Firing May Fire Back, Literally!

I agree that the disgruntled employee who fatally shot his ex-boss three times in the head, near the Empire State Building a few days ago somehow slightly overreacted…and should hopefully become a professional inmate, for life.

As a manager of people, I have always been conscious of my staff’s feelings and striven to interact with them in dulcet tones even in instances when raising my voice to more vociferous levels would have been both appropriate and acceptable. But I have adopted a management style which better suits my personality and have succeeded to strike a fine balance between my employers’ targets and my employees’ tantrums.

 

Firing people has never been my forte but have had to do it on a few occasions when there was enough evidence to pull the trigger. There is nothing worse in a manager’s job other than having to communicate such a decision to his own team members. Yet this is part and parcel and sometimes an inevitable, yet unenviable, part of the role of a manager.

During my 18 years in PR, I was once the victim of the ‘firing squad’ at an Abu Dhabi GRE and must admit I felt a terrible nausea and disgust at the way my redundancy was communicated to me despite the fact that I was looking for an exit anyway.

No matter the circumstances, there is nothing worse for a working person, to be told that for A, B or C reasons he or she is no longer wanted by the company who employs them because one is always left with feelings of inadequacy, ineptness and insecurity about his capabilities and career prospects.

All it takes then is a loose screw, a gun and three bullets…

Just remember, Targets & Tantrums start with F, you get fired if you fail to meet the former and you also get fired if you fail to tame the latter.

 

 

TECHing About RedAUNTancies

This is the second and last extract of my upcoming book Back to the Future of Marketing. I was overwhelmed by your reaction to the previous post on the same subject so here is one more. Next time you hear from me on this will be when the book is ready...

 

 

Let’s go back a few decades when my aunt, in her 80’s today, held a job at a state-run telecommunications company as a telephonist, a job title so antiquated that even the Microsoft spellchecker on my PC doesn’t recognise it. Yet, back in those days, thousands of women across Europe and the US, in the industrialised world, were working as telephonists connecting cables to little colourful sockets and casually eavesdropping into conversations of people totally strange to them.

What happened to her job? Technology happened, that’s what. In the case of my aunty, who is still very much alive today, it was her marriage to my uncle, God rest his soul, that took her out of the misery of possessing gossip nuggets no one was interested to consume; however many of her then colleagues’ careers were shattered once technological advances rendered telephone centres redundant, and with them, many aunts the world over.

As I alluded to earlier, the data my aunt was listening into during hours of eavesdropping filling her nails (I wasn’t there, I am just imagining this), was relevant to nobody either because no one was interested in gossip about people they don’t even know, or because my aunt had no archiving means, no information gathering mechanism and systems that would allow her to make some reasonable use of all that data either for personal fun or commercial gain.

Simply put, back then technology wasn’t conducive to making chatting appealing. Which, simply put again, this isn’t the case anymore. Because chatter in social media is the king of all content, or the route of all evil, depending on whose side you are with.

Is your job at peril because of the advent of technology?

Back to the Future of Marketing

The following is a teaser extract from my book-in-the-making titled as the headline of this post. Would crave for any comment you'd like to make

It is 1992. Twenty years ago. I have just graduated from College in London and made it into my first real job as a sports journalist for a Fleet Street-based newspaper. Back then, every time my editor was in need for background information on an athlete or any sporting subject  he’d ask me to get it for him. Sounds simple? Not exactly!

First I had to get off my chair and take a five minute walk, up a few stairs and down a few more to get to the archive section of the paper. Then I had to fill in a request form containing the relevant keywords which I had to then pass on to Rodger, an elderly archiveian – for lack of a better word – who would lower his reading glasses upon my form, clear his throat a couple of times and then gather his composure, take a deep breath and help himself off his chair to drag his feet at the back of the warehouse-like room, where a lengthy search would commence amongst shelves and piles of files containing newspaper clippings pasted with UHU stick in A4 papers.

In the meantime and while Rodger was still looking for the appropriate files, I was just standing there, a 22-year-old, clueless and bored, eyes vacant, yet hopeful, that I would be able to return back to my desk, to triumphantly and full of pride announce to my editor that I had stricken gold, that I had managed, despite all the odds, obstacles and Rodger’s nonchalance, to return with the Holy Grail, the source of all knowledge about the subject he had asked me for.

Most times I did get back holding a bruised carton folder, with the signs of ageing spreading along both covers and all four chipped, wrinkling corners. The folder would in most cases contain a few yellowing clips of my newspaper and of a few others which had reported on the subject of my search. That was it! The source of all background knowledge available to the editorial team, contained in a few newspaper clips. In most cases the subject in question had been highlighted with a bright yellow marker and it was easy to identify. That would be the equivalent of today’s Quick Search option in Google I guess.

As my trips to Rodger’s kingdom had become more frequent, my visitations seemed to make him tick having an effect similar to that modern energy drinks have on teenagers. He gradually became more welcoming, even mumbling “Hello’’ sometimes through his swollen, cracked lips bearing a permanent bloody bump right in the middle of the lower flap. I dare say that he even looked forward to seeing me in order to get his daily opportunity to get off his chair and venture to the forest of shelves behind him into an adventure that kept his instincts and reflexes alive.

One day, as I was standing there, waiting for Rodger to return with the day’s data dose, I sort of had a panic attack. “What if Rodger falls sick tomorrow?  I asked myself. “What if he takes his annual leave and goes for two weeks? Who would be replacing him? How would I be able to get my hands on the information required to garnish the newspaper’s stories with the detail and the background needed for our readers to get the full picture? Or, even worst, what if Rodger kicked the bucket? What then?  I couldn’t bear the thought even, not because I had suddenly developed a friendly disposition towards my ancient colleague from the archives department but mostly because of the panic I felt at the thought of having no access to information.

Can you imagine?

Sensational or Spin

In my 20-year-long career I have garnered journalistic, PR agency and in-house insights and perspectives giving me a 360 degree view of the triangle; I am not sure if that would make sense from a geometrical viewpoint, but what I know for sure is the truth; the right answer to the perennial question that has baffled media and PR industries’ commentators for decades;   who is right, the journalists who complain that PR pros don’t understand their needs or the PR pros who complain that the journalists are not responsive to their pitches?

In journalistic terms they are both blatantly wrong. in PR lingo neither of them is entirely right. The truth, as always, has many shades of grey.

The journalists are wrong because they view my colleagues as an unnecessary barrier between them and our clients - who are always right, remember? They detest seeing their inbox flooded with spam (that’s how they refer to emails containing press release attachments), they  loath having to occasionally answer a telephone call to acknowledge receipt of a ‘spam’ email and they totally dislike making a commitment to publishing a story for which they find zero value or interest in. They forget though that almost 70 per cent of a daily newspaper’s editorial content is either directly or indirectly, in its entirety or partially, verbatim or transliterated, impacted by the work of a PR pro, agency or in-house.

The PR pros are also wrong, because they view my ex-colleagues (The Press) as an unnecessary barrier between them getting a nod on the back from a satisfied client or getting one of those looks by their direct agency reports who are adamant that the press release is of great value and it should even make front page news in next day’s paper. They sometimes can forget as well that journalists are in the news-making industry and news they must receive if they are to oblige.

The journalists are wrong because they feel that their request to interview the visiting CEO of our multinational client for an exclusive deep look into its Middle East bottom line was declined by my colleagues just to get back to them for not using our press releases. They forget though that it is the client who’d determine the confirmation or the timing of such interviews based on their communications objectives at any given point.

And PR’s are also wrong for making pitches for interviews that are of little or no relevance to the media. But they also have the duty to educate clients about the process and the type of spokespeople and content journalists look for their editorial needs.

Who is right and who is wrong? It’s a chicken and egg situation and the yoke, instead of bright yellow, is of course, grey.

My thoughts exactly!

My pick for the starting 11 of Team Marketing at Euro 2012

1.    PR – Goalkeeper: The most important position for any team with an ambition to keep a clean sheet. Avoiding defeat should always be the top priority for the coach of Team Marketing and a good goalie would go a long way to protect the reputation of his team and the coach’s credentials. To win you must concede less than you score and as is the case ‘PR offers more for less’.

2.    Digital – Right Back: He is fit, flexible and focused in going the extra mile, however the coach of Team Marketing still doesn’t know how to extract optimal value out of him. As an advocate of the adage that a good offense is a strong defence the coach prefers to keep one of his star players at the back till he decides what to do with him.

3.    Promotion – Left Back: He has been around for a while but seems to have lost a bit of his lustre, looks tired and out of ideas. Needs to find his lost mojo and fitness otherwise his position in the starting line-up is at stake. He reacts good to the manager’s instructions but fails to take any initiative during the match.

4.     Research – Centre Back: He asks a lot of questions to anyone near him as he uses his inquisitive skills to analyse the strengths of the opponent before he tackles any challenge thrown at him. He is one of the most useful members of the team and has the ability to rise above his defensive duties when required.

5.    Media Planning – Sweeper: He is calm and full of confidence, he can see the whole game from a position of strength when his team is attacking and his perspective helps him set the tone and orchestrate his team mates’ movements on the pitch.

6.    Branding – Central Midfielder: With a blank canvas to cover, he does a lot of planning which rarely manifests itself, but its laborious approach and hard work is an essential backbone ingredient at the hands of a good Marketing coach who advocates the 4-3-3 formation.

7.    Social – Right Wing: He is the Ronaldo of Team Marketing. He is young, fast-paced, sexy, with a versatile repertoire and millions of followers worldwide; he is also incredibly arrogant believing that he is the best of the rest of his team mates and a tad immature especially when the connection is slow.

8.    Events – Midfielder: He is glamorous and eccentric, a heart throb and a favourite with the female fans but his performance is totally dependent on his pay check. On his good day he lifts the spirits of the whole team causing headaches to the opponents. On his bad day, his only contribution is a nasty day-after hangover.

9.    Media Buying – Central Attacker: He is the team’s striker, its most prolific scorer, when he sees an opportunity he takes it and he never misses a chance which would advance the interests of his team. In short, he is a must-have for any team who can afford him as players of his calibre are notoriously expensive.

10.Creative – Playmaker: He is the flashy, full of flair playmaker, enormously talented and great to watch for his gift to excite the crowds who applaud most of his moves. Irrespective of his performance on the night of the game, he commands respect and the manager is always convinced that he deserves a place in the starting line-up.

11. Direct Marketing – Left Wing: Working tirelessly through the line his advances are easily defended making him the least effective of the manager’s attacking staff. Usually out of ideas from early on in any campaign, he tries hard to impress but the little value he brings to the team mostly goes unnoticed. He is usually the first to come off when the coach decides it’s time to adjust tactics.