The game of business can be funny. Not in a humorous sort of way, necessarily, rather with irony.
In the journalism business, and from this editor’s desk, I fight for and strive to provide information as completely and widely as possible.
Additionally, I’ve worked in management in a company playing the Great Game of Business’ open-book management model for the past year. To a man, we’ve been forced each day to lace up the shoes our ownership has worn the past 30 years – complete with worn holes, the occasional stumble and the constant entrepreneurial bounce in the step.
We’ve been on a crash course to think and act like owners, with the company’s financials in full view, guiding our decisions as the Great Game theory instructs.
The irony arrives through a collision of my worlds as a journalist and a department manager (now an owner, in theory). Let’s just say journalists aren’t necessarily bred to successfully run businesses. Look no further than the newspaper industry’s slow uptake to how the Internet would transform the flow of information. I’m reminded of the phrase author Stewart Brand coined in 1984: “Information wants to be free. It also wants to be expensive.”
As we’re continually making strategic business decisions for Springfield Business Journal – just as you or your trusted managers do in your companies – we say goodbye to the After 5 page. The April 4 piece on professionals who attended baseball spring training in sunny Florida is the last installment, for now.
The page with the tag line, “It’s why we work,” launched in July 2006 to reveal professionals’ hobbies and personalities and cater to their interests outside of their working hours. It started with Springfield chef James Clary showcasing three recipes to create a summer spread for backyard entertaining, moved to local and regional art collections and exhibits, and followed businesspeople on their family vacations, volunteer efforts, fishing excursions and international travels, as well as into their backyards, home theater rooms, dens and wine cellars. It featured reviews of restaurants, wine, books, artwork and theater. In short, After 5 connected the movers and shakers in our business community on levels outside of the boardroom and brought to life the things that motivated them to work as hard as they did.
I’m saddened to see the nearly five-year run come to an end. But much like the page’s content – nonessential to doing business – After 5 is a luxury for the pages of SBJ. Sure, there were connections to economic development packed in, be they in tourism or the arts, and those key topics will continue to be covered in news.
Certainly, as a journalist in a niche field, that of business news, I hold dear the funnel through which all news matters flow and understand the value of vetted information. I am grateful for that lens, as I think it has eased the difficulties of making decisions such as the merits of content, and now choices that affect the longevity of the company and those employees who are in the game for the long haul.
With each issue, we track the percentages of editorial content and advertising content. We measure the revenue per page against the expenses of writers, editors, photographers, office overhead, printing and mailing. Springfield Business Journal is a for-profit venture and intends to serve a unique demographic for a very long time.
The change allows our newsroom to sharpen our mission of providing comprehensive local business news. Next week, we’ll launch a page 4 feature called “Who owns the block?” dissecting property ownership around the city. This feature will replace Fast Facts.
We are working smarter from the top of the organization on down. We simply had to make a tough decision. That’s what businesspeople do.
Editor Eric Olson can be reached at eolson@sbj.net.[[In-content Ad]]
