Building Your Relationship Capital

Recently I attended the global sales meeting of my client, SkillSoft. It provided a great opportunity to spend time with my client, meet others in the organization and hear about some of the latest developments with their customers. In many ways it was typical of these kinds of events. But one of their guest speakers, David Nour, author of "Relationship Economics" gave a thought provoking talk about relationships. In it he talked about bridging the gap between relationship creation and...

Getting PR Right in 2012: Know Your Opportunity Cost

 With the first eight weeks of the New Year behind us, many of you are starting to see the impact of your decisions regarding your communications program, staff and agency evaluations. You’ve already considered what worked, what didn’t and are making changes to maximize your opportunities, results and operational efficiency. You may have also invested in new software tools, processes and new relationships. How can you ensure these investments will prove to be the right ones? After all, you...

Red Sox Spring PR Training

Spring training is off and running down at the Red Sox new facility in Ft. Myers, Fl. As the pitchers and catchers and field players are checking in, bobbing and weaving around the hungry mob of press people trying to get a good quote, one can only imagine that the PR machine is on overdrive getting them ready. Or it certainly should be. One can imagine this scenario that just might be happening right now . . . New Red...

Just Keep Digging that Hole, LeBron

Will LeBron James ever learn? Miami Heat forward, LeBron James has once again made sports fans everywhere shake their heads in disappointment. As I’m sure ESPN has already informed you, LeBron James recently tweeted a comment regarding LA Clipper Blake Giffin’s dunk over Oklahoma City’s Kendrick Perkins: “Dunk of the Year! @blakegriffin just dunked on Kendrick Perkins so hard!!! Wow! I guess I'm No. 2 now. Move over #6” Being a huge Celtics fan, I admit to being slightly biased...

Why Media is Alive and Well

It's been a noteworthy week on the media landscape. It started with the news that the venerable enterprise IT publishing shop Ziff-Davis Enterprise is being acquired by QuinStreet and reportedly letting go 80% of the staff. It's sad news for many of our contacts at outlets like eWEEK, Baseline, CIO Insight and Channel Insider. Yet two other bits of news contrasted that and tells me that media is alive and well. Yesterday, GigaOm announced it is acquiring the assets of...

Susan G. Komen for the Cure: What Were They Thinking?

I have personally been involved with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure® breast cancer foundation for many years. My mother is a two-time breast cancer survivor so I am fully aware of the importance of the foundation’s mission – supporting women and families in the fight against breast cancer. After cutting nearly $700,000 in annual grants to Planned Parenthood last week, which was specifically to fund breast cancer screening and education programs, like many other supporters, I am reconsidering...

Oh, Gisele. You've Done It Again.

Although I think the quiet venting supermodel wife of Patriots QB Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen – who was heard responding to a Giants fan who surrounded her after the Super Bowl loss – was reported on as if it was a loud rant, Bundchen should have known better to keep her mouth shut and walk quietly to the limo. As communications expert Kevin Whalen of PunditReview wrote to me earlier today: "This breaks all kinds of PR rules, from someone...

Battle of the Bad Sound-Bites: Coming To An Election Near You?

As I was preparing an executive communications training for a client, which includes exercises on effective sound-bites, I heard the latest "what was he thinking?" statement from Republican front-runner Mitt Romney: "I'm not concerned about the very poor." This has been parsed in every news channel this week and used by competing candidates to bash Romney even while the candidate attempted to clarify that it was taken out of context. His full comment is below: "By the way, I’m in...