I was seated at Table 25 at a donor recognition event many years ago. That was the pre-COVID world when we used to do such things. I was also the chief communications and marketing officer at the host institution. Table 25 was in the back row, near the fire exit, close to the coat check and the rest rooms. You know the one… Read More
Would Jefferson support today’s DEI programs? Probably not. But would he support firing presidents for ideological reasons, defunding entire academic disciplines, and dictating university policy from the Capitol? That seems equally unlikely.
It seems that not a day goes by without universities and non-profits scrambling to explain something. For those who don’t have a crisis communications advisor on their team , here’s a quick master class in crisis communications that landed in my e-mail yesterday.
As my team wrote and designed an annual report for the Carroll School, which educates and empowers children with language-based learning difficulties like dyslexia, I also came to understand a little more about the pain dyslexia caused my oldest brother.
The last time I saw my mother’s hutch, it was being hoisted into the back of a borrowed truck by three first-year Ph.D. students at the University of Central Florida. All three were from Bangladesh and in the Aerospace Engineering program.
Time to call a meeting with communications. People are starting to realize that maybe not enough attention has been spent thinking about WHO will explain WHAT we’re raising money for and WHERE it will be shared and WHY it all matters. It's just words, right? What's the big deal?
Yesterday someone from Stitch Fix sent me flowers. I don’t know anyone at the company. It is not my birthday month. I have not complained about anything or reached some milestone purchase point. I am a once-in-a-while-when-the-mood-strikes type of customer.
When I think of legacies like the one that will forever be associated with John Hitt, I think first of the speechwriters who help build the story, the ones who do the research, vet the facts, check the tone and know the audiences before the president gets anywhere near that microphone.
Mike had a new idea and he needed feedback. Did I have some time? I didn’t, but of course I said yes. It was a big idea. They always are with Mike. He wondered if I thought it could work. I did and I remembered why I kept Space Girl.
It was a beautiful Friday morning and his name was Mr. Friday. I would not have noticed him next to the elevator that day except for the walking stick. Mr. Friday looked serene, delighted to be on his way to wherever he was going.
I will remind my new collaborator that this desk cannot be bought on Staples or Amazon. Neither can the integrity she walked out the door with after her presence collided with one executive’s ambition. It happens.
I’m occasionally amazed at how much great material already exists at the start of a project. That was the case with this video for a Saint Anselm College campaign to build a campus home for their Humanities program.
Of the many professional things I learned from Nanci Tessier, one stands out and that is what I call the Aretha approach to management. Respect the expertise of the people you hire. Nanci respected mine.
Meet Alberta Russo. She works at Steve’s Diner in Titusville, Florida, near Cape Canaveral. She knows her talking points. She also knows her customer base the way a seasoned development officer knows their prospect pool. I’m pretty sure she had me pegged as a first timer before I was in the chair.
If you are going to send a t-shirt, your execution and timing better be flawless. Don’t skimp on the packaging either. Shoot for a Friday afternoon and worry about the thread count. That t-shirt might very well still get worn three years later during a global pandemic reminding the person you are still out there.
Hallmark type that I am, I’ve decided to borrow the now famous Lexus December to Remember tagline and remember a few folks who have inspired me with their big ideas, bold vision, or simply by challenging long-held assumptions about the ways things should be done, especially in higher education where I’ve spent most of my career.
During the Supreme Court nomination hearings last week for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, Senator John Kennedy, R-LA, asked the question no male nominee has ever been asked — who does the laundry at your house? While Judge Barrett laughed, it wasn’t funny. It was, however, indicative of what the Republicans are doing wrong.
Don’t get me wrong. I love what I do. And, I still love the organization to which I am referring. And my epiphany at Table 25 wasn’t just about me. It turned out to be my first big lesson in the world of communications and donor relations.
We don’t often think of monarchs as crisis managers, but Queen Elizabeth made one of the most decisive public leadership calls of her reign in 2019: removing her own son, Prince Andrew, from public duties after his ties to Jeffrey Epstein and alleged abuse of a minor became the subject of mounting legal scrutiny and international outrage.