TrendAlert: Pervasive Thinning of the Business Clock

It happened again. A breakfast meeting with a middle-market lending officer this morning confirmed the reality of Business Activities in the Real World. There's a pervasive trend happening out there among chief executives and their direct reports. And the trend just ripples outward and downward.

• The trend is 8 to 12 to 14
• The trend is more, more, more
• The trend is an unchecked mailbox, exploding e-mail inbox and an Outlook to-dos list so crammed with action items that it'd take a small country of people to get them all done

The trend is A Thinning of Business America. It's the Thinning of the Business Clock--an ever-speeding, ever-urgent, ever-now demand for more results, more time, more revenue, more trade shows, more sales, more, more, more. Our days have gone from 8 hours to 10 to 12 to... crash and burn. OUr clocks have no room for the extras, yet we're pushing toward a 24-hour workday. How can it be and why? I love this image to the lower left originally posted by this blogger.

Going global is one reason. Digital dependence is another. We've bought into Internet speed for all things, or most things. It's lulled us into a self-perpetuating expectation that Deliverables must be defined and delivered in hours, not days or weeks. All of our business expectations have morphed into e-expectations--Now, Now, Now! My discovery of this Thinning of the Business Clock has surfaced at least three times in the last week, when an executive--business owners and managers--share the impossibility of meeting their core deadlines and achieving sales quotas. They're just too busy to think about marketing or communications.

Isn't that like saying you're too busy to have chemo for a brain tumor? You can stay busy and not do the critical work that's going to save your life (or your business), but at some point, you're going to drop dead.

Truth: Marketing and communications drive sales. They drive growth. They drive market awareness and acceptance. They support efforts to engage customers and prospects. They help you build relationships so compliance issues are confirmed; suppliers sustain their services, employees remain motivated and loyal. Marketing and communications keep you tapped into marketplace influencers like industry analysts, editors, reporters and bloggers.

Thinning of the Business Clock is a trend with no end in sight. But don't despair. This thinning of the business clock doesn't mean a barren future or a desert of opportunities. It means that executives must trust and depend on other experts to support their clock-challenged business lives. Tap marcom experts (uh, like RGM Communications) to do the marketing, communicating and planning. Invest a little time upfront to consistently reach out every month, every quarter, every year. Go ahead, focus on sales, operations, financials, R&D and whatever. Give those marketing initiatives to a trusted resource. Make it easy. And don't wait until it's an emergency.

No more Thinning. Of your clock or your hair.