15 Reasons CEOs, Executives & Others Can Be Thankful This Thanksgiving
11.16.2025 – I love the end-of-the-year holiday season. And isn’t it cool it begins with the opportunity to be thankful? As I was pondering what business owners and executives have to be (or can be) thankful for, I came up with this list of 15 reasons (many in this list apply to everyone):
A Remarkable Customer Experience: This Honda Dealer’s Service Dept. Was Driven to Find the Solution
11.19.2025 – I’m not a big fan of car dealerships. I try to avoid them whenever possible, for two reasons. First, sales people at dealerships are like vultures perched on top of telephone poles waiting to swoop down on any prey in sight. They’re so eager to sell you a new car, which some say depreciates about 10% the moment you drive it off the lot. And 60% after five years. All while a car salesperson pockets 20-30% commission. Interesting business model, eh? Well, it is what it is.
What 6 Temporary Roadside Breakdowns in 3 Weeks Taught Me About Honda’s Customer Service
11.13.2025 – Early morning, October 24th. I’m white-knuckling it from Cincinnati to Chicago with an 11:30 a.m. business meeting on the books. Everything’s going according to plan until 11:10 a.m., when I pull into a St. Charles gas station about 10 minutes from my destination. I return to my car. Turn the key. Dead silence.
Hard for a CEO to Lead an Organization Without the Soft Skill of Communication
11.05.2025 – To succeed in leading a business, soft skills matter. A LOT. Especially the soft skill of being an effective communicator. You can have a Harvard MBA, a Wharton pedigree, technical chops that would make an engineer weep with envy — but if you can’t communicate with clarity, impact and authenticity, you’re going to struggle as a CEO.
5 Creepily Brilliant Halloween PR Lessons
10.30.2025 – Elphaba and Glinda from Wicked. Superman. The Addams Family. HUNTR/X from KPop Demon Hunters. Lilo & Stitch. Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo. According to a Sept. 30 Good Housekeeping magazine story, “We’re Calling It: These 10 Halloween Costumes Will Be Everywhere in 2025,” those will be among the Halloween costumes this year.
Despite this newsletter’s commitment to “being your authentic self,” we’re going to step into the make-believe world in this issue and take a look at five creepily brilliant public relations lessons Halloween teaches us.
The Sound (and Price) of PR Silence
10.22.2025 – “Why do we need to invest in public relations?” a tech company asked me recently. Well, you DON’T need to. You can let your competition invest in PR. And let them get ALL the attention.
The Day AI Gave My Client Stupid PR Advice
10.15.2025 – One day (it could have been a month ago, it could have been years ago — I’m not telling) the COO of one of my clients asked AI a question: “Should we be putting legal symbols like ® and ™ and © symbols in our press releases?” The COO wanted to protect the company’s trademarks. The CEO echoed the concern. And to be fair, they had a point — trademark law is serious business.
Magazine Cover Story of Your CEO? Think Again…
10.08.2025 – Landing a magazine cover story for your CEO sounds awesome, right?
Well, how about on TWO magazines?
And how about feature stories in three other publications? And then you’re told all these articles would appear within seven days and you’d have about 100,000 views. Whew. Why wouldn’t you jump at this opportunity? Because like the saying goes, “If it sounds too good to be true…”