By Glenn Rolfe
The Leader & State Register
The game of life has its winners and losers.
In the “weighting” game, big losers are actually big winners.
In Sussex County – and throughout Delaware for that matter – the wait to seriously address childhood obesity and related diseases including diabetes is over and the mission to make Delaware’s kids the “healthiest in America” is well under way.
From the publicity angle targeting promotion and awareness, The Leader & State Register has been a team member front and center, providing “success” stories and updates on ongoing efforts of the Sussex Child Health Promotion Coalition, Nemours Health & Prevention Services and Nemours’ healthy lifestyle imitative – 5-2-1 Almost None.
Tentacles of this campaign that promotes the benefits of healthy nutrition and exercise have extended throughout the Sussex County community, which school districts, child care agencies, and civic organizations part of the growing membership that totals several hundred.
Coverage in The Leader & State Register has spanned the gamut – from localized garden plot projects providing fresh produce to neighborhoods and schools to large-scale events, such as “Healthy Kids Day” spectacles at Trap Pond State Park and the Delaware State Fair where thousands of children and parents received the 5-2-1-AN message.
Also showcased were some of the losers who are big winners.
The LSR has featured miraculous weight-loss stories – Dee Tunstall, a principal Phillis Wheatley Middle School in the Woodbridge School District, and a local television cameraman Chuck Regner, or “Chopper Chuck” to thousands of kids and television viewers.
These stories focused on their decisions and efforts to shed more 100 pounds and their commitment to promoting 5-2-1-AN, which advocates eating five fresh fruits and vegetables daily, no more than two hours of idle “recreational” screen or TV time per day, at least one hour of physical activity and virtually elimination of sugar intake through soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened drinks and beverages.
Initial data and feedback indicates this healthy living crusade, launched about two years ago, is making a difference.
And publicity and public awareness efforts of the LSR have not gone un-noticed.
The newspaper was among the Sussex Child Health Promotion Coalition’s first award recipients, acknowledging the Leader & State Register’s ongoing and continuous effort to promote healthy living and programs and initiatives geared to encouraging adoption of cultural and lifestyle change.
There isn’t a newspaper anywhere in the country that isn’t suffering financially these days. Banks are in disarray, the general economy is soft and advertising sales are sluggish --- yet newsprint prices continue to increase.
Like everybody else in the industry, we’ve had to take some extraordinary steps recently to stay financially viable. I thought I should explain two significant ones:
First, we have reduced our frequency of publication in Cambridge (Maryland) from five days per week to two days per week. It has been apparent for some time that Dorchester County was simply too small to support a daily publication. It was something that we could not longer afford to ignore. The new Dorchester Banner (Wednesdays) and Eastern Shore Banner (Fridays) will be much more successful than the old Daily Banner --- and will provide significant profit relief for the overall company. This was tough to do, but necessary.
We have also been scrambling to reduce costs in all other parts of the company. And since people and paper are our two largest expenses, our latest round of cost-cutting has included some personnel terminations. Again, this was tough to do, but necessary.
For years, we have bragged that Independent has never resorted to mass layoffs. This is a boast that we can no longer make. In fact, it may have been one “value” that was misguided. Although we have always believed in making performance-based terminations, our “no layoffs” tradition may have sent the wrong signals. Some people thought that it meant they could get away with poor performance and still not be terminated.
Well, no longer. In today’s competitive situation, nobody can be complacent. Every company and every individual has to hustle to make sure we are adding value. It’s up to each of us to be a “sail” that helps the company make whatever changes are necessary to continue moving forward. Anybody who becomes an “anchor” instead of a “sail” can expected to be cut loose. And any company that tolerates “anchors” simply won’t survive.
We are going to survive, and thrive. This means being more aggressive than we have been in the past about “weeding the garden” of weak performers. If you’re in the top 75% of producers at your location, you have nothing to worry about. If you’re in the bottom 25%, you had better do something to move up --- or face the possibility of being moved out.
This is the way the real world works, and a small company like Independent has no business trying to pretend otherwise. To the extent that we have tolerated poor performance in the past, we have penalized the vast majority of our people who are hard-working and effective. This company will be more successful with this new attitude, and better able to reward our top producers.
We’ll still be fair and compassionate, but we will no longer avoid the tough decisions that must be made. Thanks, everybody, for your understanding and support. Together, we will succeed.
(Joe Smyth is the board chair and CEO of Independent Newspapers, Inc. He can be reached by email at JoeSmyth@newszap.com.)
