In early 2001 Freedom Orange County Information (FOCI) faced a fork in the road. In the dim economic environment, it had to make a tough decision about how to proceed: cut back, or break out. It chose the latter and gave birth to an initiative that boldly began making innovative changes to bring about a new identity for The Orange County Register, from that of a venerable newspaper to a modern information company.
"Vision 2005 was about associates taking the lead in learning more about their own business," said Register Publisher Chris Anderson. "Our goal was to think, plan, train and build capability."
The planning began in July and by August, the "VO5" team had been assembled, consisting of a Core Team, which in turn led three Breakthrough Teams. Members were gathered from all areas of FOCI and worked on projects through December—studying new products, services, customers, markets and ways in which FOCI's immense intellectual property could be creatively leveraged.
"At least as valuable as the financial gains has been the opening up of the traditional silo-driven thinking," said Ken Brusic, vice president of shared content for the Metro group. "For the first time, people at many levels of the organization are talking about ways to improve and grow the business in a changed market with a different competitive environment.
"Vision 2005 has created the will, the plans, the tools and a potential structure for an information company," he continued. "It has also given us the courage to make it happen."
Stories of Success Listing | Table of Contents | 2001 Annual Report | Freedom Communications, Inc.