For years, I've played a game while reading the newspaper.
It's called, "Where's the important story?"
In many cases, it is not even close to being on the front page. [Pages seven and nine, for some reason, deserve special scrutiny.] As you weave past descriptions of celebrity trivia and rehab efforts, local political disputes that have been largely manufactured by the journalists, and the usual accounts of who's up and who's down in the corridors of power, you'll find almost casual mention of an event that deserves far more attention. After a day or two, that story may claw its way to the front pages, but initially it is relegated to the back seats, serving as filler next to the tire ads.
Dennis Prager carries this game even further. He suggests dropping to the ninth paragraph in a news story to find the important stuff. I've tried his technique and found it has merit. Are the journalism schools training students to put the tabloid material at the beginning and the dry stuff toward the end? Do they even realize that the dry stuff is the real meat?
A similar technique can be applied to organizations. How often is enormous attention given to subjects that are of little true importance while the important shifts are regarded as sidelines? Years ago, the executives in Detroit scoffed at early reports about the extraordinary sales of Japanese cars in California.
It wasn't important, they reasoned. You know how crazy those Californians are.
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