Riding to work this morning, I saw an ad in Times Square that caught my eye.  It featured the Dalai Lama, and two lines: “He doesn’t just wish for it.  He works for it.”  While I am not a follower of the Dalai Lama, the ad imparts many practical lessons for the start of the week.   Positive energy is invaluable, especially during difficult times, and inspiration is a powerful thing.  To end, I’ll share this brief quote from Theodor Herzl, a father of Zionism: “If you will it, it is no dream.”

Take these attitudes to work and life every day, and things will happen. It’s the power of positive energy.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Last night, I lectured on Public Relations to a group of 75 or so MBA students at New York University, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I spoke about marketing, journalists and day-to-day PR practices.  It was fun, particularly as I heard the questions and furor from so many sitting there.  Isn’t it so much easier to be ideological in an institution compared with working day-to-day?  I loved and enjoyed my time in school… but public relations is so incredibly different working for real brands and real money than it is as a “concept.”  Food for thought.  I remain ideological, but often times the reality of work demands that I become more realist than idealist.

Clearly there is no idealism at work in General Motors, Ford Motor or Chrysler, whose executives showed no shame in flying on a private jet to ask for taxpayers to bail them out.  Is this nothing short of absurd and offensive?  The whole thing is just criminal.  The New York Times may have had my favorite headline:

“Taking a private jet to hold out a tin cup”

And as long as we are on this topic, “integrity” in business is different when it’s spending other people’s money versus spending your own money and sweating your own sweat.  Entrepreneurs operate in the real world: they spend their own money and take their own risks (real revenue, not accrual; if I don’t have the money, I cant spend it).  Versus some out there who spend and believe they are immune to others suffering (i.e. the three companies above, whose CEOs also refused to take a pay cut).

As the owner of a PR agency and an entrepreneur, I believe the key is building a profitable business, not just building for the sake of building.  Clearly, a private business owner wouldn’t think they could get bailed out while flying private jets.  Asinine would be a kind word to describe their behavior.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

I read a thought provoking article today in Ad Age entitled “P&G Digital Guru Not Sure Marketers Belong on Facebook.”  It’s an interesting discussion about whether it’s possible to “monetize the real estate in which somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend.”  While the article’s scope deals mostly with Facebook banner ads, applications, and the like, the potential of Facebook is not merely limited to pay-per-click ads and kitschy games.  These social media networks are helping us find organic ways to communicate messages to target audiences.  But the possibilities raise many questions.

As a PR Agency owner, I’m concerned about not only what is possible with social networks, but also who is responsible, both internally and externally.   (i.e. Who has overview and responsibility for the budget, and who will eventually own the space – PR agencies or ad agencies ? Neither? A mixture of the above?)

At 5WPR, we spend a considerable amount of time debating, internally, with consultants and with clients, about how to best maximize a client’s brand via social media. While I am not vested in advertising, this P & G expert is certainly raising some interesting points on where Facebook and other brands go.  A few things I am sure of:  there are few agencies with a real strategy to help brands monetize online, and even fewer companies out there with real fluent plans to succeed online.  Surely that will change in the near future.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

I am a regular customer and a great tipper at a local, mid-priced restaurant near my office.  Today while eating lunch at the small (20 table) restaurant, after being greeted by name and a big smile from the manager, I ordered a salad, and instead of rice with my chicken, chopped cucumbers. When I made the request, the waiter looked at me like I was speaking Chinese and said no, we can’t substitute.  (Jean George this isn’t…)  I said I wasn’t concerned, they could charge me extra.  He said no.

I politely asked for the manager (the same one who gave me big smiles), and asked why they wouldn’t give me cucumbers.  The manager explained for 5 minutes, standing not more than 10 feet from the kitchen, why he couldn’t cut the cucumbers for me, the foremost reason being, “I can’t accommodate for all the many different substitutions that people request, because there are too many choices.”

Almost irony, on a block with perhaps 25 restaurants, as I agreed with him and said, “Yes, there are many choices, and there are also many restaurant choices.”

I paid my bill, and left… and as a business owner was sure that the business owner wouldn’t have treated a customer in the same manner.  I am sure the business owner would have bent over backwards to please a customer in such a small manner, and would be livid if an employee acted in this manner.

Working in the service industry, I certainly don’t subscribe to the school of thought that says the customer is always right, but to not go the extra mile in customer satisfaction with the basics is simply bad business.

Needless to say, this restaurant, where I dined at least 50 times last year, won’t need to cut me any cucumbers moving forth.  I pray that my employees always go that extra mile to give our clients the customer service they deserve.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

One of the hardest parts about managing a PR agency is inspiring employees to do their best all of the time, to be uber-focused and motivated.  It’s also about ensuring your mindset is in the right place.  As a father, and a kid at heart, when my child goes to school I want to be sure she’s excited and ready to do her best.  The biggest part of “winning” is being in the right mindset.  As a parent, I need to do my best to focus my child and excite her.  On the first day of school, kids are always excited, but how can one emulate that mindset so every day retains that?

I wish every day at work could be like the “first day of school.”  I work to maintain my focus by listening to music every single day as I walk into the building.  I choose different music depending on my mood and the tasks at hand.

Lately? “Mr. Carter” by Lil Wayne’ and “Put On” by Young Jeezy (a 5WPR client) – both about working hard and being focused.  And always, “I Did it My Way” – the Frank Sinatra or Jay Z version depending on the day – about learning to be comfortable with what you do and learning to live in your own skin.   And frankly, in the spirit of this post and the economy, “My 1st Song” by Jay Z, which for me is also about always being focused and treating every day like it’s the first (or last).

If you can always maintain that level of intensity, there’s no losing.  For me, music is an integral part of getting my head in the right place.  Just like the first day of school – focused.

Ronn Torossian
5W PR