Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/752736
wbjournal.com | November 21, 2016 | Worcester Business Journal 3 Editor, Brad Kane, bkane@wbjournal.com Digital Editor, Sam Bonacci, sbonacci@wbjournal.com (Real estate, construction, retail) Staff Writers Laura Finaldi, lfinaldi@wbjournal.com (Manufacturing, energy, technology, higher education, finance, nonprofits) Emily Micucci, emiccuci@wbjournal.com (Health care) Contributors Susan Shalhoub Livia Gershon Research Director, Stephanie Meagher, smeagher@nebusinessmedia.com Research Assistant, Heide Martin, hmartin@nebusinessmedia.com Production Director, Kira Beaudoin, kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com Associate Art Director, Mitchell Hayes, mhayes@wbjournal.com Senior Accounts Manager Matt Majikas, mmajikas@wbjournal.com Custom Publishing Project Manager Christine Juetten, cjuetten@wbjournal.com Senior Special Accounts Manager Mary Lynn Bosiak, mlbosiak@wbjournal.com Marketing & Events Manager Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com COO, Mary Rogers, mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com Accounting Manager, Valerie Clark, vclark@nebusinessmedia.com Accounting Assistant, Rae Rogers, rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com Collections Manager, Raki Zwiebel, rzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com Human Resources, Kim Vautour, kvautour@nebusinessmedia.com Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com Associate Publisher, Mark Murray mmurray@wbjournal.com President, Joseph Zwiebel jzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com L ast week, I was visiting with the five Crowley siblings over at Polar Beverages in Worcester, working on a story about their leadership at the manufacturer along with Wachusett Mountain Ski Area. When I first arrived, I had some one- on-one time with Carolyn Stimpson – the lone sister and vice president at Wachusett Mountain – and she sternly told me the ski area had quite a bit of public relations trouble since we ran an article entitled "No rain, no snow?" about how the worst Massachusetts drought in 50 years had forced the resort to invest millions in new snowmaking equipment and buy water from Fitchburg at increased rates. Upon talking with Carolyn, I was taken aback, because – as a journalist – I know when a story paints a person in a positive or a negative light. While I am used to getting negative feedback on stories, to me the "No rain, no snow?" story held the Crowleys up as examples to be followed. They were embracing the realities of a dif- ficult market situation – unpredictable weather, year after year – and investing money in their business to protect the longevity of the company. Carolyn agreed the story was fair por- trayal, but the problem was the headline of "No rain, no snow?" Even though the subheadline that appeared on the very next line made it entirely clear Wachusett Mountain was responding to the situation as business that planned to remain in operation for the foreseeable future, the public response became people asking Carolyn and her siblings if Wachusett Mountain was going to close soon. Headlines are meant to do two things: provide a summary of the story and entice the reader to read it. If someone is intrigued by a headline, then I assume they continue reading (or at least read the subheadline on the very next line). If a reader finds the headline uninteresting, I assume they just move on. It never occurred to me the a significant portion of our readers would find the headline "No rain, no snow?" so interesting that they would reach out to the Crowleys about a potential downturn at Wachusett Mountain but not interesting enough to bother to read the very next line. The drawback to the new visual story- telling style we launched in our Sept. 26 edition is while we are offering many dif- ferent elements like headlines, subhead- lines, better photography, charts, pull quotes and graphics to draw readers into the article, they still must read the entire story package to get the full picture. We can give you all these little snippets, but if you only read a portion of the package, you only get a portion of the story. The main motivation behind the WBJ redesign in September was adjusting our Will you read beyond this headline? Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-6595) is published bi-weeky, 24x per year, including 5 special issues in April, July, September, November and December, by New Engand Business Media. 172 Shrewsbury St., Worcester, MA 01604. Periodicals postage paid at Worcester, MA. Copyright 2015. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Worcester Business Journal, PO Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894. Subscriptions: Annual subscriptions are available for $54.95. For more information, please email wbjournal@ cambeywest.com or contact our circulation department at 845-267-3008. Fax: 845.267.3478 Advertising: For advertising information, please call Mark Murray at 508-755-8004 ext. 227. Fax: 508-755-8860. Worcester Business Journal accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or materials and in general does not return them to the sender. Worcester Business Journal 172 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester, MA 01604 508-755-8004 tel. • 508-755-8860 fax www.wbjournal.com A division of: NEWS & ANALYSIS DEPARTMENTS 4 Briefing 6 Ticker 12 FOCUS on Health Care 17 The List: Top health insurers in Mass. 20 The Rainmaker 22 Know How 24 On the Move 27 Photo Finish 28 Business Leads 29 Opinion 30 Shop Talk: Victoria Waterman 14 A sense of purpose Healthcare firms find reminding employees of the importance of their work improves morale and productivity in the midst of day-to-day drudgery. See this issue's FOCUS on Health Care. 29 Return Worcester to single tax rate The WBJ editorial board implores the Worcester City Council to reverse course and move toward a single property tax rate for residential and commercial payors. I N T H I S I S S U E Worcester Business Journal WBJ Open the Door 508-347-5056 • www.osv.org/inn Old Sturbridge Inn and Reeder Family Lodges A T O L D S T U R B R I D G E V I L L A G E Your stay helps to support our museum! • Large Rooms • Conference Room • On-site Spa Services • Quiet Country Setting • Free Parking • Exercise Room • Free Wireless Internet • Free Continental Breakfast print content to the modern reading style, which of course – I realize now, as I should have then – means people will scan a por- tion of the publication but not necessarily read every detail of every article. I highly encourage you to read every detail, because that is how we design it. Yet, I understand the realities of busy schedules and the com- petition from many publications for your attention, so we will ensure you get an accurate portrayal of the story, even if you only read a portion of it. - Brad Kane, editor W