Two interesting encounters

I’ve had two neat experiences in the past few days that I wanted to spend a few minutes on.

First, this past Thursday morning I was joined for coffee by Louise Armstrong (EVP of Palette Public Relations). Louise hadn’t had her morning coffee so we headed to the local Tim Hortons. Louise ordered a coffee and since I no longer drink coffee, I ordered a tea. Just a regular tea. Nothing more, nothing less. This was to be a simple order, until I heard the clerk who rang us up say to his associate, “How do I make the tea?” He was dead serious.

I looked at Louise and she looked back at me as if to say, “Did you just hear what I heard”. Yup – our ears were not playing tricks. Anyway, someone poured my tea and Louise’s coffee (my tea was pretty good) and we chatted for the better part of an hour. Its clear that the PR industry is facing its fair share of challenges – but nevertheless, I very much enjoyed meeting Louise ---

The PR lesson: Do your homework before you hit the stage. The stage, in front of an audience is no place for a rehearsal

Second, I have long been threatening to learn how to solve the Rubik’s cube. You remember the good old Rubik’s cube? I knew how to do it in my teenage years, but have long since forgotten. Friday morning, I get on the subway and find myself sitting next to a kid obliviously playing with his Rubik’s cube. But his was different to mine of old . In the old days, each face had 3 rows of 3 blocks – 9 per side, and since there are 6 sides to a cube, some 54 blocks, representing billions of permutations. This kid’s cube was far more advanced. Each face was 5 by 5, or 25 blocks, therefore the whole cube represented 125 blocks, likely resulting in trillions of permutations. The kid was a genius, as his fingers seamlessly worked the cube, still oblivious to my growing interest and well as growing interest from about 30 other subway riders who were quietly observing this kid work the cube. One stop later, he has completed about a quarter of the puzzle. By the fourth stop, it was 100% complete. By that time, there were like 60 of us glued to this kid and the cube, quietly having solved the puzzle. The next stop he simply got off and that was that. It was surreal! Hey kid --- you were the unheralded here of about 60 adults – and not speaking for them, I can honestly say you made my day.

The PR lesson: Actions speak louder than words.