Update

Winning friends and influencing people, in all the right ways….

Many thanks to AccuQuote VP of marketing and business development Sean Cheyney and the publishers of iMediaConnection.com for the recent post entitled 5 ways to ruin your industry reputation. In the piece, Sean uses his talking points to share colorful and insightful thoughts on some of the things people really do every day which can work against them big time. Personally, the behaviours Sean describes really drive me crazy, and I know we’ve all experienced our share of them first-hand — probably by the time we entered the first grade. On some level, I am thankful for all the hatred, conflict and negativity I’ve encountered in the world, because it has made me realize how very much I care about diplomacy, peace and optimism. To me, conducting myself through positive, sincere, well-meaning behaviours is of the utmost importance in managing my reputation… and my overall success in life. In this spirit, I’m spinning Sean’s points to provide three reputation-savers likely to keep each of us on firm ground, both professionally and socially.

Read moreWinning friends and influencing people, in all the right ways….

How to ace your next speaking gig

It seemed to work out pretty well for Sir Isaac Newton, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Stephen Hawking, among many others, so I hope you won’t mind me metaphorically standing on the shoulders of giants in presenting this universal positive entry. This week, I am returning to one of my favorite thought-leading sources — Rohit Bhargava — … Read moreHow to ace your next speaking gig

Words from the wise: Quick chats with leading brand designers


Next month, the Corporate Design Foundation will convene its 3rd Annual @Issue Business & Design Conference in New York. Offering attendees a full day’s worth of opportunities to hear from the CEOs of Herman Miller and other prominent companies on how design has positively impacted their bottom lines, the event will also host talks with the companies’ creative and design directors. For more insights

Read moreWords from the wise: Quick chats with leading brand designers

Three steps to business planning success…

Many of us dream of hatching our own business schemes, driven by our desires to solve problems in new or improved ways, or maybe just to offer something we feel we can sell for a profit… and to do so in our own ways. Personally, I have had active roles in scores of start-up dialogues over the years, each entrenched within its own unique setting. Something I have learned is that business planning is always difficult — and also, while business planning advice is easy to come by, in my humble opinion, it’s not all good. So today, I am sharing some of the best, most actionable information I’ve come across recently, to help would-be entrepreneurs cut to the chase and give themselves the greatest chance of making their entrepreneurial dreams come true.

Read moreThree steps to business planning success…

Confessions from a dangerous media mind…

Over the past 40 years, Max Clifford made his mark on society and the world as a key influencer of the global media. After a brief career as a music journalist, he joined EMI at the age of 19 and went on to craft publicity campaigns for The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, … Read moreConfessions from a dangerous media mind…

Branding rules to make or break…


Originally published December 12, 2005. As a starting point to your own year-end ruminations about the effectiveness of your company’s brand — or that of one you envision spawning after the last bit of confetti has settled to the earth on January 1 — here are some trusty new rules on branding, courtesy of New York City-based branding consultancy Sterling Group, as reported by Chief Marketer Magazine.

Read moreBranding rules to make or break…

Roger D’s tips for superior public and media relations: Getting started…

As a public relations (PR) professional, I see a lot of edgy cross-chatter about my field in the blogosphere, and while I normally don’t leap into the debates, occasionally, something will get under my skin. That happened a few weeks ago when Rohit Bhargava wrote a piece on his Influential Interactive Marketing blog with the subject line of “The Future of PR Means Dumping The Inferiority Complex.” Rohit backed-up his antagonizing claim by writing that PR is rising in importance at least in part because “…it is about more powerfully articulating where a client needs to go and becoming the partner that gets them there.”

Next week, I will be off on vacation with my family, giving thanks for a sensational 2007. Due in part to this virtual jab from Rohit, the process of gathering my thoughts for this post has led me to realize that my knowledge, expertise and talents in the field of public and media relations definitely are worth shouting about.

Read moreRoger D’s tips for superior public and media relations: Getting started…

Friends, passionistas and influencers… shall we roar?


Some of the most interesting takeaways from this year’s Advertising Week in New York came from a four-hour session presented by Yahoo Inc. and MediaVest introducing us to our Web 2.0-empowered selves as passionistas. The Sept. 26 session entitled “Passionistas: The New Empowered Consumers” was hosted by craigslist founder Craig Newmark, and further propogated by a BusinessWire press release on the new Yahoo/MediaVest study providing in-depth statistics on us in the course of proclaiming us as proverbial apples in marketers’ eyes. Why? Because we are passionate about our interests… and we devote significant amounts of time (much more than most others) to exploring our interests and applying our talents to make impacts and foster change.

Read moreFriends, passionistas and influencers… shall we roar?

What has your business acumen done for you lately?


Earlier this year, Strategy+Business magazine published a piece by Ram Charan entitled “Sharpening Your Business Acumen.” Teasing the piece in an email newsletter, S+B Editor-in-Chief Art Kleiner informs us that uncommon success can be forged by those of us who can accurately assess larger trends and roll the most poignant implications into our business practices, so long as we’re ready, willing and able to break new ground and preconceive all the possibilities change can render. Charan’s detailed, example-rich article — in which he defines the demanding but yet all-important art of business acumen as “linking an insightful assessment of the external business landscape with the keen awareness of how money can be made… and then executing the strategy to deliver the desired results” — is inspiring.

Here’s my take on his keys to making the most of change.

Read moreWhat has your business acumen done for you lately?

Ready to rumble…

BusinessWeek’s Aug. 2006 issue features some great advice and ideas on the subject of winning. The introduction is written by Joe Torre, who as the Manager of the New York Yankees, has led his club to the Major League Basebell playoffs for ten consecutive years. Personally, my first memories of Joe go back to when he was a player for the St. Louis Cardinals, the team I grew up following. My father was formerly an airplane pilot and the manager of a private, St. Louis-based charter service, and according to his own report, back in 1969 or so, he had tossed Mr. Torre out of his office for littering it with his cigar ashes. By virtue of this tale, which may very well be a tall one,

Read moreReady to rumble…

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