I like it behind the scenes

Although this post took a while to write after my vacation, I had elements of it swimming in my head long before I decided to blog. It goes back to a conversation I had with a former colleague, Joe Chernov, when I was still at B&O. Acting as a good agency VP, I asked him if he would be looking for an agency in his new role. He mentioned that if he was going to hire an agency, he would call Shift because his friend, Todd Defren, works there. Then he added, "but Todd would be too busy Tweeting to work on my account." I started thinking about B&O's lack of visibility in the world of social media. No one there was as visible as Todd, not even close. How "social" does an agency/PR professional need to be to demonstrate that they get it? Are case studies enough or do they need to have direct experience for themselves? B&O does fantastic social media work for Oracle.

As you may have noticed in my previous posts, I'm not a big fan of the spotlight. I generally don't like to be the center of attention. I sang solos and had parts in the high school plays, but it made me a little nervous. I was student director of the musical senior year and was devastated not to have a "real part." I figured I had earned it by that point. To my surprise, that experience taught me that I prefer to help the star shine than to be the star, and I’m really good at it. My sister is an actress and I am happy to let her have the stage. I had a similar experience in college. I anchored the campus TV news, but got really nervous before each newscast. It took a while but I learned that I loved producing the news; making sure all the elements came together; watching as each segment hit its time mark.

My PR career has allowed me to do the same thing. I get to help people and businesses tell their stories and make them look good. I consider myself a broker, linking the right stories with the right outlets, knowing what elements are needed to succeed. My Corp Comm job at Forrester continued the trend. I developed a Speakers Bureau to make better connections with event management companies to develop compelling outlets for Forrester analysts, and deliver a solid product to the audience. It's always been about building relationships and making the connections. I credit Navi Radjou for my understanding of what it means to be a Broker. I helped promote his concept of Innovation Networks, in which the Broker plays a key role in transforming inventions into innovations.

I knew in high school and college that some of the applause was for me; the star/anchor received the accolades in part because of what I did. Years later, the fantastic media hit/speaking engagement could not have happened if someone like me didn't put the pieces together. So, does someone who is comfortable standing in the shadows allowing other people shine, need to come out into the light? I've had a lot of conversations over the last few months with people across the industry about this topic. The answer seems to be yes. But I don't need to be the spokesperson, I want to make them look good. Is that OK?