Every Company Needs a Good Map

All last week I could not tear myself away from the back and forth on television or from visiting political blogs long enough to write a single entry. What drugs are to Amy, politics seems to be for me. Some reports even predict Winehouse will die by March of this year! My dealers go by the names of Rasmussen, Fox, Blitzer, and Matthews. I am hooked on RCP,  DNC, and RNC. Perhaps my friends need to perform an intervention. Even writing this blog entry has given me an excuse to peruse the materials put forth by the pushers.

I find it fascinating to watch the fluidity of momentum. One day it is Hillary, the next Obama, but don't count Edwards out. On the republican side, Huckabee is unstoppable one week and in fourth place just a few weeks later. Today it is Romney, tomorrow it will be McCain, but don't count Rudy out. With all of this, and cable TV to feed my addiction I have been trapped in a never-ending spiral of political whirlwinds. (Thank goodness the Florida Primary is tomorrow - I'm planning on entering rehab after "Super Duper Tuesday" I promise. I will call Dr. Drew right after the results are final.) 

I try to rationalize my addiction by telling myself that there are lessons to be learned here about leadership. Yet, I find it hard to see where a businessperson would want to have to campaign for their job. I suppose in a way we do but it is usually subtle. We do have to convince others to follow us. In many cases people can be forced to follow a leader but that is often less effective and counterproductive.

If you try to look at the marketing sales aspect of campaigning it seems to me to be even more difficult to justify the time spent analyzing the races. I can't imagine how a Marketing manager could deal with the sudden and often dramatic changes in popularity. Momentum is a great thing but in the retail world it often takes longer to build because there are so few "election" events. One might see Christmas as a primary where toys battle to be the "must have" toy of the season. Or perhaps the meetings like CES, Leipzig Games Convention, or Detroit Auto Show provide a brief opportunity for free publicity but they do not come close to the non-stop attention the US Presidential race receives.

Often we see many business leaders complaining about the short-term vision of Wall Street. Compared to the political field, that changes daily, quarterly reports are long-term statements! How would you handle the constant barrage of conflicting statements and claims about your product or business?