Flying Too High

I truly valued the opportunity to commune with the impressive group at the retreat, but I offer a bit of constructive criticism for any next round. The advertised breakthrough thinking never materialized because the discussions were stuck at too high a level. The three propositions were, in fact, part of a single given, which we could have stipulated and moved on to discuss real solutions to the complicated questions we all face. Was it a conference on culture, content or new technology? It was all of the above, but the themes were all tossed into a stew that left many of us feeling as if we had dined on a meal of leftovers from seven years ago. We cannot — collectively or individually — be as clueless as we appeared to be in the various sessions. Everyone in the room no doubt has a project now in the works that addresses some or many of the challenges we face. Yet the discussion never drew those out. Maybe next time. My personal view is that the Greenfield opening, although entertaining (for the improv), went zooming back to the future with the very tired premise that old media is hopelessly lost in the new world. Fact is we have all been living, and maturing, in this new world for a while. Much progress has been made, even by the “old” media. There’s no disputing that much remains to be done, but we’re all digging in — with confidence, not high anxiety. Those at the conference from outside the media business might have been left with quite the opposite impression.