Breaking my own rules

By Mitchell E MacDonald -- Logistics Management, 12/1/1998

Over time, writers and editors develop a certain, sometimes unique, sense of how to communicate with their audience effectively. Call it a personal style, if you must. Yours truly, for instance, has always insisted that readers be the focus of our stories, from every angle. Three basic rules help ensure that happens.

First, readers' time must be respected, and stories, therefore, must come to the point quickly. Second, readers must be rewarded for the time they give you. Solid news coverage can generally be spotted quickly because it relates the event back to the reader. Finally, and perhaps most important, readers do not want to know about you. Keep the "I" out of your reporting. It's a journalist's job to observe, analyze, and disseminate the news, not be a part of it.

That said, forgive a momentary lapse of self-indulgence. This column, you see, marks not only the culmination of my first decade covering the logistics industry, but, in fact, the culmination of my career at this magazine. I may break some, but I hope not all, of my own rules before I'm done.

Looking back, a cliche comes to mind: The only constant is change. Although I'm no fan of cliches, I can't ignore the truth in this one. My own experiences and observations bear it out.

My first news story, for instance, told of the launch of Union Pacific Railroad's UPLogistics, among the first third-party logistics companies to appear on the scene in late 1988. It was also, incidentally, among the first to disappear, but outsourcing--which initially met with resistance from shippers worried about job security--had been established as an important driver of business change. Today, of course, the tide has changed in favor of large-scale outsourcing.

In early 1989, my first feature story reported that Don Schneider had decided to install a satellite tracking and communications system in every truck in the Schneider National fleet, at about $2,500 a pop! Many observers looked askance. They saw little benefit in such an investment. Yet today, Schneider National is viewed as a successful motor freight and logistics company. And satellite-based tracking and communication is a commonplace means of meeting customers' demands for reliable, error-free service.

Of course, these are but two examples of the change that has occurred in the logistics field in the last decade. As the magazine of record for the industry, we've tried to keep pace by making a few changes ourselves.

When I first came to work here as a news editor, the magazine was called Traffic Management. Over time, our editorial product underwent a transformation from a pure freight-transportation monthly to a much wider-reaching logistics journal. It wasn't until long after we had expanded our coverage that we got around to changing the name of the magazine to Logistics Management.

Then in the fall of 1997, we seized the opportunity to make the best even better. As Cahners Publishing, our parent, joined forces with Chilton Publishing and transformed itself into Cahners Business Information, we combined the editorial and sales resources of Logistics Management and Chilton's Distribution Magazine. The result was a boost in our circulation to a market-leading 84,000, a strengthening of our sales and editorial teams, and the addition of "Distribution Report" to our title.

Though we waited anxiously to learn of the market's response, I'm proud to say today that it has been overwhelmingly positive. We've grown appreciably in both ad and editorial pages. We've solidified our position as both the logistics field's magazine of record and the magazine of choice.

This success comes only through the efforts of what I consider to be the best magazine team in this field. I can't bid farewell and move on to new challenges in publishing without noting the efforts of these folks: Frank Quinn, who brought me into the organization and has been a steady force in shaping the spirit of excellence that is the basis of this magazine; Karen Bachrach, who manages to turn my often quirky, always typo-prone copy into something that readers will enjoy; Peter Bradley, who skillfully manages a workload that would bury many others; Toby Gooley, who is a constant reminder that organization is the backbone of both success and sanity; James Cooke, who consistently manages to find a way to play the devil's advocate in a positive fashion (whether he realizes it or not); and finally, Ron Bondlow, who played an instrumental role in plotting the course that has led this magazine to success, and whose friendship I will always cherish.

Thank you to all and stay in touch.