We’ve made a point of never forgetting the passion and pride the late Virginia Dandridge Stevenson brought to work every day of her many years serving as my executive assistant at Peppercomm. 

In fact, this is the third consecutive year we’ve asked our employees to vote for the peer who best personifies The Danderoo’s qualities and attributes.

These include:

• A great sense of humor
• A never quit attitude
• A heart of gold
• A passion for enjoying life to its fullest
• Pride for working at Peppercomm
• Unflappable resilience (an especially critical attribute in light of the events of the past 11 months).

I’m pleased to announce that Ashley Grund is this year’s winner. Ashley will receive $250 for herself and an additional $250 to donate to the charity of her choice.

Among the many compliments shared by Ashley’s peers in selecting her for the award were these:

• “She’s the definition of a team player.”
• “She’s so positive and is a beautiful person, inside and out.”
• “Ashley’s always there whenever you need an extra helping hand.”

As you can tell, Ashley is pretty special. And I’m willing to bet that, wherever she is at the moment, Dandy is giving Ashley Grund a well-earned and rousing round of applause.

Winning PR Week’s best workplace award and PR Daily’s Best travel & tourism campaign of the year are both very special. But nothing means more to me (and the many Peppercommers who fondly remember her time with us) than in announcing the latest recipient of The Dandy.

Congrats, Ashley!

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One of the true joys in the otherwise dismal seven-month period since the pandemic hit home has been the emergence of Kel, our superb IT director of 16 years, who has blossomed into our resident wellness guru at Peppercomm. 

Every two weeks or so, we’ll set aside 20 minutes from the usual, twice-weekly virtual staff meetings to have our “Stay Well with Kel” stretching, deep breathing and yoga training sessions. It’s a beautiful thing to be able to step back from the keyboard, stand, pick up a few light weights, roll one’s shoulders and neck and forget about, however fleetingly, our worries of the day.

So I thought now was a good time to give Kel a break from his normal routine and learn a little bit more about the man behind the machine…

How has COVID impacted your professional and personal lives?

I had to make a few adaptions to my workflow, e.g., not having a proper home office, I had to use my laptop on my lap for many endless hours, which after then affected my posture causing stiffness on my neck and shoulders. On a personal level, food shopping felt like going to the airport, not just any airport, but LaGuardia Airport.

As an IT professional, are there any unexpected ways your job has changed since the start of the pandemic?

Since video conferencing became the norm, I have only had a handful of actual voice only calls.

Which “meeting” platform do you prefer? Zoom, Teams, neither and why?

Teams is my favorite now; it does the things we need in an elegant and simple way. I like Zoom too, but the gallery view hurts my eyes.

How do you stay current with all that’s new in the ever-changing technology world?

Webinars, online keynotes. It is a never-ending process. But I would say that trying to stay current with technology can be costly and creates disruptions.

Aside from my usual ineptness with Zoom 101, what’s the most frequent request you receive from our employees?

There is no one most frequent request. This depends on what kind of client work we are doing at the time.

What’s Plan B if, god forbid, NYC goes off the grid? 

We are ready to go back to using smoke signals and African drums to replace all forms of communications with clients. I have been studying celestial navigation for years now.

Tell me about your fitness background, the classes you lead, etc? What got you started in fitness?

My fitness background from studying different martial arts throughout the years. The fitness movements I teach are not designed to help anyone get stronger or look tough or big. Instead, they are designed for functional mobility. I (virtually) teach a self-defense class, and there is nothing more challenging than that.

You lead our twice-a-month “Stay Well With Kel” sessions. Can you describe them for the reader and how do you intend to take us to the next level.

Twice a month, we take a few minutes to practice a few stretches and shoulder mobility exercises to improve our posture. This video explains it best.

What’s your secret to maintaining a positive, upbeat attitude? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you down or upset.

A long time ago, at the start of five-day hike through the Appalachian trails, my instructor had this to say: “this trip is what you make of it”. Work is what you make of it. Well I got a smile for everyone I meet.

How do you unwind? 

I love riding my bike, hiking in the outdoors, it’s a feeling that I can’t explain.

In my quest to find just the right word to pay homage to the late Virginia Dandridge “Dandy” Stevenson, I chose the word indefatigable. Webster’s Dictionary defines indefatigable as “…someone or something that cannot be tired out.” That fits her like a glove. 

Dandy, who passed away some 26 months ago, was my long-time executive assistant. But labeling her as an executive assistant is akin to describing our country as experiencing a bit of unrest at the moment.

Dandy was so much more than an executive assistant.

She was tirelessly optimistic, creative, opinionated, energizing, protective and beyond proud of everything we’d built at Peppercomm. (Note: I hired Dandy in the immediate aftermath of her being downsized as the EA to the CEO of Porter Novelli. I knew a good thing when I saw it.)😊

Everyone who came into contact with Dandy over the years has a story to tell. She loved to be deeply involved in everything from creating new business decks and critiquing the type face and color on business cards to contributing creative ideas to our legendary holiday cards and videos as well as taking notes at staff meetings.

Her note-taking is arguably the best illustration of Dandy’s indefatigable DNA. She wouldn’t just distribute a mundane report of who said what at the meetings. Instead she’d channel a combination of Lewis Carroll, ee cummings and Franz Kafka to create some of the most original (and, yes, bizarre) employee communications known to man.

And I’m intent on keeping her memory alive.

To do so, we’ve created an annual Dandy Stevenson Award in which we ask our employees to nominate the one person who most closely defined Dandy’s multiple qualities, which we listed as:

• A great sense of humor
• A never quit attitude (See: Indefatigable above)
• A heart of gold
• A passion for living life to its fullest
• A deep sense of pride in working for Peppercomm
• Unflappable resilience (Note: Were she still alive, I have no doubt Dandy would have found myriad ways to keep herself and the agency energized as the days, weeks and months of this endless pandemic dragged on).

Last year’s recipient of the Dandy Stevenson Award was Hannah Robbins, one of our superb West Coast employees. Hannah received $250 for herself and another $250 to donate to her favorite charity (www.eastbayspca.org). Dandy would have loved that. She absolutely adored her two cats. 😉

In closing, one might describe me as indefatigable in continuing to pay homage to one of the most memorable and important persons in Peppercomm’s 26-year history and my professional life.

# # #

Is there a better word to encapsulate what so many of us yearn for nowadays? And when I use the word nostalgia, I am most definitely NOT anxious to return to the country that existed prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act. 

In case you’re interested, the word nostalgia comes from the Greek nostalgias (meaning “native land”) and algos (meaning suffering and grief).

Seventeenth century physicians believed nostalgia was a medical condition, by the way, caused by being away from one’s home country (the author doesn’t mention whether doctors of the day considered nostalgia a pre-existing condition or if United Healthcare of Padua saw it as a reimbursable expense).

I am nostalgic for many things, including:

1.) The country in which I grew up where mass shootings didn’t occur every other day, long-standing relationships between families and friends weren’t incinerated based upon one’s political views and each generation was confident they would fare better than the one before it.

2.) The US was seen as the envy of the world and not pitied by every country except Tanzania. Ya gotta love Tanzania for still allowing Americans to enter their country.

3.) Despite their many short comings, Presidents who left me with an overall feeling that they wanted to bring us together, regardless of political affiliations (Richard Nixon notwithstanding).

4.) A time when the vast majority of Americans understood the need to protect our environment for future generations.

5.) A time when politicians worked together to reach a compromise that would benefit the nation as a whole and not their individual career. (See: Tip O’Neill for a textbook example).

6.) A time when hope was a reality and not a pipe dream.

While I am nostalgic for what once was, I am painfully aware that that America was anything BUT great in oh-so-many ways:

1.) The Glass Ceiling was very much set in stone (see: Mixed metaphors).

2.) Black Americans, Native-Americans, Latino-Americans and the LGBTQ+ community were ignored, ridiculed, and or, often frightened for their lives.

3.) Big Tobacco was allowed to run wild and addict millions of unsuspecting Americans.

4.) Greed was good (See: The movie “Wall Street” and Gordon Gekko’s speech).

5.) Far too many public relations firms were all too happy to represent the interests of repressive regimes if the price was right (See: Hill & Knowlton and the government of Kuwait or “Wag the Dog.” Your choice).

6.) Management by fear was not only pervasive but often encouraged.

I could go on but I wonder if you, too, are nostalgic for the positive aspects of what once was (See: List A).

Please feel free to weigh in, add, subtract, agree or disagree. I only ask one favor: Do so in a civilized way.

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I’ve been a fan of Shinola watches (www.shinola.com) since the iconic American brand first set up shop in Detroit (and played a key role in the city’s attempted comeback). 

Since then, I’ve purchased four Shinola watches but, like many Americans, have cut back on discretionary spending since the Coronavirus ushered in the new normal.

But that hasn’t stopped Shinola from continuing to bombard me with new offers for new and expensive watches.

But, I must say, their latest marketing effort is positively brilliant. It’s aimed squarely at the middle child in any given family (which tells me that Shinola has way too much personal data about me since I’m a middle child).

But I’m not buying the “Middle Child Detrola” for two reasons:

• It’s way too pricey at $600.
• It looks just like a $99 Swatch (and I’d have to be paid to wear any watch that ugly).

I understand Shinola’s desperation. And desperate times do indeed call for desperate measures. But listening before acting is more important than ever.

The marketing folks at Shinola (or their agency) need to do a far better job of listening to what their audience does and does not want and can and cannot afford.

The clock is ticking. And the brand Shinola saves may very well be their own.

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Every now and then, the editors at Cody’s ConsultantSpeak Style Guide (not to be confused with the A.P. Style Guide, the Oxford English Dictionary or Roget’s Thesaurus) publish an updated Top 12 list of grossly abused and overused ConsultantSpeak words and phrases. 

For the uninitiated, ConsultantSpeak is the “inside baseball” jargon used by a large percentage of the professional working world.

I’m guessing it’s called ConsultantSpeak because, having represented a couple of The Big Four accounting firms and a host of strategy consultants, I was always hearing (and reading) new words and phrases that they, and they alone, understood (but were later adopted by the business community at large).

In any event, due to the Coronavirus, my editorial board has advised me to update my Top 12 list with three, new ConsultantSpeak words:

1.) Pivot: Every CEO, CMO or CCO is constantly peppering her or his commentary by declaring how critical it is to pivot the business and adapt to the New Normal.

2.) ReSet: See Pivot for explanation.

3.) Furlough: Many businesses had to announce they were being forced to furlough employees due to the pandemic’s impact on their bottom line. Sadly, and especially in the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors, the ConsultantSpeak word furlough has now been replaced by another F bomb: Fired.

But enough with the new additions.

Here’s the previous Top 12 list. See what you think. (Note: We follow the David Letterman approach of counting down from 12 to one):

12.) “There are no bad ideas”: Why does every brainstorm have to be prefaced with this introductory phrase? C’mon. There are LOTS of bad ideas. Why is it politically incorrect to say, “Wowza, Mike. You REALLY missed the mark with that thought! Ugh.”

11.) “Marinate”: We once employed an account supervisor who HAD to use the word marinate in every e-mail or phone call with clients or colleagues (“Let’s do this. We’ll marinate on the ideas and come back to you with a recommendation STAT!”).

10.) “Solutions provider”: Do you know of any white collar organization that doesn’t refer to itself as a solutions provider? Many of these very same companies also yearn to be a disruptor. Alas, few businesses have disrupted and problem solved at the same time. But there’s a pot of gold waiting for anyone who can.

9.) “Synthesize”: I can’t think of too many meetings I’ve attended in which someone didn’t suggest we synthesize our ideas before finalizing a program. Does synthesize mean prioritize? If so, why not say so?

8.) “Socialize”: Arguably my favorite ConsultantSpeak word, socialize simply means sharing ideas with teammates. So why not use the word sharing? The answer is obvious: Some consultant decided that synthesize sounded a whole lot more sophisticated (and, in consulting, the more sophisticated the word and phrase, the higher the fee).

7.) “Circle back”: “OK, well let us think through what you’ve told us and circle back with a recommended strategy.” Why do we have to circle back? Can’t we just come back (or go back, if you prefer)?

6.) Hard stop”: “Just a heads-up before we begin that I have a hard stop at 3pm.” Ok, well what time does your soft stop begin? Should we factor that into the conversation? And is a soft stop a two-minute warning for a hard stop?

5.) “Walk back”: “You’ll just have to tell the reporter we need to walk back that quote. It’s taken out of context.” You may disagree, but I believe the Trump Administration deserves full credit for popularizing the words walk back (as well as their ugly step sister, walking back).

4.) “Shifting sands”: You don’t hear this one very often, but it can be a killer when used properly. “Look we’re dealing with shifting sands and no one knows how this will turn out.” Not having grown up in the desert, I never knew sands shifted. But I immediately understood the meaning. And for the editors at Cody’s ConsultantSpeak Style guide, “That’s gold, Jerry. Gold.”

3.) Yada, yada”: Since we’re speaking of Seinfeld, I’ve often wondered if the Generation Z workforce knows why yada, yada, has replaced etc., etc., in most e-mails and text.” #ElaineBenes

2.) “Sunset”: This is a beautiful ConsultantSpeak word to let you know that an underperforming person, product or service is being shown the door (See: Furlough).

1.) “Review and revert”: Review and revert is the Babe Ruth of ConsultantSpeak. I didn’t invent it, but I fell like a ton of bricks for the phrase when a long forgotten BNY/Mellon client responded to my draft of a press release by telling me he’d review and revert. It simply doesn’t get any better than that.😎

So what say you? Do you agree with our editorial board’s Top 12 list? Would you suggest we drop some and add others?

If so, please socialize the blog, ask your friends to marinate on it before they synthesize their thinking and circle back to you with a response.

In other words, please review and revert.

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I have enormous respect for research. It’s fundamental to better understanding why things happen and where we, as a profession (and a society), are headed. 

In fact, it’s no stretch to report that Peppercomm has conducted more primary research since January than we had in the past two decades combined. Our latest report, done in partnership with The Institute for Public Relations was just released today.

Sometimes, though, I stumble across research that either tells me what I already knew, seems beyond obvious or both.

The most recent case in point is a study conducted by WeiWei Zang, associate professor of psychology at the University of California Riverside.

As you’ll see, Zang’s survey of some 800 Americans revealed that “…people who social distance may be more intelligent.” Ya think?

Zang says the findings “…support (the fact that) policymakers will need to consider individuals’ general cognitive abilities when promoting compliance behavior.” Zang added that “…people who comply with social distancing (and wear masks) have better working memory capacity which is an indicator of intelligence.”  I’d add that those of us who do wear masks and do practice social distance don’t have a death wish.

Adding insult to irony, Zang advises that future public campaigns need to be “….succinct, concise and brief.” I’d include the word consistent since some would say we’ve been receiving very mixed messages virtually every day since the pandemic first reared its ugly head.

I’m hoping Dr. Zang follows up this study with another one that asks 800 Americans if partying over a long holiday weekend at, say, Lake of the Ozarks (without wearing masks or social distancing) is a good or bad idea.

With all due respect, I can’t wait to see what those findings reveal.

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Some busy executives sit in their Del Boca Vista time shares and read books on vacation. Others, especially this Summer, pick out a destination closer to home and hole up in a quaint bed & breakfast getaway.  

Not this blogger.

I’m once again headed to the White Mountains of New Hampshire for a complete spiritual, mental and physical immersion in my scansorial avocation.

Scansorial? But, of course.

I chose to highlight scansorial for two reasons:

1. I LOVE discovering new, or arcane words, and see it as a key part of continuous learning (which is, in turn, fundamental to success in life in general and PR in particular).
2. The word fits me like a glove. Or a climbing harness. Or a carabiner. That’s because scansorial is an adjective associated with climbing that was first used in 1804.

Check out the definition and usage below (https://wordsmith.org/words/scansorial.html).

PLEASE be sure to also read the quote of the day at the very end. One wonders if Wole Soyinka had the Trump family in mind when he penned the words?

Last, but not least, please feel free to share examples of how YOU assure continuous learning is part of your daily ritual.

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scansorial

PRONUNCIATION:

(SKAN-sor-ee-uhl)

MEANING:

adjective: Related to climbing.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin scandere (to climb). Ultimately from the Indo-European root skand- (to leap or climb), which also gave us ascend, descend, condescend, transcend, echelon, scale, and scandent. Earliest documented use: 1804.

USAGE:

“After one heavy night’s drinking a student of one of the colleges had returned to find the gates of his college firmly closed against him. Undaunted, he proceeded to climb the towering, wrought-iron obstacle … The ascent went well and he even paused momentarily to celebrate his achievement sitting aside the summit of the college crest with its Latin motto which encouraged such metaphorical, if not literal, scansorial achievements.”
Hadyn J Adams; The Spinner of the Years; AuthorHouse; 2013.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny. -Wole Soyinka, playwright, poet, Nobel laureate (b. 13 Jul 1934)

While many PR firms have been battening down the hatches during these wild times, we have continued to reach out and conduct primary research that will benefit everyone in the field.

In today’s guest blog, Peppercomm’s Matt Purdue shares the findings of qualitative research we’ve just released that shares the thoughts, feelings and actions of CCO’s in the manufacturing sector. 

There are plenty of great take-aways and best practices to be gleaned. So glean away…

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In the John Lennon classic “Nobody Told Me,” the legendary singer/songwriter croons, “Nobody told me there’d be days like these. Strange days indeed.” The great Liverpudlian could have been talking about what’s happening in the U.S. manufacturing sector today, particularly when it comes to communications and employee engagement. 

With the COVID-19 pandemic raging, many manufacturers have been deemed essential businesses. Even in regions that have gone into lockdown, these companies have continued operating their facilities. Across the U.S., millions of frontline production staff have been and are still working under strict health and safety protocols.

Meanwhile, many office staff, engineers and technicians have been forced to work remotely, trying to figure out new ways to collaborate. This complicated new normal has been particularly challenging for communications leaders – but also very rewarding. To take the pulse of how they’re working and reveal best practices, we at Peppercomm recently conducted in-depth interviews with 10 comms executives across a range of manufacturing companies.

Our findings are detailed in our new report, “Engineered Resilience: COVID Communications in the Manufacturing Sector.” As a whole, we found that these communications professionals and their teams are responding to these strange days with determination and innovation. We also shared some of the top insights in a recent article in IndustyWeek. Some highlights of our research:

Think global, act local: Every company we spoke with has formed a pandemic task force with leadership at corporate headquarters. They develop new policies, and then communicate with regional and local teams to execute them as they see fit. Communications leaders have created toolkits to be used at individual locations to produce everything from manager talking points to posted signs – and even translated into multiple languages as needed to ensure 100-percent awareness.

Driving the dialogue: The leaders we interviewed stressed that they have upped their game in terms of gauging employee sentiment and encouraging more two-way communication. They have increased the number of employee surveys and are performing short pulse checks every few weeks. They are also urging employees to provide feedback directly to managers and/or executives, either directly or anonymously.

Supporting the home front: For those employees stuck at home, comms professionals are leading with empathy and understanding. They are constantly communicating ways staff can remain productive and positive despite the challenge of dealing with childcare, elder care and other issues. They also are being very careful in their communications about what the return to office – or “reboarding” – will look like. No one is rushing their office staff to return, with safety as their top priority.

We at Peppercomm have also developed a new Reboarding Playbook to help guide communicators on the path of bringing employees back to their facilities. It’s available at no charge in an effort to share this critical information as widely as possible as the U.S. economy pushes toward recovery.