06.11.18- Old Habits Die Hard
I am disappointed in the Brevard School Board and an ill-advised decision they made in the process to hire our next Superintendent. They have wasted $14,000 for one of two reasons: their staff is incompetent or it can’t be trusted.
The board hired the Florida School Board Association to process the candidates’ applications for Superintendent. Why? Some of Brevard’s top staff would be applying for the job.
Either the board did not trust the HR staff to process the applications fairly or they can’t be trusted to be competent…or did they get bad advice?
All staff would have done, all the FSBA is doing, is compiling the list of applicants and their submissions for the board. There is no evaluation of candidates or interviews. It’s clerical work pure and simple.
This is $14, 000 up in smoke. Old habits die hard, and not nearly fast enough.
06.12.18- New Coke All Over Again
There are iconic brands in American culture: Coke, McDonalds, Nike and others that at the mere mention of the name, playing of a jingle or sight of a logo there is instant recognition and familiarity.
If you have that status why in the world would you mess with that? Oh, if your business changes and you are now something completely different than you once were, sure, rebranding would be necessary.
But if you are known for what you are, own it, proclaim it and be proud of it.
The International House of Pancakes missed the point on this one. The name and the logo is has changed. Inverted, the “p” is now a “b” and IHOP is now just another burger joint as if we didn’t have enough of those already.
This will go by the way of New Coke and it should. IHOP, be who you are, be proud. Breakfast is good. And if you happen to have a good burger, advertise, but don’t kill your reputation and your brand in the process!
06.13.18- Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!
We have been Gomer Pyled! It was at the hands of the Brevard School Board as they met to whittle down the list of candidates for Superintendent.
Instead of whittling, they took an ax to the list and chopped off every name, save one. Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!
The board decided to discount every name but that of Mark Mullins, the current Chief Operating Officer of Brevard Schools and Desmond Blackburn’s right hand man.
And like Gomer Pyle, the board’s logic became evident as you see the end of the story. All 5 board members had Mullins on their list. He was the only one of twelve potentials that was. The board wants continuity with the switch from Blackburn to the new Superintendent. They have a salary range that should be attractive to an internal candidate.
So, surprise or not, I get this decision and for now agree with it. Now, it’s up to Mullins, Superintendent Mullins.
06.14.18- Florida Tech, so far, so good!
Given that in the last couple of years Florida Tech’s number one and number two quarterbacks have been arrested, the most recent of these the #2 last Friday, was for dealing marijuana.
To its credit Florida Tech has handled this incident well. There was an initial suspension while they investigated the incident and then dismissal from the team and revocation of his scholarship once the details were clear. His status as a continuing student is also in jeopardy.
There are, however, a few other concerns: If DUI property damage and drug dealing come from your team “leaders” what other problems exist in the culture of FIT athletics? #2 identified some of his customers as teammates. How is that being handled? What is the overall culture around FIT sports? And, lastly, what’s being done to improve that?
Florida Tech has a good start on this one, it remains to be seen how serious they are about dealing with the real problem.
06.15.18- Winning isn’t everything
On Friday’s show we talked about a Minnesota high school baseball player who gets the import of sports. He also gets priorities even better.
This kid was a pitcher and his 3 hit shutout was about to propel his team into the state playoff quarter finals. It was a huge moment. There was one out to get. He got it on a called third strike as the opposing batter watched the ball split the strike zone without a swing.
The pitcher’s teammates began the celebration. The pitcher didn’t. There was something more important to do. Instead of clutching the catcher as most would expect, this pitcher went to the batter’s box.
The batter he struck out to advance his high school team was a longtime friend. They had played together on teams since Little League. His victory was at his friend’s expense. Ty Koehn hugged his friend. That friendship was more important.
My guess is that friend celebrated for Ty as well. It’s what sport begs us to do.