Cochran receives an immunity idol from Survivor: Caramoan host Jeff Probst. Photo: Screen Grab/CBS © 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

By Bill Greenwood

The most interesting part of any season of Survivor, especially from a PR perspective, is the final tribal council. After spending 39 days scrapping, backstabbing, and betraying their fellow competitors, the final three (or, in some cases, two) must convince a jury of those same competitors to give them $1 million. There’s usually a lot of bitterness (see Susan Hawk’s infamous “Snake vs. Rat” speech from season 1) and always more than a few bruised egos that need to be massaged. In short, it’s a PR nightmare for the finalists, which is why it’s always so refreshing to see someone traverse the minefield with aplomb and come out on top.

SPOILER ALERT

This year’s winner, 26-year-old Harvard law student John Cochran, did exactly that during Sunday night’s season finale, answering each question thrown his way calmly and thoughtfully, ending up with a unanimous vote in his favor. But he didn’t just turn it on for the final tribal council. In fact, the whole season was filled with teachable moments for PR professionals, both of the do and don’t variety.

1.) Branding, Branding, Branding!

For those who watched the show, you’d be forgiven for not recognizing Cochran’s full name in the previous paragraph. That’s because as soon as he stepped on the beach during his first season, he insisted on being called by his last name only. A Survivor superfan for the show’s entire 13-year run, he had noticed that the show’s host, Jeff Probst, typically calls his favorite players exclusively by their last name and wanted to be in the club. The name stuck, and Cochran became one of the most popular players in the show’s history. When the cast announcements were made for this year’s “Fans vs. Favorites” season, even some of the biggest Survivor buffs probably needed to do a bit of Googling to remember who Brenda or Erik were, but everyone knew who Cochran was immediately. It’s the goal of every PR pro to create an instantly recognizable brand, and this case shows that simply picking a name and sticking with it is half the battle.

2.) Timing Is Everything

As Cochran stated over and over during the final tribal council, the key to his game was timing. Whenever he got an inkling that another player, even those in his alliance, was planning to vote him out, he jumped one step ahead and did it to them first. In the PR world, this manifests itself in the pitching process. Some story ideas have an expiration date, and to pitch them past that date is an exercise in futility. Case in point, if you’re reading this now, it’s because I stayed up until 2 a.m. Sunday night getting it finished in time for Monday morning. Watercooler topics have a very short shelf life, and it’s unlikely that anyone will be talking about Survivor later in the week. So while I’ll have bags under my eyes, it’ll be worth it.

3.) Don’t Be Pushy

Following on the previous pitching advice, Cochran’s fellow contestant Dawn, the season’s runner-up, gave us a crash course on what not to do when trying to sell a story. Throughout the finale episode, Dawn, who had been in an alliance with Cochran since the beginning of the season, continually pressured him to reinforce his commitment to her both before and after he won immunity. It got so bad that he considered voting her out, though he ultimately did bring her along to the final three. In the same vein, many PR people are often overly aggressive with reporters, in many cases turning sure-fire coverage into dust. So it’s important to know your limits with those you’re pitching. Sometimes, it’s better to just let go and move on rather than endangering your reputation by beating a dead horse.

4.) Acknowledge Your Weaknesses and Play to Your Strengths

Cochran is, by his own estimation, a pretty scrawny guy. Yet, he was able to win four individual challenges against a variety of far more athletic competitors. How did he do it? First, he went all-in on the challenges that didn’t require brute force to win, such as a speed-eating competition and a card-stacking challenge that earned him an advantage in the final battle for immunity. And therein lies the rub. Cochran’s other two wins were largely the result of his ability to obtain tactical advantages that compensated for his physical weaknesses. For example, in the final immunity challenge, the contestants had to race up a series of stairs to reach three bags of puzzle pieces, untie a series of knots to free them, then race back to the starting line and use them to solve a puzzle. Because of his previous win, Cochran’s bags were simply waiting for him, allowing him to skip untying the knots and get to the puzzle portion of the competition faster. It’s an illustration of the old saying “know thyself,” and those in the PR business would do well to remember it. Keep tracks of your assets and know your liabilities, then use your strengths in creative ways to neutralize your weaknesses. It’s how small agencies become big and big agencies get even bigger.

5.) Choose Your Words Carefully

In one of the best answers I’ve ever seen someone give at the final tribal council, Cochran managed to turn a seemingly no-win question from jury member Malcolm into a resounding victory. Admitting to being a bit of a narcissist, Malcolm asked what quality Cochran possessed that he didn’t that allowed him to make it to the final three. Cochran’s answer, that his heightened sense of insecurity helped him to pick up on threats more easily than the stronger and more confident Malcolm, both flattered the questioner and made a strong case for Cochran’s own strategic mastery. The PR business, as we all know, is heavily dependent on choosing exactly the right words, and this answer is a textbook example of how to do that correctly. It takes into account the recipient’s motivations and delivers a message that speaks to them personally, then weaves that direct address seamlessly into a more general pitch. It’s the line we try to walk every time we reach out to a reporter, so keep this in mind for motivation the next time you’re out there on the tightrope.

Every month, we at Jaybird promote the NY Tech Meetup’s (NYTM) tech demo nights at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. To support this, we prepare a one-sheet for our press guests with contact information for every demoing company along with a one-sentence description describing their product. The companies provide their own descriptions for this sheet, and most of them do an excellent job. However, some people find it very challenging to distill their startup into one sentence, and so we reached out to several journalists who have attended past NYTMs to get their tips on how to craft a concise company description that catches the eye and scores some coverage.

1.) What do you provide and who do you serve?

First of all, make sure you identify exactly what you do and whom you do it for. According to Sean Captain of TechNewsDaily, the most important question he asks when reading a company description is “is it relevant or not?” In other words, does it fall under the areas he covers. If the answer to this question isn’t readily apparent, journalists are likely to skip to the next company on the list, leaving you in the lurch. So, make sure you clearly identify your industry vertical and the audience you serve. Here’s an example from our own business: Jaybird Communications is a PR company that works primarily with music and technology startups.

2.) Use proper grammar and expressive but concise language.

Make sure you write in the active voice, eliminate jargon, and avoid unnecessary adjectives. When you prepare communications, you always need to think of your audience first, and here your audience is the Fourth Estate. Journalists work with words every minute of the day, and they appreciate it when companies take the time to craft a well-worded description. Make sure there is no clutter and that you are expressing your ideas in a clear, concise way. In addition, put some real thought into your verb choices. One journalist said he was inspired to write about one company because of its use of the verb “democratize” in its company description. It’s expressive, concrete, and novel, giving readers a strong idea of what the company does without becoming unwieldy. However, keep the language simple – as David Brancaccio of Marketplace Tech Report says, this is not a proposal for the United Nations.

3.) Tell journalists how to describe your company.

When writing about your company, journalists need an easy way to describe you. That’s where your description comes in. Are you a company? A firm? A collective? Let them know! Journalists are under tight deadlines and need to get stories out as fast as possible. They’re also very concerned with accuracy, and the combination means they are likely to more or less cut and paste your one-sentence description into their article when explaining what you do. However, they’re also under tight space constraints, so if you throw in too much information, they’re likely to cut it down to fit or rewrite your description entirely. This is bad for companies for two reasons. One, it’s more work for the journalist, which lowers your chances of getting covered. Two, you may not like what they come up with. So think Twitter-post length.

4.) Be ready to cut your description down to a ‘parenthetical.’

Also, be prepared to hone your single-sentence description down to a “parenthetical.” For a humorous example: Zucchini, a summer vegetable. You might even be so bold as to throw in “popular” before “summer,” but you’d need to back that up with statistics later in the press materials.

A succinct description of your company will not only improve your press coverage, but will also show potential customers and investors that you have a clear understanding of your business, its strengths, and where it fits into the larger picture. According to Captain, it’s good to imagine that you’re explaining your business to someone at a costume party. Don’t worry about putting every bell and whistle into your basic description, as that will simply bore them to death. However, if you craft it well, people will want to find out more about your company, and that’s the job of your website and other communications materials. More on that in a future post!

I caught up on a big pile of magazine reading while I was traveling to and from NARM’s Music Biz 2012 event.  A few different stories caught my eye in particular, and I think they all highlight the dangers of communication disconnects: between a company’s stated values and the actions it rewards, and also between what a business thinks a customer wants and what they actually do. As a result, bad actors get the proverbial carrot, and potential customers get the stick.

The carrot is on the left

Jack and Suzy Welch’s column in the April 30 issue of Fortune, “Goldman, Wall Street, and the Culture-Killing Lesson of Being Ignored,” focused on what they thought was missed in the Greg Smith saga: the importance of “soft culture.” As they put it, “Creating a healthy, high-integrity organization is not all puppies and rainbows…  it’s about behavior and consequences.” Companies belabor their mission statements, goals, and values, but the real question is whether they will actually put those values into action. As the Welches note, for employees that deliver high on numbers but low on stated company values, “Ninety percent of the time, managers give these people a big fat pass…Actually [what they] are doing is sending a big fat message to every other employee: Our company’s values are a joke.”

I had this in mind as I turned to Brent Schlender’s recollections of 25 years of conversations with Steve Jobs in the May issue of Fast Company. Jobs is quoted as saying: “Incentive structures work…  So you have to be very careful of what you incent people to do, because various incentive structures create all sorts of consequences you can’t anticipate.” Taken together, I think the message here is, if employees’ behavior is not aligning with stated values and objectives, question first how and why the organization rewards such behavior. The well-crafted mission statement is no match for a fat bonus.

In these two instances, the danger is that a company gives a “carrot” for the wrong behaviors, disincentivising people from taking the right ones. But turning to look at an example of a customer communication disconnect, you can also see the mismatch when a business unintentionally punishes a customer by giving them what they think is a carrot – but is the wrong reward.

The May issue of The Harvard Business Review has a great chart illustrating “What Consumers Really Want” from businesses’ social media connections. Businesses think customers join them on social media platforms to learn about new products, get information, and submit their opinions. But it turns out customers’ primary reasons are transactional: first, they want discounts, and second, they want to purchase. These were ranked dead last as business’ perceived reasons why consumers follow them via social sites.

It does not take a fancy marketing test plan to get some sort of compass on how customers work. I once advised a friend with a new local business idea to take a Saturday and poll people in New York’s Union Square to see if there was real demand. Chris Sacca of Lowercase Capital in the May issue of Wired’s “How to Spot the Future” offers a simple way to address some of the customer disconnect: watch the behavior of actual people. “I walk around Best Buy every three to four weeks and watch people. When you do this, you see how normal people make product decisions, what their price breaking points might be. In a world of people who’ve got stock options, there isn’t a difference between an $80 thing and a $110 thing, but for real people working hourly wages, there is a huge difference.”

Organizations don’t set out to reward bad employees and punish their customers, but without careful listening and honest observation, that’s exactly what can happen. Communication is about taking in information as well as putting it out – if you’re not getting the results you expect from your staff or your customers, it may well be time to reevaluate exactly what behavior you’re really promoting.

Comic from xkcd.com

By Bill Greenwood

Before I came into the PR world, I worked in the journalism industry for more than five years. I started off as an editor at my college newspaper, became a staff writer at a local newspaper after graduation, and ended up as an assistant editor at an information-technology trade magazine before heading to grad school and winding up here at Jaybird Communications. When it came time to write my first press release, I was excited to try out a new style of writing that didn’t have quite as many rules as what I had done previously. Of course, I came to discover that PR writing doesn’t necessarily have fewer rules, just different ones. But I also learned that applying some of those old journalism standards could actually improve the quality of my releases considerably. So, here are some simple tips from the journalism world that you can use to improve your own writing.

Strive for “Objective” Reasoning

No press release is objective, nor should it be. But it is important to avoid insulting your audience’s intelligence, and that’s where a bit of journalistic restraint can come in handy. When writing a news story, the goal is to put forth the facts, organized so that the most important are at the top, and let them speak for themselves. Similarly, when writing a press release, try to let your structure do the talking as much as possible. Put the most interesting information at the top and let the facts sell it to your audience.

As a journalist receiving press releases, nothing turned me off faster than hyperbolic adjectives that were backed up with little to no evidence. Touting “the world’s most delicious cup of coffee”? My first response would be, “Doubtful.” But did it win a prestigious taste test? Is it brewed using an original Colombian recipe? Tell me that, and I’ll be much more likely to believe and write about you. And as a bonus, your writing will come across as much more genuine due to the “objective” nature of your argument. No journalist will believe your news is “game-changing” just because you say it. You need to show it, too.

Write Natural-Sounding Quotes

To any journalist who hasn’t figured this out already, you might want to sit down. Many quotes from company officials in the press releases you receive are actually written by PR professionals. Shocked? No? I didn’t think so, and that’s a problem. When you’re a journalist, creating a quote from someone is absolutely forbidden, so you develop a pretty good ear for the way people talk vs. the way they write. This means most journalists will be able to see right through your featured quote, and the artifice could turn them off from your press release completely.

So, the next time you’re carefully putting words in your client’s mouth, take a minute to think about whether a normal person would actually say that. Read the quote aloud to see if it feels natural. Eliminate long sentences, as speakers need to take breaths in real life. And most importantly, don’t be overly formal. Quotes are like rock music, they’re at their best when they’re a bit raw. Polish it up too nicely, and it becomes painfully obvious and extremely uninteresting.

Get Your Grammar and Punctuation Right

Most journalists I know, myself included, are absolute grammar Nazis. They pick up on typos and other mistakes everywhere, from billboard advertisements to the novel they’re reading. In fact, when I was attending a grammar boot camp at Penn State, one of our tasks was to go into town and pick out the one store with a grammatically incorrect name. (Answer: The End Result.) So make absolutely sure that your releases are spotless grammar-wise. Ask a colleague to read it over with fresh eyes, or if you’re a sole proprietor, get your release to a “final” state, then go on a 15-minute walk. When you read it again, you’ll be more likely to catch mistakes you wouldn’t have found before.

There you have it! Three lessons from the journalism industry to you. As I’m sure you know, there is a world of difference between reporting the news and promoting a company, but you should not keep the two completely separate. By taking the best ideas from both worlds, you can craft great press releases sure to pique the interest of those who can give you the coverage you need.

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid at a press conference following the team's loss to the Green Bay Packers in the 2010/2011 NFL playoffs.

I grew up in South Jersey, about 20 minutes outside of Philadelphia, which means the Philadelphia Eagles have been a big part of my life. I remember the drastic lows of the Rich Kotite and Ray Rhodes eras and the soaring heights of Andy Reid’s tenure as head coach, including the team’s 2004 trip to the Super Bowl, our first since 1980. We lost to the New England Patriots, but the atmosphere surrounding that loss was an upbeat one. After three straight losses in the penultimate game of the NFL playoffs, we had finally reached the big showdown, and it would only be a matter of time before we won it.

Unfortunately, that never came to be. And now, seven years later, things have soured quite significantly for Reid and the Eagles, who fell to a 4-8 win-loss record after being embarrassed by the lowly Seattle Seahawks on Thursday, December 1. During the game, chants of “Fire Andy!” could be heard in the stands, and a large number of attendees simply got up and left during the third quarter, leaving huge spans of seats empty with eight minutes still to play in the game. This is probably the most persuasive argument that Philly fans have made for Reid’s firing, but how did it all come to this? Surely, the team’s disappointing play has been a big factor, but that’s not entirely Reid’s fault. Plus, the Eagles have been awful before and that never forced a mass exodus on this scale. So why is the blame being left almost entirely at Reid’s doorstep? Is this a PR #fail? Or is it a smart deflection strategy?

As a former journalist, there was one thing that always bothered me about Reid: his post-game press conferences. Each one plays out more or less the same way. Reid begins by listing the various injuries players sustained during the game and, in his own singularly gruff manner, offers an opening statement that usually falls along the lines of, “We didn’t play well today. I take responsibility for that. We just need to get better.” He then grunts, “Time’s yours,” and opens the floor up to questions. Except he might as well not, because any question, no matter how detailed and specific, gets the same response: “We didn’t play well today. I take responsibility for that. We just need to get better.”

“For members of the media, an Andy Reid press conference is kind of like playing a match against one of those backboards you see at some tennis courts,” writes Matt Babiarz of philly2philly.com. “You can hit any shot in your arsenal. And regardless of the force, spin or direction, the result is the same: a flat return right back in your direction.”

Having interviewed my fair share of tight-lipped individuals, I could feel the reporters’ pain as they tried to pry some information, any information, out of Reid. But I was always more upset on a fan level. Say what you will about the Philadelphia faithful, but all we really want is to see our teams succeed. And when they don’t, we’d like some reassurance that what we just saw was an aberration that isn’t likely to be repeated, that the coach understands what went wrong and will do something to correct it, that the whole season isn’t lost. Reid’s press conferences fulfill none of those needs. In fact, they make him seem ignorant and cocky at worst and misguidedly optimistic at best, neither of which does much to endear him to Eagles fans.

But since I started working in PR, I’ve been forced to re-evaluate Reid’s handling of the press. Yes, his approach is infuriating, but by adopting it, he has turned himself into a lightning rod for criticism that has shielded his players from close scrutiny, allowing them to focus completely on the task at hand. When you look at it this way, the “Fire Andy!” chants suddenly sound like a huge success, as Philly fans could just as easily be chanting “Eagles suck!”

So, is Andy Reid a PR genius? I wouldn’t quite go that far, but there are several lessons we can learn from him. First, always accept responsibility in a crisis, and do it quickly. If the company or individual you represent has been caught with their hand in the cookie jar, there is absolutely no better way to incur the public’s wrath than to issue a denial that flies in the face of mounting evidence. Just look at what happened to Herman Cain in this year’s Republican presidential race. As more and more women accused him of sexual harassment, Cain continued to deny the allegations. Then, when Ginger White came forward with strong evidence that the two had had a 13-year affair, the public outcry was so severe that Cain was forced to suspend his campaign. And who did his former supporters flock to? Newt Gingrich, who was publicly outed for two affairs during his time as a Congressman. However, unlike Cain, Gingrich accepted responsibility for his actions during an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody in March 2011, stating “when I did things that were wrong, I wasn’t trapped in situation ethics, I was doing things that were wrong, and yet, I was doing them… ”  Say what you will about the man and his campaign, but at least he got that part right.

Second, make yourself available to the press, but not too available. Reid rarely does one-on-one interviews, but he does show up for several press conferences every week. And while he nearly always comes off badly right after a game, he often lightens up a bit later on. For example, after the Eagles’ loss on December 1, Reid held a second conference on Friday in which he was asked whether he was worried about his job. He responded, “That’s a logical question, but as a coach, you don’t do that. I’m being as honest as I can with you. I don’t worry about that. I worry about getting better, and that’s where I put all of my energy in. That’s what I can control and become a better football coach, and make my assistants better while at the same time, make my players better.” This response works because it acknowledges the question and acquiesces to the fact that it needs to be asked before answering it with what is essentially a softened version of his boilerplate. This shows empathy to both the reporter asking the question and the fans who very much want an answer, an important part of crisis PR, without actually giving one that could make things worse and distract from the task at hand: winning football games.

And finally, stay on message. In Reid’s case, that means keeping the focus on himself and off his players, and he does it with surgical precision. However, if your client is prone to stray, it can become a real problem. For example, when John Mayer was promoting his most recent album, Battle Studies, he wildly overshared about his personal life to reporters at Rolling Stone and Playboy as well as his own Twitter account. The result was that Mayer’s crazy life and the inappropriate things he said became the main story and completely overshadowed the fact that he had a new album out. He has since shut down his Twitter and largely disappeared from the public eye, most likely the suggestion of a savvy PR professional, and chances are the storm will blow over. But if he had just kept the focus on Battle Studies in the first place, he wouldn’t have had to worry.

As a former journalist and current Eagles fan (heavy sigh), it’s difficult to give Reid his due, especially in the midst of such an epically disappointing season. But speaking strictly from a PR perspective, he’s done a good job taking whatever the Philly faithful can throw at him so his players don’t have to, and that’s admirable. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go throw snowballs at Andy Reid. I am a Philadelphia fan, after all.

Limbs down from Hurricane Irene behind "Borders" installation in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza

When I was in junior high, my cousin was in the U.S. Coast Guard and was stationed in Governor’s Island, so I saw him quite frequently when he was on leave. If I recall correctly, he was a Fireman, which is more an engineering function than an emergency responder. When I grilled him about his duties, he described his routine of going around each part of the ship, starting with, “Check for fire, check for flood.” As a pre-teen, I thought this was hilarious. How would you not know there was a fire or a flood? But strangely, those words have resonated around my head quite a bit through the years.

I don’t know if this is how the Coast Guard intended it, but the phrase now makes sense to me in two ways. First, it’s a reframing technique: No fire? No flood? No immediate crisis that is going to sink the ship? OK, then whatever else is going wrong is not so bad. I worked briefly with Don Middleberg in the late ‘90s, and he liked to remind us as we’d fret when a communications crisis loomed: “It’s PR, not ER.” It’s rare that one is dealing with true life-threatening situation. Keep things in perspective.

Second, it’s a reminder to look around and open closed doors to find out if something needs to be addressed.  A small fire is a lot easier to contain; a major breach can start with a small leak. What’s happening in areas of your business – or your life – that’s behind a metaphorical closed door?

Most people will pay attention to a fire, no matter how small, but puddles are another matter. I’m a big fan of Stephen Covey’s First Things First and the lesson of paying attention to the “Quadrant 2- Important but Not Urgent” stuff. Do you keep applying duct tape to a real or figurative leak thinking you’ll properly fix the crack later? What will be the scale of the damage if that crack blows open tomorrow?

Here in NYC, it looks like Irene will pass over without too much drama in my neighborhood. But I’m definitely thinking ahead; hurricane season isn’t over for another month or so. More cat litter will be purchased as soon as Litter & Leashes is back open.

Tim Gunn Season 9 Project Runway Poster

Why is Heidi Klum naked? Why is she cutting a tie in half? Is Tim Gunn’s expression bewildered or just tired? Where did the “it” go? A few weeks ago, I made myself actually stop and look at the ad to see when it was going to air; registered that it wasn’t imminent; and promptly forgot. Earlier this week, I had a vague notion while I flipped the channels that it might be on, but I could not find it. Funnily enough, I looked at the ad again today and realized, hey! It’s tonight! At nine! Maybe I will even watch it.

Admittedly, I am an ambivalent consumer of TV. Other than Pat Kiernan of NY1, whose “In the Papers” is as vital to my morning routine as coffee, I don’t watch anything consistently.  But I actually like Project Runway and will watch it if I can. I just read Tim Gunn’s turn at AdWeek’s “Information Diet” and commiserated with his Sudoku habit. But it took at least 50 – maybe even 100 – times of seeing that ad to process when the show is airing. I’m writing about it, but I’m not sure that’s effective creative. But again, I also didn’t get sick of it after that many impressions.

Now, I just need remember to turn on the TV in about four hours and actually see it.

This has had me mulling over the nature of creativity and success. First, this reminded me of Thomas Edison’s quote, “Genius is one percent inspiration, 99% perspiration.” But it also occurred to me that adaptability is such a critical function. Henson adapted his ideas for characters over time, from adult-oriented entertainment to advertising spots to live performance. He did not seem too tightly wedded to one notion of how these characters could express themselves. Further, over time, he was willing to hand over his preliminary sketches to others to build into muppets, and let someone else bring them to life.

I’m also thinking about how to apply this approach. What ideas do you have on the scrap heap that you need to take out and play with? Or maybe turn over to others to see what they can do with them? Is there a concept you are holding too tightly to one framework that wants to evolve into something else?

Check out an early Kermit from 1965 on Johnny Carson:

Now, of course the story goes into much more detail from there. But this non-quote in the press release issue was also picked up by Pat Kiernan of local news channel NY1 in his “In the Papers” segment. This detail – no quote from the deposed director – was interpreted to contradict the careful messaging in the initial communications about Taymor’s ongoing involvement.

 This struck me as a good reminder of just how powerful what we don’t say can be. A journalist is picking up on every cue in a company’s communications – and so is your customer. What are the things you are not saying telling people about your business?

I met with a friend of mine this week who just started a new job that she’s really excited about. There’s the easier commute, challenging new responsibilities and friendly coworkers. And then there’s lunch.

There is a designated lunch hour, and if people stay in the office, they are not allowed to eat at their desks. They have a nice kitchen with a communal dining area. The TV goes on to a game show. When my friend started eating out of her plastic container, a co-worker insisted she use a plate (and there’s a dishwasher). And the staff gets a weekly “surprise” lunch purchased by the company.

Not surprisingly, this is a small, second-generation family company. Now, I don’t know if they affirmatively said “We’re all going to have a real lunch, and it’s going to be together away from the desks to reinforce our ‘family’ oriented culture.” Who knows? This is New York, maybe they had a bug or mouse problem in the office so they don’t want crumbs around the desks. The point is that this lunch ritual is an important, defining part of this company’s culture that communicates something employees value.

I once worked at a company that was obsessed with fingerprints. When you handle a lot of newsprint, as PR people do even in today’s world, there’s a lot of black thumbprints on every light colored surface. This was not to be tolerated. And there was a specific way to wipe these prints off the walls. This certainly brought home the message about being a detail-oriented culture, and the expectation that even when the work gets messy, you always present a smooth appearance to the world.

These little rituals can provide more information about what your organization is really like than any website, press release, or executive profile. What are your company’s rituals? Are they supporting or subverting any stated values? If not, what changes – the rituals or the values?