Take It Under Advisement
Am I an Advisor or an Adviser? Well, usually I say consultant. As for the ‘A’ word, well, my clients don’t seem to care, but I prefer Advisor. Just seems to look better on the page.
However, we should be certain. I did a little digging and really like this answer from Bart Eden on Yahoo Answers:
Merriam Webster says the words are synonymous, as does the American Heritage Dictionary, the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Roget’s Thesaurus, and Princeton’s WordNet. [...] The Columbia Guide to Standard American English states that “both spellings are standard”. It does not appear that the agentive ending –er or –or has any semantic meaning in the case of either term.
He also did a Google search and found advisor had about a 4-to-1 majority in mentions over adviser. Thanks Bart.
So there you have it. If you have any doubt at this point, I suggest you take it under advisement.
Could You Care Less?
"Frankly, my dear, I couldn't care less."
Expressing one’s lack of interest in something while adding just a hint of contempt is a skill all should master. That very thing brings us to today’s quick writing/speaking tip.
Whether you’re talking about your lack of interest in Charlie Sheen’s circus act, some wag’s snarky review of your new book or that weird guy with the chalkboard on cable; you say “I couldn’t care less.”
This is the more polite and less pretentious version of “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
Many people mistakenly write or say “I could care less.” That’s not correct.
Saying “I could care less” signifies that you actually have the capacity to care even less, therefore defeating the whole point of your rejoinder.
So remember, when you comment on this blog post, say “I couldn’t care less, Alex.” That is, unless you actually can care a little less, then you say “I could care less, Alex.”
Though if you do I will think you are merely being careless.
Back in a Few
I’m enjoying some quality time with family and friends, but the blog will be back up and running in a couple of days. If you can take a little time to enjoy the relatively relaxed pace of the final week of the year I recommend it. Peace on Earth!
Holiday Spirit Can Come When You Least Expect It…
Just ask this guy. Through an interesting twist of fate, the talented team of T2+Back Alley Films helped a Kansas City homeless man have a very happy holiday. Click here to watch the video.
Season’s Greetings & Best Wishes for the New Year
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Maybe Next Year, Santa
My daughter Caroline loves "Tinta" until the moment of truth. Maybe it was his "eau de Reindeer" cologne.
Listening In the Internet ‘Hallway’
Photo credit: www.trueforcedloneliness.com/
Received some nice amplification of my recent interview with the Spiral16 blog:
You’re going to be hearing more about this as we get further into the social media age, but Alex Greenwood outlines the case for monitoring social media as a means of growing a business or other organization and protecting its interests. Isn’t that what PR is about?
[...]
Alex Greenwood likens social media monitoring to being out in the hallway, say, the Internet, listening to the talk there. How do you know your organization’s name will come up? You don’t until it does, or a reporter calls. But even if your organization doesn’t come up for a while, the names of competitors, or the emergence of new business conditions, will be generating buzz. If you’re listening, you’ll be gaining valuable new business intelligence.
“Companies and organizations that monitor the social media space today – and use the data to address problems and opportunities –are years ahead of the game,” Greenwood believes. “Aha,” he adds, “a competitive edge. Who doesn’t like that?”
Read more at: Listening In the Internet ‘Hallway’ | Flack Me.
When Improvisation Is Not An Option
Teamwork is the only way to go.
There’s a lot of talk of “rugged individualism” these days–of making it on your own or being a “maverick” (or branding yourself as one. See: Palin, Sarah).
I’ve noticed this tendency in myself–I’m not much of a joiner. That isn’t to say I haven’t been that proverbial “good team player;” just that I trust my instincts and find solitary pursuits (writing, running a business, hiking, watching Zombi 2 every October) fulfilling and stimulating.
However, there comes a time when going it alone–or improvising– are not only not the best options–but not options at all.
The legendary first man on the Moon himself, Neil Armstrong spoke about the need for teamwork on his historic mission in a letter to NPR’s Robert Krulwich:
I talked about Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s walk across the lunar surface back in 1969 and wondered, how come they walked such a modest distance? Less than a hundred yards from their lander?
Today Neil Armstrong wrote in to say, here are the reasons:
- It was really, really hot on the moon, 200 degrees Fahrenheit. We needed protection.
- We were wearing new-fangled, water-cooled uniforms and didn’t know how long the coolant would last.
- We didn’t know how far we could go in our space suits.
- NASA wanted us to conduct our experiments in front of a fixed camera.
But basically, he says, we were part of a team and we were team players on a perilous, one-of-a-kind journey. Improvisation was not really an option. (emphasis mine)
Sure, you’re probably not landing on another planet as part of your business, but you are doing things everyday that effect the profitability of your company.
Part of my hesitance to be a team guy probably stems from my early career as a journalist. Reporters aren’t team players–at least they weren’t in the newsrooms I haunted. When I moved from journalism to PR, my early jobs were at companies where I was basically a one-man shop. That changed as my career progressed, but old habits die hard. Even when I had staff and team members to work with I had a tough time letting go of some things. That may also have had something to do with my ego, too.
Though I now run a truly one-man shop, I’ve learned to call upon strategic partners who can do some things better than me. I want my clients to not only get the results of the best job I can do, but I want them to get the best results possible. Period.
Ask yourself: does your learned behavior, ego or even insecurity prevent you from being a team player when it counts? Make sure when you make that one small step for (a) man…well, you get the idea.
