FEDERAL SECTOR REPORT

WORKSTYLES OF THE CORPORATE MARINES

Engineers prescribe how frequently you should service electric motors and compressors, but guidance about the maintenance of human resources is seldom available. This is particularly true for the "Corporate Marines," the troops who are responsible for assaulting revenue targets, establishing beachheads in new markets, meeting impossible deadlines for proposals and presentations, achieving sales and fundraising goals, and keeping the organization fueled with m-o-n-e-y.

I am not writing about the individuals who occasionally help with a proposal or the managers who sometimes make oral presentations to shake the money tree. Rather, my focus is on the troops who do this kind of work every month of the year. Some are employees. Others like me are hired guns who work for clients on a contract basis.

In our line of work, there are few 9-to-5 jobs. The environment is closer to that experienced by battlefield emergency room personnel or fire fighters. When things are hot, you just keep working. Hard work is not hazardous to our health, but how we cope with stress can be. For some of us, our corporate cultures and individual work styles tend to be self-destructive. It is as if we have embraced a TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH mentality, where crews are expendable. Indeed, there is even a temptation to feel noble about giving ourselves for the Greater Good of the mission. You can almost hear Wagner's "Twilight of the Gods" in the background as the tragic drama unfolds and the heroes sacrifice themselves to destiny.

Many of the younger crew members, such as the Generation X'ers, are more pragmatic about life, careers, and health. Crowd them too much, and they will likely tell you to kiss off.

The problem seems to be with us gray-haired wonders who grew up with too much of John Wayne, Alan Ladd, and Audie Murphy. The war movies and B-westerns are still alive in our heads, and we're playing out the drama in our conference rooms and production departments.

QUESTIONABLE PAYOFF

The big problem with THEY WERE EXPENDABLE scripts is that your troops are not expendable. Particularly in the 1990's when human capital and intellectual property is more important to an organization than financial capital, your troops are vitally important.

Revenue growth usually occurs through a series of winning events. If you waste your troops on one event, you diminish your capacity to win future events.

OLD DOGS & NEW TRICKS

I have motivation for this foray into our private lives because we who write proposals, develop presentations, and generate revenues for contractors and grantees often face a great deal of stress, and there is usually a temptation to compromise our health. In early January, I vacationed in the hospital for two days, and the doctors advised me either to change my lifestyle or buy property at a cemetery. Since that wasn't the kind of real estate investment I had in mind, I opted for the lifestyle change: OUT with smoking, drinking, and overeating. IN with exercise, fruits, vegetables, fiber, and treatment for sleep apnea. Kiss salt and fatty foods goodbye.

All of this is a major culture shock for a Hoosier clodhopper whose first full-time writing job was for a heavy construction magazine where EVERYONE smoked and the publisher sported a bottle of Cabin Still on the conference table at 8 in the morning.

During the 1960s, we invariably sustained our proposal-writing binges with huge, greasy hamburgers and french fries. Oral presentations to government customers would usually be followed by trips to the bar (often with the contracting officer in tow). One vice president for marketing did his strategy sessions at Archibald's, a topless joint.

Of course, there were casualties like Ray, who could write a proposal on anything from technical support for NASA missions to contractor-operated Job Corps centers. Between the flights of brilliant writing were drunken days and weeks that kept his family's life in turmoil. Death put an end to that hell.

We had grown up on black-and-white movies where even the family physician smoked and drunk driving made good comedy. The Epoch of Flat Abs and Mothers Against Drunk Driving had not yet arrived.

But old dogs can learn new tricks, even if their abs aren't always transformed into steel. My blood pressure is down from 152/96 to 120/80. I've shed 70 pounds. I have more energy.

FUN & GAMES

People who do a lot of proposals, marketing, and fundraising face a great deal of pressure for many reasons. First, there are the impossible deadlines. Second, there are usually obstacles to overcome--whether the prospective customer, the availability of technical information, lack of cooperation from personnel, or inadequate production resources. Third, there is the pressure to get results: "Bring home the bacon, or perish."

It's high time that we begin promoting a healthier environment. We would do well to adopt an OLYMPICS athlete paradigm to replace the TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH mentality. Mental alertness, nutrition, physical fitness, and daily training are all important. Olympic gold is won partly because of lifestyle--one that requires practice every day.

Like the triathlon, a competitive proposal or presentation is grueling, and it requires an attitude during the months of preparation. Here are some guidelines for an Olympic paradigm:

   1. Pursue a winning lifestyle every day.
   2. Laughter is permitted. So are smiles.
   3. Care about what you do, but taking yourself too seriously will slow you down.
   4. SNAFU happens, but you can often win even when the world isn't perfect.
   5. Set up an exercise room and jogging area at work.
   6. Take mental health breaks several times a day, and go fly a kite, play tennis, or have a picnic.
   7. Celebrate and enjoy life today, even if you work 12 or 14 hours.
   8. Do some of your work at home and telecommute.
   9. Be nice to a colleague who looks frazzled.
  10. Find a fast-food place that delivers healthy stuff instead of high-fat, high-sodium pizza, burgers and chips.
  11. Conduct more of your meetings in sweats or jogging gear to avoid suits filled with hot air.
  12. Do something loving for yourself every day.

If you follow these guides, or your own variation of them, you can establish a corporate culture where winning and excellence is a paradigm as light-hearted and fun as child's play.

Of course business is serious. Yet, the somber and self-sacrificing do not necessarily win competitions for contracts and grants.

So cheer up, and let's have a blast.

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