Businesses are accustomed to regular employee horror stories, yet CEOs worldwide must be terrified by the recent response to JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater’s choice of how and when to resign. Many have come to his defense, stating, “It’s hard working daily with people” and “you easily get agitated by constant traveling and servicing annoyed passengers,” but did anyone ask if he still cashed his paychecks?

Launching a foul-mouthed tirade on the plane’s PA system, deploying the emergency chute, grabbing a beer, then jumping out onto the JFK Airport runway and shouting, “That’s it, I’ve had it,” are the stuff movies are made of. One must wonder how many workplaces can survive if employees are made heroes for this sort of behavior. What sort of trouble are businesses in if we define workplace bravery by Slater’s extravagant resignation?

He didn’t win my empathy, nor did he win the consumer’s – who experience the universally awful service at airlines.    

In Robin Sharma’s latest book, “The Leader Who Had No Title,” the writer goes into his infamous way of offering us a fictional parable that forces us to reflect on ourselves. The book emphasizes the notion that leadership is not something that comes with your career advances, but rather something you have in you, and something you express wherever you may be. Owning a Public Relations agency – a field that requires self-initiative, creativity, and leadership – we see these traits in superstar employees regularly.

If leadership was a skill developed in schools, or in certain jobs, there wouldn’t be much of a market for interns. At my company, and many entrepreneurial companies, there are known ingredients to leadership: love, passion and initiative.

The flight attendant was clearly not having a good day, and probably didn’t have the required skills or personality to be the best at his job.  This seems to be the issue at hand, despite the fact that JetBlue stands as a company that provides all the tools that allow one to grow, develop, and advance while fulfilling a passion. Steven Slater does not have the passion, clearly, to deal with people tired after flying for hours and to deal with horrible delays and less than ideal security screeners; thus, his leadership skills weren’t right for this job, and I’d urge him to buy a copy of the latest self-help job book.

Young people often choose jobs by the money it pays, by the narrow circumstances of being more easily able to get the position, or worse – out of no choice. These factors will not allow an employee to prevail for long.  Success comes by people who ask, “How can I improve this product or service? How can I create a solution or approach that didn’t exist before? How can I be the best flight attending, helping people through difficult travel circumstances?” These are questions of passion – this is the foundation of professional leadership and success.

I am a huge believer in following your passion and doing what you love. It is the best formula for success in life, fulfillment and the attraction of new opportunities. I would hope, for Steven Slater, that he finds his passion, which doesn’t involve emergency slides or overhead baggage.

A few lessons I think job seekers and others can learn from Slater:

1.      Find an ongoing success: you might not have noticed, but there might be just one or many activities that you are naturally very good at, and even better than others. Make note of these activities and consider making a career out of them.
 
2.      Accept advice: we tend to believe we know what’s best for ourselves when in fact; people from the outside environment may have a better understanding of us. External views are valuable in that they help us see ourselves from a different perspective. If you ask three different people what you do best and they all offer the same response, then it’s worth giving more consideration and attention to those fields.

3.      Be you: try to recall an early dream, aspiration or source of motivation. It is something we all used to have, but have forgotten due to life, circumstances, routine, and outside discouragement. Go back to those early thoughts and try to reignite the flame around them. That is you true passion that needs to be revived
 
4.      Action: leadership is the result of passion or love combined with action. A passion and a love for something are worthless if you don’t leverage one of them and recognize a course of action. Make a first move, a small step, or better yet express your passion for something with a listening ear. From my experience, things in the world begin to materialize as soon as we express them verbally.
 
5.      Confidence: congratulations! If you’ve reached this point you are almost carrying the title of “entrepreneur,” not to be confused with the title of “self-employed.” An entrepreneur can be someone who works and reports back like anyone else – only difference being that he or she applies initiative. You can be a leader at work no matter what you do. You can be an entrepreneur no matter who you work for. Come up with a new idea, express a new initiative, and make a remark on the way things can improve efficiently.

Whatever you end up doing, in order to be a leader and fly with passion you have to remind yourself of Henry David Thoreau’s saying: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!” Just avoid fire chutes and PA systems. 

Portland law enforcement officials have cleared former Vice President Al Gore in the sex assault case filed by a massage therapist. What’s next for Gore?

An acquittal in the court of law does not imply a similar outcome by the court of public opinion. Gore’s legal win received a mere fraction of the coverage enjoyed by the blockbuster harassment charges.

It’s time for Gore to gin up his PR game to protect his “ambassador of global warming brand.”  Here are some practical ways to recover from a crisis:

1. Break the silence: Strategically attract a top-tier media for a “softball” interview. This will get the attention necessary to put a positive spin on the resolved case, identify how easy it is to make false accusations, and how baffled you were by the accuser’s actions.
 
2. Make factual points: For example, the public was not present in the interrogation rooms. Only a few among the media mentioned that the allegedly harassed woman failed a polygraph test or that the case was closed for conflicting details in her testimony. Consider sharing these details to make a basic point of “knowing-the-facts” before making any judgments.
 
3. Present your new “you.” What’s next on your agenda? How will the public benefit from your service to the country, the environment, or any other cause you choose to promote. Make sure the public wants your name to be cleared – because you act for and represent the public’s best interest. Attract sympathy and support showing you’re willing to find new energies.
 
4. Inspire: The public loves comeback stories, so give them one. Make the private viewer relate to you by telling how this was a learning experience and how we all face ups, downs, and crises in our lives, which only need to strengthen us in our different directions.
 
5. Replace the news items under “Al Gore”: PR crises of the sexual kind are particularly hard to control and they don’t fade quickly. Internet searches will bring up results covering this humiliating topic, but it’s only true up until you provide some new items that relate to your true actions. Tiger Woods had to wait to replace his mess with the U.S Open scores and achievements. Your brand is associated with many more aspects of life, giving you the leverage to relate to various issues. Make sure to strategically bring us new news.
 
It’s not easy to recover from a PR crisis, but public figures can apply professional communication strategies to make, and even remake, their positive reputation. Every crisis is also an opportunity.

Through the years, we have represented a slew of celebrities, ranging from Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube, to Pamela Anderson, hall of fame athletes, and others. Whether or a major mega-star, or up and coming celebrity, universally celebrity PR campaigns are very demanding, time consuming and hard work, for many reasons.  (And of course that’s before the “colorful” (and I can tell a ton of stories, but wont am sworn to secrecy).

Adrian Grenier’s recent comments to the WSJ that celebrities wont need Public Relations representatives in the future: “I don’t have a publicist and never have.  I’m no stranger to self promotion. I find it first of all more authentic when you put a bit of your creative touch to what you’re trying to share.”

Public Relations is more than self-promotion for celebrities, its shaping and positioning a brand, its filtering requests, and many other responsibilities.  I agree with a comment I read made by a CEO of a PR agency “Dollar for dollar publicity is one of the great bargains left in Hollywood. If a celebrity makes $6 million a year, for example, they probably pay a publicist give or take $5,000 or $6,000 a month, or one percent of their net. When you compare the hours a publicist puts in to the ten percent a manager or agent gets…I don’t think agents or managers are overpaid, but I think publicists are underpaid.” As he further stated, a good publicist will drive their client to be themselves.

I am just returning to work today from a week in the gorgeous French Riveria (visited Monaco, Nice, Cannes and other areas), and the amount of wealth and high profile people there was amazing.  Who would handle the many celebrity mistakes made in places like this, or false sightings which are reported ?

Nearly all CEO’s have Public Relations pros, or PR agencies handling their needs, and so too should celebrities. Celebrities need PR specialists, much as they need lawyers, accountants, doctors and others who know their fields the best way.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

As published by Odwyers PR Report -

TECH TRENDS TO STRENGTHEN PR, MEDIA BOND

AT&T’s move on data pricing and Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ commitment to monetize content will strengthen the marriage bond between PR and media. 

The sum of both requires some real thinking on traditional PR and how messages are communicated.

If you thought AT&T’s timing for coming out with their cancellation of the unlimited data plan was arbitrary, you can’t be more mistaken. Just the previous day during Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital Conference in California,  Jobs clearly stated that he’s strongly passionate and confident about Apple’s role in turning online content to a service-for-fee.

Combine the two trends in our content world, and what you get is the change not only in telecom, content and the journalism arenas – but also in the communications and PR world, where we will gain even more authority. I would argue that in the near-future PR firms would need to adapt to even more sophisticated ways of reaching publics who will become hesitant and selective of their content providers.

The PR helm will be taken back in full from the hands of novice individuals (i.e. bloggers), back to strategic planners.

In his talk to a content-thirsty audience, Jobs said he was concerned we were almost turning to “a nation of bloggers” and that in his opinion “we need editorial oversight now more than ever. Anything we can do to help newspapers find new ways of expression that will help them get paid, I am all for.”

Here is my “two cents” of analysis to the new double-tactic around content: on the one hand I agree with AT&T which states in their late-clarifying press releases that more subscribers will join the new data plans since the entry price would be as low as $15 for 200MB as opposed to the unlimited plan today charging double. 

In contrast, those who are used to getting their content, information, and interaction with the world via online content will not settle for entry level. They will go with the 2GB and up, reaching high volume of browsing and potentially high rates – which will lead to the creation of very selective content consumers.

What are the practical implications? Consider today’s very active consumer: he constantly checks social media accounts over any mobile device and gets push-based news items of her choice.  Each of the above channels them to second and third party links, pages, videos and images. Would you give up on half the fun?

In the media world, the last three years have brought major transitions to the pace and communication pipes over which messages disseminate to publics, and back.  PR firms have pitched the media with the most innovative channels including social media for reputation management purposes, crisis management, and of course strategic branding and communications with publics. This includes consumer, corporate, and fashion companies concerned with their online presence.

The PR dance with the media over the “online floor” which now will require a fee, -in addition to the fact that access is paid for- sets a high bar for content quality, reliability and credibility.

On the other end with 57.1 million mobile subscribers in the U.S, taking a data “free lunch” off the menu will create a huge population holding on to very smart and advanced devices which allow high capacities of data to stream up and down when necessary. In fact, the trend benefits mobile devices manufacturers and service providers since the content consumer is deserting his desktop at home and relying on multiple mobile solutions such as a BlackBerry, iPad, iPhone and notebooks.

What does it require from PR & media pros? First, the realization that content is profit-sensitive. With advanced phones all around wireless carriers have seen $41.5 billion in revenue just from data use in 2009. And this will grow with the new data plans. Content vehicles such as online news sites will be extra careful and more committed to quality and credibility with the information they choose to offer subscribers. Not everyone is a subscriber, nor is every info valuable enough to be offered for a fee.

On the upside, we will witness better monitoring and profiling of target audiences which adapt to the new way of getting news, info and online access. Today, we find it more difficult to know exactly what the profile of online readers of New York Times online is. With paid content structures, the Times will make sure to get accurate subscriber data, which can allow a customization of the news items offered to these demographics. See it as a “you pay – you decide what you want to read” type of arrangement.

Public relations processes will become more sophisticated so a story can be pitched to the right outlet, for the right key publics, with a better measurement of effective results on placements.

To that end, I project that news and content websites will adapt quickly and begin a process of selection of what goes online and what doesn’t. Media & PR strengthen their bond in search for quality, reliable, clarifying content on both streams between the audience and their input sent back. Ultimately, media focuses and offers its receivers content people specifically want and at almost harmonically PR will make sure to well tailor its pitches accordingly in service of all parties: clients, media and target audience.

A good PR manager who wishes to do it all for his client will make sure to get that story out there in a smart weighed manner which reflects the latest spin on 21st century journalism. After all, PR and journalism feed each other in a sense, and good PR adapts fast.

It’s said that Public Relations professionals read the newspapers not to get the news, but to study angles and understand what stories are planted in newspapers by people with PR in mind.

This morning reading The New York Times, the crossroads of Public Relations & legal was smack in my face while reading an article about Jeffrey Conroy, who has been convicted of killing a Hispanic immigrant in a hate crime in Long Island New York.  He’s in jail, awaiting sentencing on May 26th, and this article, which fawned all over him, was planted in an attempt to soften the public’s image of him (and of course influence the atmosphere in the court to give him a light sentence)…

Amidst pictures of his smiling, All-American looking family, we learn in this page-long NY Times story at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/nyregion/30patchogue.html?hpw

He’s 19 years old “and it shows….  he has the face, the demeanor and the vocabulary of a boyish teenager.” Sub-text: He’s young and made a mistake – Give him another chance.

He was a “friendly, athletic teenager willing to stick up for others, of someone who counted several Hispanics among his closest friends, including the girl he had been dating off and on for years.” Sub-text: He’s no racist.

He spoke of his “love and concern for his family: After the guilty verdict was announced in the courtroom… he turned and saw two of his sisters in tears, and told them not to worry, that everything would be all right.” Sub-text:  His family will suffer too.  

He spoke of “praying in his cell, for his family and for Mr. Lucero’s family” and his mother “had taught Sunday school for seven years at her church…” and his father is now “on disability… and is who a leader in organizing youth sports.” Sub-text:  Good people – Religious & helps kids.

He was a “mentor to children… and helped coach 11-year-old football players at age 16, and spent one summer improving one boy’s lacrosse skills, because the boy’s mother had asked him to help her son.” Sub-text:  He’s a good kid.

He recounted confronting two white men outside a convenience store in 2007, defending a Hispanic man.  He warned men not to steal the Hispanic’s man bike “whom he believed to be an immigrant day laborer.” Sub-text: Conroy (the only of the 7 defendants who has received any media coverage) doesn’t hate Hispanics and in fact has helped some.

A 40-year-old is quoted as saying: “I believe that he got roped into events that others had started, and being 17 and filled with testosterone, sometimes you do things that get the best of you before you can think about it clearly.”  (The next line goes on to state that: Mr. Conroy’s intent to kill was evident because the entire blade went into Mr. Lucero’s chest area and was stopped only by the handle.”) Sub-text: He made a mistake – Maybe don’t let him play video-games for a few weeks?

The article ends by stating: If Mr. Conroy were not in jail, he said he could imagine the life he would be leading: playing midfield on a college lacrosse team, either at the State University at Albany or at Plattsburgh. And his thigh would no longer have the swastika. “It doesn’t mean anything to me at all,” Mr. Conroy said.

I’d venture this article was planted by someone on Conroy’s Public Relations team, and will have sway and influence (I believe it was very biased, and amazingly no one from the victim’s family was interviewed at all).  The PR agency which I own does a tremendous amount of crisis communications and litigation work which we cannot often discuss, and PR firms absolutely are hired to influence judges & juries.

Public Relations pros read the papers differently – Or did this article simply belong as an OP-ED ? Food for thought.  I welcome your feedback via comments, or directly via email at Ronn@5wpr.com

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Dealing with the media is stressful and challenging even for seasoned veterans. Some simple interview rules (led by preparation) can serve as a checklist to prepare you for stepping in front of the lens. While most of these rules seem intuitive, I witness people on a daily basis falter.

Know what you want to say and how you want to say it – Ask yourself what am I trying to accomplish and who is my audience

Practice, prepare and have a message – Sounds simple enough, but without practice and preparation, the results usually speak for themselves (not in a positive way)

Body language- a roll of the eyes, a harsh look, or a awkward physical stance speaks louder than words

Be honest and consistent – hypocrisy is a killer

Don’t keep talking – Many stories have grown legs overnight by interview subjects who continued to talk

The bottom line is, you don’t learn to drive a car without practice, you don’t master your craft without learning, and it is very difficult to master media interviews without proper training.

At this PR firm, we always advise media training – it’s a necessity.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Just today, someone sent me a research report from Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a private equity firm which claims PR spending in America grew by more than 4% in 2008 and nearly 3% in 2009 to reach $3.7 billion. Additionally, it projects that Public Relations spending will surpass $8 billion by 2013. 

Despite those numbers, I always find that people are amazed to learn how small the PR industry actually is, and how few PR firms exist. I’d venture to say there are less than 100 PR firms in the US who employ more than 20 people – Astounding? Also, fewer than 25 independent PR agencies employ more than 50, which still shocks me (but also of course excites me as our future remains very bright).

Services like word-of-mouth marketing, driven by increased use of blogger outreach and social media marketing, are amongst the factors fueling the demand for PR services. Yet, despite these numbers, few people know what Public Relations is, or the value it provides. PR allows companies to grow their reputation, awareness and boost their bottom line… and it is so much cheaper than other marketing options. How many out there still don’t know what Public Relations truly is?  

As always, I welcome your thoughts and feedback at Ronn@5wpr.com.  The numbers regarding PR spending continues to excite me – The future is bright.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

I am still flying high from the news that 5WPR was named the 13th largest independent PR agency in the US for 2009 by Odwyers PR, a leading PR publication.  With over $11 million in revenue in its 7th year of operation, the agency continues to grow within the industry.

This honor ranks alongside 5W Public Relations being named to the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies in the US, and being named fastest growing PR firm in the US 3 years running. It’s an absolute highlight for our company – Numbers and  results count.

On a personal note, 13 has always been my lucky number. It served as my jersey number from my beginnings as a little league player throughout my high school (and ongoing recreational) basketball career.

As always its been a crazy week:

I gave a lecture last night at NYU to a group of graduate students

I hosted a charity fundraiser with a friend and client this morning in my office.

Tonight, I am attending a client event where we are expecting 40+ Reporters

Since we were just named one of the 15 largest PR firms in the US, I wanted to reassert that we will keep growing, and continually realize that this is just the beginning for our company.

Credit is due to our hard working staff and our clients for believing in us and being great partners.

I wanted to end with a quick quote:

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” Henry Ford (1863-1947)

Bigger and better, onward and upward.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

I always wake up and get going super early. When I arrive at work before the world begins, I find it is easier to be productive.

Today, I found myself sitting at my desk before 7:00 AM because I had an early interview on CNN American Morning in which I provided PR commentary on the Tiger Woods Brand.  Besides CNN, this week I appeared on CBS, ABC, Fox New York and have Fox Business, ABC, ESPN Radio and more interviews scheduled for later on today, all Tiger related.

I think the Tiger Woods brand will never return to where it was, but today is the start of re-building his image and brand. To date, he has received an F in how he handled this Public Relations debacle.

This week…

I had a slew of client meetings, executive changes, crisis management, and general activity.

Some new business meetings were great, some were good, and some otherwise.  We aren’t the right PR firm for everyone.  We will not always tell prospective clients or current clients they are right when we strongly believe they aren’t, and we will not simply follow marching orders.  We provide PR counsel, brand building advice and want great clients who want results and appreciate hard work.

I had two crisis communications new business meetings this week. I always leave time every week for last minute crisis PR.  It still amazes me that this boy from the Bronx will read stories about big name people, and 3 hours later they will call me and arrive in my conference room ready for counsel.

I went out 3 nights this week with clients, never arriving home before 10 PM.  Building and investing in important relationships for my PR agency are part and parcel of any business, but it’s tiring. In this economy particularly, we provide more than just traditional PR service.  It’s about being a good partner and keeping an eye on our clients business.

I am eagerly awaiting the weekend and some rest. It’s not easy… but it’s not supposed to be. Onward and upward…

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

Kudos to the public relations team at Apple for doing things their way. I read this article over the weekend, which discusses how Apple has closely guarded their message and brand, refusing to open up to the media.

I admire them for playing by their own rules and refusing to succumb to the pressure of outside sources.  Clearly, they realize that the media isn’t always a friend and can easily spin information negatively to create a titillating story that will sell.  Kudos yet again Apple!

Ronn Torossian

5WPR