September 21, 2005

Collaboration

There's no question that the best way to develop sound strategies is through collaborative thinking...teamwork. Some of our associates met this morning to discuss strategies for a prospective client, and I was impressed yet again by the intelligent thinking of our people and the way in which they complement each other. I kept thinking that if only clients - or prospects - could see this brainpower at work they sure would be impressed. Working together, with seamlessness between discipline, sure does produce better thinking...which, in turn, produces better results for our clients.

Mixing with the Media Stars

People who know me know that I don't drop names. But tonight was unusual, to say the least.

I went to a small private screening of George Clooney's new movie "Good Night, and Good Luck," which focuses on legendary CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow's successful unmasking of Joe McCarthy, the heavy-handed senator who spread fear through the land with his witch hunt for Communist sympathizers.

These were dark days in our country's history. They deserve constant reminding and study.

The film is brilliant, and more relevant today than ever before. It opens in a couple of weeks, and I couldn't recommend it more enthusiastically.

In the small screening room and at dinner afterwards, there was a star-studded group of the greatest broadcast journalists of our time. Dan Rather, Brian Williams, Tom Brokaw, Barbara Walters, Walter Cronkite, Morley Safer, and Andy Rooney were just some of the people who were there.

McCarthy's witch hunt was exposed by Murrow and that led to censure hearings during which attorney Joseph Welch delivered his legendary "Have you no decency..." speech, and McCarthy was finally put in his place.

At dinner, Brian Williams - who was back from New Orleans and then, after dinner, heading for Houston - told us that "The shared experience of America is no longer possible. We reach 11 or 12 million people a night, but back then Murrow and other network newscasts reached more than 40 million people."

Williams said that every morning, when he meets with his staff, each person has watched something different the night before. What a change that is from the Murrow years when most people watched the same programs and shared those experiences together.

Under today's circumstances, how do we develop, maintain, and strengthen enough of a sense of community? How do we keep our country from getting too fragmented...where people listen or watch only the news and opinions with which they agree?

How do we make the seminal changes that are necessary to get our country on the right track?

The fragmentation of our communications has many benefits. We get to watch what we want, when we want. But that doesn't necessarily mean that we get to watch what we ought to watch. By self-defining our interests, we may be limiting ourselves and our knowledge.

George Clooney's father was a newsman. This movie - which is shot in black and white to match up with the real-life footage of McCarthy and others - is a tribute to the best qualities of news operations. It speaks to the challenges and values that are on all of our minds today. And it sure makes you think.