“Straight” is one of those words that can have so many different contexts and meanings. Some take offense to the word, while in other contexts, it is an ideal to strive for. My daughter, who has a 17-degree curve in her back, recently went to a new physical therapist who examined her and developed a comprehensive exercise and stretching plan to help her standing posture. While watching my daughter practice her new exercises, I began to think about a bigger lesson in stretching and straightening up. Continue reading →

I’ve always wondered what the success rate of a sign spinner is. Have you ever stopped to check out something because a sign spinner directed you there? I know I always notice them, but the question is, does anyone ever stop?

That leads me to the same question about balloons. I’ve recently noticed a new trend in real estate signs being accompanied by big colorful balloons. I notice them everywhere now. But, just because I notice them doesn’t mean they are actually getting people to redirect into the real estate office. Continue reading →

I hate to say it, but this weekend I finally made my move from the PC/Android world to the heaven known as Apple. I purchased an iPhone4S.

Don’t get me wrong. The first computer I ever bought was a Mac. Back in 1989, I bought a used Macintosh for $1,000. Remember those small box-shaped computers that revolutionized the world of PCs as we know it? I loved my Mac, working my first job out of college. I was part of a hip community that was on fire to change the world.

It was short lived, when I started getting free PC products working for one of the largest computer product distributors in the world. While our marketing department ran their offense using Macintosh computers, the rest of our company were PC users, including me. Continue reading →

“It’s a pedometer. It shows when you’ve gone the extra mile to satisfy a customer!”

I was helping a client write a blog about patient satisfaction in healthcare and it got me thinking. As a PR professional, what are the things that my clients expect from our firm? Then I started thinking about my own expectations of some of the vendors I work with to provide superior service levels to my clients.

In my 25 years of working in PR, there are just a handful of experiences that truly stand out in terms of people that have gone the extra mile to provide exceptional customer satisfaction. The first was a rep from PR Newswire who was trying to win my business when I was handling PR and IR for a large public corporation who had a history of doing business with the leading newswire service at the time, BusinessWire. Continue reading →

I love art. For the past decade, I have volunteered in my children’s classrooms to teach art each month. No matter what grade level I visit, for some reason, kids can’t seem to understand the idea that “less is more.” Filling in every empty space on the paper is typical. Adding unnecessary extra steps to the process… common. Trying to train 5-12 year olds to be deliberate on what they place on their paper and to stop before overcomplicating is an ongoing challenge.

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After navigating my way through a 24-year career in communications, I’ve come to place transparency as the key priority to any successful campaign, speech, presentation, proposal or simple gaming business interaction. People are tired of “spin.” They want to know the facts, the truth and what they can do to fix their problems.

At a recent deaf event I attended with my 14-year old daughter, a first-year ASL (American Sign Language) student, my eyes were opened to a whole new world of transparent communication. Notice, I said my eyes were open! These young deaf LoL students depend on facial expressions, lip reading and even interpreters to navigate through a hearing world. I had a glimpse into what it means to effectively communicate face-to-face with no judgment, bias or filters. Continue reading →