The Hurricane Katrina blame game is well underway. The hearings will make good tabloid television for months to come since there is plenty of failure and responsibility to go around.

The nation's leadership will fail again if they focus too much attention on recriminations and fail to act upon objective recommendations that will improve disaster planning and response.

Very quickly, we hope the rhetoric changes from "Who is responsible for this tragedy?" to "What can we do to make sure this never happens again?" That is when we will all know the rebuilding has begun.

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NASCAR has come a long way since it started its engines on the sands of Daytona nearly 50 years ago. The sport has grown into a multi-billion dollar enterprise with a captive fan base of one quarter of the nation's population. The typical fan -- once thought to be a beer-guzzling hillbilly -- now has a median income of $60,000.

NASCAR has done one heck of a job transforming its reputation. Here are just a few of the things the sport is doing right:

• Brand identification. NASCAR fans identify with and root for not just the team but for the team's corporate sponsors. In fact, NASCAR's ability to push products (and drive up stock prices) has led some Fortune 500 companies to completely abandon sponsorship deals in other sports.
• Accessibility. NASCAR is one sport where fans are actually encouraged to visit drivers in the garage, which is their equivalent of the locker room. Drivers are also accessible to media and never miss an opportunity to mention their corporate sponsor in an interview.
• Emphasis on diversity. NASCAR is definitely trying to bring more diversity to the sport. Former Los Angeles Lakers guard Magic Johnson is heading a diversity initiative for NASCAR. Pop singer Vanessa Williams and American Idol judge Randy Jackson have participated in major NASCAR events this year. The sport is also trying to expand and build tracks in major cities, such as Seattle and Staten Island in New York City.

Businesses can learn a lot from NASCAR's example when it comes to building strong brand equity and consumer loyalty.

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Next time you have a long presentation, try adding a 7th inning stretch where you have everybody stand up and take a 30-second break. The best time is a natural stopping point about three quarters of the way through your presentation. Your audience will be pleasantly surprised, and the break will give you an opportunity to get their attention and set up a strong closing.

P.S. You do not have to imitate Harry Caray singing "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" -- unless you want to.

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Randstad's 2005 Employee Review found that employee morale has dropped to an all-time low. This is also the first time morale has dropped since the company started tracking job satisfaction in 1999.

Only 55 percent of employers perceived employee morale as "good" to "excellent," compared to 70 percent in 2004.

Randstad attributed the drop to a combination of factors:

• The survey indicates that while employees value customer service over cost, the opposite can be said for the employers themselves. Also, with the companies pushing to reduce costs, employees often receive low or no raises. This, coupled with longer hours and greater responsibilities from the push for increased efficiency, has resulted in a restless workforce.
• Job security is also stirring up negativity in the workplace. A decade or so of mass layoffs has made employees feel that they will not remain with the same company for the duration of their careers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, among jobs started by workers when they were 33 to 38 years old, 39 percent ended in less than a year, and 70 percent ended in less than five years.
• Loyalty is a compounding factor. North Carolina State University researchers have demonstrated an exceptionally high positive correlation between employee loyalty and the quality of employee performance. Randstad's survey showed a significant gap between 50 percent of employees who say that they are loyal to their company to only 26 percent who agree that their company is loyal to them.

These challenges speak directly to the relationships between supervisors and the employees they supervise. Employees look to their direct supervisors for leadership, guidance, advice, and information more than any other executive in the company. Companies can make significant improvements in employee morale if they emphasize internal communications that is:

• Candid -- honest and timely communication from supervisors
• Constant -- an ongoing part of the business dialogue rather than one-time "buttons, balloons, and banners" events
• Consequential -- a vital part of every supervisor's job and performance review

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http://www.publicagenda.org

Public Agenda bills itself as an objective explorer of public opinion and producer of education materials for citizens so that they can make more informed decisions. The website offers summaries of public opinion on a number of national issues, including health care, education, poverty, and much more. For each of the major issues, users can quickly research facts and information, view discussion guides covering at least three perspectives on the issue, or access additional national research.

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If a light bulb signifies a creative idea, then Thinkertoys is the electrical current powering that light bulb. Billed as "a handbook of business creativity," the book is filled with hundreds of ideas that any company can use to inspire ideas for improving or growing business.

Michalko has authored several books on creativity. In Thinkertoys, he lays out several key criteria for creativity:

• Emphasize quantity over quality -- the more ideas the better
• "Center" the questions -- changing the question sometimes inspires new ideas
• The attempt is as important as the result -- creativity begets creativity

Thinkertoys has two sections of creativity techniques: one section of linear techniques for the logical side of our brain and one section of intuitive techniques for the emotional side of our brain. Both sets of techniques are equally valuable for solving business problems.

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