SPEAK! SPEAK!

It's not obvious at all, is it?

How you can add a comment so we can all engage in a real discussion.

I think I can help.

Go to the bottom of the this or the last post and find the "0 comments" line. Click on the "0 comments" section and a new window will appear allowing you to speak your mind. And the "0" will go away.

Please speak your mind. I'm not one to talk to myself for any length of time. Thanks!

INSPIRATION

Inspiration can come at any time, they say.

I was inspired to start this blog after being asked to speak at the recent Publishing Business Conference and Expo in NYC. As a panelist in the Magazine Production Roundtable, I was asked to share with production executives ideas on streamlining the process to handle increasing workloads, to (further) cut costs, do more with less.... blah, blah, blah.

Oh, and boost morale in a challenging time.

Sure.

I'm frankly tired of seeing people pushed to exhaustion. I'm appalled at the fear that is present in the workplace today. Those who are brilliant and brave are worried about bringing up a new idea or suggest a new way. They'll get noticed. Best that everyone keep a low profile, don't make waves.. survive. Companies feel comfortable in reducing their workforce, asking the survivors to do more with less, work harder and be afraid.

Enough.

You don't grow by cutting. Continuing to squeeze suppliers for even greater reductions will result in less suppliers, weaker suppliers and a lack of innovation. The hunter will become the hunted. The Golden Age of Procurement is, hopefully, coming to an end.

It's time to rethink our cost-cutting ways and focus on cutting the cost of your own internal chaos.

You've already cut your printing costs, you've already reduced your supplier base, you've already risked getting less by paying less. The time to look at your own house is way overdue. Let's start building something instead of tearing things down for a change. See how that all works out. Here are some things to think about:

• What are YOU doing that is costly to your company or to your suppliers?
  
  
• What can you stop doing?
  (Just because you've always done it that way doesn't mean it's right.)
  
  
• What technology can you introduce to work faster and smarter and do more with less (staff)?
  
  
• How about a bit of investing in your staff, in your process, in your future?
  

More later... it's late.