Mark Cuban uses newspaper industry as an example on how business must adapt to survive in the future

Friday night has become a 'must see TV night' for me, and I think it would help sales reps around the world if they would do the same. "Shark Tank" on ABC is a great illustration of sales. Assuming you have a good product, you must the details of that product, features, benefits and financials to have a chance. To really succeed, you have to be able to tell a story and present to a group.

There has been many a product on that show that would be mega-hits today, if only the person knew how to present, and to tell a good story. More than one occasion I have showed "Shark Tank" segments for training to my sales team.

While all of the host entrepreneurs on the show have certain charms, to me it is Mark Cuban that makes the show worthwhile. In part, that is due to Cuban reminding me of one of my mentors from a few years ago. Cuban is also a graduate of Indiana University, and still a fan of IU basketball like myself. I have a lot of respect for Cuban, and his background as a self-made businessman that works very hard but can still have fun.

On LinkedIN this week, I came across a Mark Cuban blog from last January directed towards incoming college freshmen. Cuban offered some great advice:  "The smart high school grad no longer just picks a school, borrows money and wings it. Your future depends on your ability to assemble an educational plan that gets you on your path of knowledge and discovery without putting you at risk of attending a school that is doomed to fail, and/or you with a debt heavy balance sheet that prevents you from taking the chances, searching for the opportunities or just being a fuck up for a while."

That quote could easily be directed to media companies, and specifically newspapers. Media companies need to develop a short and long term strategy that puts them on the path of knowledge and discovery for new and emerging marketing / revenue opportunities. In many cases, this is a tough path to follow for many, especially newspaper and radio companies who's balance sheets prevent them from taking chances and searching for the opportunities.

Cuban does target media companies in this blog post, specifically newspapers. Cuban compares the university and college system with the newspaper industry. "The newspaper industry was once deemed indestructible. Then this thing called the internet came along and took away their classified business. The problem wasn't really that their classifieds disappeared. It was more that they had accumulated a ton of debt and had over invested in physical plant and assets that could not adapt to the new digital world."

You can read the entire blog post, titled "Will Your College Go Out of Business Before You Graduate?" at:  http://blogmaverick.com/2013/01/26/will-your-college-go-out-of-business-before-you-graduate/