Posted by Jon
I clipped a story from the papers recently about grandee 1960s prime minister Harold Macmillan. His grandson recalled a meeting at the family home.
I clipped a story from the papers recently about grandee 1960s prime minister Harold Macmillan. His grandson recalled a meeting at the family home.
Cabinet colleague ‘Rab’ Butler produced a pile of papers.
“What are those?” asked Macmillan.
“Policies,” said Butler.
“Oh, I beg you, not policies,” the prime minister retorted. “They come back to haunt you. Give them broad sunlit uplands, dear boy.”
I smiled at the similarity between political spin and the challenge of securing sponsorship from “on high” for programmes to deliver improvements to proposal capabilities. As proposal folks, we may be absolutely fascinated by the detail of how we’re going to improve our processes, our structures, our documents. Yet when talking to the CEO or Sales Director, we need to remind ourselves that the key to success is to paint a picture of the “broad sunlit uplands” if we want to capture their imagination and support. And budget and headcount!
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