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In recent years, a financially strapped media industry has been tasked with the impossible job of doing more with less. This could not be any clearer than it is now. The joke among reporters is that even in the best of times, the media industry is usually in a depression. That may be a bit of exaggeration, but these are clearly not the best of times.Read more

I realize women are expected to hem and haw about their age, but I’m 50 years old and not at all bummed about it. Frankly, being of a certain age has tangible benefits. I’m tempted to plagiarize Farmers Insurance and say something about resilience and “having seen a thing or two,” but I won’t (asRead more

Last month, Barron’s published an editorial by Alex Friedman and Larry Hatheway on the need for the U.S. to move toward more sustainable capitalism. They were right. For the longest time, Wall Street has been rewarding companies that put shareholder value and profits first, often at the expense of their own employees, suppliers and partners.Read more

Since the beginning of this epidemic, one positive part of our ‘new normal’ has been the emergence of what CNN anchor Chris Cuomo dubs ‘AmeriCANs.’ While the ranks of these AmeriCANs include people going the extra mile for their neighbor, as well as the front-line workers doing extraordinary work on the public’s behalf, corporations are also stepping up. From car companies, like GM and Hyundai offering financial relief to their customers to companies like Salesforce pledging no significant layoffs over the next three months, these companies are both buildingRead more

In times of crisis, leaders must communicate quickly, clearly and continuously. I remember witnessing this first-hand working with American Airlines following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. That crisis was unprecedented for its time, as the entire U.S. national airspace was shut down in the wake of the attacks. Thus, there was no way for the airline’sRead more

It’s a classic PR conundrum. A disaster happens. A hurricane. A plane crash. 9/11. You have a relevant story to pitch to press – but do you? Or is doing so just plain tacky? Like never before, PR pros are asking those questions all day and every day. Plainly put, the COVID-19 outbreak is theRead more

The 1987 sleeper hit turned cult classic, The Princess Bride, is a fairy tale about true love, replete with pirates and sword fights, a damsel in distress, and the delight of unexpected friendship. It’s also a master class on high tech marketing strategy.  Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.Read more

Over the past several weeks, our lives have been disrupted. Schools, shops, sports, conferences, concerts, businesses – even countries have closed, leaving us trying to figure out what this new normal will look like. For the time being, it is still to be determined. While for most of us the ‘new normal’ will most certainlyRead more

I’m part of a generation of (aging) sports fans who grew up listening to Howard Cosell, the ABC broadcaster who became famous for “telling it like it is.” In an era when sports announcers were expected to stick to just calling the games, Cosell broke the mold. Sports, he said, was about a lot moreRead more

Why Do So Few Break Through? When I started out in tech in the Valley, we were still producing physical clip reports using x-acto knives and Elmer’s paste. The office memo was far more commonplace than a relatively new innovation called email. There were dozens of industry publications dedicated to the burgeoning PC revolution, withRead more