or youtube or mlb.com.

In other areas, I’ve simply had to use the “reduce and enhance” methodology.

I may reduce the number of times per week that I work out, but when I do, I try to put ever ounce of myself into it.

This workout needs to count for THREE workouts.

I don’t know if that actually is scientifically possible, but it makes me feel better.

The same holds true for my time with my husband and my kids. When we are together, we need to make the best of it. I’ve come to realize that one or two quality hours of intentionally engaging every day with my kids can be much more meaningful than 12 unintentional hours.

I have a huge appreciation for the sacrifices my family is making so that I can achieve this goal and I don’t ever want them to think that I in any way don’t recognize the important role they play in making this all possible.

Spiritually, I try to set aside specific moments throughout the day to talk to God. It doesn’t always work out the way I would like, and I don’t always have the quietness I’d like to have with those moments. But if intention counts for anything, I’m going to allow myself to grade on a curve there.

All that being said, if I’m to be totally honest, there are days when I am simply exhausted.

So how are my grades doing, in order of my stated values?

Spiritual: D (May); C+ (June – i’m at least learning)
Wife: D- (May); C- (June – making more of an effort here, I think)
Mom: C- (May); C+ (June – time hasn’t changed, quality has)
Work: B+ (May); B+ (June – not much has changed)
School: A (May); A+ (June – I actually got a real grade)
Community: B+ (May); B+ (June – not much has changed)
Misc Me: D- (May); D+ (June – I saw Randy Travis and got a hair cut)

Overall, my priorities are still completely screwed up. But I’m making slow progress.

I will make the careful note here that thanks to my family, “housekeeping” is not on my priority list. If it were, I might implode. Or at least cry in the corner in a fetal position.

Rebbecca is the kind of person you meet and immediately wish you had met years ago. She was one of those people who always exuded positivity. Her energy was contagious.

Rebbecca died today.

A month ago she was woken in the middle of the night, dragged out of bed and shot six times in her own home. The alleged perpetrator was the father of her three children. Her 7-year old witnessed the shooting.

Up until this morning we all were awash in the miracle of her recovery. Having been released from the rehab center yesterday, she was finally going home. We were planning a celebration.

So now we are forced to find a place between our memories of her wonderful optimism, her faith to Fully Rely on God (FROG), her belief in love…we are forced to find a place between all of that and our horror at this tragedy.

I am mourning the death of a young woman who did not deserve this and my soul weeps for her, for her family, and for her children.

One wants to be able to do something. Anything. To make sense of it all.

At these times, all we can do is fall to our knees.

My prayers lie now with those children and with her family. There are no words to convey the heartache of such a loss. Yet somehow I feel some comfort in knowing that she was at peace with her Maker. That she knew her Lord. That she has left a legacy of the uniqueness that is Rebbecca.

Rebbecca left an indelible mark on this world. Her fingerprints are love.

There are some people you meet and wish you had known for years.

Rebbecca, for the brief moments of this life that I knew you I am thankful. We will try to find hope in your suffering and life in your death.

Until we meet again, Rest In Peace, Rebbecca Dietz.