Two decades ago, I was running 2 magazines for a national manufacturers’ association in Illinois. Due to downsizing, I also became the by-default spokesperson at age 33 when a need for the role was suddenly discovered.
In late-December 2002, we’d learned The New York Times was preparing a troubling exposé on a member manufacturer. Our concern was that the Times would indict an entire industry in a court of public opinion. Though late in the game, I finally reached the investigative reporter to check his facts and to attempt to convince him that one bad actor didn’t equal an entire trade. He didn’t yield, nor would he tell me the contents of the story already scheduled to run.
Thankfully, the Times didn’t do the feared industry smear-job, but I lost plenty of sleep over that Christmas season concerned how our already struggling industry would be regarded.
Fast Forward 4 Years
In 2007, I insisted on a first-ever strategic planning process as the new president at Lessiter Media. My dad and I turned to retired publishing exec Don Henning (also a good family business referee, by the way) to lead the charge. In that first gathering with our team, we dove into the cornerstone tenets of our business and which we’d commit to continue to build on.
On page after page of Don’s 3M Easel Pads, we debated values. Hollow and indefensible words were tossed out. And Henning, unlike many for-hire facilitators, occasionally left the sideline to jump in when a passion-point hit.
One memory included a principle he personally grasped until we green-lighted it. It was the idea of operating with a conscience, as if in a public fishbowl. By the time we wordsmithed it, that maxim was “We conduct ourselves as if what we do today will be tomorrow’s front-page news.”
That list of “The Lessiter Media Way” values was laminated for each staffer. And now, 17 years later, I’d give ourselves good marks for adhering to these unchanging values. Of course, it’s a journey never complete, and we’ve had our share of moving on with those who can’t “buy in.”
I called the 88-year-old Henning to ask him about the origins of that “front page news” maxim. He says he borrowed the phrase from prior strategic planning processes at DeKalb Seed and later at Johnson Hill Press, which incidentally, owned Farm Equipment for its first quarter-century.
“We were conscious that our actions could be tomorrow’s news,” Henning says. “It kept us on guard to defend a position and not to embarrass oneself, the company or your colleagues. And we felt it should transfer to one’s private time, too.”
This concept arose recently in the now-viral feud last month between Illinois farmer Jake Lieb and John Deere dealer AHW LLC, which allegedly tore up a multi-unit order citing a turn in the used machinery values. We don’t know the full story, but one could argue that both sides might’ve violated a similar principle, had one existed.
Social Media Sharing: A Dangerous World
When we carved our values into our bedrock here in 2007, newspapers still held caché. Our world today is far more dangerous with unchecked content posted worldwide in minutes. In just 3 weeks since Lieb’s video on AHW went online, it has generated 1.3 million views. Social media is far-reaching and swift, and can be careless about who’s left in the wake. Anyone can fabricate context for any soundbyte.
Twice in my career I’ve sat in attorneys’ offices for depositions following a prolonged discovery process. Luckily for me, Henning’s maxim was refined in our DNA here years earlier. I left the deposition chair at ease with our response. More importantly, I was grateful not to face what my opponent had to endure with similar questioning, which lasted for days.
Henning got through to us that stated values are your North Star. Yes, it can slow things down, but the gut-check is invaluable. And something we’ll all need when the stresses and emotions of this business test us in the months ahead.
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