Charles Barkley Swing Mystery

Conspiracy theory has been a fad lately and to not miss out on this opportunity, we have decided to investigate our own. For a number of years Charles Barkley has been crowned the unofficial titleholder of the worst swing in golf. However questions must be asked? If there is a conspiracy theory here, what are the motivations and who are the unsuspecting victims in this regard.

My Theory is this:

Since Charles' retirement from basketball, he has not been able to fund his insatiable appetite for golf. In an attempt to feed this addiction and knowing full well of the limited pension he receives from the game of basketball, he needed another strategy. By creating a violent hitch in his swing he preyed on the unsuspecting heart strings of Golf professionals throughout the heart land of America, in order to get free lessons and driving range tokens. His network of friends and celebrities also invited him unknowingly in an act of sympathy to charity Fundraiser Tournaments throughout America.

But does he really have a bad swing? If you refer to the string of videos and pay particular attention to the NBA prank video. He seems to have a fluid Tiger-like stroke! You view, you decide... I only pose the questions?

Below is a sample.




THE REST OF THE EVIDENCE IS HERE

Is there an ROI for CSR?

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the buzzword these days it seems. Al Gore wins an Oscar and now recently a nobel prize, there is still uncertainty in the middle east, we have North Korea, Burma etc... In Vancouver, in particular we also have the visible effects of global warming affecting our glaciers and weather systems. There is lots to fear, and it seems in times of crisis we cling to home, similar to a small child hanging on to Mom's leg when a stranger is at the door. It is now mainstream thinking to have a social responsibility angle to your enterprise, customers are demanding it, its fashionable. In Vancouver, there are almost 5,000 charities all holding functions and events to sustain their initiatives. It is a battle for sponsorship dollars, as well as for people's disposable income and leisure time. As a Charity what are you doing to differentiate yourselves from all the other social causes available? In addition, if you are a corporate donator, what value are you getting from your charitable relationship and how do you turn away such deserving charities.

From a corporate perspective, identifying your corporate values, your mission and the causes important to your clients and stakeholders should define the type of charity you should align with. There may not be a perfect fit so selecting a few worthy causes may be an option to you. Like a business partnership, does the charity have strong leadership, have they proven success or endured challenges? Does the charity have a vision and if so how would your company align to that? Where is the social cause in the evolution of their operation, are they start-up, do they have a large and mature donor base. What can your company do to leverage the charitable strengths for mutual benefit.

As a Charity what are you doing to understand your key supporters concerns. Is there business value in your assets? Can you provide more than a good story, can you truly help your client. The competition is fierce for charitable giving, in Vancouver with the Olympics on the horizon the battle for people's time will be the rise. Access to quality resources and volunteers is on everyone's mind, corporate and charitable. The economic reality driven by perception of the cost of living is also putting some added pressure on disposable income.

The other dynamic that the Olympics is bringing is corporate level ROI measurement systems. Olympic level sponsors pay a lot of money for sponsorship and they want to ensure that they get their return on investment. Professional Corporate Hospitality Companies such as SportsMark help Olympic Sponsors find the return based on a structured system. Their system is scalable and is raising the standards for Event Sponsorship and Management.

From a golf perspective the Golf Tournament Association of America is creating a link between the industry, charity and the community. As a golf event planner it is in our self interest, of course to be aware of the outside forces and provide an avenue for all the stakeholders in the process to be educated about how to create the greatest return for corporate dollars.

So what to do? Evaluate your projects with corporate metric systems? How many dollars raised per golfer, per sponsor, per committee member. In your planning process, set specific objectives of what you want to achieve, set milestones that lead into that and track if you are heading in that direction. If you don't feel it is, then don't be afraid to pull the plug, your stakeholders will thank you for not entering into a battle where the victory is not clear, it will only hurt you in the long run. The good news is you have control, how you engage this is up to you and the resources available to you, sometimes there are DIAMONDS in the ROUGH.

gg