Would you like to be an organization that attracts and retains interns and volunteers?

Why are some organizations more successful than others in attracting and retaining 'volunteers,' or 'interns'? I'm going to answer that question by relating a personal experience I had working for a Fortune 500 company. One of the first volunteers I had the pleasure of working with was a student named Ellen. The company I was working for at the time had established a good rapport with colleges and universities throughout the United States. These institutions were the company’s chief source of “volunteers.” “Could you use a student intern for the summer?” the company headquarters asked. “Yes!” I said instantly. “I have at least a dozen projects for a good project coordinator.” “Could a student handle the work?” asked headquarters. “I happen to have a job description. I’ll fax it to you and you can have the student decide for herself if she can handle it,” I replied. Now think about this. A person was volunteering help. And I was ready to accept it (1). I had a list of tasks (2). I had a job description (3), and even a job title (4). Before the student reported for work, I alerted her co-workers that we were going to have an intern (5). I didn’t want anyone to feel threatened by a new person. In fact, I asked members of my staff to conduct parts of the student’s orientation (6). When the student reported for work, she was introduced to co-workers (7). She was given a work area (8). And the work area was set up with all the tools she needed to do her job (9). We gave her a schedule for her first day (10). It included a tour of the facility (11) and time to look over a list of people (12) she would be working with. The list identified who the people were, why they were important to her, and it had their phone numbers. There also was time on the schedule for her to read publications describing our operation (13). As a volunteer, she was interested in gaining job experience to list in her resume that would eventually help her get established in the job market. With the job title we gave her, she could say on her resume that she worked one summer as project coordinator for a Fortune 500 company. There was no question in her mind about what we expected her to do. The job description identified who she reported to, what standards were expected, how her internship was to contribute to our overall goals, and it outlined 12 specific assignments. When I reviewed it with her, I asked about her professional ambitions (14) and explained how her assignments would contribute to her personal goals (15). I said to myself at the time, if she completes half of the 12 assignments, it would be quite an accomplishment for an intern and of significant value to the company. During the internship, we gave our volunteer periodic critiques (16) of her work and personal written notes of praise that she could attach to her resume (17). Work was always delegated (18). People want to be given an assignment with all the information, authority, support and resources to get the job done (19). And they want to be recognized and rewarded for good work when it is deserved (20). To my delight, Ellen completed all 12 assignments in an outstanding manner. And guess what? I just gave you 20 ways to be an organization that attracts and retains interns and volunteers.

Why Are All PR Objectives Objectionable?

Well, not all public relations objectives are objectionable, just the ones you and I didn’t write. That’s probably a more accurate statement. Every public relations practitioner, agency and institute of learning has its own way of writing objectives for a plan, proposal or campaign. Students who graduate with a degree in public relations can expect to be confronted early on the job by a supervisor who says, “That’s not how we write objectives.” Such a statement reveals three things: one, that in practice, we acknowledge that there are different ways to write objectives; two, that various entities have preferences for how objectives should be written; three, that some entities believe that their way is the only way to write an objective. Let’s look at objectives taken from a PRSA Silver Anvil award-winning plan to see if they are acceptable or objectionable. Here’s one: Objective: Convince investors that management’s strategy to gain back market share would work. As a plan reviewer I would want to know if the target of this objective is existing or potential investors or both. Next, I would try to view it from a cost/benefit standpoint. I am expected to approve an expenditure for convincing investors, but what is the benefit? What could I expect investors to do as a result of being convinced that management’s strategy to gain back market share would work? How does this objective contribute toward achieving the plan’s goal? I don’t see a stated benefit. If a benefit is not stated, how could I determine any return on investing in this objective? Here’s another one: Objective: Gain longer-term support from moderate growth investors to justify a higher valuation. The proposed action is to gain longer-term support, in other words to get shareholders to hold onto the stock. The target is investors with moderate growth goals. The purpose of the objective is to show others that moderate growth investors must be retaining shares because they have reason to believe the stock is undervalued or worth more than the current market price. To survive cost/benefit scrutiny, maybe the objective should be written this way: To convince investors with moderate growth goals to retain the company’s stock for a longer time so that their retention of shares will suggest to other investors that the stock is worth more than the market price and that there might even be some growth potential in its value. As I said, we all have our own ideas of how to write objectives. So I will end this blog with my rules for writing objectives. 1) An objective should have three parts: It should tell 1) what must be done; 2) with whom, 3) and how it contributes toward accomplishment of the plan’s goal. a. Part I. Tells what must be done. The action must be stated and preceded by the word “to,” used in the sense of producing or causing a result, to form an infinitive phrase. Example: To provide… b. Part II. Tells with whom an action is to be taken. An objective should always include a target audience because nothing can be accomplished without some form of human involvement. c. Part III. Tells how taking an action with a particular target audience is expected to contribute toward the achievement of a plan’s goal. d. Example of an objective: To show industry analysts the company’s latest application of cost-saving technology so they will be motivated to publish “buy” recommendations for the company’s stock. e. In other words, an objective should have an action, receiver of the action and desired behavior of the receiver as a result of the action. 2) An objective should be measureable; it must include a desired outcome that can be measured. That is not to say that it should specify a means of measurement; it should be stated in a way that enables measurement. 3) An objective must be achievable; it must aim at a result that is possible to obtain cost effectively. 4) An objective may include a target date or deadline; however, that information is easier to review and assess when presented in a plan's timeline. 5) An objective should include only aims over which the plan developer has complete control; goals for sales, return on investment and employee productivity, for example, involve factors that are the responsibility of management areas over which public relations has no control.

Creativity in Public Relations Planning

Public relations and creativity have certain characteristics in common. One is that both have eluded definition since their inceptions. Neither one has a single, authoritative perspective or definition. Research has identified more than 500 different definitions of public relations. As for creativity, the ways in which societies have perceived the concept have changed throughout history, as has the term itself. Despite the ambiguity and multi-dimensional nature of public relations and creativity, the two concepts are inextricably associated and, together, act as a powerful force in influencing human behavior. Another common characteristic of public relations and creativity is that they are mental and social processes involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. Both are fueled by the process of either conscious or unconscious insight. An alternative characteristic is that both are appreciated for the simple act of making something new or simply spawning something that had not been considered. Intuitively, public relations and creativity would seem to be quite simple phenomena; however, both in fact, are complex and deliver quantifiable but never absolutely predictable outcomes. So how does creativity manifest itself in the practice of public relations? This is such a sweeping question that books could be devoted to answering it. Let’s narrow the focus to the application of creativity in the public relations planning process. Specifically, we can look at creativity as it applies to writing the 10 components of a public relations plan or proposal. Introductory Statement The introductory statement or summary of a plan is the plan developer’s first opportunity to instill in plan reviewers confidence that the developer or the planning team has a solid grasp of the problem, challenge, opportunity or situation as a designer, a skilled agent of making things happen. Did you catch the key word “designer?” To be regarded at the start of a plan with the stature of a designer would be a high compliment to a plan developer because it would recognize the developer as a professional. Such confidence derives from introductory statements written in clear, concise, simple, coherent language. Errors in accuracy, omissions of facts, and abuses of plain English immediately undermine impressions of a plan developer’s competence. It would not be an exaggeration to say that reviewers await plans with high expectations of right brain activity, genius or divine inspiration. Consider the introductory statement a handshake, first impression, connection of mutual respect. The introductory statement should cause a plan reviewer to think with confidence, “I know the task at hand and so do you.” Situation Analysis What role does creativity play in a plan’s situation analysis? The analysis is best presented in story form, right from the beginning, the way a situation has unfolded and led to the need for public relations action. What could be more creative than telling a story? You know what it means to embellish a story. Well, that’s what needs to be done here. Describe the situation in detail and embellish the story with information that provides overall context, with research or recommendations for research that validates what is known or needs to be known, and a thoughtful analysis that provides a foundation for the other components of a plan. In-depth information here signals plan reviewers that you have full understanding of, strong interest in, and unquestionable commitment to the job at hand. Goal What about a plan’s goal? How does creativity figure into developing a goal? At this point you go from analyzing to synthesizing---bringing all the pieces of the situation analysis together into a single, declarative statement. You have investigated. You have thought about the situation from every angle, and now you create a single goal. The study of creative thought underlying this synthesizing process belongs to the domains of psychology and cognitive science. Call it critical thinking, because an error in determining an appropriate goal would invalidate an entire plan or proposal. The goal is the rallying point for every component of a plan and can be assessed, ultimately, by asking, Did we achieve this state of being or condition or not? Focus Public relations plans focus on people. To determine the focal points or target audiences or publics of a plan requires a selection process. However, the process needs to be more than logical selection by association with the problem, opportunity, challenge or situation. The process can be made most effective by thinking intuitively about individuals, groups, and organizations and how they might be related to the subject of a particular plan. Using one’s intuition in this way is a dimension of creativity. To adequately identify and describe a target of a plan requires the ability to place oneself in the positions of others, to see what others see, to feel the way others feel. Empathizing, which is what is being described, is the amazing human maneuver of mentally walking in someone else’s shoes. To plan to influence the behavior of others you must know the subjects from the inside out. Objectives The objectives of a plan describe what must be done with the plan’s target audiences or publics to accomplish the plan’s goal. Another aspect of creativity comes into play in the writing of objectives. Creativity is an "assumptions-breaking process." Creative ideas are often generated when one discards preconceived assumptions and attempts a new approach or method that might even seem unthinkable to others. An objective has three components: 1) an action; 2) receiver of the action; 3) and a desired behavior of the receiver as a result of the action. The first component is one of a plan’s most overlooked places for creativity. Typical of many objectives, the first component so often is an ordinary action, such as To inform, To convince, To provide, To educate. There are, of course, many creative ways to grab people’s attention. Actions could be To surprise, To raise curiosity, To violate expectations, To disrupt a pattern, To create a gap of knowledge, To subvert a traditional schema, To tap into, To present consequences, To simulate, To inspire, To provoke. Think of it this way. What do you have to do to get your target audience to drop its ear buds and pay attention? Strategies and Activities or Tactics The strategy component of a plan is a creative platform. Strategies describe how objectives are to be accomplished; activities or tactics explain how the strategies are to be carried out. There are many different ways to develop strategies. One might be to learn from the successful lessons of others. Another might be to uncover, through research, ideas not thought of by others. Another might be to derive ideas from brainstorming sessions. In public relations, human behavior is influenced by strategic communication. Keep in mind; however, that what influences society’s behavior has evolved over the years. People today are in search of meaning and purpose. To be effective, strategies must be more than a simple nudge from Point A to Point B. Strategies must have meaning to people in order to be influential. So when you are developing strategies, you must describe what must be done to make them influential. If your strategy is to entertain individuals with a dinner party, for example, it is essential to describe how you will make the dinner experience meaningful enough to influence your guests to react according to your strategy. Meaning and purpose are motivators and both can be leveraged with creativity. This discussion of creativity in public relations planning will be in the second edition of my book, Writing Winning Proposals, which currently is "under construction." We can say that creativity is an individual character trait, but can we also say that some individuals can learn to be creative when they are shown where creativity can be applied?

WHAT HAPPENED

This week, I talked with students in my advanced writing class about Scott McClellan and his new book, “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception.” I have yet to read the book, but wanted to talk not about Scott or the book, but about the questions being asked of Scott by the media and others. The questions shown below present an interesting study. What type of questions are they? Investigative? Accusatory? Why, in this case, do you think one type would be used more than the other? How would you rewrite an accusatory question to make it an investigative one? How do you think the rewritten question would affect the answer? “What happened to you, Scott? You are not the person I used to know.” Have you ever been asked, “What’s gotten into you? You know better than that.” What did that mean to you? That you should have known better? So, is Scott being asked a question or being admonished for knowing that you don’t betray the loyalty of others, especially the Administration? Or does the question imply that Scott has changed and that the change is not for the better? That the problem seems to be with him? “If you felt so strongly about the situation, why didn’t you tell someone? Should Scott have gone to his boss and said, “From what I observed, I believe the Administration is deliberately deceiving the public about the Iraq war.” Why shouldn’t he be forthright and lay out his concerns? He would be respected by the inner circle; furthermore, he would have protection by law if he were seen, even as a potential whistleblower. Wouldn’t he? “Then Scott, why didn’t you just quit?” Have you always been financially prepared to walk away from a prestigious, high-paying job, on principle? Was deception, assuming there was some, obvious at the start of Scott’s job. Did he open a desk drawer and suddenly find DECEPTION? Or did an attitude of deception reveal itself in people’s behavior, a little at a time, over time? “You mean, Scott, that you just kept it to yourself for three years?” Being quiet about something often is referred to as “silent consent.” Silent consent can be seen in many forms. In the military, silent consent, for example, can be when a unit is left in the jungle as a decoy to flesh out the enemy and no one in the unit says anything when it is known that the commander is risking the lives of troops to chalk up a victory in pursuit of a promotion. Silent consent is when members of the White House press corps avoid aggressive reporting for fear of losing a seat on Air Force One or being assigned to a back row in the White House briefing room. Silent consent is when members of Congress recite verbatim the Administration’s talking points in favor of war, instead of making their own assessment of whether or not to attack another country. Silent consent is when an entire nation questions the wisdom of making preemptive strikes on other countries, but does no more than watch it happen. “Scott, you were so close to the inner circle; how could you not know more specifically what was going on?” Let me ask if you know of any public relations executive who was indicted for criminal conspiracy. Could that be because the inner circle of any organization does not publish notice of, and invite its spokesperson to a meeting to discuss ways to deceive the public, cook the books, or circumvent environmental laws? Yes, criminal activity occurs. But it’s not done in the open by committee. It has been said there are times when an Administration deliberately withholds information from a press secretary to enable him or her to claim, honestly, of having no knowledge of something to maintain credibility with the media. But what of the press secretary’s duty to keep the public informed of decisions and actions of the White House? And how much integrity is left for a press corps that accepts a press secretary’s claim of no knowledge, while knowing of this charade and accepting it as protocol? Sometimes deception is a matter of like-minded individuals leading an organization with like-minded ambitions that form an invisible framework in which to operate. When one takes an action that may seem overly assertive, the others go along with it because in their private thoughts they know the ambitions embodied in the underlying framework. Tactics of the inner circle are unwritten and decisions are communicated among each other with signals, such as a raised eyebrow, a penetrating stare, meaning “get it done,” or “stay the course.” There is no tangible evidence of malicious intent, which is why it is so difficult to discover guilt of an executive in a court of law or before a Congressional hearing. You could characterize this form of wrong-doing as the mental use and abuse of power. The inner circle of every organization has choices to make about its use of power. [end]

The goal is to write one. Can you?

How are you at writing the components of a public relations plan? For example, can you write a goal? I am going to describe the functions of a goal. Then I will provide rules for writing one. Finally, I will give you a chance to test yourself on identifying acceptable goals written by my rules. A goal is important because it serves four functions in a public relations plan. One function is to provide a vision of a desired position or condition. A plan should have one ultimate aim. All of a plan’s objectives should be directed toward achieving the plan’s goal. The goal can be specific to the public relations task, for example, for XYZ to be trusted by the community for its safe use of chemicals. Or it can relate to broader organizational aims that require input from other functions, such as human resources, marketing and finance, for example, for XYZ to be merged with ZYX with the understanding and support of all stakeholders. The second function of a goal is to provide a target on which to organize resources. A goal gives followers of a plan a point of reference on which to center their efforts. It enables them to set their sights on what is to be the overall result of the combined efforts of all contributors to the plan. Many plan writers believe a goal should use the present infinitive “to be” to distinguish this targeting function. What follows “to be” should be stated as though the position or condition has been achieved, for example, the goal for XYZ is “to be” a recognized leader in its field. The goal clearly rallies an organization’s resources around making it a recognized leader in its field. The third function of a goal is to provide verification that the plan is focused. By stating the goal, plan developers can demonstrate to plan reviewers that the plan focuses on the correct priority. For example, if the client’s goal is for XYZ to be viewed as an essential, unique and authoritative resource for diversity education on the university campus and in the greater community, the goal would not be focused correctly if it were stated, for XYZ to be a well-funded campus organization. In other words, when a client’s goal calls for everyone to be eating BigMacs, plan developers had better not be writing about Chicken McNuggets. That may sound exaggerated, but sometimes client or employer instructions are not followed explicitly or are overlooked. The experience of being presented the wrong goal is exasperating to clients or employers because they are putting up major resources to accomplish a specific job that is important to them. A fourth function of a goal is to provide a measurement of success. When a desired condition or position is evident as stated in the goal, a plan’s objectives have been met. In other words, the fact that a certain condition or position now exists is evidence that the plan’s objectives have been achieved successfully. Let’s say, for example, the goal is for a hospital to be serving more children. When the hospital is, in fact, serving 50 more children, that is proof or evidence the plan’s objective (i.e. to raise $20 million for hospital expansion) has been successfully achieved. So the goal of a public relations plan has four functions–it provides a vision, a target, verification and measurement. Here are my five rules for writing a goal: 1. Focus the goal on a single aim. 2. State the goal in a single sentence and avoid the temptation of telling what must be done to achieve it. Unacceptable: To communicate XYZ’s economic value as a member of the community. Acceptable: For XYZ to be recognized as an important contributor to the local economy. 3. Describe the goal as the ultimate condition or state of being desired as though it has already been achieved. Acceptable: For XYZ to be a trusted member of the community with its use of hazardous chemicals. Unacceptable: For XYZ to become a trusted member of the community with its use of hazardous chemicals. Reason: “to become a trusted member” leaves XYZ in its present state, rather than in the desired state of being. 4. Distinguish the statement as a goal by using the infinitive phrase “to be” answering the question, What do you want the ultimate condition to be as a result of having executed the public relations plan successfully? Acceptable: For XYZ to be operating as a recognized leader in its field. 5. Avoid using an objective for a goal. Unacceptable: For XYZ to raise $15 million to expand the hospital. Reason: This is an objective describing what must be done to accomplish the ultimate goal, for example, to be serving 50 more patients in a new addition to the hospital. The goal should be evidence that a plan’s objectives have been successfully completed. Now that we have defined a goal and reviewed my rules for writing one, let’s see if you can distinguish from the following six examples, goals that are acceptable and those that are unacceptable according to the rules for writing goals. 1. To provide eligible families with a smooth transition from Island Health Offspring to Children’s Health Insurance Program. 2. For XCX to be expanding its operation with the support of local and state governments. 3. For wind surfers throughout the world to be aware of Hood River on the Columbia River as one of the most popular locations for the sport. 4. The goal of the Clean Teeth campaign is to heighten awareness about the importance of tooth brushing. 5. To have the public adopt natural garden care by changing certain gardening behaviors. 6. For XYZ, Inc. to be closing one assembly plant. ANSWERS 1. Unacceptable. It does not center on the infinitive phrase “to be” followed by an ultimate vision, state of being or desired condition. “To provide” indicates that the ultimate state of being has not yet been achieved. Acceptable: For eligible families to be receiving increased benefits from the Children’s Health Insurance Program, having made a smooth transition from Island Health Offspring. 2. Acceptable. 3. Acceptable. 4. Unacceptable. It does not center on the infinitive phrase “to be,” which the rules reserve for introducing a goal¬–a desired condition or state of being. Acceptable: For people around the world to be more aware of the importance of brushing teeth. 5. Unacceptable. It does not center on the infinitive phrase “to be,” which the rules reserve for introducing a goal. The phrase “to have the public adopt natural garden care” tells what must be done, which is the role of an objective. The phrase “by changing certain gardening behaviors” tells how something is to be accomplished, which is the role of a strategy. Acceptable: For male homeowners, ages 25 to 54 in the Garden Gateway area, to be using natural gardening practices. 6. Unacceptable. Closing one assembly plant is not the ultimate vision, goal or state of being. It is what must be done to achieve the goal or vision which, according to the rules, is the role of an objective. Acceptable: For XYZ, Inc. to be operating more competitively having closed one assembly plant. I am blogging to show how important it is to stay within specific parameters when writing goals, as well as objectives, strategies and the other components of a public relations plan. I know from 30 years of experience that writing by the rules creates winning proposals. * * * * *

Can you trust PR interns? Read on.

Can you trust PR interns? I worked with 21 student interns from The University of Georgia’s College of Journalism & Mass Communication. They turned out to be my inspiration to teach and now I'm into teaching with a passion at the University of Oregon. During the '90s, as director of public and investor relations for Atlanta-based Alumax Inc., I had a small staff and huge responsibilities. I turned to UGA for help. Competition for interns was keen in Atlanta with companies like Coca-Cola, Bell South, Southern Company, Equifax and others. So, to get the very best, I knew I would have to offer the very best internships I could manage. I met with UGA's representative who was liaison with area employers, like Seth Walker is for the University of Oregon in Portland. Soon thereafter, a faculty committee was established that selected and sent me a student intern for each of 21 consecutive quarters. The question, at the time, was how much responsibility could I entrust to a young public relations intern? Would the interns be a help or a strain on my already overworked resources? I’ll give you examples of what the interns did and you can judge for yourself. Wendy researched worldwide a speech on environmental sustainability that was delivered before not one, but two different conferences. Ashley prepared marketing materials to open offices in China and Poland, was hired full time and later started her own business. Penny developed a customer relationship building program with the sponsorship of an Indy race car team and was hired full time. Jennifer coordinated press events in New York City, Atlanta and Jackson simultaneously announcing a $75 million project in Tennessee, which included a luncheon celebration for 300 people with the governor. Michelle developed an environmental report, then went to work for a yacht builder. Cherie and a video crew used a corporate jet to visit eight operations and produce a video for Fox-TV, then went on to become press agent for land speed record team Spirit of America. Jasen developed a 350-page corporate Web site. Kelly handled PR for a clean-up of hazardous material. Li Li was chief translator for a $50 million successful joint venture negotiation with a Chinese company. Leigh Ann researched and wrote, “How Communication Planning Can Help You Achieve Your Business Objectives.” Melissa drafted the speech, “How To Develop Business in China.” Asia finished writing the speech that was presented before a world conference in London. Laura developed guidelines for a new charitable giving program and then became development director for the College of Fine Arts at the University of Kentucky. Rikke developed a program to publicize the technical center. Maria wrote complex sections of the company’s last annual report before Alumax was acquired by Alcoa, and went on to work on energy issues for a utility in El Salvador. How were these inexperienced interns able to take on such major responsibilities? One reason is that they had exceptional academic training. Another reason is that they instilled confidence in their employers that they could be trusted to take direction, learn and deliver results. Another reason is that their employers gave them a chance to perform. Another reason is that they were well paid so that they could focus on their work and not have to hold down one or two jobs in addition. There are many good sources for interns in every region of the country. Employers should consider offering internships to undergraduate students, graduate students and recent graduates. So, what do you think? Can you trust a PR intern? I did and with my experience with such outstanding students at the University of Oregon over the past seven years, I have more confidence than ever in young people who just need to be given a chance to show what they can do.

LEE: Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening?

In my Advanced PR Writing Class at the University of Oregon, students are using social media to cry into cyberspace to make contact with others who care about the deplorable state of education in the United States. At this point, the class feels like a lone "post" on a tree in the wilderness. Our class project is to rally public support for getting education on the agenda of the presidential candidate debates. To appreciate where education stands in the broad context of the state of the nation, consider the call to action from Lee Iacocca; remember the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from its death throes? He's now 82 years old and has a new book, "Where Have All The Leaders Gone." Here are excerpts: "Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff. We've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course." Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America , not the damned "Titanic." I'll give you a sound bite: "Throw all the bums out!" You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the "America" my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you? I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. The Biggest "C" is Crisis ! (Iacocca elaborates on nine Cs of leadership, crisis being the first.) Leadership is forged in times of crisis. Leaders are made, not born. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down. On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A Hell of a Mess. So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way . These are times that cry out for leadership. But when you look around, you've got to ask, "Where have all the leaders gone?" Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point. Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened. Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time. Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when "The Big Three" referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it? Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry. I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change? Had Enough? Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope. I believe in America . In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises: the "Great Depression," "World War II," the "Korean War," the "Kennedy Assassination", the "Vietnam War", the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I've learned one thing, it's this: "You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to "Action" for people who, like me, believe in America. It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had "enough." Make your own contribution by sending this to everyone you know and care about. It's our country, folks; and it's our future. Our future is at stake! I'm fed up, too, Lee. I am encouraging students everywhere to look not only at the state of education, but at the big picture. University of Oregon student Sara Szatmary is right on target with her comment: "I think the power of dissent has greatly been lost on my generation. However, I think if they knew what was really happening in our government there would be a huge call to action." ---Tom Hagley