At home, with a seven and 16 year-old daughters it seems no request or parenting initiative goes without extensive questioning and debate. Maddy and Adley are both excellent girls and I am thankful that I have little to worry about with either. They are both driven by a desire to do the right thing. However, that doesn’t mean they don’t question the logic behind everything from “please put away the dishes” to “you would be able to focus on your homework if you put your phone away for an hour.” It is amazing how many reasons there are to NOT be able to do seemingly simple tasks.
At Liquid Creative Studio, our marketing firm, we have a very independent team that operates without a lot of top down direction. Everyone understands that they have freedom to make suggestions and implement changes to systems and processes if they improve our quality and efficiency. It is a proactive group and they are skilled enough to know when improvements need to be made. On the rare occasion that I feel strongly about something I am typically able to provide direction on any topic and the team takes it and runs with it without pause.
At the Business Report I have been running a lean ship so I have been the driving force behind the direction of the publication. Without any history in publishing I have relied on providing content that I feel I would like to read. In general, it has been well received…until now.
When Mark Singletary came on board with us last month I felt like I had brought in an older version of my two kids. Nothing we have been thinking, doing or planning has gone without question. Mark has such a wealth of experience and knowledge that I am realizing that there is just so much that I don’t know about publishing. It is invigorating and exciting to break down every aspect of what we are doing and rebuilding it with significant improvement.
I am not quite ready to have Mark teach the kids effective questioning techniques but I sure am thankful to have him on board helping drive the Business Report forward. Our community should expect a new level of business coverage in the coming year.
