From Salesperson in the Need the Info thread - seems to apply here!

I applaud Present Faculty Member's description of what is best referred to as a community of scholars.  I would like to suggest, however, that when trying to convince someone outside of acedemia that arguments should be framed in terms and examples they value.  In other words, in order to get results, we should sell the way that people want to buy, which is not necessarily the way that we would most like to sell (our cause).  I have repeatedly heard the same arguments from the business community over the past several weeks, as if they have been scripted and distributed by the USM media machine.   Trying to describe a community of scholars has not been an effective response.  What has been more effective is offering alternative ways of looking at the situation, such as:

If you had 93% of your employees saying they had no confidence in their manager, what would you do?

If you could choose a successful company to model your own after, what would it be?  (Are there really any entrepreneurs who would choose the manufacturers of the 40s and 50s as their examples?)

If your stock went down because of bad press, poor morale, and disillusioned investors, would you intervene?

Just some ideas because offering up more of the same to people who just don't get it won't change any minds.