yknot

In my area, the private schools are open and the public schools are mostly online. Parents have migrated their students to private schools, including parochial, in order to have in person schooling.

OK forget about Pope Francis. The Cardinal in my archdiocese hasn't been hiding under a rock. There is plenty for him to talk about that has nothing to do with the abuse scandals.

You are getting hysterical. No one is proposing Mosby talk about abuse. Mosby needs to motivate the troops. Mosby can also talk about all the aspects of scouting that have nothing to do with abuse in a controlled setting. There is nothing to fear. Nothing to stop him. Much to be gained over this silence.

I think you keep misinterpreting what I am saying. I am not advocating putting Mosby on CNN. But plenty of CEOs are able to still get messages across in a controlled setting. I've been in corporations during crises and you can put your CEO in front of an internal lens -- whether that's a camera or in print -- to communicate messages to the troops. Invariably, these messages will be leaked to mainstream press. No hostile questions. It's really not that hard.

You are responding without reading. The war is not against the victims or the attorneys. The fight is countering the non stop onslaught of negative publicity with proactive positive messages, of which BSA has many. Let's take the Catholic Church. Lawsuits have never shut Pope Francis up.

Embattled organizations that survive crises fight for their lives in the court of public opinion. The fear of making things worse is what is paralyzing the leadership. It's going to paralyze itself into nonexistence. If BSA does not start laying some groundwork to counter all the negative publicity, it won't matter what the bankruptcy judge leaves it with.

I don't think ParkMan advocated "war" , that was me. And my use of the word "war" was not aimed at attorneys or victims but as staking out a battlefield in the realm of public opinion. We have ceded too much ground to negative coverage. The program aspect of scouting is a deep mine of positive stories, yet we do almost nothing in a coordinated or institutional way to promote any of it. That's where the war needs to be waged. If we wait until the bankruptcy is final, we will be too late. We will be swamped by another wave of negative publicity -- because there is no good publicity that is going

Legal and PR teams are almost always in conflict. Good leadership knows how to weigh the advice of both because it has a bigger job than staying out of court. It has to also ensure the long term success of the organization and that generally includes retaining as much public good will and trust as it can, especially in the face of a crisis. You can't always do that by listening to lawyers because sometimes good legal advice is bad business advice. The ongoing damage to BSA's reputation is almost fatal and needs to countered. The abuse scandal has paralyzed the organization in a way that it can

Everybody makes mistakes. Pharma companies produce bad medicines. Car companies produce inferior products. But companies with integrity own up to mistakes in an upfront way, communicate about them, and somehow convince the public that they are still better off with access to medicines or vehicles because of the overall good they do in their lives. That's what leaders do. BSA has had no such advocate. I'm not defending anything wrong that was done. But if you believe along with the lawyers that the world is better off without scouting, then yes, accept the silence of our leadership and prepar

I worked in PR as a consultant at the highest levels for Fortune 100 top executives for big pharma, big auto, big energy, big tech. This is not how it is played. You don't wait, you get out first. You control the message. You are not passive or silent. Any corporate level executive, any upper management at even a mid level business, would know this. It is inexplicable how passive and mute BSA has been.

Yes, yes and yes. We are getting the pants beaten off of us by more sophisticated operators. We have got to learn how to chart our own course.

War looks like leadership. And that's how you win. You mention Mosby. Perfect. Where is our leader? BSA named its reorg ruminations The Churchill Project. What leadership skill did its namesake wield better than any other WWII leader? Words. He communicated, he inspired, he motivated. Where is Mosby? Where is his appeal to the troops to fight the good fight? It has nothing to do with waging war on victims. It's simply about reminding everyone what is good about scouting and why we need to do our best at the unit level to keep it going. On this he has been virtually silent.

The problem is this is war. Stop fussing about how fair or unfair it is, or how we used to do things, or parsing out the legal angles and simply figure out how to win it. No one at BSA is a war time leader.

I wouldn't do that. Just because something happened 50 years ago doesn't mean it can't be verified even if the perpetrator is dead. I believe in a reasonable look back process because forensic investigation can validate many claims. Also, the vast majority of the claims -- about 85% -- were made by men in their mid forties to early fifties so the reality is that many perpetrators or at least corroborating witnesses are certainly possibly alive.

Most of the people who I know who have been "first" at something are oblivious to being "firsts". Or, if they are aware, they are embarrassed or aggravated by it. For the most part, they've simply been people who were driven enough by passion or ability that they succeeded in overcoming barriers where others before them had failed. Some of these girl Eagle Scouts no doubt have pushy parents or some hubris of their own, but for the most part they seem to be just more great scouts. I don't have any issue with BSA making a big deal of this because it's good PR and will help market the organizatio

Except I'd gladly pay 45 cents for a thin mint or a snickerdoodle. Would like some right now. Not so popcorn.

Visiting the American cemetery at Normandy with my dad who was a WWII vet was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. The rows of headstones, mostly of young people, were sobering. Driving down the coast and looking up at the cliffs they climbed up under fire left me speechless. I look at my teenage sons, and think of my dad. He couldn't wait to enlist, and signed up at 17 the day after he graduated high school. They are capable of the same, but thank God this generation hasn't needed to ask it of them.

I don't know. I think the average suburban kid in a stable home is well protected from physical harm, but psychologically I think society dangles them over cliffs. In many ways, kids are not allowed to be kids any more. Mentally they are pushed into adult situations and adult stress loads. The attraction for this kind of literature and media may be that it presents kids with characters who are able to survive in chaotic, dangerous worlds where adults are no longer in control or can't be trusted. Whatever it is, there is definitely something going on though and it's disturbing.

I was aghast when Hunger Games made it onto our district's 4th grade summer reading list. We're a long way from Lassie.

That's kind of pervasive. Most Young Adult literature and media present children as heroic figures in dangerous mythical or dystopian settings, resolving crises that adults can't solve or can't do so alone. In this case, I'm not sure if you watched the video, but the scouts and the media weren't exemplifying. The scouts were mostly aghast at what happened to a 14 year old. All they were doing was honoring and remembering him. They certainly weren't saying they wanted to go to war.

It's a big country so there's lots of things many of us have never seen, but I assure you do exist. You can downvote it, but this is the trend. Around me if you try to take your kids door to door no matter how good the cause someone will call DYFS on you. Townships absolutely do not want kids going door to door. COVID is only making it more the norm for any kind of door knock activity.

I can tell you in my town that there is an exemption for charitable but you still need to obtain a no cost license and they will not grant a license to anyone under the age of 18. That is a model ordinance in effect in multiple municipalities here.

Some do but not all. There are also municipal laws that can preclude this as well. Additionally, at least in my state, school districts will not allow any affiliated organization, like a PTA or athletic associations, to incorporate any kind of door to door nonprofit solicitation by kids.

Door to door sales by minors are illegal in many states. Some allow kids over the age or 14 or 16, some of those only with a permit. From I've seen, scouting is mostly oblivious of this because it continually pushes door to door popcorn sales. In some states it also includes solicitation so that would preclude scouting for food.

Unless your tent buddy is hiding snacks you are definitely safer with two. But a tent buddy is also just safer in general for lots of reasons, especially with kids.