Jane Genova: Speechwriter - Ghostwriter

"Mad Men" - The anti-zen theme of striving to own

Would bringing in a Zen consultant fix the unhappy strivers at ad agency Sterling Price?  Maybe.  Each in his or her own way (with the exception of Megan and Sally) demands to own whatever.  A fundamental of Zen is non-attachment.

The plot line for Sunday's episode on "Mad Men" was about getting the Jaguar account.  The mad men came up with the theme "Jaguar. At Last.  Something beautiful you can truly own."  In the process, the Jaguar guy wants to own Joan in bed, at least for a night.  Owning no self esteem or a sense of sense, Joan caves. 

Don, of course, assumes he can own Megan, a woman he proposed to when she was unformed and without career goals.  She is having none of that, pursuing her acting career with seriousness.  It could take her to Boston and Don doesn't like that.  So far, though, the couple has been able to make up after friction.

Don also assumes he owns Peggy, another unformed creature.  But she is gaining some sense of self, both as a professional and a person.  She went after and got another offer.  For right now she's leaving the mad men.  But she is taking her working class ethnic Roman Catholic background with her.  Can she escape that?  If Peggy can detach from who she used to be she could become a force in the advertising world.

Buddhism, as well as many other spiritual philosophies, teaches that what we grab on to hold turns into a handful of dust.  Instead we should be open to living in the moment where everything is always changing.

DIY: Be your own speechwriter (Lesson 1)

After too many years of virtual friending, we are hungry to get back together again in-person. 

That's just one of the reasons there are more invitations for us to speak at local forums such as the West Hartford Chamber of Commerce and national ones such as the Detroit Economic Club. Other reasons are that in these volatile times of global economy continually disrupted by technology we want information from others about how they are navigating business - and their lives. So many of us are searching for models on how to take the next steps.

The problem is that contracting with a professional speechwriter like myself can be beyond your budget.  Yet, you don't want to turn down the invitation which could enhance your network, build your media clips, and lead to a career path on the speaking circuit.  The good news is, yes, you can be your own speechwriter. 

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

The first lesson is to know your audience.  Speeches which resonate address, both in information and emotional high points, the exact needs of that group of people who have left their lives for a few hours to listen to you.  Just like we no longer send off generic pitches for assignments or jobs, we can't deliver generic talks. 

How do you research the audience? 

That starts with asking those who invite you for their take on what kind of experience the audience wants on that particular day or evening.  It could be the Christmas holiday season and they want light upbeat fare to reflect on.  Or it could be the beginning of the new year and they want both to be inspired for fresh beginnings and to have concrete guidance on how to stick with resolutions.

Then explore with those hosting the event the pain points for the group as a whole or a number of individual members. This is what marketers do all the time: Dig for where it hurts in order to provide the solution to lessen the pain or even eliminate it. 

Perhaps the association is for lawyers and the legal sector has been in a downsizing mode.  Here you have to diagnose the source of the pain in the room.  Is it still shock that this is occurring or is it the inability to know how to go about career transition?  Here is a speech I gave to the New York State Bar Association during the darkest days of job loss in the legal profession which has been published in VITAL SPEECHES OF THE DAY Download NYSBAtalkinVITALSPEECHESOFDAY. 

Next, ask for the names of the members of the group to contact to find out more about what's on their minds and in their hearts.  In addition, make it your business to attend some of the events to get a feel for both the organizational culture and the range of people who regularly attend.

In these digital times there could also be the organization's website, Facebook brand page, blog, twitter account, and Google+. 

Then, it's time to sit down and sort through the material you have gathered and connect the dots for:

• Message
• Tone
• Kind of content
• Mode of organization
• Length
• Gimmicks
• Audience involvement
• Ending

 Lesson 2 will be coming in this DIY series on how to be your own speechwriter.

Ricochet: NYT Co Michael Zimbalist discusses this, with print books in background

In a Google state of mind, The New York Times Company created Ricochet, for digital marketing.  Essentially, the advertiser, for example SAP, selects articles from company's digital properties which are relevant to its commercial message.  Then the Ricochet Platform generates a unique web address that bundles the articles to the brand's advertising.  That could be for any period of time the advertiser wants. 

The analogy here is the way Google allows advertisers to place their click ads in the sections with specific keywords or phrases.  So if a person is searching for "Ghostwriter, High Tech Experience" and I buy the ad space on that page, the odds are good that the ad will attract the right kind of prospects.

The funny thing about the way the NYT Company is promoting Ricochet in online videos is that spokesperson Michael Zimbalist, Vice President of R&D, talks with a bunch of print books in the background.   Here you can view the interview with Beet.TV.  That could be transmitting exactly the message the NYT Company wants to get out there:  We have our focus in two worlds, digital and print.  Think about it: Baby Boomers, who grew up in print, are still in positions of power and influence.

That Genetic Lottery: Being a winner, for now

Until now - and I'm no spring chicken - I hadn't won anything.  Now, it looks like I might have won a big prize in that genetic lottery.  Here is how I describe and deconstruct that situation for the digital community All The Single Girlfriends.

Memorial Day Weekend: Reflections on becoming a throw-away worker

Memorial Day weekend nudges us to reflect on loss. 

On a Tuesday in November 1987, the head of Public Affairs at General Foods, now Kraft, called me in my office to come to his for a cup of coffee.  Since about 20 other members of the department had also received the same call I knew how the conversation would go.  Funny, but I am still reeling from being declared "redunant" or a throw-away worker. 

As all the experts such as Harvard Business School professor Roseabeth Kanter predicted, I would never make that kind of money again.  Jobs I had applied for over the years offered about a third to a half less.  During boom times, in running my executive communications boutique I did gross more.  But given the lack of corporate-paid benefits, expenses such as investing in faxes (when they still cost $2K) and having to put many miles on the car to pitch to clients, I probably have never caught up.

Losing the big job with the nice title - "Manager of Executive Communications" - is among the traumas which likely never heal.  I have coached enough displaced lawyers to connect the dots on this one.  Everything was so good and then it was gone.  There is a preoccupation with bringing it back, just as it was.  If only we do X or change Y in our professional persona, the past will become the present.  At its core, that magical thinking reflects our disbelief that we did wind up to be a throw-away worker.  When we were receiving all those academic honors at college graduation, no one told us to be prepared for such a deep humiliation.

"Days to Come" - Lillian Hellman's failure no one could explain

The meme of the 21st century is that failure is such a wonderful experience because we can learn so much from it.  But the catch is: Suppose we can't figure out what went wrong.

In the new biography of Lillian Hellman "A Difficult Woman" by Alice Kessler-Harris, we find out that among the big successes like "The Children's Hour" there was the disaster "Days to Come."  No one, including Hellman, could connect the dots on what went so wrong.

That's the frustrating thing also in not getting an assignment we assumed we had in the bag and not understanding why.   In that situation, failure is just plain-vanilla failure, w/o the upbeat spin.

Old Guard v Disrupting Forces: Has professional life become binary?

H-P, which is laying off 27,000 in the next two years, is depicted in THE WALL STREET JOURNAL as the old guard.  That is being put in contrast to the forces of disruption like Apple and Google.  Right now, the jury is out on Facebook.

But has professional life really become binary?  Are we has-beens or employed at one of the web or mobile companies?  Maybe not. 

Just look out there.  There are many professionals of all generations who straddle the two points. 

They include Jack O'Dwyer who had been an early adopter of web communications.  When other public relations outfits were still sending out print newsletters at hefty subscription prices, O'Dwyer had launched Odwyerpr.com at a rate affordable to most of us players.  He's a member of the Silent Generation.  Another middle roader is comeback Henry Blodget.  His creation - Business Insider - links the world of finance and technology.  Not long ago Business Insider got a nice chunk of funding.  Then there's Betty White whose mashup of irony and old-line sincerity has given her a new career path.

It's funny.  The disruptors of 2012 might find themselves the in-betweens of 2013.  Mark Zuckerberg et al. might be struggling to catch up to mobile and better managed companies.

Herman Cain et al.: When money is irrelevant in staying part of the conversation

Despite his new-found wealth, Boy CEO Mark Zuckerberg may become less valued and credible for input into "the conversation."  This is an era in which fresh ideas and the ability to package information and insight into entertainment count much more than money.  Sure, in the capital of wealth Manhattan everyone chases those with money.  But those being chased get attention for only that: money.  Not for what the influence of their views.

Former idea man Herman Cain is struggling, reports POLITICO, to recapture the right kinds of attention.  His magic moments were cut short by allegations of sexual harassment.  What we in the influence business watch is if and how he can pull off a return to being a voice that's heard.  As we know, that's tricky.

Some like Paul Volcker have had a comeback.  His insight about the operations of investment banks has been proven out in the JPMorgan Chase losses.  Others who have fallen off the radar screen aren't so fortunate.  Despite several tries, including aligning with Occupy Wall Street, Eliot Spitzer can't get traction. 

That's a case study for PR: Why do some influentials bounce back and others don't? My hunch is that it has a lot to do with being able to let go of their earlier identity.  Oprah can't stop being Oprah of the talk show space.  Her voice is fading out.

Brand Kennedy: Gossip tabloids didn't disappoint

The tried and true formula for the gossip tabloids like GLOBE is to ferret out and expose the villain.  Thursday is the day GLOBE et al. are at the supermarket.  They didn't disappoint.

GLOBE fingered Mary Kennedy as the miscreant.  In its coverage it explained how she used to beat up her husband Robert and even ran over the family pet.

Burning Bridges: Doesn't matter so much in post-monolith industries

Leave nicely.

You never know who they know.

You could meet up with them again.

No, don't burn bridges.

Despite all that advice from our parents, mentors, bosses, and executive coaches, too many of us did burn those bridges.  Many regret that when new doors became harder to open.

But the reality is that this is an era in which there is so much volatility that the past, including its sins, no longer matters so much, if at all.  Just consider the last interview we were on.  No one wanted to hear about our past.  They wanted to hear about what we accomplished for a client or employer five minutes ago.  Also, just about everyone, not just the bridge burners, is having trouble opening new doors.

Regret is an indulgence few of us can afford.  In essence all burnt bridges mean is that we have to build new ones.