Indian Creek Recreation Area near Woodworth 

I've had opportunities over recent years to visit and describe many nearby state and national parks and wilderness areas. From Hot Springs to Cypremort Point and from the Big Thicket in Texas to multiple parks in Mississippi, it's been rewarding to sample many of these natural and recreational treasures. Hiking and biking trails, meeting campground visitors, and interviewing rangers and site administrators have provided many personal impressions.  Some of these impressions I've shared in this journal. 

So many attractions, so little time available to try the many activities offered in each. A visit to any particular site usually offers only limited insights. There's never seems enough time to fish, hike or try other interesting options there.  Another limitation with these trips is the time of year. It would be gratifying to experience the park or wilderness area in another season of the year – when this kind of fishing was hot or when that sort of bloom or foliage was at its peak. 

I get recommendations occasionally for a park or nature area that I haven't yet visited or described here.  A few years ago I first heard about Indian Creek Recreation Area and Campground. An old friend said that we should try fishing the Indian Creek Lake near Woodworth and south of Alexandria. Since he's a more serious angler than I am, I figured that the lake there must have a good reputation to attract his attention. 

The Indian Creek Recreation Area is located within the Alexander State Forest.  Established in 1923 as a state-owned demonstration forest, the Alexander State Forest encompasses over 8000 acres and is managed for timber production, forestry research, game management and recreation.  Indian Creek Lake covers 2250 acres within that forest and is tucked between I-49 and US 165 in Rapides Parish.  The recreation area itself is managed by the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry.  The forest and recreation area is home for red-cockaded woodpeckers with their nesting trees marked by white paint. 

Mike Strain, our Ag Commissioner, is a big advocate and supporter of this recreation area.  He narrated an online video in February of this year announcing that Indian Creek Recreation Area had won the 2020 campground/RV park of the year awarded by the Louisiana Travel Association.   

Indian Creek has had a reputation for its family-friendly atmosphere over the years.  Special events held there often attract families for events such as bike races and triathlons, classic car shows, 4^th of July fireworks, a golf cart and pet Mardi Gras, Easter egg hunts, and Halloween trick or treating.  A playground area there is called Fort Martin and is built from wood.   

The Indian Creek Recreation Area offers over 100 campsites with water and electricity, as well as primitive campsites in another part of the site.  There are three beaches available there, but one of these is reserved for those in the campsites only.  Day pass visitors pay $7 per vehicle here, with veterans getting a 50% discount with ID proof.  Boat and canoe rentals are $30/day. Large pavilions can be rented for family or special events at $100/day with a $50 refundable cleaning deposit.  One small pavilion area is also available at $30/day with a $15 refundable cleaning deposit.  Campsites in the RV area should be booked in advanced, and there are different rates for summer (March – October) than for the winter months.   Primitive campsites go for $14/night.    

My wife and I visited Indian Creek in mid-week of mid-October to avoid possible weekend crowds.  We quickly noted extensive construction underway that blocked entry to paved roads leading to two of the three beach areas.  The office attendant indicated that this construction would be continuing until the end of this year.  She also told us that 35 new RV campsites would be added soon to their existing capacity.    

Regardless of other activities, I always have to try available hiking or bike trails in parks and wilderness areas.  The 3.2 mile loop trail at Indian Creek starts near the entry office and is a wide one with gentle rises and falls over its length.   The dominant purple bloom present then along the trail seemed to be a type of false foxglove, genus Agalinis.  I say that not with any pride of flora identification skill, but through the resources of my PlantSnap app.    

Those considering a visit to this centrally-located attraction in Louisiana can find much more detailed information at the official website for Indian Creek Recreation Area.  Be careful to note that there is also an Indian Creek Campground and RV Park in Independence, Louisiana and north of Hammond and Tickfaw.  This is another large campground and RV park, but it is privately owned and not associated with the similarly-named recreation area profiled in this article.  

The Music of Nature

Art embodies human response to the wonderment of our natural environment. Painting and sculpting are just two forms of art that bear witness to the profound influence of nature. We express our passion and strong emotions for the great outdoors through diverse creative pursuits. Music is one distinctive and powerful art form that communicates the critical impact of nature on humankind.

There are researchers today called ecomusicologists who study the intersections of music and nature. This scholarship explores how social values concerning nature are expressed through music, how music is composed to replicate aspects of nature, and how sounds produced within nature are used within musical composition. It doesn’t take advanced study, though, to recognize a few basic linkages between music and nature. Some of the earliest musical instruments by humans were gourds that were blown and animal skins that were stretched and beaten with sticks.

Classical music based on nature and pastoral themes can easily be identified. Most of us would quickly recognize the familiar opening notes of Beethoven’s ‘Pastorale’ Symphony Number 6 in F major. Beethoven was an outdoor enthusiast who frequently hiked many miles. He was inspired by nature, and often sought the peacefulness and lack of disturbance by others for his composition planning there.

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov is popularly known for his interlude, “The Flight of the Bumblebee,” from one of his operas. Rimsky-Korsakov wrote this composition as his orchestral interpretation of the sights and sounds of this spirited pollinator. Claude Debussy created nature-based works including his famous “La Mer” or “The Sea.” It’s an evocative work said to be drawn from his childhood visits to the seacoast. Another obviously nature-based composition that is often performed is Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons.” Written around 1716, the Italian composer expresses in the four violin concerti the contrasts of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Classical compositions that for me personally reflect much of the beauty and power of nature are Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini,” and Modest Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain.”

Cultures across the world developed their own unique folk music that expressed their fundamental appreciations and the sorrows of life. Nature provided sustenance for life itself, as well as occasions for great human distress. Music both celebrated the festive plenty and lamented loss of life and property.

Whether through instrumentals or narrative ballads, folk music explores human encounter with almost all aspects of nature. Those encounters might be as the sport hunter or the poacher, the prosperous farmer or the poor gleaner, and the reflective elderly or the youthful at play. The emotions in folk music can range from the exuberance of a giddy Irish jig to the solemnity of an American ballad for a lost child in the wilderness. Perhaps it’s a very small genetic factor in my case, but my favorite folk music is Native American wooden flute instrumentals. Red cedar was often used as their flute wood, and it creates warm and resonant tones that can offset some of the stressors of work and everyday life.

Folk music traces the history of cultures confronting crises such as environmental disruption and species loss. Woody Guthrie depicted the devastation of the Great Dust Bowl of the 30s. The 60s saw growing recognition of certain limits to industrial growth and increasing threats to flora and fauna sustainability. Pete Seegar released an all-environmental album, entitled "God Bless the Grass" in 1966. One of the cuts in the album, "My Dirty Stream," supported an environmental organization that Seeger formed called The Great Hudson River Revival that pledged to clean up that heavily polluted river.

The protest songs of the late 60s and 70s included artists who called for changes in our environmental policies and priorities. Joni Mitchell is one example with her “Big Yellow Taxi” and its familiar lyrics: “Don’t it always seem to go, That you don’t know what you’ve got, Till it’s gone, They paved paradise, And put up a parking lot.” Some of us prefer a more recent version of this song by the Counting Crows. One of my favorite blues artists, Hans Olson, wrote and performed the plaintive song, “The Radiation Blues.”

Among popular artists in different music genres who have made large artistic and financial contributions to eco-awareness are the Dave Matthews Band, Bonnie Raitt, Green Day, Willie Nelson, Phish, Don Henley, and Sheryl Crow. The massive concert called Live Earth was held in 11 venues around the world in 2007 to raise awareness of climate change and to provoke action. More than 150 music artists participated in the Live Earth Concert. It followed somewhat the models of earlier large concerts such as George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh in 1971 and Live Aid in 1985 for relief for Ethiopian famine victims.

Inspired by the climate change activist, Greta Thunberg, the popular young recording artist, Billie Eilish, produced a music video just last year. The lyrics in her song focused on the effects of climate change. God and the Devil discussed how humans have made a mess of the planet. “Man is such a fool, Why are we saving him? Poisoning themselves now, Begging for our help, wow! Hills burn in California, My turn to ignore ya, Don't say I didn't warn ya.” The massive impact of wildfires in Pacific states this summer emphasizes concerns of Eilish and many others.

As much as I love music, I don’t choose to listen to music when I hike or spend time in the woods. The sounds of nature happening all around me can be more soothing or arousing than tunes crafted by human-made instruments.

 Adventures at Cypremort Point  

Many tourists travel to Mississippi, Alabama, Florida or Texas for Gulf Coast beach adventures.  I’m glad that they do so.  It keeps our own Louisiana coastal destinations from being much more crowded. 

Don’t get me wrong.  There are more pristine and attractive beaches found in some Gulf Coast states.  There can also be more diversity of traveler attractions and accommodations for those driving stretches of coastal highway in Florida and Texas.  It’s been a tradition as well for many decades ago that Louisiana high school and college students traveled for graduation or school breaks to popular Florida or Texas beaches.    

Folks in north and central Louisiana don’t visit in huge numbers to places like Grand Isle, Holly Beach and Cameron, or elsewhere on the Louisiana coast.  These small towns and communities certainly have full-time, vacation, and holiday residents with houses and camps – often on stilts to protect from flooding.  A few attractions, like Grand Isle and Avery Island, have an interesting history of 19^th century millionaires building mansions and resorts there. 

My favorite Louisiana coastal destination is less known and traveled to than Grand Isle or Holly Beach.  I discovered it back in 1974 when I first lived in Lafayette and started exploring the surrounding areas.   

Cypremort Point is a cape on Vermilion Bay.  The name apparently derives from Native Americans in that area long ago, and a large cypress tree at the point that was said to mark tribal boundaries.  Cypremort is French for cypress (cypre) and dead (mort).  Traveling south on US Hwy 90 just an exit or two past New Iberia, you can take LA 83 south and then turn right on LA 319 to the little village.  You pass Cypremort Point State Park on the right a few miles before reaching the fishing village itself.   

I made a lot of return visits to Cypremort Point.  Several trips were with friends and work colleagues.  One friend had a Boston Whaler that we would take out a mile or so in Vermilion Bay for fishing speckled trout, sand trout, redfish, and whatever else might be biting that day.  I well remember occasions when playful dolphins, the young ones with pink bellies, would seem to dance all around our boat.  Other times, multiple thunderheads would develop quickly over the bay and one would chase us back closer to shore.  We’d usually try to wait out the passing storm and rain under a bridge or overhead shelter, all the time dangling strings with bait and trying to pull crabs onboard.   The combination of fresh trout and crab at the end of the day made our fishing expeditions seem hugely rewarding.    

Later trips weren’t quite as much fun and involved some serious net hauling by hand and resulting sore muscles.  That friend had a larger boat, and he recruited several of us for a day shrimping.  I was enthusiastic, if a bit underprepared the first time.  At the end of the day we did bring back about 200 pounds of shrimp.  My hands were in poor shape, though, from trying to separate the shrimp from the small trash fish caught in the nets.  I needed better gloves that day – not realizing the accumulated effect of the acids from the surfaces of the fresh shrimp and fish.   

My stomach for day-long Gulf fishing trips seemed stronger than average among my friends on these excursions.  I did learn, though, to take into full account Gulf forecasts before these outings.  When forecasts were accurate for continuous five to eight-foot waves, my limit was about six hours before sea sickness would become a serious possibility.  I avoided that fate, but the shore was a very welcomed sight in the late afternoons on more than one occasion.          

After a decades-long absence from Cypremort Point, my wife and I made a quick, scouting trip there on a recent steamy, summer day.  I wanted to research and try to book a fishing charter for a day in the late summer or fall.  Perhaps I can convince my brother and one of my nephews to join me then.  My teenage nephew views golf and fishing as leisure priorities.  My brother is just as enthusiastic about golf, but fishing never interested him that much.  I may have to find a substitute for him on the proposed fishing trip. 

There appear to be at least three established fishing charter outfits that operate out of Cypremort Point now.  These can seem expensive to book for a day or a half-day, particularly compared to the old days of “head” boats that often took many anglers who fished off the sides of boats.  Charters offer a small group of anglers expertise for a diverse set of possible fishing experiences.  Depending on conditions and the time of the year, charter skippers might be prospecting for redfish, flounder, speckled trout, black drum, or sheepshead.  Charters usually provide tackle, fish cleaning, and other services to justify their fees.    

At Cypremort Point State Park, shore and pier fishing options usually exist.  Right now, though, the park’s fishing pier is under repair and blocked from entry.  On a very hot afternoon at the park, we did spot one amorous couple who had waded out waist high and were casting.  They seemed to be enjoying the other’s company and staying cool more than making serious casts.     

The state park has six cabins for rent, and many covered picnic pavilions for parties or BBQs.  These can be booked online.  Sailing is one recreational option with a park ramp for launches.  Grassy and sand areas are also available for volleyball or pickup football games.  A half-mile, man-made, sand beach runs the length of the state park, offering opportunities for swimming, kitesurfing and windsurfing. 

A few caveats seem necessary to share.  As indicated on one Cypremort Point internet site, cell phone usage can be dicey in some locations there.  I had little luck accessing the internet from my phone while in the village, and my wife’s phone was only a little better.  There were helpful signs, though, pointing out local destinations.

You might want to pick up certain supplies in Lafayette or New Iberia for an extended Cypremort Pointe visit, since the village itself has relatively few commercial options.  The Bayview Inn General Store does serve burgers, sandwiches, and refreshments at its prime location on the point.  The view of the bay from there is impressive.

Cypremort Point has a special significance for me, as Grand Isle or Holly Beach, no doubt, has for others.  I’d certainly recommend extended trips to the New Iberia area, not just for seeing Cypremort Point, but for experiencing Jungle Gardens at Avery Island and Jefferson Island Gardens.  Weeks Island, very near Cypremort Point, as well as Jefferson Island and Avery Island, are good examples of the raised salt dome deposits and the different ecologies along coastal Louisiana. 

The COVID-19 threat has meant that many of us are more hesitant to take longer trips out of state by air or auto.  I’m sure that most of us still have new and interesting places and experiences here in Louisiana that we could finally explore.

Deeper Environmental Learning

Louisiana has an attractive license plate option that promotes environmental education. Other license plate choices for state residents endorse the protection of specific types of wildlife. Elementary, middle, and high school programs in the state have more programs and activities in recent years for environmental education. What about environmental education in higher education and in corporate training programs? Obviously environmental education can occur there and through information and news sources directed to the general public.

I spent 30 years of my life as a college management educator. Although I taught courses in basic management and organizational behavior, my specialty courses were business ethics and governmental, social and environmental issues. Almost every university and business college has one or several faculty members who likewise teach ethical, social and environmental issues. Sometimes this coverage is a stand-alone course or as significant parts of several required courses.

Business students have long been assigned readings and discussed actual cases concerning social and environmental issues. These students have also been tested on their knowledge of how key environmental forces impact business and how business practices impact our social and natural environments. Business school students are hardly alone in their significant exposure to these issues. Many academic and professional programs in our universities also have required courses focusing on environmental concerns and responsibilities.

As a previous faculty member, I believe that higher education must admit some failures in delivering deeper environmental education for many American students. Our efforts have fallen short of having that much influence on many college graduates who entered business and professional careers. Certain industry and business cultures have easily overpowered apparent lessons of humanity and responsibility that many young people supposedly learned through family or educational experiences.

There’s a key distinction between deep and shallow learning. Undergraduate and graduate programs covered many perspectives and practices of potential benefit for future managers and administrators. Students appeared to comprehend these managerial topics and approaches, at least for testing purposes and scored well enough. But did real or deeper learning occur? Often what happened with these students was likely shallow learning.

Decades ago, we used to give oral exams occasionally for some lower-performing graduate students who were finishing degree programs. It was often embarrassing for us as graduate faculty to ask what we thought were fairly simple questions a year or so after students took a particular course. Quite often students looked completely baffled at these simple questions.

Yes, college students often retain information long enough to pass tests during a semester. However, many students don’t experience deeper learning about social and environmental challenges that they will likely confront at certain points in their careers. The perspectives that seemed reasonable or vital in college textbooks and classroom discussions often don’t survive long in certain business and professional cultures. The operating values that exist within some of these business and professional cultures begin to erode the moral values that many college graduates might have held earlier. College graduates can find it more and more difficult to confront or challenge the weight of the differing value systems that are rewarded in some business cultures.

Even many business and professional training programs that exist to update managers and employees on environmental responsibilities can’t overcome the contrasting and strong reinforcements found in some company cultures. Learning opportunities in both higher education and corporate training programs often aren’t strong enough to counter and begin to change actual company cultures and practices.

Deeper and more impactful environmental learning requires more of educators and trainers. One educational model emphasizes the metaphor of “unfreezing, change and refreezing.” Each of these stages for environmental learning is important to change established company values and norms that don’t really support sustainable environmental practices. Where we as educators and trainers fail is that we don’t have enough creative, powerful and personal approaches for students to “unfreeze” or more fully understand environmental shortcomings. We often don’t offer enough convincing lessons showing organizations making positive environmental contributions. We are also divorced from counseling and supporting those who are in the actual process of taking chances and making at least some differences in business organizations.

Managers and professionals need to do more than have the courage to suggest more responsible environmental practices within their companies. They need effective communication skills and other tools and tactics to convince top management to move toward more sustainable environmental practices. These change agents need creativity and also persistence in the face of opposing values and practices. It’s easy for young managers and professionals to become frustrated and cynical when their best intentions and early initiatives show little promise of changing company attitudes and policies. It’s difficult to anticipate, too, when enough momentum has occurred to reach some “tipping point” where top management starts to make more responsive environmental commitments.

We must all do better if we hope to see more sustainable environmental practices occur sooner, rather than later. A key question for us seems whether or not we’re viewed by others in our organizations as a strong advocate for organizational change toward sustainable environmental practices. Leadership is much more than good intentions.

Challenges of Employee Theft

Earlier this year a friend and manager of a surveying company told me that his accounting supervisor had embezzled tens of thousands of dollars from his firm.  The manager had been in a legal process to try to recover some of these losses.  This incident reminded me of the many times that I’ve personally discussed with business managers cases of internal theft in public- and private-sector organizations.   The issue of employee or internal theft has long interested me, and my dissertation topic decades ago was on employee theft in manufacturing companies.

Internal or employee theft is a much larger cost to our society than many people realize.  Some estimates of internal theft in American business are 50 billion dollars or more annually.   Business revenues have been claimed to be reduced by five percent annually by various employee thefts and frauds.  Companies with serious theft problems can lose much higher revenue percentages. 

You have probably read or heard about cases of embezzlements, frauds and thefts in corporations or government.  Much more often, though, these incidents are neither shared through the media with the public, nor sometimes with actual company stakeholders.  Theft reports can be an admission of managerial neglect or malfeasance.  Beyond personal embarrassment to the managers in charge of offending employees, reports of major thefts hardly inspire confidence in the company from its investors and stakeholders.  It can often seem more expedient for firms to warn supervising managers and to discipline or fire actual offenders. Even if theft is observed, reported, and acted upon by organizations, top administrators can decide to make it an internal matter and never report the offense to law enforcement for criminal prosecution.  These company attitudes and practices, though, can send the wrong message to other managers and employees that there aren’t serious penalties for theft, even if thieves are caught.  Detection of cases of internal theft in organizations can also be just the tip of an iceberg; there can be much higher levels of undetected corruption. 

There can be many motives for internal theft, beyond simple greed.  Some managers and employees believe that their organization have failed to recognize and fairly reward their accomplishments.   Theft can be a way to balance the scales of justice in their minds.  Certain offenders aren’t greedy themselves, but their family members can be and push them into getting what they really deserve.  Families can have health crises and other emergencies that overwhelm their savings and seem to force an employee into embezzlement or rip offs of company assets.  Regardless of the motives, opportunities for internal theft often exist.  The US Chamber of Commerce decades ago commented on internal theft and the challenges of reducing these losses.  The Chamber claimed that 50% of plant and office workers steal, most through relatively small offenses, but 5-8% of these employees steal high dollar amounts of company property. 

Top managers and supervisors who suspect or know about employee theft can have many reasons to do very little or nothing about these losses.   Managers suspecting others of theft often aren’t comfortable reporting this, because they themselves have been involved in theft or scams and they can fear those being reported might strike back at them by revealing their own offenses.  Some managers fear reprisals or guilty employees seeking revenge against them.  A simple example is a manager who reports on an employee thief who later gets fired.  The offender’s best friend the next day could be waiting for an unobserved opportunity to slash the reporting manager’s car tires in the company parking lot.    Some managers can view the thief as a friend or someone for whom they feel sorry.  Managers often “forgive” employees for what they consider initial or minor offenses, not fully appreciating that what they detected might be just a small part of the actual level of theft involved. 

Managers sometimes want to avoid the hassles and paperwork of reporting theft.  They don’t want to take the time or to play the role of detective in gathering enough evidence to support employee punishment or termination.  Manager can occasionally view the offending or suspected employees as too valuable in terms of skills and experience to lose and have to replace them.  They can also have too much confidence and dependence on the company’s high-tech surveillance and security systems to prevent and catch thieves.  Although security systems can have real value, smart employees who are constantly around and watching the mechanics of how these systems work can often learn a way to beat these systems. 

Internal theft can occur in many areas within an organization.  Frauds and scams can be found at the very top levels of organizations as well in functional areas such as production/operations, marketing, financing, and purchasing.  Information systems and accounting (payroll, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and assets inventory) can be particularly susceptible to clever thieves who try to hide their misconduct.  Some theft of company assets can be blatant and viewed as almost a fringe benefit of employment.  One company supervisor some years ago had his employees building duck blinds and dog kennels for himself and others during slack periods of company time.  Internal theft can include cases when inside employees have outside partners helping them.  I remember one case in which an employee used a garbage disposal chute to send company equipment and supplies in the dark morning hours to a friend with a truck waiting under the chute.

Some industries and types of business have traditionally confronted higher levels of internal theft.  Oil and gas field operations are one example.  Estimates back when the Trans-Alaska Pipeline was built in the seventies were that as much as 50% of the equipment and supplies stored at many remote locations were stolen.  In college, I worked summers for two years for a pulp and paper manufacturer.  It wasn’t uncommon to hear tales of certain employees who would damage company equipment when no one was looking.  Why?  So these employees could be first in line on Saturday mornings after the damaged equipment was declared scrap and offered to employees at a highly discounted price at the company’s scrap yard.   The company wanted to offer its employees a nice fringe benefit through discounted company scrap, but a few dishonest employees took risks to take advantage of this policy.     

I’m sharing just some the basics of why internal theft can be a huge problem in many businesses, and why some owners and top managers can fail to take responsibility for reporting these losses.  Managers need to recognize fully that an important part of their responsibilities is to monitor and protect organizational assets.  Trainers or consultants can be a good investment for many companies in better educating managers about security concerns and improved inventory and managerial control systems.  Corporations and larger government agencies usually have experiences over time with employee thefts and frauds, so these organizations often have developed resources to reduce these threats and losses.  I worry more about smaller public- and private-sector organizations with managers who have limited experiences with internal theft and who have many other competing concerns.  Embezzlement and major theft losses can severely threaten the continuing livelihood of these organizations.  

 Crisis Management in a Pandemic Era

The social and economic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to affect all of us.  The death toll and other consequences from this crisis are alarming.  Certain impacts are still difficult to estimate.  A few important lessons can be discerned, though, at this stage in the international crisis.

As a retired management professor, I know that the topic of crisis management has long been covered in undergraduate and graduate courses in business management and public administration. Textbooks and teachers have emphasized how important risk analysis and crisis management are.  Part of the role of top managers and administrators is assuming responsibility for adequate preparation for potential crises.   We teach approaches for scanning and assessing the social, economic, scientific and technological environments of organizations whose future will be affected by these shifting conditions.  Logistics, transportation models, and supply chain management are critical concerns for crisis management.  Also critical are communication approaches with affected public and private sector stakeholders.

During and after major crises, performance assessment of managerial responsiveness and effectiveness should continue.  Managers and administrators learn by subjecting their crisis planning and actions to critical review by both institutional insiders and outsiders.  These administrators should also examine and learn from the best practices of other institutions and organizations in coping with crises.  They learn in crises, as well, about who truly are “essential” employees and their key roles in organizational survival and success.

Much has already been written, often critical, concerning federal and particular states’ preparation and response for this deadly global pandemic.  Less has been shared regarding how well particular large and small businesses have responded.  Our federal and state governments can share more in common with larger corporations than with smaller businesses related to crisis management.   Both governments and corporations usually have well-educated staff members who support top administrators with crisis  research and advisement.  Smaller business owners and managers often do not have specialized staff or this expertise themselves.    

Many of us can roughly evaluate certain “outcomes” of effective crisis management, such as continuing organizational prosperity, quality of services rendered, etc.   Yet it is more difficult for us to assess the “process” of crisis management within governments and corporations.  We are living in a world where top administrators and managers often seem more concerned with managing or “spinning” public perceptions of their performance in a time of crisis.  Declining confidence revealed in many polls of government and corporate leadership reflects public cynicism that many stakeholder concerns are really being well addressed.

Top administrators in large organizations often do have talented scientists, economists and other professionals in key advisory roles.  Their insights can be lost or poorly utilized in crises, though, when the internal politics of self-interest or cronyism dominate.   Power can corrupt, and ineffective leadership can result.    

Education and training programs for managers emphasize stakeholder management instead of overwhelming focus on owner or stockholder interests.  If key employees, suppliers, and customers do not believe top administrators are providing them with quality outcomes, they will withdraw from these relationships, with dire bottom-line results.  Despite the emphasis given to crisis management in college classrooms, I must admit failures by public and business administration educators to have that much impact on actual student learning and practice.  Sure, we require our students to read textbooks, listen to lectures, discuss cases, and take tests on crisis management and related concerns.  But what we more often produce is shallow learning, rather than deeper learning experiences.  If new learning isn’t well integrated into existing values and actually practiced, it can become quickly forgotten or pushed aside.  

What is often rewarded and learned in some corporate and governmental cultures is narrower, more biased, and short-range thinking by administrators.   Topics such as ethical and environmental concerns, crisis management, and longer-term strategic thinking can easily become devalued by administrators focusing heavily on short-term, bottom-line results.  This can be particularly true in the private sector where many top managers often assume high leadership positions just years prior to their retirement.  Their attention can be so much on a few bottom-line numbers, and their achieving personal rewards for these numbers, that successive CEOs poorly invest in their organization’s long-range future.      

The performance of government leaders is continuously being evaluated by key stakeholders, including citizens who vote.  The performance of corporate managers is also being evaluated by customers, investors, suppliers, employees, and other stakeholders.  Crises are important tests of leadership skills and performance.

We have an important responsibility for evaluating the overall performance of our government and private sector leaders.  We make important choices when we decide to vote for certain political candidates.  We also make choices, whether we fully realize the importance of these choices, when we are investors, customers, suppliers, or employees of corporations and businesses. 

As a result of the current pandemic and threats associated with climate change, there have been calls recently urging Americans to make more informed choices as voters, customers and investors.  For example, we see arguments raised to support local, area, and regional suppliers of high-quality goods rather than our buying imported goods that are often a bit less expensive.   This has been particularly the case regarding support of our state crawfish, honey, and other agricultural products.

We are all investors.  Our votes and other civic duties are investments in the health and future of our communities, states, and nation.  Our purchases of goods and services are a type of voting and investment regarding which companies will survive and thrive.  Our selections of particular companies for which we are employees or stockholders are also important investments for our future personal health and prosperity and for those of others.   We need to make smarter investments, particularly as we witness leadership performance in times of crisis.