THE ULTIMATE ISSUEBy Edward Laiche III

Speech 104

The Claim The newly sovereign island nation of

Fooji, in and effort to modernize its economy, offered tax breaks to American companies for doing business in their country. Two shoe companies, the well established Air Kobe and the upstart Stretchers were among the companies given invitations.

The claim was Fooji should have shoe stores.

ISSUE DISCOVERY In order to validate the claim, both

companies sent a representation to evaluate the situation and discover issues that would convince their respective companies to be for or against the claim. This process of gathering information for decision making or advocacy is called “ISSUE DISCOVERY.”

ISSUES There are four types of issues that can be

discovered: POTENTIAL ISSUES- These are all the

possible questions that can be asked of the claim.

ADMITTED ISSUES- These are questions raised by one side and agreed to by the other side, making the issue “moot.”

REAL ISSUES – These are the important questions that remain after narrowing the potential issues down.

ISSUES ULTIMATE ISSUES – These are key

questions that, in and of themselves, are sufficient for the disposition of the claim.

Overall, issues are the questions inherent in the claim that are discovered through brainstorming, research, and analysis. These discovered questions must be answered so that a stand on the claim can be taken… Answered issues become the basis for your contentions.

CONTENTIONS Contentions are the main argument that

support your position on the claim. Contentions mostly come from the

ultimate issues.

Air Kobe Company The Air Kobe company sent the Director

of Sales, Teddy Sycophant, to Fooji to assess the situation. It was hot, humid and there was no golf course so he was in a real hurry to get home. He made quick work of his issue discovery and found the ultimate issue right away. “ Do Foojians wear shoes?” The answer was no, they do not and never have.

Air Kobe Company So, he adopted the con side of the claim

by contenting that “the Foojians do not wear shoes so there is no market for shoes in Fooji. Therefore the Air Kobe company should not invest in building shoe stores in Fooji.”

When Teddy returned home he was given a big raise for averting another Tokyo cake mix disaster.1

Stretchers Company The Stretchers Company however hired

a professional, Sally Effort, to go to Fooji and assess the situation. “The difference between a professional and an amateur is knowing what questions to ask.”2 Sally’s issue discovery uncovered hundreds of Potential issues. She did Exploratory research to structure new problems and Constructive research to develop new solutions.

Stretchers Company Sally did Empirical research by getting

out among the people of Fooji to find out their concerns, their life style and desires.

From this she discovered that the Ultimate Issue was: “How can Foojians be persuaded to wear shoes.” The answer to this became her contention for siding with the status quo.

Stretchers Company Sally contented that “ the Foojians can

be persuaded to wear shoes by marketing them to the children. Therefore, the Stretchers company should build shoe stores in Fooji.” The Stretchers shoe company accepted her contention because of the supporting grounds she provided and built shoe stores in Fooji and put Sally in charge of marketing.

Stretchers Company Sally took charge. She had the best shoe

for the Foojian life style developed, The Fooji Footy. She had pseudo scientific research papers delivered to the schools explaining the benefits of wearing the Footy, you can run faster, climb higher and stay on your surf board better. She offered incentives, any child 14 and under got their first pair free. This is called priming the pump.

Fooji Footy

Stretchers Company She sponsored classes for expectant

mothers that among other things, taught expectant mothers the importance of having their children shod for their first steps to promote healthy foot development.

She had hundreds of pairs of infant size Fooji Footys made available, free of cost, to all mothers of newborns and she paid for the local bronze foundry to bronze a baby’s first pair for free.

Stretchers Company But by far, her greatest achievement was

to have the Stretchers company sponsor the local surfing hero because when he won the Australian Pipeline Challenge, wearing Fooji Surfboard Footies, they became an international hit.

Now, twenty five years later, all the baby boomers have grown up and they all wear shoes, so do their children and their parents.

Stretchers Company The international demand for Fooji Footies

has made the Stretcher Fooji Footy division the largest employer in the nation with revenue in the hundred millions annually. The Fooji Footy theme park and golf course attracts a million tourist a year and the Stretcher Company helped elect the current Prime Minister.

Stretchers Company When the President and CEO of the Fooji

Footy Division, Sally Effort was asked the secret of her success, she said, “I always knew what questions to ask because I did the exploratory, constructive and empirical research necessary to discover them. But, I didn’t stop there, I did the Cost/Benefit Analysis by weighing the total expected costs vs. the total expected benefits of each action.

Stretchers Company I did Priorities Analysis by prioritizing

objectives and weighing the trade-offs if we adopt a claim. I did Continuities Analysis by studying the results of following similar claims and determining if a break from tradition is warranted. Finally I did a lot of Brainstorming generating an extensive list of questions by bringing together people of collective wisdom.”

Stretchers Company Sally concluded with a quote from

Michelangelo “if people only knew how hard I work to gain my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all.“

1. Reference to an American Companies decision to send thousands of box of cake mix to Japan without first asking the questions :“Does the typical Japanese household have an oven?”

2. Jim Marteney3. Note: all definitions come directly from Communicating Critical Thinking,

Jack Stark and Jim Marteney pages 149 to 159.