I’ve loved working in public media, but I gotta say there’s a lot of downtrodden and morose people out there just barely hanging on in this industry as it (and all media) undergoes tremendous changes. At least it’s felt that way to me.
But not at NPR. And good for them! They’re having a good enough time to laugh at themselves and share the jokes with us.
Others might consider this kind of tomfoolery a waste of resources, but based on my past experience in large companies, this kind of video is the mark of a company that’s firing on all cylinders and is being led by someone with a grounded sense of reality (not to mention a sense of humor).
There’s an unstated corporate culture message here: We work hard, we play hard; we enjoy our work and you should, too. I wouldn’t mind hearing — and seeing — that corporate culture at the office.
When you and your team are grounded like this, you’re much more likely to make good business decisions. Sadly, I’ve worked around some people in public media that take themselves way too seriously. For some, the media crisis times we find ourselves in are beyond our control. While no one asked to have their world disrupted, to believe you’re at the mercy of these times is debilitating and will lead, over the coming years to many public media failures.
So try a sense of humor. Work hard and play hard. And enjoy the video. I SAID ENJOY IT.
Note to any NPR web editors: I tried to use your embed code, but it wouldn’t work – the video wouldn’t show. So I’ve had to re-host the source video. If you get the embedding working again, let me know — I’d prefer to use your embed than host the video directly.
Gravity Medium 