The Dip - Part 3: What Business Are You In?

    This part three of three items from Seth Godin's book, "The Dip" (New York: The Penguin Group, 2007).  The idea behind "the dip" is that everything worth doing starts out as a new challenge with excitement and enthusiasm...but then the going begins to get tough - for a variety of reasons: the economy, demographics, increased choices, other interests, etc.  The premise of the book is that too many excellent ventures quit when they start to experience "the dip."  To quote the text:

"The Dip is the secret to your success.  The people who set out to make it through the Dip - the people who invest the time and the energy and the effort to power through the Dip - those are the ones who become the best in the world." (Godin, 23).

     Yes, last week's started the in the same manner - but I received some feedback (which I knew would happen) wondering how the closing of some schools could be a good thing - after all, it means fewer Catholic schools to serve local communities.

     True, it is indeed a sad day when a Catholic school closes.  One of those schools I mentioned last week that is closing is the school where I attended grades 1 through 8.  A sadder day for me, however, was when the school merged with another school that was on the next hill and the name was changed.  In retrospect, THAT was the day my school closed.  Because few elementary schools have kept track of their alumni, school administrators don't know the effect that changing a school name has on the students that called it "home" for 8 or 9 years.  For many people today, that's longer than they live in their house with their families.  A merged school will succeed if it reaches out to the alums from both (or three or four) schools, inviting them in for a tour or to attend an event, demonstrating that their educational community, though changed, as all communities must change, still exists and is honored.  An arbitrary name change because it is thought the school will simply serve the current community of parents and children without reaching out to the community and to alumni is a precursor to closure.

     In that light, "Best in the World," as mentioned last week, is not "best" in your mind.  "Best" is very subjective and very personal today.  You can take a look at your schools' academics, find that students are testing well above their public school counterparts, and find that your enrollment keeps eroding, like the proverbial water torture.  Logic would tell you that it should be increasing, but attending a tuition-driven institution is not a logical choice.  It is an emotional one.  Similarly, you can point to the many awards your sports teams have amassed - yet, despite a healthy enrollment, an active parent organization, and development activities that engage the community, you are still slated for merger with a school down the street that has none of those things.  You know you are the best - but that's not what counts.  What does count is how others (current parents, prospective parents, alumni, donors, community members, businesses, parishioners and pastoral leadership and diocesan leadership) view you, and what you are "best" at.

     As a quick example, I can see myself as an organized person; however, if my desk and office is a total disaster, with papers and files strewn about, the observer will assume that I'm not very organized (even though I do indeed know "where everything is").

     Which brings me to the point of today's topic - What Business Are You In?  To quote "The Dip:"

Yes, you should (you must) quit a product or feature or design - you need to do it regularly if you're going to grow and have the resources to invest in the right businesses.  But no, you mustn't quit a marketing strategy or a niche.  The market wants to see you persist.  It demands a signal from you that you're serious, powerful, accepted and safe." (Godin, 50-51)

     How about that!  "The market wants to see you persist."  There's always a ring of sadness whenever anyone hears that a school is closing - rarely do we hear the comment, "Well it's about time somebody got the message."

     In business, the most obvious example I can point to which illustrates this concept is Starbucks.  Even in difficult economic times, there are still people that will pay $5 for a cup of coffee.  But Starbucks tried to get into the music business in the summer of 2004.  When you came in to the store, you could log in at a table, choose several songs from a vast library of mp3s, and make your own CD of your favorite tunes.  You won't find that in Starbucks now in 2009 - they've focused on their niche, and dumped a project that was killed by the emergence of the iPod, iPhone, iTunes and whatever new "i"Nvention will come along in the next few years.  They've realized what business they're in.

     When I was a novice program director for a public radio station, a perspicacious and seasoned program director from a competing market held a seminar for our staff, and asked the question, "What are you?"  The staff replied, "A radio station."  His retort, "And who is your competition?"  "Other radio stations."  Obvious, right?  But he kept asking the question, "What are you?" (at one point it reminded me of Jesus repeating the question, "Who do people say I am," or "Peter, do you love me?").  After about the fifth go-round, someone said, "a choice."  "Ah - now we're getting somewhere," he replied.  Through the course of the next two days, we came to discover that we were not competing against other radio stations which used tactics to attract audience so they could approach companies to market their products to the audience they've amassed.  We were competing against other cultural organizations that engaged their membership so they would support them with their time, talent and treasure.  I had thought that it was my job as the program director to bring in the ratings with excellent programming, and that the development director would bring in the funding from the increased audience.  While that's true, I also had to keep in mind that the programming I was doing had to be "supportable."  It wasn't enough just have a large audience that didn't support the station.  Conversely, development learned that it could have all the funding in the world, but if nobody listened to the programming, the station wasn't fulfilling its mission.

     And that's what it's all about today in our Catholic schools.  The programming is akin to our curriculum, our strong academics, our quality programs, our Catholic identity.   Because teachers and administrators have degrees in education, it's what is first and foremost in their minds...but if no one supports the school's mission and vision with time, talent and treasure, the school will experience hardship the minute the enrollment starts to dip.  Conversely, we can have all the funding in the world - but if no one comes to the school, it doesn't fulfill its mission.

     So - are you a school?  Are you a quality school?  Are you a Catholic school?  Are you a community resource?  Are you a worthwhile endeavor?  Chances are that you're all of them - but how do you know what you are?  You assess.  Ask those 9 groups mentioned above "What do you say we are?"  Some simple market research could help with just three questions to constituents from each group:  1) On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best faith-based educational environment imaginable, rate our school; 2) If the answer is not 10, what do we need to do to get to a 10; and 3) Are you willing to support that endeavor with your time, talent and treasure?  - The answers may be difficult ones to hear - but they must be considered if you're going to plan to be the best in the world at forming the next generation of leaders of the Catholic Church and our world. 

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