Miscellaneous Musings

Michael Scott of The OfficeTonight, NBC will tie a big bow on The Office, wrapping up the series for good after nine seasons. Dunder Mifflin fans will desperately begin the search for another show that induces both laughter and that particular, indefinable cringe-worthy element.

The impending series finale has already prompted a number of reflective articles from the web’s biggest fans—my favorites include Forbes’ management lessons from Michael Scott and Buzzfeed’s predictably perfect compilation of key Office moments.

But perhaps there’s room for one more. The Office celebrates the notion that company culture is critical; despite Michael Scott’s antics, he ran Dunder Mifflin’s best-performing branch. Over the course of nine years, the show gave us a peek into the pillars of Dunder Mifflin’s success, leaving viewers with five key lessons about maintaining a strong company culture:

  1. Be clear about your organization’s mission, and reinforce it. When Michael Scott held the managerial reins, there was no question about his mission: to sell paper and create an office environment where everyone felt like family. While implementing the latter was often more challenging, he never stopped trying—through (often misguided) humor, dinner parties, and unexpected field trips. After seven seasons, when Michael finally parted from Dunder Mifflin, it was clear that he left a family behind. Read the rest of this entry »
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Balthazar LondonBalthazar restaurant in New York carries a lot of meaning at Prosek Partners. About half of our firm had their first interview there, with me, over breakfast. Keith McNally’s well-known spot is around the corner from my former apartment and always provided a great atmosphere for morning conversation. So when Balthazar opened in London, I was excited to check it out.

This week, while visiting my colleagues across the pond, I had an opportunity to pop in and see Balthazar London firsthand. And when I walked through the door I was utterly shocked. The place is an exact replica - to the point where I kept thinking I'd be walking out on Spring Street upon leaving.

As I stepped back and thought about the experience, I was struck by the fact that Balthazar truly is a masterful example of how to maintain consistent brand standards. McNally has matched every light bulb, napkin and booth and the menu is the same. I should be impressed (our profession is obsessed with consistent brand standards, right?), but I couldn't help thinking that some small nod to the differences between New York and London and the cultures of the British and American people would be appropriate. For example should the shrimp on the menu in London not be called prawns? And despite London vernacular, the frites weren't called chips.

I walked away feeling both awestruck and unsettled. For a marketer like me, that is an oxymoron-like emotion, one that has left me still thinking about the Balthazar double take. End of Story

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girl_work_postureSince making the transition, my posture has become a priority. It might sound silly—but learning to work behind a desk all day has been a big adjustment (pun intended). As a reporter, I was used to running from place to place—spending a good portion of the day out of the newsroom and on my feet.

While both the news business and public relations are extremely fast-paced industries, I’m now keeping pace in a different position; sitting instead of standing—and I quickly noticed I needed to focus on sitting up straight.

Have you ever found yourself slouching at your desk, feeling relaxed— but tired at the same time? According to Amy Toffelmire, in an article for the Lansing State Journal, while it may seem “like less work than sitting upright… slouching forces your muscles to work hard to hold you up, making you even more fatigued.” Toffelmire continues to write that “proper posture arranges our body in the most efficient position.”

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No Comments » Written on April 2nd, 2013 by
Categories: Miscellaneous Musings

What can we in the media world learn from apes, elephants and several other animals? Besides the occasional eye-opening Discovery Channel documentary and some great cartoons, there’s more to uncover here than you might think.

Emory University’s Dr. Frans de Lost in TranslationWaal published an interesting study in The Wall Street Journal over the weekend detailing the flaws in how we as humans approach the study of animal intelligence. Using several examples, de Waal illustrates that our previous perception of animals being purely primitive and instinctive in their IQ level is actually a competence flaw among us as humans. Here are two quick examples of what these tests on animals reveal about humans:

The Elephant Test: Originally scientists tried to entice an elephant to use its trunk to reach for a stick that would help bring an out-of-reach piece of food closer, not realizing that picking up the stick with its trunk would block its nasal passages, thereby making it unaware of the food. They mistakenly concluded the elephant was not intelligent enough to perform the exercise.

The Chimp Test:  Scientists put chimps through facial recognition exercises using only human faces and, when the chimp delivered an average performance, they mistakenly concluded that chimps were not smart enough to perform facial recognition. After discovering their blunder, they replaced the human faces with those of other chimps, and the test results skyrocketed.

So What?

De Waal’s study reveals that as humans, we often assume that animals think and communicate the same way that we do. I believe that this problem also applies to how we communicate with other humans. We often assume that other people “speak our language” when in reality, we all have very different ways of communicating.

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BestJobs2013_425315x210It was great to see that US News ranked PR Specialists as #1 in its recently released list of the best creative jobs, followed by architects and art directors.

The gift of gab and understanding the art of the sell are paramount to working in PR. But there's also a lot of finesse involved in producing and distributing communication materials that uphold and promote a client's image. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, this occupation should grow by nearly 23 percent by 2020. That is good news for all of us here at Prosek Partners and across the industry.

It got me thinking about why I chose to be in PR in the first place. Most people don’t seem to truly understand what PR professionals do; they either have a slanted view of us or they regard us as some iteration of a lobbyist (see: Nick Naylor, from the movie “Thank You for Smoking.”) But, my reasons for working in PR included a love of writing as well as an innate ability to build relationships with journalists (probably because I have a degree in broadcast journalism and so I understand their wants and needs). I also have a desire to help companies connect with their target audiences in order to educate these populations about products and services that can ultimately add value to their lives.

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