The other day, while waiting for my plane to board, I was treated to a throaty remake of the Beatles classic “Penny Lane” running over the airport PA system. Didn’t catch the artist, but didn’t need to: The re-make, of very recent vintage, was decent, but it didn’t ring half as true to my forty-something…

Now that we’re back from the holidays and possibly planning time off for the year to come, it’s worth asking: Were your recent days away a true creative vacation? Common sense tells us that vacations provide a chance to clear our heads and refresh so that we can become more productive upon our return. Yet…

I encountered my first white papers somewhere around 2002. I don’t remember what these documents were about, but I do remember why I took the time to read them. An ad agency had called asking if I could write a “white paper” for a major car brand that was their client. “Of course I can,”…

It seems we can’t take anything for granted these days. As a columnist in the New York Times recently noted, men and women alike are now botoxing their faces to such an extent that it’s becoming difficult to discern the visual cues we rely on as part of normal, everyday communication. Meanwhile, that erstwhile mainstay…

We admire it. We crave it.  We want to have more of it than the next guy. And for good reason: Our business depends on it. I’m talking about creativity. In public relations as in other creative industries, the workhorse of creativity has traditionally been the brainstorm session. Gather people in a room, assign a…

It’s summer again, time for lazy days at the beach, and of course, summer reading. Some of us will pick up the latest thriller or romance, but what if we want some measure of personal and professional edification? What should we read if we want to open our minds and gain a few insights that…