Not So Smart After All

Hey, it's Friday and I'm leaving on vacation, so I thought you might enjoy something funny, but that still has a business application.  You may have to look for it, but it's there.  Really.

You've probably seen the commercials for Holiday Inn Express.  According to Wikipedia, "In the mid-2000s, Holiday Inn Express began producing humorous television commercials consisting of average Joe's performing extraordinary activities that only experts would know. The concept attributes these exaggerated abilities to the fact that they "stayed at a Holiday Inn (Express) last night". The campaign reflects the brand's slogan "Stay Smart" which is still in use today."

Well, sometimes staying in an HI Express, or any motel, may not be such a good idea.  For example, Bear Grylls stars in a popular show on the Discovery Channel called "Man Versus Wild".  The premise is that they drop this guy off in the wilderness somewhere and he manages to survive using only his bare hands and his wits.  Grylls is a former Special Forces soldier and the idea is that by watching the show, you'll know what to do if you decide to jump out of an airplane into the middle of the desert.

For example, in one episode, he catches a big fish with a pointy stick, pulls it out of the water, and starts gnawing away on the still-flopping trout.  Yum.  Really fresh sushi.  You have to hand it to the guy, he does know how to survive in the wild.  But, apparently not as wild as he'd like you to believe.

According to Channel 4, the British network that carries the show, "Channel 4 confirmed that host Bear Grylls had partaken of indoor accommodations on at least two occasions when his series had depicted him spending the night in the wild."

The Discovery Channel had this to say:  "Discovery Communications has learned that isolated elements of the 'Man vs. Wild' show in some episodes were not natural to the environment, and that for health and safety concerns the crew and host received some survival assistance while in the field,"

"Some survival assistance" is a polite way of saying that in "Man vs. Wild", sometimes "Wild" wins.  "I'm not really a survivalist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night," could be the next commercial.  Stay tuned.

Ok, how does this relate to business?  In a word, integrity.  How did this guy figure that he wouldn't get caught?  How do cyclists in the Tour de France think that they're going to be able to cheat and get away with it?  Barry Bonds.  Michael Vick.  What ever happened to integrity?  As we reported here recently, Americans trust small business more than any other institution with the exception of the US Military.  You earn that trust by telling the truth, by doing what you say you're going to do, and by doing business with integrity.  In today's world, that's becoming a rare commodity.