As I read about the first-ever second presidential impeachment, I consider the reaction thus far from our nation’s top company leaders and communicators. The messaging and tone in response to the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol is a far cry from what I witnessed in the late 90s when I began my career. … Read More
I could not have predicted that my firm would evolve and grow so much throughout the past five years. Succession Communications was born on October 27, 2015. Since then, the work has been challenging and rewarding, but never boring. I’m forever grateful to my phenomenal clients, colleagues, partners, family and friends. But enough about Succession. … Read More
“All PR firms are the same. I can just give them direction and get what I need out of them.” A client who has never worked with an agency might think that. Guess what? It’s not true. Budgets are tight and expectations are high especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. In-house communications pros and other clients … Read More
“COVID-19 has screwed the economy, so we have to take the clients we can get.” Wrong. That’s not only short-sighted, it could be very damaging to PR firms. A shaky economy is not an excuse to compromise our standards in the PR business. PR firms should seek out the best possible client base (similarly, in-house … Read More
I recently celebrated Succession Communications’ four-year anniversary while on a business trip to New Orleans, and I took some downtime to reflect. It has been a whirlwind four years of growth and change, and the original Succession is almost unrecognizable now. Wonderful clients and partners were crucial to our success, and we are very fortunate … Read More
I read The Washington Post’s Steve Pearlstein’s column on the death of business reporting this past weekend with interest. So much interest, in fact, that I posted a comment on it. And, I’m devoting a blog post to it because he raised a subject that is increasingly misunderstood and requires exploration. Based on Steve’s experiences … Read More
I launched the “Succession Stories” blog series last year to highlight our top professionals in various aspects of communications, and learn how they have navigated a fast-changing industry. Today, we are proud to feature a seasoned and highly astute financial reporter and editor, Jonathan Berke, who I’ve known from our days in the School of … Read More
We all learn on the job. That’s just a fact of life. While college courses in communications help prepare budding PR pros, they learn the arts of juggling tasks and deadlines, of client service, and of navigating office culture…well, at the office. This is where they hone their craft. When I started in PR, fresh … Read More
There’s a popular Yiddish word, sechel, which means common sense. We’ve all likely seen illustrations recently in which companies have attempted to push boundaries to generate attention and excitement, but may not have considered the backlash they would face. An obvious example of this is Pepsi. The ubiquitous Kendall Jenner was recently featured in an … Read More
There’s an elephant in the room, so let’s get that out of the way (not literally, despite my proximity to the National Zoo). I have not posted a blog in months. Why? Well, in 2016 I was fortunate enough to grow my business, and spent my time doing quite a bit of writing for clients … Read More