Why TRC Nexus came to be… 

January 20th, 2024

Thanks for joining this morning.

Mike Rusher, President of the Results Company, here to tell the story of TRC Nexus – and to examine again the value of executive communications. 

The story isn’t overly complicated. It started with a simple idea framed as a solution to an all-too-common problem: Executives are not getting need-to-know information.

Several years ago, a group of influential leaders in the business community were convened and began a series of intensive and unfiltered discussions. They explored several solutions for delivering need-to-know information to executives, and TRC stepped in to execute on a new, valuable endeavor. As we’ve so often seen in North Carolina, the leaders willing to step up and engage made the difference. 

Let’s journey back to 2018, in a comfortably packed meeting space owned by one of our state’s biggest thinkers…

————————————————————————————————A group of the state’s leading CEOs and executives were gathered in Burlington, North Carolina to discuss big ideas that can move the state forward.

The group, known in some public mentions only as “a committed group of executives,” were discussing solutions to various problems facing the state. The ideas contemplated at such gatherings often lead to proposals that many may call “moonshots.” We at TRC have grown accustomed to taking on big ideas, as we’ve done in our commitment to our vision statement: North Carolina is a state where business, employees, and residents maximize educational and economic opportunities and prosper in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That mild January afternoon six years ago kicked off a meeting between one of North Carolina’s most powerful policymakers and two dozen CEOs from around the state. A robust discussion on education initiatives was unfolding, and the problems were stacking up faster than solutions. Elementary school testing, reading competency, and focusing on measurable outcomes were outlined as areas for improvement – and the leaders in the room stood ready to dive in.

Intrigued and hopeful, the public official outlined an organized summation of the policies and initiatives that were being planned and executed in Raleigh. And one by one, people in the room realized the same thing: Information like this isn’t getting out.

The next day birthed many discussions on education policy, trainings, pilot programs, and other solutions that could be spearheaded in various areas across the state. But the business leaders came back to the information issue and asked, “What would it take to stand up a project that gave executives the news they need to know?” The die was cast.

To get here, we had to assume two things about the professionals we targeted: 1) the executive was committed to making the state a better place, and 2) they were willing to work collectively to make things happen. We assembled a plan to launch a service that provided executive communication at the intersection of business, policy, and politics.

TRC assumes most of our subscribers are flooded with headlines, so much of the need-to-know news may appear below the fold, or stay under the radar. That’s where the daily Morning Updates come in – packaging the highlights that get business leaders briefed, quickly. We also understand there is an absurd amount of opinion columns to choose from – so we curate the Afternoon Views to highlight topics and conversations that are being actively discussed among C-suites.     

Our Saturday Thought Pieces provide original columns, focused on topics that will inform, challenge and inspire executives. Suggestions and feedback is always welcomed, and deeply appreciated. 

We do not shy away from covering executive thought on some of the most challenging topics facing the state, and country. 

Recall our September 17, 2022, deep dive on abortion legislation, written on the eve of a tumultuous election. At the time, the media environment was dripping with activist reporting, foreshadowing aggressive legislation that would ban abortion and predicting a mass exodus of business from the state.

Nobel Prize-winning psychologist and economist Daniel Kahneman describes a phenomenon called “What You See Is All There Is” – in essence, the human mind naturally draws conclusions based only on the information presented to it, and doesn’t contemplate whether the information is incomplete.

Unsuspecting news consumers were being led by the media, and the governor, to believe the state legislature was preparing to throw women and doctors in jail and that we would see massive economic ramifications.

Full information needed to be presented, and we did just that. In the end, the extreme predictions never came to fruition. People can and will disagree with the policy choice, but it’s indisputable that North Carolina now generally aligns with public sentiment and falls within the mainstream of policies in other states and countries. The whole ordeal seems like a distant memory.

This is but one example of the cut-through-the-noise information we deliver to North Carolina executives.

TRC Nexus is a below-the-radar newsletter that spreads by referrals. We count on our loyal Nexus subscribers to spread the word and would greatly appreciate you sharing TRC Nexus with like-minded business leaders interested in making North Carolina better, and in receiving to-the-point (and on-point) news updates. 

Please forward this email to them and encourage them to sign up.

Thanks, as always, for reading. See you next Saturday.