The Power of the Informed

My daughter Kati works for Apple in one of their retail stores. As she stumbled out of bed (at the crack of noon) and came into my office, I commented that there were three separate articles in the Wall Street Journal about her company. Two had to do with the iPad and one stated that Apple’s overall value had surpassed that of Microsoft. When she got to work, she read an email from Steve Jobs to the team that was trumpeting that last fact. She forwarded me the email and added smugly, “Of course, we already knew this. ;-)”

Kati would no more read the Wall Street Journal than the Bible (Grrrrrr!!!!), but the fact that her old man does gives her a leg up on her coworkers. Chalk it up to the Power of the Informed.

I am constantly asked where to look for prospects by my clients. There’s the Help Wanted section (if a company is hiring, they’re growing), networking and the age old prospecting-by-driving-around, but my favorite has to be simply reading the daily newspaper. By scanning headlines and reviewing an article, I learn about industries that are booming (and therefore are likely to buy print) and those that are suffering (and can be skipped for now).

Better still, I have found that because of my daily commitment to the Journal, I hear myself quoting stats and comments with Cliff Clavin-like frequency (sans the annoying attitude..I hope).

When I was a kid growing up in Boston, I knew the stats of every starting Red Sox player as well as the Canadian hometown of each Boston Bruin. It’s just what you did. Today, being “informed” has taken on a different meaning and for me, keeping up with the printing world has less to do with the latest printing device than it does the hottest industry to attack.

Morning coffee and the Wall Street Journal. You just can’t beat it. In fact, it’s a little-known fact that...oh, nevermind. I’m going for a beer with Normie...

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