In my prior life, at the Wall Street Journal, editors eschewed photographs for decades. Asked why, a senior editor once said: “Because one word is worth a thousand pictures.” Another said the paper avoided photographs for a very simple reason: “Photographers.”

At Context, I’ve learned the joys both of photographs and of photographers. Recently, I spent an afternoon with Fabrice Trombert, who was taking new photos of me to accompany these opening remarks. Fabrice often used a 1950s-vintage Polaroid camera because the film, which produces a thin negative on the back of the image that develops on the spot, gives pictures an unusually sharp quality. The camera is old enough that some of the seals can leak light, so Fabrice wrapped a wool scarf around the body of the camera. We took most of the pictures outside in frightfully cold weather, and Polaroids won’t develop below a certain temperature, so after each shot he handed the film to his assistant or to Context Creative Director Mark Maltais, who put it under an armpit. We made quite the scene: four guys hopping around trying to stay warm, while one works an old camera that looks like it, too, must have been shivering, and two others act like robots, with their arms stuck against their sides.

I came away from the experience with an even stronger sense of how much intelligence, creativity, and dedication go into the images that Mark and his team bring you in Context—images that have won Context more major design awards than all but a handful of magazines in recent years. See for yourself, both in the picture on this page and, more importantly, in the thoughtful images that Fabrice produced for the cover and the interview with Delta Air Lines Chief Executive Leo Mullin [“Straightened Up and Flying Right”]. You might also check out the other two photographs in this issue. The first, a stylized statement on synchronization, runs in “All Together Now”. The second, a spooky take on the possibilities of genetic engineering, is in “A Truly Embryonic Technology”. I hope you’ll be as impressed as I am with Mark and his photographers.

Not that I want you to neglect the words in this issue. After all, the words are my babies much more than the images are. I’d call your attention to a few pieces in particular, any one of which may change how you think about a part of your business:

The Mullin interview makes as compelling a case as I’ve seen for information technology as the major driver of corporate innovation.

“GE Brings Good Thinks to Life” shows how General Electric is continuing to grow rapidly by going the extra mile for customers.

“Platforms for Growth” explains how almost any big company can make similar gains, generating significant growth by embedding intelligence in products.

“Why CRM Fails” describes how to avoid the pitfalls that keep so many companies from getting all the benefits from their customer-relationship-management systems.

“Outsourcing Is Hot; Don’t Get Burned” takes the same sort of approach in explaining how to think about another trend, the movement to go beyond outsourcing just I/T departments and outsource numerous business processes.

Finally, if you’re at all intrigued by cloning and other breakthroughs in genetic engineering, you should read The Last Word, “A Truly Embryonic Technology.” The piece is a fascinating, sometimes eerie debate about whether we should regulate bioengineering. The images created in your mind—dare I say it?—may be with you even longer than some of those Mark produced for this issue of Context.

Cheers,

Paul B. Carroll
Editor-in-Chief