Audacity to grow much needed in newspaper world

Recently I visited with a newspaper friend in Florida who has the audacity to turn the industry on its ear.

“I want to build a bigger business,” he says.

He pauses.

“Why not?”

And much like a scene from Star Wars, you find yourself nodding in total agreement to the words of the Jedi Warrior.

By Leonard Woolsey, TPA President 2022-23

Consider his words in the context of an industry too often focused on protecting profits and not striving for growth. The newspaper trade news is a litany of layoffs, furloughs, product reductions and other desperate ways to keep the lights on — essentially getting smaller by design.

My friend, on the other hand, wants to light up the entire block in a blaze of success – at least in central Florida.

He’s tall and easy moving. Being in the same room with him changes you. The electricity he channels into his operational goals is powerful and infectious. You can’t come away from a conversation with him without asking yourself “Why not?”

Once, I peeked under the desk to see if an electrical cord ran from him to an outlet in the room.

I call his concept the Audacity to Grow.

America sits squarely on the foundation of optimism and hard work. Dreaming of growing a business is as American as apple pie and as Texan as smoked brisket. Even in uncertain times, we still control our destiny – so long as we dare to roll up our sleeves and get dirty now and then.

A half-dozen of us are sitting around an oval wooden desk. My friend sits at the head, asking questions and narrowing answers down to relevant feedback. There is no wasted oxygen in the room. The train is underway, and everyone present can feel the ground moving beneath them.

What works is fine, he says, but can it be better? What does not work is not okay. So what else can we do with the resources? How does the present align with what we believe will exist in the future?

He pauses and leans in.

“And how do we get there as quickly as possible?”

I find his philosophy and his attitude refreshing — that the past and present are not necessarily a one-way roadmap to the future. Are they helpful in picturing the lay of the land? Yes. A restrictive predictor of destiny? Nope. Not if my friend has anything to say about it.

The goal in the room is to find fresh opportunities and conquer new worlds. Everything is on the table, and the roadmap is still on the drawing board.

It’s energizing to spend time around someone with the courage to step back from the present long enough to dream about the future.

These people are like you and me, but with the resolve and discipline to look the future in the eyes and say, “Nope, not yet. I have another plan.”

Challenging the tractor-beam effect of momentum is not for the meek. But each of us has the power inside of ourselves to make it happen. First, we need the courage to tell life, “Thanks, but no thanks. We have another plan.”

Business and life share a common principle — regardless of what comes at us, results are determined by how we respond. Action and attitude are the difference makers in achieving success or happiness. But first we must suck up the courage to tell destiny, “Nope, not yet. I have another plan.”