My real point was not so much that there is a need for professional help, as to point out that a lot of decisions are being made by folks without a whole lot of experience. That's not necessarily bad, but it also suggests there should be fewer absolutes and more discussion. If somebody who has a lot of experience in a field tells me "that's the way it's gotta be period" (tender lettering was the immediate subject) then I'll usually accept it because he knows what he's talking about. But when somebody who knows no more about marketing than I do says such and such, then it's just a friendly discussion between equals.
Which is not to say some professional help might not be helpful and cost effective. Which brings me to another of my little sayings: you get out of a consultant what you put into the consultant. If you sit back and think they will present you with the secret to life, you will usually be disappointed. But if you get the right skills, challenge them and keep their nose to the grind stone, consultants can be damn helpful on occasion. In my career I have seen a lot of the good, the bad and the downright ugly.
The real issue here, and it is tied into the strategic planning issue, is the need to have the appropriate people making the decisions. The operator needs to making operating decisions. The museum folks need to make decisions about historic integrity and interpretation. And where there are conflicts, and there will be conflicts, there needs to be a way to resolve them. Does the operator automatically win? Or is the museum actually important. That's where the planning process can help raise some key issues. One issue might be who really should be marketing the railroad. Are you marketing a "train ride" or are you marketing something that includes the museum.
In many respects the planning process can be just as important as the plan, to the extent it helps get issues like this on the table and some decisions made.
Just some meanderings of a idle mind.
JBW
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/19/2007 10:35PM by John West.