Writing Boots

On communication, professional and otherwise.

How to use a burning platform

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As corporate speeches go, Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler's talk on Monday at the Economic Club of Chicago was a barn burner.

He used the urgency of the economic crisis to issue a call for national healthcare reform and make an admission that drug companies have little credibility on the subject:

"A belief that our prices are too high, that we run misleading advertising, and that we care more about playing golf with doctors than about helping them understand our medicines—all of this has earned our industry a reputation near the bottom of all American institutions."

Kindler went on to lay out how Pfizer plans to regain credibility—and how a reformed pharmaceutical industry can contribute to healthcare reform.

Have a look, communicators. Then go out and do likewise!

Download Speech–Pfizer

At Morgan Stanley, they’re printing euphemisms

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In an internal conference call last week, Morgan Stanley co-president James Gorman doled it out and told them what to call it.

"There will be a retention award. Please do not call it a bonus. It is not a bonus. It is
an award. And it recognizes the importance of keeping our team in place
as we go through this integration."

You can hear the audio here.

The best prayed plans

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While we all wait for the stimulus package to pass and save our bacon, we should know that, at least in one mid-sized Midwestern city, equally elaborate plans are being laid.

A flyer from a Joliet, Ill. preacher woman is headlined, "It's Time To Pray, People."

(Can I get an amen?)

The text reads as follows:

In the ladder part of 2008, the Lord placed "Cities on Assignment" on my mind as an assignment for churches and individuals within cities, to unite for a time of prayer, intercession and fasting. We can no longer afford to fight our spiritual enemy standing along. We need to network together to combat the enemies in our cities. The mandate is: Divide your city into four sections, Northside, Southside, Eastside and Westside and begin to pray. Then each church and/or individuals located on their side of town will be responsible for a prayer watch and a prayer time. All around the world many organizations are merging to fulfill a common goal, why not the body of Christ. The good part of about this assignment is, it doesn't require everyone to meet in a certain building to accomplish this task. Pastors can assign and encourage various prayer teams rotation time each week, which ever is best. If you are up to the assignment, email information regarding your city, state and which part of town you reside, north, south etc. and give a prayer time. This is for individuals and churches.

Prayer Watch Mandate Assignments

Churches and individuals on the—Northside will pray from 6am-9am.
Churches and individuals on the—Southside will pray from 12 midnight to 3am.
Churches and individuals on the Eastside will pray from 9am-12 midnight.
Churches and individuals on the Westside will pray from 3am-6am

Among other questions: Why does the Eastside bear so great a percentage of the burden? God's schedulers work in mysterious ways.