Physicians who live in glass houses...

I was reminded this morning by a dear and respected friend of mine to wake up and smell the coffee.

In case you are wondering, the wake-up call was courtesy of an industry veteran.  She (we will call her Sam) possesses not one, but two Master's degrees – one in business administration and one in e-commerce.  Sam also possesses more than two decades of premium marketing experience with leading global insurance and financial institutions. Sam is brilliant.  In fact, her only weakness (as I have observed over the past 20 years) is her occasional willingness to underestimate her own talent and potential.

The wake-up call came in the form of an innocent (and sarcastic) e-mail that read:

I thought you were switching providers so you could update and redesign [your website]? What gives. No new clients since 2007???

OUCH!  That really hurt; but as my father often observed, the truth often does. Sure enough, our website, which sucks, is so outdated that I refuse to even look at it anymore.

We have successfully planned its overhaul for nearly three years now. Developed a new site map, produced new content and functionality, developed visual and copy concepts, made accommodations to optimize the new site, even talked with several sources to begin the process.

But there it sits, my personal albatross, threatened with extinction, but still alive.

All the while, I have the audacity to preach to others – individuals and organizations – the vital importance of effective communication. Someone ought to  hit me upside the head with a frying pan. Oh, wait, Sam already did that.

Okay, so I am awake. And I am making a public commitment to kill the current Sweeney site; it has already crashed, now it shall burn. And staying with my bird analogy (or is it a metaphor), we will all watch it arise anew like the Phoenix from the ashes.

Thank you Sam.  I am awake. You can put the frying pan away.