Are you an executive in a corner office? Check out Fay Vincent’s 10 tips for surviving and thriving in it. Photo by Md Ishak Rahman on Unsplash.
Fay Vincent ran Columbia Pictures. He was an EVP at Coca-Cola and the eighth commissioner of Major League Baseball.
In other words, the man has been in more corner offices than most of us will ever see from the parking lot.
Vincent passed away February 2025 at the age of 86.
When he sat down years ago to write and publish 10 things he wished someone had told him at 40, before he started plowing those executive fields, it got my attention.
But First… One More WNBA Comment
In this blog post, I pointed out how brilliant the WNBA has been in raising massive awareness for its league — even though the news wasn’t all positive.
Someone on LinkedIn saw this post and commented: “Attention without narrative control isn’t PR value, it’s PR debt. Sponsors remember the conflict headlines long after casual fans forget the highlights.”
My response: “Thanks for the savvy comment. If judged only on raising awareness of the league, they’ve knocked it out of the park (even though it’s via negative publicity). Proof: Last Sunday’s Fever game was the highest-rated league game ever. But YES — there’s a big-time threat of long-term consequences with their sponsors due to all this turmoil they’ve been bathing in.”
Some 3.3 million viewers tuned in to the Indiana Fever at Chicago Sky game.
It was the highest-rated game since the WNBA’s 1997 inaugural weekend.
The WNBA has garnered massive news coverage, albeit for its continual swirl of conflict.
Avoiding Executive Blunders
The WNBA has been swimming in blunders of late. For example, Indiana Fever’s head coach’s bad mood during a press conference (see #3 below and this blog post) was a classic leadership blunder.
Since I’ve spent nearly 40 years watching leaders mess up (most recently the WNBA) — whether it be publicly, on the record, or in front of a microphone that was “definitely off” — I thought I’d add a little PR seasoning of my own to Vincent’s list:
- Keep your speculation to yourself. What feels like harmless venting to you becomes a rumor with your name attached by lunchtime. New leaders confide too much, too soon, to too many people. Don’t.
- Manage down, not just up. Reputations aren’t built in the boardroom — they’re built at the elevator, the mailroom and the coffee station. Be decent to the assistant. Everyone’s watching, always.
- The clock never stops. Leadership doesn’t clock out. Your bad mood in a hallway becomes the story of the week. Assume every sigh is being read like tea leaves.
- Go find out what people are actually saying. Eat in the cafeteria. Loiter by the coffee. If someone wants to talk, let them. If someone criticizes you, resist the urge to get defensive — respond like you mean it.
- Your jokes are riskier than you think. The line between “witty” and “wildly misjudged” is thinner than most executives believe. If you’re still tempted to test material on the team, test it on your spouse first. Never joke about anything serious — ever.
- Don’t lose the thread. Say the important thing. Then say it again. And again. Clarity isn’t repetitive — it’s leadership.
- Complain less, explain less. Nobody’s listening to your excuses about the weather, your predecessor or the competition. Take the hit, look forward, move on.
- Trust the experts you hired. Second-guessing your own advisers defeats the purpose of hiring them. There’s no such thing as perfect data — make the call and move.
- Watch your averages. A river with an average depth of six inches can still drown you. “Average” is a comfort blanket, not a strategy. Plan for the worst case, because it shows up more often than you’d like.
- Never write, say or joke anything you wouldn’t want on a front page. Email is forever. The mic is never really off. And “no comment” is a perfectly legitimate answer — it’s the lie that gets you, not the silence.
If Vincent boiled all ten down to one line, it’d be this: tell the truth, always, but you don’t owe an answer to every question that gets thrown at you.
That’s not just good executive advice. It’s Media Relations 101. I’ve watched leaders survive genuine crises with nothing but honesty and a little humility — and I’ve watched leaders detonate their own careers over a “harmless” joke or an email they thought would disappear.
Spoiler: it never disappears.
The 3 Big Takeaways
- Reputation is built at the coffee station, not the boardroom — act accordingly everywhere, always.
- Silence is a legitimate answer. A lie never is.
- If you wouldn’t want it on a front page, don’t say it, write it or joke about it.
What tips do you have for new executives? Do share!
Stay authentic — and never, ever answer a hypothetical!
Jeffery E. Pizzino, APR (seen here in a vintage photo circa 1983 serendipitously doing a Clash impersonation in a since-forgotten location) is a spin-free public relations pro who is passionate about telling the why of your story with clarity, impact and authenticity. He began his PR career in 1987 at Ketchum Public Relations in New York City but has spent the majority of his career as a solopreneur. He’s the Chief Authentic Officer of the Johnson City, TN-based public relations firm, AuthenticityPR. He also functions as the fractional CCO for his clients.
Jeff has an MBA in Management from Western International University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications — with an emphasis in PR — from Brigham Young University (rise and shout!). He’s also accredited in public relations (APR) and an adjunct media and communication faculty at East Tennessee State University. This Milwaukee, Wisconsin native holds an Italian citizenship and plans to live and work there someday. Jeff and his storyteller wife Leticia have four children and four grandchildren. In his extremely limited nonwork hours, he studies Italiano, practices guitar, writes songs, gardens, works out, disc golfs, reads, listens to New Wave music, serves as an assistant communication director in his church, watches BYU football, enjoys watching the original Mission Impossible TV series, and plays board games (mostly Dominion and Seven Wonders). No, this guy’s never bored and looking for something to do. Email Jeff.
