The Myth of Awareness – The Eroding Beachhead

Rarely in military history is a successful campaign made on spontaneous charge. Marshalling, an understanding of the battlefield and coordinated action are hallmarks to gained ground. A beachhead allows for deeper progress and a point from which to launch new action. The strongest beachhead, however, is a means to an end, and has never won a war by its mere existence. There is a common practice in the business/disability space loosely termed ‘Awareness’. It is often seen as a game-changer. In reality, it is nothing more than a temporary beachhead, and a weak one at that.

The firms and governmental bodies who have played in the business/disability space over the last 20 years have hung their hat on this notion of ‘Disability Awareness’. The thinking goes that enlightened individuals understand the hidden value in the business/disability space, and once a bright light is shone, all will fall into place. A noble goal, and at its eventual end, a correct one. In a corporate environment, cases are made and acted upon, sometimes without permission, to quickly prove value. The theory goes that it’s tougher to say no if results are already shown. This is called intrapreneurship, taking initiative on innovation. If ‘awareness’ is not followed with promised results, it languishes on the sand, and will be looked upon as a losing horse in the future.

Awareness programs to date have consisted of lunch-and-learns, poster campaigns, web-based tutorials (often regulatory in nature) and a drone of bogus statistics that highlight silly notions like employee loyalty. Decision makers and those who the programs are ‘aimed’ at do not take these efforts seriously and mentally toss them into the fringes(at best) or a pile of things that have no impact on life what-so-ever(at worst).

These programs fall into the category of ‘preaching to the choir’, as those who pay attention already understand the message. The people who are not aware, and need to become aware, only respond to quantifiable results and actions that will make them look better to their boss, whether their boss is a middle-manager or a major shareholder. Tugging at the heart-strings and appealing to one’s sense of building a ‘better world’ may make a great sound bite, but it carries no real currency.

The real danger in these ‘awareness campaigns’ is that they send the wrong message, both to their internal constituencies and to people with disabilities who are potential employees and consumers. Go take a look at the images in these campaigns. They contain people with visible disabilities, who represent less than 25% of the market, in poses holding mail, in a call center or playing the ‘empty hero’ role. Even various governmental/charitable bodies fall into this trap. These campaigns create awareness, but they also reinforce tired stereotypes that move the needle in the wrong direction.

Awareness is a product of value creation, not the other way around. A wise person would look at these campaigns and quote the famous burger ad, asking “Where’s the beef?” An organization that wants to create positive awareness of people with disabilities needs to put talented butts in seats, allowing them to show value to colleagues, or churn out projects that add to the bottom line in a material manner. Awareness inside a profit-seeking organization is a direct result of success.

The days of being a leader in the business/disability space by trotting out an awareness campaign backed by one employee and a low six-figure budget are fast coming to an end. Those firms who have had this space to themselves with little (or no) effort are about to be crushed by their competition. There are a handful of firms who are ramping up with annual 8-figure budgets, C-suite level support and an understanding of the market that is both quantified and is in-line with their mainstream efforts. The old way was to attend a dinner in Washington, collect an award, perhaps write a tax-deductable check and pen an empty article for the firm’s intranet home page. Sound familiar?

The new way is to build a rigorous strategy around talent acquisition, market research, product development and profitability measurement. Take that strategy and execute it in an emerging market the size of China over 5 to 10 years and watch the firm’s share price start to tick up. While the ‘experts’ are collecting their awards after another rubber chicken dinner, your customers and shareholders are collecting their returns, and have a product that better serves their desires. Nothing creates awareness like a profit upgrade attributed to penetration in the business/disability market on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

Awareness needs to be part of the battle plan to make material impact in the business/disability space. It is not the silver bullet, nor is it the endgame. It is part of the rationale for being a leader and nothing more. It is proving to leadership the demographics support further research and development, while constructing a path to growth. Used briefly, it can open doors. Used without the proper support and strategic direction, it looks weak and can cause serious blowback. A beachhead without waves of support is destined to be over-run.