Do you remember the 70′s cigarette commercial with the jingle “You’ve come a long way, baby?”  It was a lame attempt to market tobacco to modern independent women.   Didn’t think much of the slogan then, but the jingle lived on long after the marketing campaign.

I was reminded of the catchy phrase when I saw the headlines about all the women around the country who won elections on Tuesday.  The one standout for me was Meg Whitman.  Politics aside, it was amazing that she spent close to $100 million bucks of her own money during the campaign.  Now that’s coming a long way baby!!!  Not sure it’s all that good for the democratic process.  But I do think it’s great that a woman was a tremendous corporate success and has the resources to go for something else she believes in. Regardless what the people of California decide, Meg Whitman deserves credit for smashing another glass ceiling!

I was very saddened to read the Helen Thomas story yesterday.  After a groundbreaking, glass ceiling shattering, brilliant career she left the job she loved because she said some really dumb and offensive statements which were captured on camera.  She is like the superstar baseball player who stays too long and leaves the game a shadow of his peak years.  We had a little taste of that this year with Ken Griffey, Jr. who abruptly left the Mariners because, his public statement says, he didn’t want to be distraction for the team.  Unfortunately he was having a lousy year and no true Mariner fan wanted to see him leave the way he did.

The same is true for Helen Thomas.  I met her in the mid-1990′s when she was covering the Clinton administration.  She was a great guest on our morning news show when we broadcast from the White House lawn. I had the pleasure of talking with her before and after her interview.  She was knowledgeable, feisty, and never afraid to ask the tough questions.  She was a trailblazer who made it possible for many more women journalists to move beyond covering the society pages.  But maybe she stayed just a little too long.

How do we know when it’s time to hang ‘em up?  It may be a bit easier for athletes to know, because the body often gives out before the heart gives up.  For the rest of us, I don’t know.  Hopefully we’ll learn something from Helen Thomas, not the least of which is not to say dumb and offensive things in public!

You may recall hearing about the catch phrase “duck, cover, and hold!”  It was a strategy taught to millions of school children in the 1950′s to protect themselves in the event of a nuclear attack.  Some of you may be old enough to remember the drills, the rest of you may have seen it in documentaries about the Cold War.  Looking back, it seems like a totally ridiculous idea, but it seemed to give a fearful public something to do and distract them from asking tough questions about the threat of nuclear war.

I’m reminded of that phrase as I watch the current sex abuse scandal that is enveloping the Vatican and the rest of the Catholic Church.  And just as idiotic as it was in the 1950′s, “duck, cover, and hold!” is not going to work in this instance.  There is no way of stopping the momentum that abuse victims have worldwide.  The only thing that works in a crisis is truth and transparency, and the sooner the better.

And the response has to have more substance and authenticity than the formulaic public apologies we are now seeing from celebrities and public figures like Tiger Woods.  Get real people…and Your Holiness!

Yes, it’s difficult to come clean, admit wrongdoing and shine a light on the ugliness, but attacking the media or the advocates of the victims only exacerbates the problem, it’s throwing gasoline on the fire!

How many institutions and individuals insist on stonewalling or lashing out when hit by a crisis?  How many leaders will continue to insist they are above scrutiny or the law?

Given Pope Benedict’s history and personality, it’s not likely he’s going to bend on this.  I hope I’m wrong.  However, watching what he and his defenders are doing is a great example of how NOT to handle a crisis!

That is the question…and I get it all the time.  I was watching Nancy Pelosi last night on the PBS News Hour and she was talking about the passage of the historic health care bill that was signed into law earlier this week. Putting politics of the issues aside, I was struck by Pelosi’s ability to stay on message regardless of the many times Jim Lehrer, the interviewer, wanted her to bash her Republican colleagues.

If I were coaching Ms. Pelosi, I would give her kudo’s for bridging back to her main points and being very disciplined and not rising to the bait by revealing any harsh feelings she may have about the grueling process she had just witnessed.  However, there’s one behavior that distracts from Ms. Pelosi’s message and that’s the constant smile that she wears in all of her media interviews.  Sometimes it looks like her face has been cast in plaster and the smile sits there without regard to any human emotion.

For people who are regularly in the media spotlight and talking about controversial issues, instead of a constant smile, I suggest they create a warm and friendly demeanor.  Smiling all the time is not natural.  But if you can think “warmth and friendliness” it looks more authentic to the viewing and listening audience.  Smile if it comes naturally and the rest of the time, be yourself and think “warm and friendly!”

“Your little book was a big hit in my course” says Kathy Berggren, who teaches communications at Cornell University. Using my framework for getting to the “meat of the matter” Kathy’s students were able to experiment with creating effective statements about themselves which they can use in a variety of ways including looking for  work.  They also suggested that I include more details about using the elevator speech for personal branding, job searching, and career transitions.  Great feedback and I am working on the second edition of the book right now and was planning a chapter on how to craft an elevator speech for job hunting!  Thanks to Kathy and her students!  And they will continue to use my little book at Cornell University! Yowser! That’s way cool!

Selling a house and moving is metaphor for business!

My husband and I decided to downsize, adjusting to the new realities of our lifestyle and our life stage!  Conventional wisdom indicated this might not be the best time to put a house on the market. However we were intent on reducing our footprint and our overhead.

In the process, I found it’s very similar to what most of us have been experiencing in business.  The world has changed, our clients and customers have changed, and it’s critical for us to adjust to the new realities of the marketplace.

The first challenge was to get the house ready. We spent a month clearing out the clutter, finishing small improvement projects, painting, and working with a professional stager to get the house ready for prime time!  What a job!!!  We’ve done this before, but last time we were 15 years younger and in a much smaller home!

We recycled, donated, Craig’s Listed, and dumped as much as we could and fourteen truck loads later, we had a place fit for an HGTV “Designed to Sell” episode!

So what needs to be cleared out, refreshed, and revamped in your business? What are you doing to meet and exceed the new needs of your clients and prospects? And if you’re not sure what to do, it’s time to get some help.

Ask your current clients, take them to lunch of coffee and find out how you can add value to their current situation. Consult with experts who can help you define the issues and provide strategic advice on your options.  There’s a lot of heavy lifting involved, but it is worth the effort.

All our hard work paid off. We sold the house quickly and we’re getting ready to move…another opportunity to pare down, streamline, and get rid of the clutter!

Doing the same in business can really get things moving again!

Today Tiger Woods came out! He’s not perfect after all. Of course we all knew that. We have been making sport of trying to prove it every since he became the best at what he does.

Does he owe us every sordid detail of his private life? No! Does he owe us anything at all? No! As a professional athlete we expect him to do his best on the golf course. That’s it!

The biggest mistake he made is how he handled the media circus. If he had said initially what he said today, that might have ended sooner.

I say let him be and do what he needs to do to repair his relationships in private. And for the rest of us I say…”let he/she who is without sin…! You know the rest!

Today we learned through the Seattle Times that the billboards fished out of Elliott Bay last summer were part of an elaborate hoax brought to us by the P.R. team for Ivar’s restaurants. It left me a little disappointed and then I got steamed!

If you are going to have a little fun at the public’s expense, why not own up to it soon afterwards? Why wait 3 months and be forced into revealing the hoax by the media?

Oh, I see. They waited because the hoax was effective. Their sales of clam chowder increased a good deal over those 90+ days

They went on to say that the hoax was right in line with Ivar’s penchant for public pranks. I’m old enough to remember Ivar and I’m not so sure. He never struck me as being quite so cynical.

So another stunt that demonstrates contempt for public sensibilities. Not a good blow for the public relations industry or Ivar’s Restaurants. I wonder if Ivar would “keep clam” about this?

Does anyone really listen to these automated phone calls?  As soon as I hear that it’s a recorded call I hang up.  Now I still don’t have caller ID, so maybe I’m the only one on the planet who picks up on a robo-call.  But every time I mention to other folks, they also share how annoyed they become when they hear  these canned mass recordings.

Why would political candidates or marketers spend their cash on this nonsense.  Seems to me it just makes people angry and less inclined to vote for them or buy their product.

If you are someone who likes robo-calls,  I’d like to hear from you and understand why?

The world woke up to a stunning announcement today. President Barak Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.  Regardless of whether or not you agree about the choice, there is no question that one person has changed the global conversation.  In a relatively short period of time he has changed world opinion, changed U.S. foreign policy direction, and managed to put the U.S. back on the main stage of world affairs.  He did it primarily through his considerable communication skills.  That is the power of words, of passion, and of commitment.

Each one of us in our own way has that same ability to be effective and have an impact with our communications.  What are you choosing to say each day?