Joe had heard complaining about the company just yesterday. It occurred to him that, when there’s a void of information, people will 昀椀ll it with something—usually something negative. This was a chance to avoid the void. Joe made this discovery his top priority. To make sure the information they received was unbiased, Joe turned to an outside source, their marketing partner, to conduct interviews of Joe’s stakeholders, or constituents. That group included Joe’s employees (from front-line workers to executives), dealers (large and small, old and new), customers (satis昀椀ed and dissatis昀椀ed) and industry experts. In addition, all of Joe’s competitors were studied. To avoid meaningless answers, people were personally interviewed with open-ended questions, allowing them to express their feelings—and the source of each answer was kept con昀椀dential. After weeks of interviews and research, Joe’s marketing partner shared the 昀椀ndings with him. The report was voluminous. In fact, they nicknamed the document the “Thud Book,” because when dropped on a desk or table, that’s the sound it made—a huge “thud.” Joe couldn’t wait to learn what each constituent thought of Joe’s Umbrellas. The employees interviewed expressed how they were afraid to open up and criticize management, that there were too many changes—almost change for change’s sake. The executives felt hostility toward rival departments. But all employees expressed an enthusiasm toward Joe’s products—they believed in them. One consistent criticism was lack of communication; they felt that Joe might be hiding things from them. Joe, reminded of the void, thought, Again, when there’s a void of information, people will 昀椀ll it with negativity. And as fast as we move, we need to over- communicate—the faster the speed of your company, the faster and more frequently you need to communicate. 11