Please Help by Dave Knapik

“We’ve already tried that, it didn’t work.”

The board member smiled back at the organization’s marketing director and thought: “you may have tried it, but did you do it right?”

The marketing committee meeting was approaching its conclusion and nothing had been accomplished. The first 10 minutes were spent on waiting for people to arrive and picking through a box lunch, 15 minutes on the marketing director bringing everyone up to speed, and the last 30 minutes spent on people offering up ideas on how to help the organization “build awareness”—none of which was focused and all of which put the marketing director and her half-time assistant on edge, fearful that they were about to have a lot of tasks dumped on them.

The board member glanced at the clock on the wall and thought about the important presentation she needed to prepare back at the office. She was not sure why she agreed to sit on this committee, other than the fact that she has 25-years in brand management and product marketing and thought she could help the organization out. She tried to push the meeting forward: “What are our next steps?”

Recognizing they were out of time the marketing director replied: “We should schedule our next meeting?”

As she was leaving the building, the board member ran into the organization’s new executive director. “How was the marketing committee meeting?” he asked.

“I’m not sure I’m the right person for this job” she replied candidly.

“Did something happen?”

“No, nothing happened.” She paused. “I have so much on my plate right now at work; I am going to be out of the country quite a bit over the next twelve months so it going to be hard for me to be active.”

“We can really use your expertise. You have so much to offer.”

“Really? It didn’t seem that way to me” she thought to herself “and by the way, I want the last hour of my life back.”

She could see the concern and disappointment on his face. She smiled at him and said: “I will help you find a replacement.”