“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing is nothing.” – Teddy Roosevelt In this time of almost unprecedented global crisis, I have been consistently amazed at the creative responses coming from individuals, companies, organizations and communities. When the going got tough, lots of people got going in ways that weren’t predictable.
Read More
In the first few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, the best leaders were those who communicated with employees with empathy, truth and frequency. Our advice to clients in the early days was the same as it would be in any crisis. Communicate with:
Read More
Businesses everywhere are experiencing a new operational reality like never before. Jennifer Dzwonar recently joined Steve Walker’s podcast “The CX Leader” to discuss how CX professionals can be prepared to effectively manage crisis situations and help communicate with their customers.
Read More
We do crisis. It’s what some of us do, week-in and week-out. Not the true first-responder type of crisis, but the who-do-you-call-when-things-are-looking-bad type of work. For some of us in public relations, we gravitate toward the type of counsel and work that’s needed when problems are happening, or imminent or just slightly visible in the distance. But the past two weeks have had a different flavor altogether.
Read More
Being surrounded and supported by independent, hard-working and well-rounded women has been instrumental for me in my career and my life. My grandmothers were smart businesswomen. My mom worked important jobs inside and outside of the home. My sister was a small business owner. My close group of friends have all excelled in different careers. And I’ve had the privilege of working alongside female colleagues and bosses who’ve provided wisdom and guidance. So when I joined Borshoff, led by the visionary Myra Borshoff, it was a natural fit for me. Of note, I’ve also had several influential men who’ve helped along the way, but working for and now helping lead—with three savvy partners—a women-owned business (WBE) has been the most rewarding part of my professional career.
Read More
What were you doing in 1984? Maybe you were tuned into Jeopardy, watching Alex Trebek make his debut appearance. Or rocking out to “When Doves Cry” by Prince, dancing to Footloose, smiling at Sixteen Candles or getting goosebumps at Ghostbusters. Perhaps you were watching history unfold with the launch of the space shuttle Discovery or the second presidential win of Ronald Reagan, who earned 525 electoral votes, the most ever in history. And then there was the legendary Super Bowl ad where Apple introduced the Macintosh based on Orwell’s 1984. Maybe you were in kindergarten, high school or college (like me). Maybe you weren’t even born yet!
Read More
2 minute read
We often talk with clients about the importance of making time to reconnect and realign with their team and company’s mission and values – which is why we take our own advice and plan a retreat for Shoffers every year. For our 2019 retreat last week, we invited Todd Henry to share his words of wisdom. Todd is a speaker, published author and founder of Accidental Creative, a company that helps creative people and teams be prolific, brilliant and healthy.
3 minute read
There are many talented young professionals entering our industry, and we were lucky to have two of the best—Aspen Schopp and Brenna Finlay—join us this spring as interns. Throughout their internships, they explored working at a full-service PR and advertising agency and prepared for a professional communications career while contributing to real agency and client work. Before our time with Aspen came to a close, we asked her to share some key learnings about what a strong intern program looks like and how interns can best contribute at an agency.
3 minute read
Organizations are run by people. So, when organizations find themselves in the midst of a sticky situation, they often react as individuals do—emotionally and with more attention on the negative than the positive. But negative feedback, even a lot of negative feedback, can create a distorted perception around a crisis and create the false impression that the overwhelming sentiment is negative.
2 minute read
I consider myself a pretty optimistic, positive person. I intuitively get the importance of positivity for my own personal sanity and happiness, and I know that a positive leader has more influence with her team.