Today’s New York Times had an interesting article which my staff discussed at length in an AM meeting.  The article by David Brooks spoke about today’s geeks.  While I am not, and have never been a geek, I found it to be thought provoking reading… and reminded me of an interesting speech which Bill Gates gave years ago I have read about… which talked about how feel-good, and politically correct teachings, created a generation of kids with no concept of reality, and how this method was setting them up for failure in the real world.

He concluded by outlining the following 11 Rules:

Rule 1: Life is not fair. Get used to it.

Rule 2: The world won’t care about your self-esteem. However, the world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you start feeling good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $40,000 a year right out of high school, and you won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers at McDonalds should not be beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping … they called it OPPORTUNITY.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents’ generation, try delousing the closet in your own bedroom.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with recognizing that there are winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have even abolished failing grades, and they’ll give you as much time as you want to get the right answer on an exam. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off, and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. You are supposed to do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have
to leave the coffee shop, and go out and find a job.

Rule 11: Be nice to NERDS. Chances are you will end up working for one.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

A few random thoughts and ramblings on this Friday nite @ 11 PM, pre an early bedtime so I can be on the treadmill by 7 AM running (ran tonight also and loved it)….As I have said, sweat always makes one more focused:

1: Watched the Democratic debates last night and at the outset, an item jumped out at me. As the candidates walked out, Hillary walked right to the anchors and “big-wigs” hosting the debates and shook hands… and Obama lagged 15 seconds behind to shake hands with a few people on the edges of the audiences before he walked to the “big-wigs.”. Has she still not learned the lesson that one needs more contact with the people, that this election has been won on the ground, rather than by the traditional establishment ? This election is won on the ground, from minute one (a lesson Rudy Giuliani, my favorite from the original choices clearly didn’t get)… and Hillary still isn’t.

PR angle? It’s a new media world – Bloggers, Myspace, Facebook and the like all count as PR today. The big and the small. THE WORLD HAS CHANGED – IN ALL AREAS.

2: Recession? I spoke to 2 fellow PR firm owners today of firms about our size and we agreed – There’s certainly been a slow down… not a ton of hiring being done, and a genuine concern about spending on PR. All of us agreed we are keeping a close eye on collections, and there is concern. That said, 5W’s business is healthy… and I firmly believe opportunity exists in recession. But it requires continued uber-focus and harder work. Period.

3: Latest Reading? Tonight I read INC Magazine (which I always love and find to be so accurate in terms of relevance for an entrepreneur), Portfolio Magazine (which I admittedly just started reading but really enjoyed), and finally finished reading Khaled Hosseini’s 2nd novel, A Thousand Splendid Sons…. This after reading in a single weekend “The Kite Runner.” Both books were tremendously inspiring, exciting… and a must read for anyone unsure of the true problems in the Middle East.

4: I spent a little over an hour today over lunch with all of the entry level Account Coordinators at my agency and really enjoyed it. I still can’t believe it that I have 90+ people working for me, and find it very very important to spend relevant time with employees. We talked about life, philosophies and general agency life. It was the best part of my professional day.

Ronn Torossian
5W PR

Just returned from the INC Magazine conference, and a weekend in Chicago and wow did I found Chicago to be an amazing city.

A few observations:

1 — I found President Bill Clinton’s speech at the Inc Conference to be boring and very dry. I was expecting something amazing and awe inspiring (had read so much about what an amazing speaker he is so perhaps my expectations were too high… but I found him to be canned, and no different than what I can hear on CNN or Fox).

Also have to admit I was annoyed he showed up 1.5 hours or so late as I had a tightly scheduled day – A group of some of the most successful, busiest entrepreneurs in the U.S. (potential donors and supporters) and waiting 1.5 hours for me just didn’t jell right.

2 – Sat through some fascinating speeches (Including my favorite entitled “Customer Love”), which taught us that the customer isnt always right (I agree), the need to self monitor your organization, and never up-sell. Really a great speech by the CEO of Headsets.com. Kudos!

3 – I really enjoyed the city of Chicago and found it to be a beautiful, friendly all around great city. Had a wonderful time in Chicago and found it to be an amazing city and one I need to find an excuse to return to often.

Off to a busy Monday…

Ronn Torossian

5W PR

I am especially proud that we are deeply involved with one of the most important historical events of the decade, handling all media for the Groundbreaking Ceremony on the National Mall in Washington DC for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Project Foundation on November 13, 2006.

Distinguished guests and speakers (of whom we are working with for media and film crews) include the President of the United States, former President Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Maya Angelou, Senator Obama, Andy Young, Jack Valenti, Diane Sawyer, Bebe Winans, Tommy Hilfiger, Russell Simmons – among many others named individuals, truly there are too many to list. We are also handling the Gala Foundation Dream Dinner the night of the event with Gladys Knight and dozens of major corporate donors including GM, Toyota, Wal-Mart, PepsiCo and many more who have collectively raised over $65 MM of $100 MM needed to complete the project. 5W also secured performances from Ashanti and Brian McKnight, as well as the host of the evening, our own Nick Cannon.

The Los Angeles office is handling the account for the MLK Memorial Foundation — and working on the media and VIP coordination that includes every major network and media outlet pre-event, on site and post. There will be nearly 200 media in attendance the day of the event, which begins for the 5W team at 2:30 AM assigning crews prior to 5:00 AM, and into the evening for the Gala.

Martin Luther King, Jr. is the only non-President awarded a 4 acre Memorial plot on the National Mall and this is a prestigious honor for the agency to be selected to handle the media and honorable VIPs. We hope you will have a moment to tune in on Monday morning (to pretty much all major networks, but suggest CNN or GMA) even for just a moment to check out this incredible event.

Congrats to the team who is working on this event, they have been a gleaming example of 5W at its finest. Its really a proud moment for me as the owner of 5W Public Relations.

Ronn Torossian

5W PR

I have just returned from our 1st very successful “Hamptons Roundtable” event held at 5W’s luxurious East Hamptons summer residence. If you weren’t with us, you missed a good group of business networking and a real good time….

We look forward to bringing brands, businesses, tastemakers and celebrities together in the Hamptons this summer, and as I said during my welcome speech “If you aren’t here to do business, don’t come…”

Pick up this week’s Business Week (June 5th edition) for a good description of what we will be doing in the Hamptons this summer.

Ronn Torossian

5W PR