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Mark Mays: 'We Will Succeed Together'
SAN ANTONIO -- January 2, 2008: Clear Channel Communications CEO Mark Mays rang in the new year with a letter to employees outlining a strategy for the recession year ahead.
Mays told employees that the recession may mean the end of "once-strong competitors" and that the obstacles ahead "will beat many." He writes, "There will be obstacles that competitors and colleagues alike will find insurmountable. That, simply, cannot be us."
The text of Mays' New Year's Day memo:
Good morning.
Beginnings are a gift. They are an opportunity to put past disappointments behind us. They are a chance to tap new resolve. They allow us the prospect for renewal.
As we head into 2009, we will need to take advantage of all of this and more.
There are two generations now in the workforce that have yet to feel the effects of a significant recession in their working lives. While there certainly have been recessions in specific business sectors over the past 20 years, what we are looking at in 2009 is broad, deep, and sustained.
These types of recessions can be brutal things. They force tough decisions every day. The demand focus and clarity all the time. And they test our resolve ... regularly.
So what's the best strategy for this environment? Well, it's threefold.
1. Focus. Our ability to focus as a company and as individuals on our most productive priorities will define our success in 2009. Because focus is the ability to spot change -- whether a new opportunity or a potentially negative change in customer behaviors -- and respond to it rapidly. Focus is the ability to get the job done amidst the uncertainty and distraction that a recession can bring. And ultimately, focus gives us the opportunity to succeed when others fail.
2. Resilience. The next year may well see once-strong competitors disappear. Recessions also up-end cherished ways of doing business. And as we've already seen throughout the industry, recessions drive change that is fast and hard. Through all of this, it will be the ability to see the glass half full -- to make the choice to focus on the opportunities instead of the losses -- to keep coming back until interest is converted into action, that will define the winners in 2009. We will face continued challenges in the new year -- and our ability to handle them with grace and resilience has never been more important.
3. Determination. This recession will beat many. There will be obstacles that competitors and colleagues alike will find insurmountable. That, simply, cannot be us. We have always been the company that leads our industries out of the difficulties. We have always been the company that outperforms the pack. In 2009, that same determination that has historically made us strong must sustain us again.
So as we celebrate this new beginning, please also know that you have the focus and resilience and determination of the entire executive team alongside you. You have the best resources in the industry at your disposal. You have the confidence and the support of everyone in this organization.
And you have my personal confidence that we will succeed together.
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