As the world becomes increasingly transparent, professional service firms need to know more about their clients and their potential clients. You may have read how the management consulting firm McKinsey took on an assignment with the South African government and the state-owned power company, Eskom. The story did NOT have a happy ending, tarring the …more
By Melissa Lewelling, Senior Account Executive In a region with increasing disparity in wealth, I am one of the statistics that (by logical rhyme and reason) shouldn’t exist. I remember standing in the fog of the early morning before kindergarten waiting for the Salvation Army to open so we could eat that week. I remember …more
I’ve written several posts on how organizations select communication services. Even after 30+ years, I’m still thinking there’s got to be a better way. In cases in which Procurement leads the charge, the process feels more like a tussle than a process of getting to know each other. Speaking of a better way, …more
It has been one year and six days since our 30-year anniversary party. Thinking about the cliché that goes something along the lines, “It’s all about the people.” It is all about the people. Reconnecting with employees from the early days. Reconnecting with clients going back to 1987. And reconnecting with others who have …more
We tend to correlate experience with stronger leadership. The common Steve Jobs narrative swings from impetuous youth to lessons learned. It stands to reason that people who have been tested when things didn’t go according to plan — “What do you mean an impromptu YouTube video just went live with our head our marketing giving …more
I’m tardy in pulling together a curated list of the best posts in H1 of this year. I suppose the big one-oh distracted me. As always, I start with the caveat that these posts don’t necessarily represent the most popular posts — the ones that got most clicks. It’s me, not the Google Analytics dashboard, …more
Most of those in the over-50 crowd remember a movie called “Wall Street.” The main character is played by Michael Douglas, and he exclaims what became a famous line back then in describing the attitude of those in finance, “Greed is good.” If Hollywood were to create a movie called “PR Street” with Michael Douglas, …more
The four-word stacked headline appeared in the print version of The Wall Street Journal last Wednesday: WPP’s Sorrell Faces Probe The online headline went for the jugular, “WPP Is Looking at CEO Martin Sorrell’s Possible Misuse of Assets and Allegations of Improper Behavior.” Before digging in, let’s get the disclosure out of the way. I …more
The two agencies pen literally thousands of news releases for their clients each year, many addressing M&A. How tough can it be to apply this expertise to their own announcement? Of course, what the news release states doesn’t necessarily align with reality. As a public service, I’ve addressed the news release distributed over Business Wire …more
