Go Ahead, Back Up

As January's "Snowzilla" bore down on the Nation's Capital, the head of DC's Metro told The Washington Post it was wiser to shutter his incompetent agency during the storm than tread "a false floor that everybody knows is false.”

While candid, the exec's expression of foreboding " may not soothe the frustrations of stranded customers," The Post said.

It's easy for customers to blame failures of government on lack of drive (in fact, it's a hobby of mine).

But then you can't explain the shipwrecks of driven profiteers like Target, which last year lost $7 billion on its calamitous rollout of Target Canada.

Its also easy for customers to blame failures of government on "pointy-headed" government execs. 

But then you can't explain the blunders of smart CEOs like Carla Fiorina, who halved HP's stock value while she ran the company.

So what's to blame for systemic failures—both public and private?

As turnaround experts observe, it's leadership's refusal to abandon a strategy that simply doesn't work (like the one illustrated in this insightful video). 

On-Demand Undermines Even Investors

In the 19th century, an enterprising forebear of mine owned a block of houses in the mining town of Franklin, New Jersey, that he leased to workers.

Unbeknownst to the workers, he also leased his mineral rights to the local mining company, which promptly dug a shaft beneath the houses.

According to family lore, my forbear had to skedaddle one dark night, when all the houses and their occupants vanished in a mine-shaft collapse.

Lesson learned.

When investors undermine workers, everyone gets the shaft.

The halo's fast falling from the Uberization of work, Caroline Fairchild writes on LinkedIn.

Millennial entrepreneurs are shifting workers from 1099 to W-2 status, because they're learning that, to succeed, they have to do things like train people and ask them to show up at 9.

You know, 19th century stuff.

As Fairchild shows, on-demand startups that want to appify black markets in everything from home delivery to hospitality face harsh critics.

"As these venture capital darlings walk the fine line between saving on labor costs and breaking the law, regulators and politicians are watching, and critiquing, their every move," she writes.

"The lines being drawn here raise critical questions: Should workers embrace the freedom the digital world offers? Or should they try to hold onto the rights that their predecessors fought over 100 years to win? Is this new economy moving us forward or backward?"

Forward or backward? What do you think?

Punching through the Mask

My horoscope was dead on yesterday.

"As soon as you start thinking that you might, indeed, know it all, circumstances will conspire to set you straight."

Circumstances conspire against us all.

Just count the bromides about "conquering adversity" on your LinkedIn home page this morning and you'll know.

When you produce creative work, you need to wear a creative's mask, as director Sidney Lumet says in Making Movies.

"Creative work is very hard, and some sort of self-deception is necessary simply in order to begin. To start, you have to believe that it's going to turn out well. And so often it doesn't. I've talked to novelists, conductors and painters about this. Unfailingly, they all admitted that self-deception was important to them. Perhaps a better word is 'belief.' But I tend to be a bit more cynical about it, so I use 'self-deception.' The dangers are obvious. All good work is self-revelation. When you've deceived yourself, you wind up feeling very foolish indeed."

Setbacks punch through the mask. They sting, because they scream Fraud!

Mama said there'll be days like this.

3 Tips for Better Event Photography and Video

Michael J. Hatch contributed today's post. He is Director of Sales for Oscar & Associates, an event photography and video production company specialized in conferences, exhibitions and corporate events nationwide.

Pictures Will be Worth 10 Thousand Words… Tomorrow

Don’t just go through the motions of contracting a photographer and telling them you want "three days' of candids and posed photos." There’s more to it than that.

Provide the photographer answers to these questions: What is the theme of your event? What are its goals? And—most importantly—what are the goals of next year’s event? Promoting tomorrow's event may be the primary reason you're capturing images today.

Ask for Bold, Unique and Creative

Most photographers are creative people. It’s one reason they chose the profession. Your photographer will love you for asking for bold, unique and creative shots.

If you tell a photographer you simply want candids and posed shots, that’s all you’ll get. Your photos will look just like all the photos you'd ever find on any event organizer's website.

Ask in addition to candids and posed shots for close-ups, shots on angles, backlit shots, overhead shots, and foot-level shots.

Georgia O’Keefe said it best about her famous giant florals: “If I painted them like all the Old Masters' still-lifes, no one would have ever paid much attention.”

Videos Will be Worth a 100 Thousand Words

Look at YouTube, websites, blogs and emails: event organizers are using videos, because videos are infinitely more engaging, believable and shared.

Capture video testimonials with attendees, exhibitors, sponsors and speakers. Ask for videos of the live action on your show floor, keynote sessions, educational sessions, receptions and evening events. 

And if you want “bold, unique and creative” results, ask for aerial videos, both indoor and out. Drones make aerial videos more affordable than ever.

Going Virile

Ad exec Madonna Badger's new video We are #WomenNotObjects, which asks marketers to stop eroticizing females, is hot, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Ms. Badger's beef is only one among many voiced by women in advertising, including the 21,000 sister mad women who comprise the 3% Conference.

3% Conference founder Kat Gordon told Forbes the issues surround "lack of."

"Lack of support for motherhood, lack of mentorship, lack of awareness that femaleness is an asset to connecting to the consumer marketplace today, lack of celebration of female work due to gender bias of award juries, lack of women negotiating their first agency salary and every one thereafter," Badger said.

Female event marketers are also flexing their muscles.

AWE, the Association for Women in Events, has opened its doors in Washington, DC, according to TSNN.