Archive for more on me
March 2, 2010 at 5:08 pm · Filed under more on me
Dear All,
Next week I am shaving my head for charity.
The entire Sydney office has gotten behind “The World’s Greatest Shave” and, in my bravado, I volunteered to part with all my hair.
Of course I can’t (and won’t) unless we reach our ambitious fund-raising target of $5,000. The entire office is out collecting. It appears they really want to see me bald!
Could I kindly ask you for your contributions also? To make a donation please click here: http://my.imisfriendraising.com.au/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=337693. Please don’t be intimidated by my complete failure to raise funds yet. I registered this week! I am happy and proud my nephew Dominic is a survivor of the disease, despite two rounds of intense illness.
Of course if you cannot donate I will accept your moral support as well. But be forewarned – only donors get “before and after” photos!
Thank you in advance for your consideration…
Walter Jennings
January 4, 2010 at 11:12 am · Filed under Learning to Blog, more on me
I’ve learned to live with ongoing computer problems. It’s like walking with a stone in your shoe. At first you limp but then you learn to bear the pain and soldier on. It’s so much easier than calling the IT Guy.
Why is it long-term PC problems disappear the moment you call an IT person? It’s humiliating to try and re-create the annoying problem. Because the minute the IT Guy (or Gal) is over my shoulder it suddenly disappears. (And no, I don’t call them just to annoy them!)
Today I had John Cuthbertson of The Website Clinic on the phone. I’d looked everywhere to find how to edit my home page. (See that funny sidebar with my photo just to the right? Couldn’t edit that to save my life!)
John called back in under 10 minutes and directed me to the widgets page on Wordpress. Naturally. Don’t we all edit text in our widgets?
Perhaps it’s the technology link that keeps so many professionals off blogging. After all, we can afford flat-screen plasma televisions even if we can’t operate the remote. Whatever you do - don’t call the IT Guy. More than likely the date and time will stop flashing and your favourite recordings will be all lined up. Darn!
PS: Ignore this logo. It’s for my job and I couldn’t figure out how to get it over there (look right) without first uploading it here. Damned if I was going to call John back!
October 26, 2009 at 8:56 am · Filed under more on me, Social Media
Nothing says Happy Birthday better than a Facebook account.
I woke last Friday to three or four dozen congratulatory notes to mark the occasion. It was wonderful to be remembered by friends, cousins, high school peers and more. Over the course of the day I got virtual slices of cake, e-cards and lots and lots of comments. My sister sent two talking dogs who spoke through a script she’d written. (The terrier said “Dana” with a soft a in both spots – much like “Tada”!) My brother in Alaska made a Skype video call with the kids and sent a pre-recorded video card sent via Flip Cards. In an extraordinary gesture my Aunt Liz in Princeton sent me a long, personalized email. It was wonderfully overwhelming!
Of course I am pleased but a part of me remembers pre-social media birthdays. I’m one of those people who have a box with all his correspondence. I developed a close friendship with the late John Hoover when he lived in San Francisco and I was in New York. We used to write eight or nine page letters back and forth. While I didn’t keep every birthday card I kept the ones that mattered.
Maybe that’s the next digital application – a virtual treasure chest where you can permanently keep all your neat stuff. I have photos on Flickr and updates on Facebook and three years worth of blog postings. But nowhere do I have a consolidation of my life on-line.
Many say this is where social media is heading – a borderless world where we have one experience versus multitudinous accounts. And in that space I can have my Alaska video and my aunt’s email – and even the phonic-challenged dog (I worry his pronunciation will improve in the next upgrade and I want to save his current voice). I can limit which audiences have access to which parts. Current work colleagues are all joined in Linked In but none are invited into Facebook.
It won’t replace the mantelpiece full of Hallmark cards or the ribbon-tied bundle of letters. (And I’m not sure how the next generation’s Demi Moore will get misty-eyed as she spends a night going over her dead husband’s correspondence. Will that be on a Kindle?)
But what a Facebook birthday lacks in ever-lasting quality it sure makes up for in quantity. I miss the paper cards and letters. But I love the overwhelming number of people who made my birthday one to remember – even if I can’t put them in a box to linger over later.
October 14, 2009 at 8:47 am · Filed under more on me, Public Relations
You can tell I’m a child of the 1970’s when I immediately think of David Bowie as a way to chart the changes in my life. His lyrics immediately pop to mind - especially as I’ve made a major change in my career. (Dear Gen Y’ers and Millennials - do watch this historic footage below.)
On Monday, 12 October I started a new role here in Sydney with Fleishman-Hillard, one of the largest global public relations consultancies. I’ll manage the Sydney office and have a triple-barrel title (SVP & Partner, GM - Sydney). I’ll have to get a longer business card.
For two years I managed my own consultancy, Perception Counsel. It was coincidental to launch a new business in the lead-up to The Great Recession. (Cool to see it with capital letters like 1930’s The Great Depression.) The upside - as all business owners know - is the flexibility and freedom that comes from reporting to yourself. Yet what I missed most was the interaction with like-minded colleagues. And in a single stroke I entered a wide and varied network. FH has 80 offices and I’ve had welcome notes from Atlanta, Seoul, Tokyo, Dallas, New York and St Louis (Global HQ firmly in the Midwest).
In addition, FH is part of Omnicom Group - one of the world’s leading diversified communications companies. Partner firms are in advertising, branding, direct mail, social media, etc. It’s exciting to have an insider’s pass to such an extensive network, especially as I love design but make an awful Pictionary partner (”It’s Lassie. No! It’s Liza!”).
The upside of the new job is there wasn’t that much surprise on Day One. Fleishman was exhaustive in the recruitment process. And while most candidates assume the inquisition is one-way, the firm wanted to ensure I knew what I was getting myself into. I walked in with my eyes wide open.
What have I found?
Fleishman-Hillard has been in Sydney since 2001 and has been a quiet achiever. There’s a considerable track record of high-profile clients and assignments. Today the office has a solid quartet of practices - Healthcare, Consumer Marketing, Technology and Corporate-Finance. The team today is solid and experienced. And like most firms there’s room to grow and time to trial new tactics.
So wish me luck as I adjust my new computer to all my favourite settings, import my contacts, find where the files are stored and adjust to a new routine.
August 19, 2009 at 12:12 pm · Filed under more on me
Apologies readers - the Global Pandemic has hit home, as I’ve been diagnosed with Swine Flu. I knew that pork cutlet tasted off!
Back in action no later than Friday…
August 10, 2009 at 10:31 am · Filed under America, more on me, Australia
I left America on a 12 month business visa in April 1990. I vividly recall my first day in Sydney. The airport hadn’t been upgraded. The washroom featured troughs. A person recommended via a friend in New York collected me to go to the movies. We saw “The Hunt for Red October.” I slept that night in The Mclaren Street Guest House, courtesy of my employer Edelman Worldwide.
I knew no one and was 12,500 miles from friends, family and home.
Five years later I was still in Australia. I’d been a permanent resident for a few years and Keating was up for re-election. Some pollster probably told him “new Australians” were more likely to vote Labor. Immigration laws were changed and a massive, national advertising campaign was underway. Permanent residents - like me - were encouraged to become Australian. I filled in the two page form, had my ever-so-brief interview and paid my $50 fee. Five weeks later I was contacted by South Sydney Council. My swearing-in ceremony would be on a Tuesday night at Paddington Town Hall.
That night was a “once in 50 years” storm. Massive trees bent like rubber. Storm-water flowed down the streets like a river. Undaunted my partner and a few friends rocked up to see me become Australian. That was in 1995.
Since then I’ve lived here and abroad. My partner of 19 years is Australian. Our son - adopted from China - carries an Australian passport. And while he pronounces some words with my American accent, on holidays last month he asked for Vegemite for breakfast. I pay taxes and I vote in every election (not just to avoid the fine, but because the high tax rate compels me to get ‘value for money’).
I like to tell people I was born in America but I chose to be Australian.
This is a nation jam-packed with immigrants. Melbourne is the largest Greek city after Athens. Sydney’s Little Italy isn’t so little - it’s everywhere. Chinatown is several towns. And there’s a robust Vietnamese community. That’s without mentioning the Laotians, Maltese, French, Russians and more who make up our nation. Even the First Fleet was an immigration convoy.
But just last week a friend let slip their viewpoint. There was a job that needed to be done and they said it might be better done by an Australian.
I do confess I have a strong American accent. To this day every time I say Kookaburra my partner cracks up. My pronunciation of banana uses the wrong accent on the ‘a’. But Australian towns across the country are filled with rich and varied accents.
Deep down I know my son will always be seen as Australian. He’s been in school here since pre-school. My partner is first generation Italian-Australian. Not one in the extended family could return to Italy and call themselves Italian. Perhaps when I’m dead and buried here I’ll be considered Australian.
Clearly it is a sensitive spot. To those who question - I don’t own an Akubra. I do get the humour. I don’t live with kangaroos. I do eat Vegemite.
And I do care passionately about this country.
Perhaps that’s what makes me Australian.
February 4, 2009 at 4:18 pm · Filed under America, more on me
I had an email from a former colleague “back in the days” at Ford Motor Company. He left for a senior role in a financial services company, then was recruited into another large company. The last role didn’t work out and today he’s looking for work. It’s a shock to go from a top-level role to unemployment.
I also had a “didn’t work out” job after Ford. I joined an agency in New York and didn’t fit. Maybe I was shattered goods - maybe they were the wrong firm. Regardless I was out - and floundering.
When I first arrived in Detroit the long-timers at Ford said I’d never fit in. Car companies are that different - very few newcomers make it. I lasted five years and worked really hard to integrate. But looking back maybe Ford should have been the one trying harder to help a newcomer fit in. Their reliance on set ways and approaches made them inflexible - and not an employer of choice.
At the time I felt humiliated and disabused. I tried but didn’t make it in Detroit. I couldn’t wait to get out. But hindsight’s a wonderful thing, no? Especially today as Ford and GM and Chrysler all teeter on the brink of oblivion.
Life after Ford wasn’t easy. But the issues the company faces today means we all may face a life after Ford. That company needs to reinvent itself or join the ranks of Pan Am, Enron, TWA, Bear Stearns and other “too big to fail” once-were-giants.
August 21, 2007 at 1:22 am · Filed under more on me, Social Media
Spoke to a friend earlier today - I hadn’t caught up with Leanne at Sydney Symphony since I got the axe (the Company is on its 8th leader in Australia in 8 years!). She said she hoped I was doing well. She’d read my news in my blog - and was pleased by the positive tone.
The blog is better than an old-fashioned telephone operator. Do you remember Lily Tomlin’s old character Ernestine?
August 9, 2007 at 3:37 am · Filed under more on me
So if your French is a little rusty, the title means “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”
In this business you gain points for flexibility.
Tuesday night at 7:30 the phone rings. That’s when I no longer worked for the Company. Seems change was brewing all around me and while I felt the undercurrent I never knew the change was that close.
Imagine how odd it feels to sense great relief. It’s like shedding a stone of fret.
I’m great at what I do - communications consulting. I’m not so great at lots more - managing people, negotiating politics, handling contentious maneuvering.
So it’s over. And while no one likes to fail no one likes to live a horrible life, either. The stress and anxiety and negativity is now behind me. I can say goodbye to the Company and hello to my own company.
Ready? You bet I am!
May 29, 2007 at 2:13 am · Filed under more on me, Public Relations
We have a new business presentation later this week to a company in the music industry. The proposal follows a play list - with each campaign element named for a particular song or artist or lyrics. There’s a high profile event to start the program - “I can make you a celebrity for one night” by Twista is the relevant song.
Taking it a step further, we wanted each team member to have a rock and roll alter ego. Who would you be? Are you Chrissy Hines or Donna Summer? Boz Scaggs or Snoop Doggy Dogg?
I got to choose my own…
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