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Happy Birthday, Blog
This entry was posted on 10/25/2007 7:17 AM and is filed under General Strategy.
On October 27, 2006, visitors to our company site, StrategicPlanningAssociates.com, were directed to a new blog site. There, they found a "real-time idea 'expo,' . . . a virtual 'community' of leading-edge strategic thinking" on HR, benefits, and organizational change.
For a relatively new firm like ours, the blog was a big investment, in time and energy. But, given our value proposition — customized strategies to reduce costs and increase efficiencies — the move made sense. It was our best avenue to engage industry professionals, like you, in dialogue on emerging issues, as well as spotlight areas that our competitors were unlikely to address.
Today, one year later, the blog is going strong — as are we.
Here are some highlights from Year One of the blog — and some things to look forward to in the coming months.
Our Inaugural Year
- We've been averaging about a column a week — just as we'd hoped.
- Two article categories, Program Management and Health Care, have had 15 columns each, followed closely by Retirement Benefits (14). At the other end of the spectrum, the categories Financial Economics, Employee Communication, and Columbia University had only one column each. In each case, though, we think you'll find the article valuable if you're interested in any of those areas.
- To date, the columns you have most frequently downloaded have been Management By Mediocrity and Benefit Board ABCs.
- The articles that generated the most reader comments were Prisoners of Health Care, How the GAO Got It All Wrong, Again, and We're Prisoners of Health Care — and That's the GOOD News.
- A number of columns on management practices, specifically Reorganize THIS!, caught the attention of Wayne Turmel, host of the popular Cranky Middle Manager Show. As a result, he featured our firm on one of his podcasts.
- Our managing partner, Fred Munzenmaier, wrote an excellent series of articles (click here for parts I and II) on how to fix Social Security and the U.S. private pension system. In April, Fred and I were invited to deliver the opening session on this very topic at the annual LOMA/LIMRA/Society of Actuaries Retirement Conference, which we later repeated for the FUNDLinx User's Group at Delta Data Software (you can click here for a transcript of the presentation.)
- My column on New York Life's annuities ad campaign, The Elusive Appeal of Income for Life, led to my being named "Views & Vents" columnist for Employee Benefit News. You can find an archive of monthly columns on our site.
- Our senior writer and editor, Judy Kinman, has contributed only one article so far, but it's a doozy. In Why Silence is Not “Golden”, Judy shows that employers' biggest sins are often those of omission, and explores why "best-practice companies stay in close touch with their people at all times," even when the news they have to report is bad.
- Some of the best work Strategic Planning Associates has done since its inception is covered in Reinventing a Company: The SelectSource Story. The article describes how we helped the former FBIT rebrand itself in its market and launch an extensive promotional campaign. The follow-up piece, HR & Benefit Administration: Mortals or Portals?, reports on some of the company's latest developments.
- Our most overlooked article, in my view, is Fred's entry on Fixing Social Security. Really. It's a plain-English explanation of the problems the system faces, and some practical ways to fix them. In the same vein, Part 2 of Fred's blog on How to Achieve Real Pension Plan Reform is the most clearly written article on the subject of pension preservation yet published. Nevertheless, it was downloaded only about half as many times as Part 1, which focuses solely on how we'd gotten ourselves into the situation.
There are dozens more columns on the site, which you can access conveniently from the Category Archives on the bottom right side of the home page. Please tour the different sections and explore the range of resources and perspectives available to you at the click of a mouse.
Looking Ahead
We already have a number of initiatives in the works for the next 12-15 months. They include an expanded column for Employee Benefit News, as well as some work with other publications. We're planning to conduct two major HR and benefit surveys in partnership with larger specialty organizations. And we'll be rolling out an ad campaign soon that is bound to capture some attention (click here to view a sample ad).
As we begin the second year of the Strategy Blog, and our third year in business as Strategic Planning Associates, my colleagues and I feel blessed. By now, according to national data, over 85% of start-up companies formed in 2005 have already folded, so we're grateful to be in position to continue to grow. With your support, we're very much looking forward to the future.
Thank you for following this blog, and please be sure to visit our home site. If you or your company ever need help addressing HR, benefits, or organizational effectiveness issues — or could just use an objective third-party to bounce ideas off — please consider contacting us at info@strategicplanningassociates.com.
We'll be glad to trade ideas with you.
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