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October 31, 2005

Pumpkin Giving, Not Smashing

(Filed under: Evangelism & Outreach)

With Halloween upon us I can't imagine a more timely marketing example than a youth group giving (not smashing) pumpkins. I love that it's a timely gift, but more than another freebie, I love that it's the complete opposite of what people expect from teens.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:55 PM
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No Sunday Service, Sports Instead

(Filed under: Philosophy)

It appears New Zealand is still adjusting to all the attention that came with its Lord of the Rings fame. Whether or not the beloved Kiwis are seeking more attention is unclear, but this story from the NZ Herald is certainly sporting echoes of strategic swagger.

Greerton Bible Church is replacing its Sunday morning services with Sunday morning sports, beginning November 6. So as not to eliminate all of the religious underpinnings the church holds to, its religious, um... errr... regular, service will be moved to Friday nights. "A lot of people are going to watch the [games] on Sunday morning, so we figured if we can't beat 'em, join 'em," said senior pastor Russell Embling.

The cool thing about this approach is that the church has invited sports celebrities to come and share their story. Says Embling, "Each of our guest speakers will also share their story of how their faith has influenced their rugby careers and life."

I like this idea as a way for churches to reach out and attract more people. I only have one concern, and its a concern I have with nearly all of these kinds of approaches.

Continue reading "No Sunday Service, Sports Instead"

Posted by Brad Abare at 1:04 PM
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Who Does the Work Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

Last week we asked who does the marketing work in your church and in 63% of churches it's the staff. Not a big shock there, but what's interesting is that only 24% of churches have staff members specially trained to do communications work, and I suspect that number is high given the nature of our audience.

39% of churches have staff members doing the marketing that were hired to do something else. Thus we have associate pastors and youth pastors and church secretaries also trying to do the mammoth job of marketing. More power to 'em, but it's a wonder they can stay on top of it all.

23% of churches have volunteers doing the marketing, which raises the old 'volunteers should quit' can of worms. 5% of churches have an outside company doing the majority of the marketing (as if there were any doubt, this confirms for me that the church marketing business is not a road to riches).

Finally, 10% of churches have nobody doing the marketing and communications. I find that hard to believe. What church doesn't have a bulletin? Somebody had to put that thing together. More likely this is reflecting the churches that don't appear to promote anything they do, and that's not good either.

This week's poll asks if you would attend a church communications conference.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:20 AM
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Pastor Kyle Lake Electrocuted During Baptism Service

(Filed under: The Christian Walk)

The news is spreading pretty quickly, both in the blog world and in the news, but in case you haven't heard pastor and author Kyle Lake was electrocuted while performing a baptism service yesterday and died. 33-year-old Lake reached for a microphone while standing in the water. Lake was a pastor at University Baptist Church in Waco, Texas and is survived by his wife and three children.

I didn't know Lake personally, but I did read one of his two books, Understanding God's Will (the other, (Re)understanding Prayer, came out earlier this month), and I loved his personal style. He brought a new understanding to that murky concept of God's will, which becomes even murkier in light of his death.

Continue reading "Pastor Kyle Lake Electrocuted During Baptism Service"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:26 AM
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October 28, 2005

Anglican Newspaper Banned

(Filed under: Church Business)

Maybe I have an anti-establishment streak, but when an upstart conservative paper is banned by the church, I have to laugh. The Anglican Journal is the official newspaper of the Anglican Church in Canada, but many conservatives have felt the paper is too liberal. Earlier this year they responded by publishing The Anglican Planet to offer a more conservative voice within the Anglican church on issues like same-sex marriage.

The response has been more than they expected: 5,000 subscriptions instead of a few hundred, and censorship.

Continue reading "Anglican Newspaper Banned"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:59 AM
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October 27, 2005

Realigning vs. Redesigning

(Filed under: Graphic Design)

Speaking of improving web sites, we were sent a link today about the difference between redesigning a site and realigning it. The main point is that massive redesigns where you toss out everything and start over don't need to be the order of the day. Instead designers should seek to improve what's already there, making subtle changes and tweaks to retain the ideas but improve the experience. The result is usually better and often cheaper than starting from scratch.

Good call.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:37 PM
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Getting Feedback on Church Marketing

(Filed under: Graphic Design)

We've been offering our peer review since July as a way to help churches help each other. In that time we've done 14 reviews and have hopefully offered good feedback and suggestions to those who submitted designs, and maybe given ideas and encouragement to those quietly lurking as well.

Of course we can't review everything. And with that in mind it's cool to see someone like Sam Decker offer "lightning round" web site reviews. He actually gives the feedback himself instead of letting the community do it like we do, but it's still feedback. Yesterday he reviewed RiverPointe Church in Richmond, Texas and recruited Terry Storch to help him out.

The fun thing about reviews like this is that you can apply the basic lessons to your own work and everybody can get something out of it.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:19 PM
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Theology on Tap

(Filed under: Evangelism & Outreach)

More than a few times we've heard about outreach efforts involving strong drink, and they make me both wince and smile. I wince because I grew up in a church that considered proximity to alcohol a sin, and despite the fact that I don't agree I still have the response. And I smile because I've moved beyond that thinking and I can appreciate the gutsiness and the fresh thinking, at the same time realizing how sad it is that sharing a pint is considered edgy.

So I find a post like this one that imagines a bartender Jesus and comes up with potential names for a drinking group rather clever, but in a sad kind of way. Like most sin, Christians have no idea how to deal with drunkenness. Jesus may have turned water into wine, but only Christians can turn alcohol into animosity.

There's a balance to be found between legalism and abusing grace, and I wish churches would seek that balance. When that happens I think you can have cool stuff like a Theology on Tap group or a way to help rather than shun drinkers, like what happens with Alcoholics Anonymous. I've asked it before, but why can't the church led the way in restoring responsibility to alcohol?

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:38 PM
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October 26, 2005

Youth Group Hip Hop Flier

(Filed under: Peer Review)

This week we take a look at another youth group flier. Offer your feedback and help other church creative folks improve their work.

Samples:

Flier:

Continue reading "Youth Group Hip Hop Flier"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:55 AM
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Less is More: Before and After at Granger Community Church

(Filed under: Graphic Design)

Earlier this month Kem Meyer, a guest blogger here at Church Marketing Sucks and the Communications Director at Granger Community Church in Granger, Ind., shared some design lessons on her blog. She talked about removing the clutter in design and as a result increasing the importance of each element. To prove her point she shared some before and after designs from Granger.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:48 AM
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Denominational Church Marketing

(Filed under: Demographics/Research)

Two recent newspaper articles in the Des Moines Register and the Washington Times (though the Times doesn't seem to be loading) talk about the marketing efforts of church denominations. The United Church of Christ and their Still Speaking campaign gets most of the attention, but the United Methodist Church is also attracting attention with their "Open hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors" campaign.

Both campaigns are seeing success:

• The UCC spent $1.7 million on the Still Speaking campaign and have seen visits to their web site soar from 35,000 per month to 500,000 per month last December when their controversial ad aired. So far they've had 5 million visits to their web site since the campaign started, and 521,000 have searched for a church in their area. This year they plan to spend $3 million on their Advent campaign.
• The United Methodist Church has seen first-time attendance rise 14% since 2001. They launched a new $2 million national cable TV campaign in September and plan to spend $28 million on advertising by 2008.

It's cool to see denominations stepping in and doing advertising where local churches can't always afford to.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:30 AM
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October 25, 2005

Starbucks and Rick Warren

(Filed under: Church Business)

USA Today has a great article about the recent Rick Warren Starbucks cup story, in addition to several other mainstream companies that incorporate some sort of God-factor into their marketing and business model.

Warren's quote on the Starbucks cup comes from his best-selling book, The Purpose Driven Life, and certainly doesn't hold back:

You are not an accident. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He wanted you alive and created you for a purpose. Focusing on yourself will never reveal your real purpose. You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. Only in God do we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance and our destiny.

What would it look like if your church facilitated a conversation among business leaders and owners, and thought of ways to incorporate God-oriented messages in their marketing?

Continue reading "Starbucks and Rick Warren"

Posted by Brad Abare at 9:39 AM
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October 24, 2005

Verdict on the Fallon Church Ads

(Filed under: Poll Results)

Last month we talked about some interesting church ads coming out of the UK, and one of those ads was created by the international agency Fallon. Last week we asked what you thought of those ads, and the results were fairly mixed.

42% liked them, but a combined 58% were indifferent or didn't like the ads. Apparently marketing the church isn't so easy, even for the mainstream professionals.

Don't forget to check out this week's poll where we ask who does the marketing work at your church: staff members, volunteers or an outside company.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:35 PM
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October 21, 2005

Seacoast Church Web Site

(Filed under: Peer Review)

This time around we take a look at the web site of the South Carolina multi-site church, Seacoast. Give your suggestions and don't forget to consider submitting your church's marketing materials in a peer review.

Samples:

Screenshot:

(seacoast.org)

Continue reading "Seacoast Church Web Site"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:51 AM
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A Story of Two Churches

(Filed under: Public Relations)

Let's take a look at two churches that landed in newspaper stories recently. The first is the 6,000-member CedarCreek Church in Perrysburg, Ohio. The second is the 75-member Bethanie French Seventh-day Adventist Church in Port Charlotte, Fla.

CedarCreek was featured in a Toledo Blade story about blue lights. At a recent 10th anniversary celebration Pastor Lee Powell asked anyone who had come to Christ as a result of CedarCreek to raise one of the blue penlights that had been provided. Hundreds of lights dotted the crowd of 1,500.

Bethanie French Seventh-day Adventist was featured in several stories, including the Sun Herald and the Herald Tribune after 16 choir members staged a protest by singing during the pastor's sermon. The police were called and the choir members removed from the building. The protest was based on complaints that damage sustained from Hurricane Charley had yet to be repaired. It gets worse from there, including denouncing newly elected church officials and hauling someone off stage by the ear.

Continue reading "A Story of Two Churches"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:28 AM
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October 20, 2005

Church Marketing Quotes

(Filed under: News & Updates)

Check out the Austin American-Statesman for yours truly. Brad and I were quoted in an article about church marketing, though we definitely didn't have the best quotes.

Mac Richard of Lake Hills Church in Austin, Texas had a nice one:

"The world calls it marketing. The Bible calls it evangelism."

The Rev. Larry Hollon, CEO of communications for the Nashville, Tenn.-based United Methodist Church:

"This is not a matter of choosing to do communications or to do ministry. It is including communications in the ministry of the church as it is right to do."

And Scott Evans, the founder and president of Outreach:

"Ten to 15 years ago, churches were asking, 'Should we be doing it?' Now they're realizing that they have to do it."

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:45 AM
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Faith-Based Design Submissions

(Filed under: Graphic Design)

GIA Publications is considering the possible publication of a book on faith-based graphic design. The submission guidelines say that "communications media from any organized worship tradition or denomination are eligible." The deadline for submission is February 1, 2006 and there is a $75 entry fee for up to three items.

In more graphic design submission news, Blank is accepting submissions for their Designs That Touch the Heart show. They're accepting just about any work from just about any one. There's no entry fee and the deadline is January 1, 2006. They hope to have an online show in the spring of 2006.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:32 AM
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October 18, 2005

Messy Lives Promotion for My Praize Youth Group

(Filed under: Peer Review)

Take a look at this flier design for a youth group program called My Praize promoting their theme, "messy lives." Please share your feedback and consider submitting your church's work for a peer review.

Samples:

11x17 Flier:

Continue reading "Messy Lives Promotion for My Praize Youth Group"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:11 AM
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Jakob Nielsen Familiar with Church Marketing?

(Filed under: Demographics/Research)

I thought it was rather interesting in Jakob Nielsen's Top 10 Blog Design Mistakes (check out our take) that he gave an example from the world of church marketing.

Under his section on Nondescript Posting Titles he offers examples of good and bad headlines. Under the good headlines he includes "Ice cream trucks as church marketing," which sounds awfully familiar. The story was in the USA Today, so I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. But it is cool to see more people aware of church marketing.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:59 AM
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Top 10 Blog Design Mistakes

(Filed under: Web Sites)

Recently we looked at the Top 10 Web Design Mistakes from Jakob Nielsen, and now he presents the Top 10 Blog Design Mistakes. You can certainly take what Nielsen says with a grain of salt (not everybody likes him), but he usually has some good basic points.

When it comes to blogs the top 10 mistakes are:

1. No Author Biographies
2. No Author Photo
3. Nondescript Posting Titles
4. Links Don't Say Where They Go
5. Classic Hits are Buried
6. The Calendar is the Only Navigation
7. Irregular Publishing Frequency
8. Mixing Topics
9. Forgetting That You Write for Your Future Boss
10. Having a Domain Name Owned by a Weblog Service

Continue reading "Top 10 Blog Design Mistakes"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:37 AM
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October 17, 2005

Our Don't Suck List Sucks

(Filed under: News & Updates)

We've come to the conclusion that our 'Don't Suck' list actually sucks. The goal was to list companies, organizations and resources that could help your church not suck. In reality that's not as easy as it sounds.

So the 'Don't Suck' list is taking a break. We'll keep the old one around, but instead of keeping it up to date we're going to focus on coming up with a new list. One that's better, faster, stronger.

Continue reading "Our Don't Suck List Sucks"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:34 PM
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CMS T-shirt Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

Last week we took a bit of a different approach with our weekly poll and asked if anyone would buy a Church Marketing Sucks T-shirt. We haven't actually made T-shirts yet, but we've definitely thought about it.

33% were pretty strongly in the pro T-shirt camp. 27% had no interest in wearing Church Marketing Sucks on their sleeve. And 41% said it depends on the price and the design. While it's not overwhelming support for a CMS T-shirt, it's enough to be encouraging (or maybe just whelming?). We probably won't roll out a T-shirt next week, but we'll keep it in mind.

This week we're asking about the Fallon 'Churchy church' ads. With only 25 votes it's still pretty early, but so far 44% don't like the ads.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:43 AM
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October 14, 2005

Gay-Friendly Churches

(Filed under: Brand & Identity)

Driving into work yesterday, I was listening to NPR. In the Market Place segment, they were doing a story on the loyalty factor that gays and lesbians have toward brands. I am not quite sure where the source for this data came from, but a Google search always returns some interesting fodder. I'm sure the October 10 cover of Time magazine also had something to do with the context and timing of this.

This got me thinking about the Church. Apparently there is interest in gay-friendly churches from gays themselves, along with a listing of churches who are gay-friendly.

Jeff Garber, president of OpusComm Group, an agency specializing in "diverse communications," said "Loyalty is a direct offshoot of an emotional connection."

I assume for the most part that gays would accuse many churches for being closed-minded, hypocritical, unloving, and accusational. All emotionally-charged responses for sure, but not the emotions I think Garber is referring to in terms of loyalty building.

Shouldn't gay and lesbians feel most welcomed in the Church? In other words, shouldn't every church be gay-friendly, just like every church should be adulterer-friendly, liar-friendly—in short, sinner-friendly? Me-friendly? I realize conviction may play a part in diverting the connection, but that didn't stop the woman at the well from being in the presence of Jesus, not to mention compelled by his compassion, right?

I want to be a part of a church overflowing with grace and unrelenting in its pursuit of costly discipleship.

Posted by Brad Abare at 2:03 PM
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October 10, 2005

Catalyst 2005

(Filed under: Events)

I spent the last few days in Atlanta at the sixth annual Catalyst conference, the self-proclaimed event for next generation leaders. For those unfamiliar, Catalyst is the younger, hipper brand of InJoy, the leadership development company founded by John Maxwell and purchased last year by motivational sales guru and longtime Maxwell mentoree, Todd Duncan. It is refreshing to see for-profit organizations run ministry-type events like Catalyst. Not only does it provide a platform for profit (to propel vision), it fosters freedom and creativity not available to many non-profit churches and para-church events because they are often limited by donor demands, tithe incomes, etc.

Catalyst is a movement not to miss.

This year's event—my first—was no exception. The main-stage speaker lineup was unsurprisingly impressive. From mega-church pastor and master storyteller Andy Stanley to the edgier, raw-thentic Erwin McManus of Mosaic, to the afro-quirky Malcolm Gladwell (author of Tipping Point and Blink), to the contagiously controversial Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz), and the indescribably engaging awkwardness of Louie Giglio (Passion movement), these guys nailed it. The only main-stage let down was John Maxwell and Bill Hybels. These guys are obvious parents and pillars of present-day church and leadership trends, but they were a little out of place in this conference context. The fact that Hybels was dressed for a funeral and Maxwell was sitting more than any of the other guys is beside the point. These guys deserve credit and honor for so much; let's just figure out another way to do it besides hearing their regurgitated revelations that we've already read in their 1,294 best-selling books.

Continue reading "Catalyst 2005"

Posted by Brad Abare at 3:25 PM
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Useful Church Web Sites Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

Last week we asked about the usefulness of church web sites. The results didn't change much from earlier in the week when we had matching responses on either extreme: 12% say they use their church web site every day and 12% ask "What church web site?"

35% say their church's web site is as current as a 1980 hymnal. Ouch. On the plus side, 40% of churches seem to be doing their job, offering visitors what they need. It leaves the question of whether or not church web sites are providing what people want.

This week we're asking a slightly different question, broaching the topic of Church Marketing Sucks swag: Would you buy a Church Marketing Sucks T-shirt? With 33 votes in we've got 24% saying absolutely, 24% giving an outright no, and 48% sitting in the middle with maybe, depending on the design and price.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:46 AM
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October 8, 2005

Performance-Based Salaries for Pastors

(Filed under: Church Business)

I seem to be on a Mark Oestreicher roll this week (actually, I've just been catching up on my RSS feeds), but I stumbled across another great entry: Worst Church Idea of the Month Award:

A pastor said to me that he loves to try new things. And the thing he's trying right now that he thinks is such a good idea? [drum roll, please — and brace yourself] He's paying his staff based on how many people, on average, attend the ministries they are in charge of. He grinned as he told me that, for example, one of the pastors has a fairly low monthly salary, because he's new and his particular ministry is average-sized; but if the ministry reaches x-amount on average, his pay will bump to another level, and at xx-amount, to another level, which is a great salary for their area. He said it's a great system because it builds self-motivation in automatically.

Wow. Performance-based salaries for church. Ouch. That hurts on so many levels.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:04 PM
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Lingerie, Dodgeball and Golf Bring People to Church

(Filed under: Examples)

More and more churches are turning to creative programming to attract people, trying to offer something outside the Sunday morning worship experience to interest visitors. The Washington Post covers a number of different options churches are offering, including golf ministries, river tubing, an aviation ministry, drama programs, dance programs--even a twentysomethings group called "Theology on Tap" that meets in bars.

It can get even more unique, like a youth group in Billings, Mont. that draws teens with dodgeball or a book backed by a UK bishop that encourages lingerie parties. The book, Open the Door, encourages Christians to use unconventional methods to connect with non-Christians (it also recommends chocolate parties, knitting groups and book clubs, but those lingerie parties get all the headlines).

If a racing ministry or a financial planning class will bring someone to God, more power to 'em. Even something as off the wall as a lingerie party? Hey, Christians can wear lingerie.

I just hope these different groups and strategies have better spiritual connections than the In His Grip Golf Assocation: "In golf, it is key to trust your swing and in life, it is key to trust in the Lord."

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:32 PM
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October 6, 2005

Nuns with Guns

(Filed under: Graphic Design)

I just about died when I saw this flier. It comes from The Refuse, a Colorado Springs church that submitted their web site for this week's peer review, and it sounds like they inherited the flier from their parent church, Scum of the Earth. At any rate, I can't remember a funnier bit of church advertising.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:53 AM
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The Refuse Web Site

(Filed under: Peer Review)

Check out the web site of The Refuse, a Colorado Springs church for "the left out and right brained." Share your feedback in this week's peer review, and consider submitting your church's marketing materials for a future peer review.

Samples:

Screenshot:

(therefuse.net)

Continue reading "The Refuse Web Site"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:12 AM
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October 5, 2005

Church Growth Fallout

(Filed under: Philosophy)

Mark Oestreicher from Youth Specialties has an interesting post using a Raymond Chandler quote to talk about the state of the church:

From thirty feet away she looked like a lot of class. From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away.

While Oestreicher says a lot of good has come from the church lately, there's also been a lot of stuff that sucks (his words, not mine):

• Focus on programming over people.
• Obsession with numbers.
• Re-introduction of the idea that the building is the church.
• Franchised youth ministries.
• Church marketing.
• Acceptance and affirmation of consumerism.

Unfortunately, he doesn't explain what he means by church marketing. I'll just say what I always say—church marketing is just a tool.

But he's still right. These are examples of what we mean when we say church marketing sucks, right along with the crummy clip art and bad design. But the goal of good church marketing should be to overcome these failures. The goal of good church marketing is to look good from a distance, and still look good up close, and actually be good on the inside. Authenticity. That's what we're after.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:46 AM
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Top 10 Web Design Mistakes

(Filed under: Web Sites)

Usability guru Jakob Nielsen revealed his Top 10 Web Design Mistakes of 2005 earlier this week, and church web sites could learn a thing or two. For the most part it's the basics:

1. Legibility Problems
2. Non-Standard Links
3. Flash
4. Content That's Not Written for the Web
5. Bad Search
6. Browser Incompatibility
7. Cumbersome Forms
8. No Contact Information or Other Company Info
9. Frozen Layouts with Fixed Page Widths
10. Inadequate Photo Enlargement

Here at Church Marketing Sucks we're guilty of a few of these (especially 2 with our non-underlined links and 9 with our fixed page layout), though sometimes these are debatable (i.e., not everyone agrees). But what's really important is understanding the basic idea and trying to make your site as usable as possible.

Just look at Nielsen's entry for how to do web sites right. The text is scannable and chunked, he uses bold text for emphasis, and he links to his own content when appropriate, which is not only incredibly helpful for the user, but it encourages people to spend a lot of time on his site. (link via eministry notes)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:24 AM
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Free Gas Church in New York Times

(Filed under: Public Relations)

Earlier this month we talked about a church giving away free gas to visitors, and last week that church, Clearview Community Church in Sioux City, Iowa, was mentioned in The New York Times.

The mention comes in the last paragraph of an article talking about businesses offering free gas promotions, so it's nothing to get too excited about.

But imagine if your church were mentioned in The New York Times. Not too shabby. It may not immediately lead to more people checking out your church, but it will encourage other journalists to pay attention to your church and it does raise the profile of your church. All of which could eventually (and hopefully) lead to more visitors coming to your church and finding God. And in the words of the "Hokey Pokey," that's what it's all about. (let's not let anyone get the idea that being in The New York Times is some kind of status symbol that churches should be aiming for.)

How did Clearview Community Church land such a mention? Who knows how it all went down, but the primary elements were an idea worth talking about and a press release to let the media know. (and there's probably a fine line between an idea worth talking about and a gimmick, but that's another entry.)

Continue reading "Free Gas Church in New York Times"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:52 AM
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October 3, 2005

The Smiling Pastor

(Filed under: Church Business)

An entry over at Tony McCollum's Churchwerx talks about the power of a smile. McCollum uses the example of General Dwight D. Eisenhower:

During World War II, Dwight Eisenhower, supreme commander of the allied forces, made a conscious decision to never allow a photo of himself to be taken unless he was smiling. He reasoned that his fighting men all over the world would see these pictures and he felt that he must exude confidence no matter what. He once said that he was trying to make everyone feel that he understood something they didn’t about the war and that no matter how bad it might seem to his men, their commander must have a plan or something up his sleeve.

McCollum also points to Susan D. Whiting, CEO of Nielsen Media Research, who had this to say about smiles to Fast Company:

When you're the CEO, you've got to get off the elevator each morning with a big smile on your face. No matter what's going on in the company. Everyone looks to you for a temperature reading.

So is there value in presenting a smiling facade?