As Springfield Business Journal begins its 35th year in publication next week, I am pondering the events of that first summer and first edition on July 22, 1980.
Volume 1, No. 1 struggled to be born during those hot and humid weeks preceding its debut. My feelings encompassed relief that it was in the mail at last, pride that the newspaper was now tangible, and more than a little fear about readers’ reaction and the uncharted journey ahead.
It was more than a decade later, when the SBJ staff was large and strong enough to retreat for a day of brainstorming and strategic planning, that our mission and values were clarified.
The founding members, and I, as the original and sole staffer, were certain about our goal from the outset: We would be “the Ozarks’ pulse,” monitoring the business and economic climate of southwest Missouri, and serving the business and professional communities.
Although I did not have enough training in business, or even journalism, I knew I could report public records, which were not readily available at the time. I knew I could report People in the News (the forerunner of Newsmakers), the who-is-doing-what-and-where pages that to this day are at the heart of the business journal. I also knew I could report on every hole in the ground and brick being laid around town. SBJ readers still want to be in the know.
Knowledge is power, we determined, and our readers needed to be aware of and understand the impact of the developments around them in order to make good decisions for the future of their organizations. We are still convinced that businesspeople need and want these elements, and this guides our work every day.
I wanted to reassure myself, too, by reporting on developing organizations and real estate that the Springfield area was growing. Because I knew as Springfield grew, SBJ’s viability would be secured, as well.
With those first few issues, I learned I am a painfully prideful person. I was keenly aware our newspaper was not good enough. I knew we had the potential to be so much more. To this day, I do not want to look back on the early years of publication, even though we have carefully bound each issue between hard covers. But it was a beginning, and a beginning we eventually found a way to sustain to this day. And I am personally and extremely proud in this respect, even though we all know our work is never done.
Editorial staff members recently uncovered SBJ’s first, and quite awkward, Web page from 1998 and reported their reactions in a column. “I don’t want to go back!” I cried out. And it’s true, I am much happier now.
These days, we have experts in every aspect of journalism serving on our staff. More importantly, they are prideful people, too. We all want to be the best we can be as persons with God-given potentials, as journalists, as advertising, marketing and circulation executives, graphic designers, photographers and events and business managers. Whether digital guru, editorial intern or publisher, we all agonize over every typo, every dissatisfied reader. We examine and re-examine processes and procedures in the wake of any glitch during our growing list of events. And we congratulate ourselves for jobs well done and celebrate our wins, too. We ring the office bell, shout, clap and stamp on the floor when new business comes in, and when we are recognized for excellence in design and journalism.
At the top of SBJ’s list of expressed company values is “quality of our products.” We value our customers – readers and advertisers – and this community. We value cooperation, honesty, service, confidentiality, flexibility and productivity. A sense of accomplishment in our work, as well as loyalty to each other and the company, are extremely important to us. We believe in action, not lip service.
The company’s mission statement encompasses all of the above, but it is long and a bit cumbersome. Bottom line, our motto is Pride in Publishing.
Economic gyrations and the digital revolution have wrought gut-wrenching and dramatic changes in publishing, and all of our businesses. But for the SBJ staff, our values are our rocks.
Dianne Elizabeth Osis is the founder, president and chairwoman of SBJ Publishing Inc. She may be reached at delizabeth@sbj.net.
