The Penalty of Leadership Revisited

Back on December 12th, 2006, my brother published a blog about this Cadillac advertisement,but it is well worth the time to publish it again. The fact is that it should be published over and over so that we never forget it.

I work in the pharmaceutical industry and I just happen to sell the #1 pharmaceutical used for asthma and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Advair is truly innovative, both in its pharmacology and in the delivery device and this causes the predicament which is so eloquently spoken about in this 1915 ad. You see, when our competitors come in to see a physician, usually the first words spoken are not about the features and benefits of their product, but rather are pejorative comments about Advair. After years of speaking ill of our product, now there are several companies coming out with "me-too" drugs in hopes of copying our success and once again ... their first efforts are to bad-mouth our product instead of speaking of the features of their own. THIS IS WHAT FOLLOWERS ALWAYS DO! It takes a ton or fortitude to be a leader, but any moron can be a follower!

I realize that my situation is duplicated numerous times throughout the business world ... jealousy's rearing her ugly head. The penalty of leadership is certainly not unique to the pharmaceutical industry, but is evident in every endeavor.

The advertisement you are about to read appeared in THE SATURDAY EVENING POST on January 2nd, 1915. It has been chosen as one of the greatest ads of all time. It was written by Theodore F. MacManus and is considered by some to be the GREATEST of all ads ever written. One will notice that there are no pictures or artwork ... just text! Packard was having a field day when a defect was discovered in Cadillac's new 1915 V8 Touring Model and this ad ran in response to the efforts by Packard to punish Cadillac for being a leader. Sales rebounded and as you know, Packard has been out of business for years.

This holds true not just in products but in personal leadership also. People do not follow someone unless that person has earned the privilege ... LEADERSHIP DOES NOT COME BY POSITION OR TITLE!

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THE PENALTY OF LEADERSHIP
In every field of human endeavor, he that is first must perpetually live in the white light of publicity. Whether the leadership be vested in a man or in a manufactured product, emulation and envy are ever at work.

In art, in literature, in music, in industry, the reward and the punishment are always the same. The reward is widespread recognition; the punishment, fierce denial and detraction. When a man's work becomes a standard for the whole world, it also becomes a target for the shafts of the envious few.

If his work be mediocre, he will be left severely alone - if he achieves a masterpiece, it will set a million tongues a-wagging. Jealousy does not protrude its forked tongue at the artist who produces a commonplace painting. Whatsoever you write, or paint, or play, or sing, or build, no one will strive to surpass or to slander you unless your work be stamped with the seal of genius.

Long, long after a great work or a good work has been done, those who are disappointed or envious, continue to cry out that it cannot be done. Spiteful little voices in the domain of art were raised against our own Whistler as a mountebank, long after the big world had acclaimed him its greatest artistic genius.

Multitudes flocked to Bayreuth to worship at the musical shrine of Wagner, while the little group of those whom he had dethroned and displaced argued angrily that he was no musician at all. The little world continued to protest that Fulton could never build a steamboat, while the big world flocked to the river banks to see his boat steam by.

The leader is assailed because he is a leader, and the effort to equal him is merely added proof of that leadership. Failing to equal or to excel, the follower seeks to depreciate and to destroy - but only confirms once more the superiority of that which he strives to supplant.

There is nothing new in this. It is as old as the world and as old as the human passions - envy, fear, greed, ambition, and the desire to surpass. And it all avails nothing. If the leader truly leads, he remains - the leader.

Master-poet, master-painter, master-workman, each in his turn is assailed, and each holds his laurels through the ages. That which is good or great makes itself known, no matter how loud the clamor of denial.

That which deserves to live - lives.

A Cooking Show! Are You Kidding Me?

I had no idea!

What's The Difference

The media is a powerful influence in American Culture! We see images on TV and they become engraved in our collective minds. Tonight, I have on my mind 2 young ladies whose images are constantly beamed into our living rooms and dens. They are the same age and gender and both come from "silver-spoon" backgrounds. One could learn much from the other and I will leave it to you to decide which.

Paris Hilton and Ivanka Trump!






Paris Hilton was born on February 17, 1981 and is an heiress to a share of the Hilton fortune ( app. 50 million $'s) as well as the real estate fortune of her father, Richard. Paris is the oldest of four children of Richard and Kathy Hilton. Her younger sister is Nicky and her younger brothers are Barron Hilton II and Conrad Hilton II. Paris moved between several exclusive homes in her youth ... Beverly Hills, the Hamptons and a suite in the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan. She attended her freshman year of high school in Rancho Mirage, California at the Marywood-Palm Valley School and her sophomore and junior years of high school at the Dwight School in New York, but dropped out and eventually earned her GED. Paris rose to fame when a home-made sex tape of her was spread through the internet in late 2003. This video entitled, "l Night In Paris" attracted worldwide publicity and contributed to the success of the reality TV series, THE SIMPLE LIFE! As an actress she has appeared in several minor roles ... most notable ... HOUSE OF WAX (2005) and she released her album PARIS in 2006. Paris began modeling as a child and at the age of 19, she signed with the Trump Agency. Paris was arrested for DUI in September 2006 and was sentenced to 36 months probation and her license was suspended. After subesquent arrests for driving with a suspended license and speeding, she was charged with violating her probation and was sentenced to 45 days in jail. You have to know the rest ... it's on the news EVERY DAY!

Ivanka Trump was born October 30, 1981 in New York City, New York. She is best known as the daughter of Ivana and Donald Trump and is currently vice president of Real Estate Development and Acquisitions at the Trump Organization. Ivanka attended school at Choate Rosemary Hall, as well as Chapin. After graduation, she spent two years at Georgetown university, then transferred to and graduated MAGNA CUM LAUDE from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor of science in economics in 2004. Her modeling career began while in school because her mother would only pay for tuition and Ivanka needed money for other interests. Her first cover was a 1997 issue of SEVENTEEN. She has made her way down fashion runways for Versace, Marc Bouwer and Thierry Mugler. She once said, "I am a much more private person than my father - never loved the spotlight all that much. Except for my brief - perhaps a mistake - modeling stint to break up the monotony of boarding-school existence." After Ivanka's appearances on both THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO and THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, both Leno and Letterman commented that they could hear her father's influence and inflections in her. Before working for her father, Ivanka worked for Forest City Enterprises and she had been offered to appear in THE BACHELORETTE, but she declined. She does not consider herself as an heiress and does not like to be compared to Paris Hilton (excuse me for this blog Ivanka)! She was placed #83 in the 2007 MAXIM HOT 100!

There you have it ... Paris and Ivanka. Both born in 1981 to lives of privilege and celebrity parents. One could learn a great deal for the other.

What's the difference? You figure it out!

I Owe A Lot To The Game Of Golf

There are FIVE crazy dudes in this picture and golf is just an excuse to get together! We are not easily fooled by the beauty of golf courses throughout the great state of Georgia. We view the landscape and see triple bogies masquerading as landscaping ... you can't fool us. Anyway, we don't need to be fooled. We have all long ago realized that we would not make a living playing golf. Left to right please let me introduce Dennis Parks, Bob Stanton, yours truly, Charley Shields and Joe Cole.

We met through the great game of golf. Years back I started the "Annual Chicken George Invitational Golf Tournament and Gnat Festival"! This was in my home town of Reynolds, Georgia and took place at the Reynolds Kiwanis Golf Course. It was only a 9 hole course and we had two eighteen hole shotgun starts each day of the special week-end. We usually would play about 150 players from around the country ... friends, friends of friends, fraternity brothers, etc.! I actually had this event for 14 consecutive years. The local townspeople would open their homes to the golfers for the week-end and the local Kiwanis Club would provide a BBQ Chicken dinner for a nominal fee. The town's restaurants looked forward to this yearly money-making time. It was truly a unique event, but as the local people starting getting older and less able to take care of visitors and as the grim reaper began to pass through town each year, I finally realized that the tournament had run its course. It was time to grab hold to all the memories and move on to the next thing. So goes life! But, this group came to know each other through the Chicken George Golf Tournament. Dennis and I were fraternity brothers at UGA and Joe Cole married a young lady with whom I had the pleasure of sharing my childhood. Joe asked me to invite his friend Bob Stanton and Bob asked me to invite his friend Charley Shields ... so I did! This took place over several years and there are many others that I came to know through this same process. I didn't realize it at the time, but golf was just the vehicle that brought all these people together so that life could happen.

It is always such fun when some of the participants from past Chicken George's get together. We know we aren't going to win the tournament but we also know that nobody will have more fun than us. Such was the case this day! It was non-stop laughter from the time we drove up to the club house. My cheek muscles ( in my face not my butt) still ache from laughing so much.



Maybe you're wondering why there are 5. You see, Bob Stanton (The Appliance Man) set up this gathering several months ago. He had a friend in a local high school booster club who needed support so Bob volunteered us. As luck would have it, about 3 weeks before the golf date, Bob suffered a heart attack and had by-pass surgery. He didn't want to miss the fun so he showed up anyway and walked around with us.

When it was all over, Charley invited us all back to his home in downtown Norcross for a Cinco de Mayo celebration dinner. Needless to say, his wife was surprised!

Just another great memory of a great day with a group of great guys. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

The older I get, the more amazed I am of the positives that the game of golf has added to my life. When I was a child, I cherished the times on Thursday afternoons when I got to play golf with my Daddy. As I grow older, I now cherish the times I got to spend 5 or 6 hours with my son on a golf course near our home in Kennesaw. Where else can a father and son spend 5 or 6 hours together? Certainly not cutting grass!

No doubt, I owe a lot to the game of golf! It's not just a game! Not to me!