The Ethical Optimist

I’ve been in this business for over 25 years (despite my youthful appearance) and I’ve worked for my share of nit-pickers. Yet despite my training and best efforts, I always seem to find a minor typo after the release left my desk and headed out into cyberspace. To the chagrin of many a supervisor and client, I never worried about it much.

Bottom line is that a good story sells, and I’ve sold many a good story despite the sixty edits someone wanted to make after the fact. I’ve also never been judged by the press release or email, rather I’ve been judged by the results of the campaigns I’ve conducted.

We’re currently in the midst of a few great stories and projects here at Utopia, and I often have to caution clients and team members about getting lost in the minutiae trap. For example, it doesn’t really matter where you hang the banners or set out the press materials if no media shows up. End of story.

I’ll give you an example we encountered. We were hosting a critical press conference for a client and were concerned about the key speaking points, order of speakers and finalizing the press materials…knowing we had ten major media outlets scheduled to attend the following day. However, rather than discuss any of these agenda items, our client wanted us to sketch out a map of how the chairs should be set up in front of the podium…semi-circle or theatre style? Okaaaayyyyy…

It continues to amaze me how often senior ranking people lose sight of the objective of a given program or campaign and get caught up in … well … irrelevant bullshit (pardon my French).

I’ve often wondered why and have come to the conclusion that many clients are terrified of media events and prefer to focus on the things they can control versus the things they cannot control…such as media. I’ve also learned that being a good counselor requires not only getting the job done, but working with clients to keep them focused on what’s truly relevant. Sometimes this is easier said than done.

So, if you find yourself getting caught in the trap, take a breath and take control. When day is done, you’ll be judged on the results, not the seating arrangements.