Overhearing The Agenda
And all corporations should have professional eavesdroppers to hang around supermarkets, department stores, auto showrooms and other places where goods are considered, and rejected. Market research, focus groups, staff meetings–none is a substitute for hearing one person tell another, “That new fat-free yogurt tastes like Elmer’s glue.” But no professional needs to hire eavesdroppers as much as elected officials do, particularly those who live and work in Washington, a snow globe of a city in which real public opinion rarely penetrates the plastic shell....