Holistic Approaches and New Media In Politics

I was watching c-span tonight (for some reason, the people talking about disease control and prevention were far more engaging and enjoyable to listen to than idiot sitcom characters - not to say that I don’t get a good laugh out of shows like family guy, and that hereos isn’t seriously a great show). Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the Research Center for Disease Control and Prevention, must have used the phrase “holistic approach” about three times. She was talking about integrating efforts of groups working in similar areas and connecting great minds to achieve maximum results. In response to a discusssion that was basically regarding “how to stand out in all the noise” she declared, “We have to somehow aggressively engage our public.”

Its funny how similar politics is to business and marketing.

Today, to keep up you have to be engaging, aggressive may be too strong of a word, but there’s no doubt you really have to put yourself in front of the right people, you have to work harder and smarter than the competition, you have to be efficient and you have to be great. You must stay up to speed with all the possible vehicles you can use to engage your public and never loose site of who they really are. Julie talked about keeping up with modern ways of engaging your audience, and she used one of my favorite words: “New Media.” She talked about podcasts and blogs, social networks and second life… and I just smiled.

At least people in politics are keeping up with whats happenin’ - sometimes I feel like we all live in a dream-world or something.