Last March, Dave Morgan wrote a post for MediaPost blogs that I’ve just come across, entitled “It’s OK To Admit You Didn’t See Major Digital Changes Coming.” His world is among media agencies, but his insights and advice pertain to nonprofit fundraisers as well.
He starts off with a very prescient statement that I identified with. “Telling folks heavily invested in the status quo that their world has changed overnight in surprising ways -- and that they need to change with it – is no easy task.”
Amen to that, Brother Morgan!
But the point of Morgan’s piece isn’t that certain people missed it or didn’t really grasp what was going on from the start . . . but rather that they eventually did get it and moved.
Morgan relates the story of visiting with John Curley, the then-CEO of Gannett newspapers, at an industry conference in 1995. Curley’s comment was, “The Internet will be the CB radio of the 1990s.” Morgan points out that Curley was clearly wrong, but that, fortunately, he figured that out and soon authorized major corporate-wide investments, including establishing USAToday.com as one of the best news properties on the Web. Instead of being viewed as not understanding the digital change, Curley’s tenure as CEO will always be marked by aggressive and proactive investments in shifting to digital media.
To accept and implement big changes, fundraisers need to start by recognizing that it’s no one’s fault.
Join us.
-Mike
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