Negative? Turn your energy into a proposal

Someone smart I live with said to me some years ago something to the effect "Rather than be a contrarian, make a proposal." It's a good practice whether you're talking with your honey about which restaurant to choose or to a newspaper editor about what's wrong with his or her paper.

I had the opportunity today to meet with someone concerned about an aspect of preps sports coverage in a local newspaper. By the time we met, he had heard from the paper's editors, very courteously, that staffing and newshole constraints contributed to why the paper couldn't give the subject more coverage.

The editors have agreed to meet with him so he came to me for advice. Here's what I told him. "Pick two or three things that you and the people you're working can provide the paper each week. It may be a calendar highlighting the best five upcoming matches plus one game summary."

 The point is to figure out how to help expand the coverage without causing more work for the editor and his staff. The point is that making a proposal is a way to take a positive approach to problem-solving and starting the discussion in an affirmative direction. It's easier and more productive than digging out of a hole.