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Feb 11 2011

Let’s Talk Salt!

February 11, 2011 – 12:57 pm

By Brona Cosgrave (@bronacos)

Salt

 

” …undersalting shows either a political extremism in the kitchen or a lack of taste.” 

Patricia Unterman

 

Salt has a fascinating history and as an essential ingredient for life, it has played an integral role in the development of global trade and culture.  Mark Kurlansky’s book  Salt: A World History is a highly recommended read.

At times culinary culprits like fat and carbohydrates have taken center stage, but ever since the 1970’s when medical science first cited connections between high salt consumption and a growing list of serious ailments from high blood pressure, obesity, heart attacks and strokes to kidney problems and diabetes, there has been a raging debate about how much one should consume (or dare I say enjoy) daily.

Last year, I noticed the culinary vs. health debate appeared to be getting ready for an encore!  Food blog posts about cooking on Himalayan salt blocks (slabs of solid salt about 2 inches thick which you place on a heat source and then place the food on top) started popping up and there was much talk about finishing salts. Novelty stores like the The Meadow, Portland, OR was the talk of the last IACP conference there and had since spanned the country and opened a second in New York City and a book Salted, A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral by selmelier Mark Bitterman. At the same time nutrition blogs and medical sources were once again citing salt as the big ‘no-no’ in the American diet and mainstream media once again picked up the story with the New York Times covering the topic extensively.   

“To salt or not to salt that is the question…”

Salt is often described as a contradiction onto itself; it brightens yet also softens flavors. It rounds out the both a natural sweetness and heat in foods.  It will both extract and add moisture, for example by rubbing salt into eggplant, cucumbers and zucchini, the bitter flavors is drawn out. On the other side of the equation, brining with salt adds moisture to animal proteins by osmosis and results in a juicer more flavorful meats. Chefs and gourmands alike consider salt the miracle mineral – it’s transformative!

 On the other hand, the medical world and groups like the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and the American Heart Association  have been lobbying for decades to have salt declared as an ‘additive’ rather than recognized as “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) as it currently is.

What is the problem with salt and health? The consensus is that the culprit is not natural salt added to fresh food, but rather, sodium compounds that are added to preserve and season manufactured products and processed foods. To add to the ongoing fray the federal government’s latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans  released two weeks ago do not change their recommendations for salt intake. They state that healthy adults and children ages two and older should consume less than 2,300 mg of sodium per day and adults over 50, or those with certain health conditions should consume up to a 1,000 mg less than this.  

 The Dietary Guidelines encourages consumers to “Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals – and choose the foods with lower numbers.”  Well okay but… what about the salt in the brine solutions pumped into chicken breasts to juice them up or the salt used as a preservative in breakfast cereals, canned foods, etc. As the average American consumes up to 3,400 mg of sodium per day with as much as that nearly 75 percent of dietary sodium comes from processed foods and restaurant meals, it is hard to make sense of such “bland” statement.  

Recognizing this dichotomy between the realty of the average American diet and government health policy, the Institute of Medicine concluded that  “the current focus on instructing consumers to select lower-sodium foods…cannot result in intakes consistent with public health recommendations.” Studies recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Annals of Internal Medicine estimate that reducing average sodium consumption by as much as 1,200 mg per day could prevent up to 92,000 deaths each year and save more than $30 billion in medical costs by 2050 which suggests that Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative and her direct call to food manufacturers to reduce salt levels in their products may actually have more impact on the nation’s well-being than any federal policy guidelines. 

 Images from Sunset Magazine, Gawker and Natalie Cheung

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Brona | Posted in PR Industry Trends, Wine, Food & Nutrition | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)
Feb 10 2011

Hospitals are Making a Mistake in the Delivery Room – Even If It Isn’t Caught on Camera

February 10, 2011 – 7:00 am

By Jenn Riggle

Photo courtesy of CarbonNYC

Photo courtesy of CarbonNYC

While some hospitals are embracing social media and posting videos on YouTube and Facebook, others are taking a step backward.

Families have taken photos and videos in the delivery room for decades. But a recent New York Times article revealed that there are a growing number of hospitals that are barring parents from having cell phones and cameras in the delivery room.

Why? The video and social media capabilities of today’s smartphones have made it easier for people to take videos and instantly share them with friends and family.

Hospitals say they’re creating these policies to protect the health and safety of the baby and mother. They’ve even said that these policies protect the privacy of their staff. But let’s be honest, their primary goal is to protect physicians from litigation, since family videos can be admitted as evidence if there are complications during the delivery.

The bad news for hospitals is that creating policies like this will alienate them from Gen X and Millennial parents, who’ve grown up using technology to share the details of their lives. Facebook has become the place where people go to share life’s milestones, from the death of a loved family pet to a change in dating status or the first photos of their newborn child.

No surprise, media and mommy bloggers have been vocal about their opposition to this policy.

Tina Cassidy, author of Birth: The Surprising History Of How We Were Born, wrote about the issue in New York Magazine: “For today’s families, instant documentation and communication about labor and birth has become culturally embedded, to the point where it feels like both a rite and a right.”

It’s all about family traditions. One of my colleagues recently had a baby, and she said it was important for her to have photos taken of her son immediately after he was born, just like the ones her parents had taken of her after her birth.

Photo courtesy of Spigoo

Photo courtesy of Spigoo

Unfortunately, parents don’t have a legal right to bring cameras or cell phones into the delivery room. But they can ask hospitals about their policy on recording births. If they don’t like the policy, they can either try to negotiate a solution that will work for both them and the hospital – or shop around for a different hospital.

According to the New York Times, Massachusetts General Hospital doesn’t allow videotaping during childbirth, but across the city, Brigham & Women’s Hospital does. Both are wonderful hospitals with stellar reputations. It would be interesting to see how their recording policies in the delivery room impact where people decide to have their children.

Hospitals need to realize that prohibiting videotaping in the delivery room will impact where people decide to have their children. This is especially true if a couple’s obstetrician has delivery privileges at multiple hospitals. They’re going to pick the hospital that gives them the freedom to record their child’s birth.

It’s important for hospitals to work with families and give them options. Developing a disclaimer probably isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. Perhaps a viable possibility is to provide a list of people who are authorized to record births at the hospital or to clearly explain where the family member can be when recording. But simply saying they can’t record is not a solution.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jenn Riggle | Posted in Healthcare | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (2)
Feb 9 2011

Is Personal Brand Dead?

February 9, 2011 – 10:44 am

THE BOOZE BIN

By Pia Mara Finkell (@piamara)

parkerchuk This weekend marked a changing of the guards as the Oprah of the wine world, Robert Parker, tapped one of his core writers, Antonio Galloni, to review California wines for The Wine Advocate. While his personal brand left its irrevocable mark on the wine industry, this move is yet another indicator that the power of a single voice has waned, as wine lovers learn to think for themselves.

The original personal brand in the wine industry, Parker was arguably the world’s  most influential wine critic (or critic in any industry), who had the ability to move thousands of cases with the blessing of one positive rating. The effect of his favored big-and-bold style preference garnered its own term, “Wine Parkerization,” caused by wineries around the world altering their winemaking practices to suit his taste and receive higher marks.

California cult wineries like Harlan and Screaming Eagle owe a good deal of their fame to Parker’s 100-point scores, while wineries and wine lovers with aL'Anti-Guide Parker more delicate, “Old World”-lean have often been left wanting in many instances. Needless to say, this has caused more than just a bit of resentment over the years among the latter.

Parker’s announcement has sent ripples through the online wine world, leaving us to wonder what it all means. Whether or not you are fan or foe, one cannot undervalue the impact Parker has made on the California wine business, and his departure certainly creates a void to be filled. On the flip side, the new generation of wine drinker could likely care less.

In his “Diner’s Journal” blog, The New York Times wine writer Eric Asimov spoke to this point:

A new generation of wine consumers has come of age in the high-speed Internet era, when far more sources of information exist beyond The Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator. The chorus now includes bloggers, merchants and sommeliers, people who can exert immediate, direct influence over drinking decisions. And while Mr. Parker’s primary passion is Bordeaux, these younger consumers, particularly in the United States, are far less interested in Bordeaux and so are less concerned with his opinions.

To be sure, The Wine Advocate will continue to be influential in the wine industry and it will be interesting to see how tightly Galloni follows in Parker’s footsteps. One thing is certain, however, and that is one voice will never again hold as much industry-wide, unfiltered (pardon the pun) supremacy. It’s not that personal brand is dead. Oprah Magazine has 132,847 followers on Twitter, whereas her personal handle has over 5 million. Personal brand is arguably more important than ever.

personal-brand-cover But even the new king of personal brand, Gary Vaynerchuk, places the highest importance on listening and discussion vs. simply talking and, as Dr. Vino puts it, “handing down knowledge and scores.” As Robert Parker understandably limits his critiques to his personal passion in Bordeaux and the Rhone Valley, there is more room than ever for new voices to rise…

…as long as they speak in softer and more humble tones.

Images courtesy of Dr. Vino, Connections to Wine and Courage Factor.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Pia Mara Finkell | Posted in Wine, Food & Nutrition | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)
Feb 8 2011

Social Media’s Super Bowl Cameo

February 8, 2011 – 7:00 am

By Mike Mulvihill

Cloris photo3

Our client, Network Solutions, opted to harness the power of social media instead of shelling out $3 million for a 30 second Super Bowl commercial.  And for a fraction of the cost, they generated over 17 million Twitter impressions and 35,000 views of a parody video – and still counting.

YouTube Preview Image

The video is a take-off on domain registrar competitor Go Daddy’s sexy Super Bowl ads of the past several years. This funny video features octogenarian celebrity actor, Cloris Leachman, as “Go Granny,” the original poster girl who’s past her prime, but still believes she’s one smokin’ hot babe that can sell websites and domains. Go Granny thinks she’s just one phone call away from taking the “sisters” back to the Super Bowl. This became even more topical when GoDaddy unveiled its new third hot girl – 77-year-old tongue-in-cheek spokesbabe, Joan Rivers.

GoGranny is nowhere near the scale ($20 million) of non-Super Bowl advertiser Pepsi Refresh’s social media campaign.  But it also is nowhere near the scale of the combination broadcast ad-social media campaign campaigns employed by virtually every advertiser in this year championship game.     Yes, social media figured prominently as an add-on for several Super Bowl advertisers, albeit to mixed reviews. According to Lost Remote, Audi’s Twitter hashtag was so small on the screen that they nearly missed it, while they were immensely amused by Chevy Cruze’s new Facebook feature which uses OnStar to listen to Facebook updates while you drive.

But Network Solutions bravely opted for a comparatively small-scale, social only campaign. With Twitter traffic at a fever pitch from Christina Aguilera’s mangling of the national anthem to advertising and game action, Go Granny garnered a lot of attention. Blog activity was also intense.  YouTube video views were about one for every three views of GoDaddy’s online video (sans the multiple $3 million spots to generate the traffic). Overall, I call that a success for generating brand awareness and even traffic to the Network Solutions storefront home page.

Next year’s big game will likely bring more brands out onto the social media playing field sans the big ticket “first screen” commercials to generate traffic.  But, this year, Network Solutions had a cameo.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Mike Mulvihill | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)
Feb 4 2011

Signs of Real Food Sighted in San Francisco

February 4, 2011 – 11:17 am

By Jason Stemm

image As a child, I remember a bowl of plastic fruit atop my aunt’s end table. I hadn’t thought about it in years until standing outside the Jelly Belly booth at the Winter Fancy Food Show last month. I was holding the latest item to come out of their “Wonka” lab, peas and carrots. This wasn’t typical of what I found walking the aisles, and I didn’t have to go far to find myself surrounded by cured meats and gourmet chocolates. I met passionate people with a love for story. I spoke with importers and producers from throughout the world whose priorities are flavor and authenticity above price. Many of the products were PDO (Protected Designation of Origin), an EU designation to protect the quality and reputation of artisanal food products, often produced based on centuries of tradition.

When I returned home, I was hit with a rush of news that chiseled away at my renewed excitement for our food discourse. Taco Bell was accused of serving a “taco filling” that was only 1/3 meat, and Kellogg’s admittedly was passing off “crunchlets” as blueberries. The food industry isn’t new to fraud cases from seafood to produce. In fact one case I was following concluded with the operators of “Reel Fish” admitting to wide-spread fraud and misidentification of fish.

Similar to PDO, the U.S. has established protections for some foods like Maine Lobster and Vidalia Onions, but has done little to protect from fraud. The government has focused its resources on food safety and strengthening the FDA powers of enforcement and prevention, while ignoring the use of product claims like “All Natural”. It is a term now being used by Frito-Lay, who apparently discovered a potato chip tree. Even terms that have generally accepted standards like “organic” may need to be revisited after the recent approval of GM alfalfa.

Keeping it Real: The argument for quality over quantity looks difficult during these times, but we’ve seen an increased desire for real food, appreciation of value and interest in how it arrives on our plate. Student-led initiatives like the Real Food Challenge are a perfect example of who Colman Andrews identified as America’s Most Powerful Person in Food. This interest is seen in major marketing efforts, in ads for Domino’s Pizza to the Pepsi Throwback campaign where they go back to real cane sugar in place of HFCS.

I’ve counseled many producers, and what I often find is a stubborn belief that the superior quality of their product will ensure success. They pour all their energy and resources in producing a premium food, without considering how they will convince the buyer of its value. We need more than a Real Food Flow Chart. We need education and passionate voices to tell our stories. As one importer at the show told me, “an educated consumer is my best customer.”

Case in Point: For one of our clients, the Cosorzio del Prosciutto di Parma, we take a multi-pronged approach. In addition to communicating the story that romances the product and centuries of tradition, we support training and education throughout the retail and foodservice industries and sampling programs for customers to taste for themselves.

Even in a slowly recovering economy, the U.S. bought more Prosciutto di Parma, the “King of Hams” in 2010 than any other year. Sampling programs have been an important part of this, but you ultimately need knowledgeable people handling your product. It is often the staff behind the glass making the sale. My colleague discovered this while secret shopping in L.A. She asked the kid behind the counter the difference between Prosciutto di Parma and domestic prosciutto, who answered, “price.” When that is the limit of information going toward the purchasing decision, “real” food has little hope for sustainability.

Mark Bittman recently kicked off his post-Minimalist life by publishing his Food Manifesto for the Future. It is an insightful look at long-range changes that we can make to improve the way we eat. They certainly impact the environment in which we make decisions, but ultimately, as Colman Andrews pointed out, the most powerful person in all of this is you.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jason Stemm | Posted in PR Industry Trends, Wine, Food & Nutrition | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (2)
Feb 3 2011

From Information to Therapy, Social Media Assures Us That We Are Not Alone

February 3, 2011 – 2:33 pm

missionBy Veronica Hunt

Just before the holidays, my daughter came home excited about a new school assignment. In the Golden State, the fourth grade California Missions Project is a rite of passage. Kids across the state are charged with building a model, writing a report or both. My daughter was instructed to build a full-scale model of a mission on a 2’ x 2’ base of choice and submit a two-page, typed report on a thumb drive.

I found myself in the same predicament that parents across the county share – helping our kids with science fair projects, 100-days of school assignments, conduct experiments, build solar system models etc. As parents we roll up our sleeves – juggling between sports, lessons, sleep, chores and career – and dive in because we want our child to do well in school.

class project

The holidays came and went, and as the deadline grew closer, panic set in. How would we get this done? I did what has become the number one course of action for the 77.3 percent of Americans who use the Internet. I jumped on the web and within minutes learned that I was not alone in this challenge.

From how to build a mission to where to buy a mission kit or mission kit discounts to where to find accessories, I found everything we needed within minutes. Suddenly our odds of getting this project done improved and panic subsided.

After much review of our numerous options – styrofoam, cake, sugar cubes, we decided to make our model out of cardboard. Buying a kit was out of the question since students who use a model in my daughter’s class receive a maximum grade of a B. And that’s when stress set in.

Measuring, cutting and gluing led to angst, disputes and one big mess. Seeking solutions for getting the job done quicker, I once again turned to the web and was relieved to find that I wasn’t alone in my misery. There are discussion forums, blog posts, message boards and Twitter conversations – all of parents /guardians sharing their stories and strife.

In reading about other parents’ encounters, I realized it could be a lot worse and, subsequently, felt better. I don’t have to worry about younger siblings hurting the model or hampering progress, and I don’t have to worry about the competitive aspects of this project as I’ve spoken to most of the parents in my child’s class. We all work long hours and are looking for the easiest way possible to get this done, with many families opting to use the model despite the lower grade! In fact, I don’t even have to worry about driving the mission to school the day it is due, as I live two blocks away and plan to pull the project to school on a dolly.

I am motivated to get through this project and create something that my daughter will be proud of and excited to share with the world as many have done on YouTube and in vlogs. The Internet is a parents’ ally offering resources and the ability to vent. The web has provided me with a one-stop shop for tips, insight, release and support – it’s like Cliffs Notes and therapy all in one. In the next coming days, we’ll finish our project, and I’ll relish in the fact that I’m not alone because, as they say, misery loves company.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By vhunt | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)
Feb 2 2011

Drinking with Digital Natives: 3 Tips for Reaching Millennials

February 2, 2011 – 12:07 pm

THE BOOZE BIN

By Pia Mara Finkell (@piamara)

 You will Drink my Wine Millennials have been called a lot of things, some nicer than others. Let’s get the negative ones out there first: unfocused, fickle, coddled…all entitlement, no drive. As for the nicer stereotypes (likely coming from our ever-adoring helicopter parents), we’ve been called confident, upbeat, experimental and open to change. A Reuters article last month, “Entrepreneurs Target Millennial Wine Drinkers” referred to the “typical millennial” as “aggressive, adventurous, skeptical and a wine drinker.” As a cusper millennial (I’m 31), the typical descriptors don’t always apply, but más o menos, that about sums me up.

Millennials Drinking Wine Currently ranging in age from 17 to 34 (depending on who you ask), at about 70 million strong, we are a consuming force to be reckoned with and one not to be ignored. Given all the attention the Gen Y/Millennial/Echo Boomer Generation is receiving lately from marketers, especially wine marketers at trade shows, it looks like we’ve officially got the industry’s attention. The Wine Market Council’s U.S. Wine Consumer Trends conference last week showed more than half of Millennials are “core wine drinkers,” so it makes sense that all eyes are focused on the Next Generation of wine drinkers.

Over the past few weeks, there have been a few great seminars addressing the question du jour in the wine world, “how do we market to millennials?” Italy’s Virtual Vino 2011 Conference, “What Emily Post Can Teach You About Social Media, Millennial App-titude and Geo-Marketing” gave sound advice on how, what, when and where to engage us young whippersnappers via social media. Impressive not only for squeezing that many buzz words into one seminar title, but also for its down-and-dirty, helpful hints, you can check out the entire seminar here.

Millenier Leah Hennessy Another fantastic seminar with standing room only held at this year’s Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento was called “What Matters to Millennials.” It received somewhat less fanfare amongst east coasters, but was no less brilliant. The speakers were engaging and the facts were entertaining, but what I found the most useful was moderator and panelist, Leah Hennessy of Millenier’s tips on how brands should best communicate with Millennials. Leah was kind enough to offer the presentation up for free in PDF form and an MP3 audio recording, but here are the key takeaways on what matters to millennials when it comes to brands, or maybe just life in general:

1. Be Approachable, Tread Lightly and Have Fun with It

Advice that’s seemingly a no-brainer, you would be surprised how many times useless, esoteric and completely subjective descriptors are thrown around in the wine industry. No one really cares if you think your wine tastes like the rind of a Meyer lemon vs. plain ol’citrus, so please leave the snobbery in the snifter, engage gently with something a little more interesting, and above all, have fun with it. If not, Millennials will sniff out your disinterest and disdain, and disregard your brand completely. And then you’d be stuck selling wine to my Dad. So, unless your wine is under $9.99 and pairs with a meat-only diet, you might want to try a new approach.

2. Be Authentic, Listen and (in the words of my old street hockey team), Don’t be a D—che Jerk

Authenticity is the golden rule when engaging millennials (or anyone for that matter), and going grassroots is the only way to get there. Remember, we’re a skeptical people. You can’t jump in on the first day with a funny label and a hard sell and expect a captive audience ready to buy your brand. Instead, jump in and listen. Then, find your voice and, as Leah so eloquently put it, “let your geek flag fly” (i.e. be yourself). And please, “don’t be a d­­–che.”

3. Help Us Help You

“Our experiences are our social currency.” Oh hey, awesome sound-bite! If you want Millennials to pay attention to your brand, align your interests with our social currency (read: experiences and stuff that matters to us in our everyday lives). At the end of the day, when you take a hard look at your brand from every angle and in every social medium, would we talk about it over dinner with friends? Would you?

Images courtesy of Fermentation, Millenier and Epicurious.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Pia Mara Finkell | Posted in Digital Marketing, PR Industry Trends, The Booze Bin, Wine, Food & Nutrition | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (7)
Feb 1 2011

Choosers of the Slain & Being A Best Place to Work

February 1, 2011 – 12:13 am

by Michael Whitlow

Our three Virginia offices shared the “Best Places to Work” spotlight (see Principles pay dividends) with a defense engineering company by the name of Valkyrie Enterprises last week, winning our top spot in the small business category as they earned theirs in the mid-sized category. For CRT/tanaka, this was a wonderful tribute to follow a great year in which bonuses were distributed and iPads were handed out as gifts. Lots of smiles are still in evidence. Best Place mug

After experiencing the joy of reading our founders’ comments about the spirit that has fueled the growth of our company, my mind wandered a bit (as it often does) to our partner on the list - Valkyrie. The Old Norse valkyrja which originally meant “choosers of the slain,” was a name given the angels who picked out the loosers on the battlefield; those who were pushed from this life to the life beyond.

It made me think about the choosers of the slain in our field of public relations and marketing. How does any company weather the immense changes in almost all industry categories and avoid being among the slain? Is it luck or is there something really special at work in a best place to work?

Picking a route through the minefield that is our industry for over 15 years does involve some luck, most probably, but I see at least two attributes of good companies that are clearly obtainable for most companies as they seek best place to work status:

  • First, a CEO who takes preserving the culture very seriously.
  • Second, employees who believe they can meet change head-on and who will work for and trust each other in the process.

The best CEOs stay busy swatting away Valkyries and pursuing the shared values of their companies. At the heart of the job, there’s a very healthy dose of responsibility, and a belief that doing unto others as you would have them do unto you is the right way to live a business life, too.

Follow that first rule, and you just about have it, but sometimes the path to living the shared values can get a little rocky. So, CEOs in the the best places to work go a little deeper to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly.

Employees should be able to feel the focus on security in a best place to work: Fairness evident in the actions of management and the CEO exhibiting kindness and humility in her or his engagement with employees, staying open to every level of the company from one-on-one conversations to town hall meetings. This attention from the top allows all involved in the organization to explore their flexibility, their orientation toward the future and their abilities to take advantage of new niches to serve.

In order to show fairness to our clients and colleagues, we must first be treated fairly in our own organizations, and good CEOs go the extra mile of not asking employees to work on things that the CEO would avoid. Good co-workers, including CEOs, are willing to get their hands dirty on doing the work side-by-side. Some unions have characterized this, in referring to the CBS reality show Undercover Boss, as the “fairy tale” of the workplace, but c’mon – genuine is genuine. There’s nothing that can substitute for this feeling of fundamental fairness in the workplace.

It’s the challenge of the second point – working for and trusting one another — that tripped up Shel Holtz when he wrote about this last year. If we are really working for and trusting one another, prompted by the CEO we’ve described, why be jealous of a co-worker’s achievements? Shel says business leaders, and particularly those undercover bosses, should beware of causing dissension by performing acts of kindness and support for some when the same can’t be done for all. In the best organizations, employees celebrate one another. In ours, we have a weekly kudos list that clearly communicates we are all in this together.

The best places to work brim with self confidence, enthusiasm and drive from employees throughout the ranks. According to the 2010 survey by rogenSi, the global financial crisis has sidetracked some of us as we try to achieve success based on these big three. But, it’s only us that will extract us from the mess we’ve encountered. That’s why I was especially proud of my colleagues who responded with enthusiasm to the survey that helped claim the top spot for CRT/tanaka. Self confidence and drive can be supported by companies that provide opportunities to learn, training/atmosphere creation to enhance that learning (see Genevieve Roberts on this subject) and leaders who encourage.

Being recognized as a best place to work is probably a fleeting thing, though some have really sustained top spots in such surveys as those from Great Place to Work for multiple years. What shouldn’t be fleeting is the willingness to fight for the culture, fending off the Valkyries even as we nurture our interdependence. What also shouldn’t be fleeting for us as individuals is the want to work for and trust our colleagues. With these two themes at work in our organizations, we can expect the best.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Michael Whitlow | Posted in Digital Marketing, PR Industry Trends | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)