So this morning I was working on a blog item that I never did post about how frustrating it is to work with certain PR people, especially when a lot of them are probably making a lot more than I am but working at about a first-grade level. It came off rather shrill so I decided to rework it before posting later.
In the meantime, I had a question related to Boeing. So who did I call? The Spirit PR person. Doh!
What got me thinking about PR is the apparent lack of PR help the big three auto executives got on their recent trip to Washington. True public relations experts step in with guidance before there’s a PR nightmare on their hands.
Perhaps someone should have thought ahead of time that maybe flying in on private jets to ask for financial assistance wasn’t the smartest move. Or perhaps if someone had prepared the execs with an intelligent justification for why they need the planes, the ensuing PR disaster could have been averted.
I was having this discussion with my husband last night, and he said, “What’s their justification? They have to run their companies into the ground? They can’t spend another minute in the air because they’ve got more money to lose?”
He’s probably right. In some cases, no amount of PR helps. Especially when reporters don’t call the right company in the first place.
You can sign up right now, if you’re interested, to purchase the assets of troubled banks.
OK, it’s not that easy, but the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is trying to get more participation on its list of bidders of troubled banks by allowing investors without a bank charter to play.
The FDIC’s call for bidders follows a move by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the regulator of nationally chartered banks, to develop an “off the shelf” bank charter, for similar purposes.
Looks like the regulators are gearing up for more bank failures.
In a year marked by businesses running aground, and by CEOs who put cashing out above company success, there’s a book worth reading that reinforces some basic tenets of business success that have become obscured in the drive for profit.
Chester Cadieux, the founder of QuikTrip, has penned “From Lucky to Smart: Leadership Lessons from QuikTrip,” a book explaining the business philosophy of the Midwest’s 800-pound convenience store gorilla.
It depends on the perspective, but I don’t find anything revolutionary in Cadieux’ book. He touts the virtues of hiring good people, giving them the tools and training to succeed and remaining open to change.
But in an era of “anything that maximizes profits,” it’s a good reminder that some old-fashioned business values still work pretty well.
The book is available at most local QuikTrip locations.