Tesar-Reynes

A few months ago, I was fortunate enough to sit down and share a couple of beers with a real story teller. He was the kind that keeps me wide awake and ready to order him another round.

He was talking about his old boss and said, “He looked like Gregory Peck after the whale had pulled him under a few times.” Later he talked about a supplier who reminded him of “that gnome in the Middle Earth who was trying to steal the ring.”

People who make me use my imagination and memory really communicate with me because I am forced to do some of the work. I am truly interacting with the speaker. Unless I am forced to contribute, sometimes I can just sit there like wallpaper, which …

With 2010 around the corner, I thought it was a good time to draft resolutions for the New Year. Judging by how I did in 2009, more due diligence will have to be played on my part. Of the 10 resolutions I set in December of 2008, less than half of them were accomplished.

I took a beach vacation to Santa Barbara (which is gorgeous by the way), figured out Twitter, and built a network on LinkedIn. I did a halfway decent job of keeping a work schedule and working out at the gym. But I failed …

We are still in a period where there is an amazing amount of transition. The market is changing as is the consumer. Clients large and small are continuing to test what works and what doesn’t. They thirst for insight.

As this trail continues, once-trusted suppliers fall by the wayside if they do not contribute to the understanding of the future. This means that agencies have to be truly committed to helping their clients through this tough period. It is one of the few times in a client-agency relationship where firms a have a chance to stand out to the client’s corner office and really make a difference.

In some regards, this is not a new investment or a new initiative, but rather a re-commitment to reading the signs that are out there everyday. The winner is the resource that observes, assimilates …

Last week, my partner Bob and I flew into New York to meet face-to-face with a company that had really impressed us. We wanted introduce them to some of our clients and were driven to their headquarters to see a multi-media presentation on their capabilities.

Here we were in their headquarters and the presentation got wonky and did not execute. Instead of ordering in the techs or crying “poor me,” the presenter had an alternative backup presentation on a thumb drive that he plugged in and it went without a hitch.

Yesterday I was in another presentation where the presenter came over the day before and ran it through on his PC. The next day, the PC conked out and he had a backup on a thumb drive. He tried …

During a whirlwind first few weeks at my new job, I’ve kept one adage in my mind to stay on an even-keel:

It’s not a sprint; it’s a marathon.

On some days, I’ve felt like a chicken with my head cut off. So much information is stored on my company’s shared drive. We have clients in industries I’ve never heard of. Thankfully, my superiors have given me time to learn about the work. At this point, I certainly have a decent understanding and thorough appreciation for the businesses and diverse industries my clients endeavor at.

Looking back on the past month, I realize now that if I had organized my first few weeks with some objectives in mind, I might have had an easier time compartmentalizing all the information I …