John A. Daly - Advocacy: Championing Ideas and Influencing Others

Advocacy

Championing Ideas
& Influencing Others

JOHN A. DALY

Copyright 2011 by John A. Daly. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers.

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Designed by Nancy Ovedovitz and set in Janson and Gotham types by Keystone Typesetting, Inc. Printed in the United States of America.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Daly, John A. (John Augustine), 1952 Advocacy : championing ideas and influencing others / John A. Daly.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-300-16775-7 (alk. paper)

1. Branding (Marketing). 2. Social interaction.

3. Communication in marketing. I. Title.

HM1166.D35 2011

302.2dc22

2011008294

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).

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Advocacy

It is harder to get a good idea accepted
than to get a good idea.

STEPHEN FRIEDMAN

If we had an Innovators Hall of Fame, it would include Tim Berners-Lee; William Campbell, Mohammed Aziz, and Roy Vagelos; Patsy Mink and Edith Green; David Warren; Clair Patterson; Joan Ganz Cooney; and Jim Delligatti. Their names may be unknown to you, but each is responsible for at least one extraordinary innovation that affects us every day. They have something else in common, too. Each faced strong resistance from othersbosses, colleagues, and other decision makerswho often blithely dismissed their brainstorm, publicly challenged its value, or, in some cases, tried to sabotage it. Each of these intrepid innovators came to learn what so many other creative researchers, scientists, engineers, and business leaders recognize: It is not enough to come up with a brilliant idea. You also need to galvanize support through effective advocacy.

Not only did Tim Berners-Lee come up with what we know today as the World Wide Web, but he also had to convince his employer, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), to support his work on the Web. After pushing indefatigably for his notion, he finally won managements support. But then he faced a second advocacy challenge: to persuade CERN to make his brainchild freely available to the public. It took

William Campbell was a drug researcher who discovered a cure for river fever, a malady that every year blinded millions of people living in the tropics. Campbell, along with his colleague Mohammed Aziz, persuaded Roy Vagelos, then head of research and development at Merck, to develop the drug, now called Mectizan. Then Campbell, Aziz, and Vagelos faced a daunting advocacy challenge: convincing Merck executives to spend enormous amounts on a pill that wouldnt make the company a penny, because the people who needed the drug were some of the poorest in the world. They succeeded, and Merck has since donated more than 2.5 billion tablets (worth close to $4 billion). Today more than 25 million people receive the drug annuallyand have their sightbecause of Campbell, Aziz, and Vageloss advocacy. In fact, the World Health Organization recently announced that river blindness may soon be eliminated in Africa.

If you have a daughter who plays soccer or volleyball today, you should thank Patsy Mink and Edith Green. In the late 1960s, Mink and Green were two of the few female members of the U.S. Congress. Struck by the absurd limits placed on womens involvement in college activities, they shepherded through Congress, despite blatant sexist opposition, an innovative piece of legislation called Title IX, which today guarantees girls and women opportunities in education and athletics. In 1972, when the law was passed, girls accounted for only 7 percent of all athletes in high school; by 2008 they accounted for almost half.

Every time you board an airplane, you might think kindly of David Warren. Working at the Aeronautical Research Laboratory in Melbourne in the 1950s, he dreamed up what we now know as the cockpit voice recorder. Putting recorders on planes would seem to be an obvious step for an industry that celebrates safety. But when Warren pitched his notion, he was turned down flat. The Royal Australian Air Force claimed that his device would yield more expletives than explanations. The Federation of Australian Air Pilots declared that no plane would take off in Australia with Big Brother listening. He finally persuaded British aeronautics experts to test his idea. Today, every commercial airplane contains a recorder in a black box, and we are all safer because of Warrens advocacy.

Do you use unleaded gasoline? If so, Clair Patterson deserves your thanks. He pioneered the idea of eliminating harmful lead from fuel. Another obvious innovation, right? Yet it took more than ten years for him to get his idea adopted, so great was the political opposition. Energy companies tried to stop his research funding; powerful industry opponents asked his university, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), to fire him. But because of his tenacious advocacy, all of us breathe cleaner air today.

When the Carnegie Foundation raised the idea of funding an educational television show for children, Joan Ganz Cooneys boss at New York Citys Channel 13, Lewis Freedman, said he didnt think she would be interested in the project. She interrupted to say that she most definitely would be. As discussion of the project proceeded, Freedman kept turning her down because he wanted her to continue to work on public affairs documentary projects (she had won an Emmy on one). She thought getting involved in the education show for children was hopeless until her husband had lunch (on an unrelated matter) with Lloyd Morrisett, head of the Carnegie Foundation. Ganz Cooneys husband told Morrisett of his wifes interest in doing the research. That prompted Morrisett to call Ganz Cooneys boss and tell him she was the person he wanted to lead the effort. As Ganz Cooney will admit, it was a little bit tricky going around her boss. Luckily, Ganz Cooney turned out to be a relentless advocate. Today, thanks to her, we all enjoy Big Bird, Elmo, and the rest of the gang on Sesame Street.

Ever had a Big Mac? You can cheer Jim Delligatti, who owned some McDonalds franchises in the Pittsburgh area in 1967. Disturbed that profits were not increasing, he borrowed an idea from the Big Boy restaurant chain and created the double burger on a bun. Did McDonalds executives like his idea? Not at first. Fred Turner, the companys president, didnt want to expand the menu. But Delligatti persevered. His regional manager bought the idea and made the case to senior executives. McDonalds leadership finally told Delligatti that he could test his fancy new sandwichbut only at one of his restaurants, and he had to use McDonalds products. The latter restriction sentenced his idea to failure, because the traditional hamburger bun was too small for two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onion. So Delligatti ignored instructions and ordered large sesame rolls to create the Big Mac. After sales at his Uniontown Thanks to Delligattis advocacy, burger lovers throughout the world can sink their teeth into Big Macs.