"A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it." Roger Ebert

"Every time a man puts a new idea across, he faces a dozen men who thought of it before he did. But they only thought of it." Oren Arnold

"To find new things, take the path you took yesterday." John Burroughs

Today's image: The Shadow by DavidHR. Wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

Winter storm warning. Snow, fog, 22 degrees here this morning. The sounds of plows and snow blowers fill the air.

Today is the last day our offices will be open in 2008. Ahead, more time for blogging. Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful weekend.

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." Yeats

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present...As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew." Abraham Lincoln

"The creative mind is the playful mind. Philosophy is the play and dance of ideas." Eric Hoffer

Today's image: Untitled by taylorjonesphoto. Great shooting. Thank you for sharing.

Do the right thing

Ad-supported measured media is a mess.

The fish stinks at the head first, my friend Eddie Ruben often said. My sense remains that what we have here is a leadership problem exacerbated by a massive failure of imagination.

Gary Hamel, long a favorite business strategist of this space, has written a book every CEO should read. I know it was recommended here last year but it merits a serious revisiting. If you're a CEO please read it again (or read it for the first time). If you're not the CEO gift this to your guy at the top, thank me later. Get the Amazon info here: The Future of Management

Dr Hamel's thesis is management is out of date. I agree with Hamel when he says "What ultimately constrains the performance of your organization is not its operating model, nor its business model, but its management model." It's time for management innovation and, in my considered opinion, it needs to start at the top.

Allow me to quote further from the preface to Hamel's writing...

"I dream of organizations that are capable of spontaneous renewal, where the drama of change is unaccompanied by the wrenching trauma of a turnaround. I dream of businesses where an electric current of innovation pulses through every activity, where the renegades always trump the reactionaries. I dream of companies that actually deserve the passion and creativity of the folks who work there, and naturally elicit the very best that people have to give. Of course, these are more than dreams; they are imperatives. They are do-or-die challenges for any company that hopes to thrive in the tumultuous times ahead - and they can be surmounted only with inspired management innovation."

It's time for management to do the right thing. Time to carefully review and examine the leadership of the organization.

Bonus: Chris Brogan ppt Social Media for Publishers here.

Pre-order: Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity by N=1 house artiste Hugh MacLeod. Amazon info here.

"Work usually follows will." Louis Pasteur

"What is strength without a double share of wisdom? Strength's not made to rule, but to subserve, where wisdom bears command." John Milton

"It is better by a noble boldness to run the risk of being subject to half of the evils we anticipate, than to remain in cowardly listlessness for fear of what may happen." Herodotus

Today's image: Going by Gail Johnson. Amazing shot. Thanks for sharing.

Catch them doing something right: Chicago's first tribe of wireless gets high marks from radio programming ace Matt Dubiel for something they didn't even do...yet. Read Matt's post here.

IWM: The annual Media Person of the Year award goes to Arianna Huffington. Read more incl comments here. Kudos to Patrick Phillips.

Congrats & cheers: Second-generation broadcaster Kevin Metheny joins Tribune as programming chief at WGN radio. Kevin is a gifted leader certain to make a lasting, positive difference at WGN and Tribune.

"To be independent is the business of a few only; it is the privilege of the strong." Friedrich Nietzsche

"Ignorance is a voluntary misfortune." Nicholas Lang

"Art is simply a right method of doing things. The test of the artist does not lie in the will with which he goes to work, but in the excellence of the work he produces." Thomas Aquinas

Today's image: The man and the clock by rabataller. Wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

Nine Predictions for 2009: Marketing maven Tom Asacker has a well written piece that deserves your attention. It's one worth sharing. Read and pass along. Bravos, Tom. Available via PDF here.

"How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone." Coco Chanel

"A powerful idea communicates some of its power to the man who contradicts it." Marcel Proust

"We should rather examine, who is better learned, than who is more learned." Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

Today's image: blending in (031/365) by Katherine Elizabeth. Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

Jack Myers: Jack's team have revised their 2008-2010 Advertising and Marketing Investment Forecast. You may download a copy free here. Here's the headline version...

ADVERTISING DEPRESSION: It's Here and It's Sustained. Down 2.4% for 2008; -6.7% for 2009; and -2.3% for 2010. The brunt of the 6.9 percent fall-off in 2009 ad spend will be felt by newspapers (-15.0%), Yellow Pages (-14.0%), consumer magazines (-13.0%), radio (-12.0%), local television (-10.5%)...

Have an amazing week. Make something happen.