The laughter and memories were flowing like the kegs of college days long ago. After the celebration of life on Saturday for former Eastern Illinois University journalism professor Dan Thornbugh, a group of EIU journalism graduates and teachers reconvened at Roc’s, a Charleston mainstay of drinking and life-altering conversations.

During a brief lull in the conversation, Tess Norton, a colleague from the Eastern News days in the late 1970s, suddenly exclaimed loudly to me and everyone else in the bar:

“I know who you look like…Rahm Emmanuel!”

Your personal politics aside, would YOU want to be likened to a man whose reputation as a mean-mouthed, political mad-dog proceeds him wherever he claims to live on any given day?

Tess insisted that she only means that my face and hair resemble Rahm’s. I don’t see it; how about you?

Have you ever been likened to someone when that comparison wouldn’t necessarily be considered a compliment? How did you handle it?

Among the solicitations, updates and other items in my personal email inbox on Thursday, one mattered most:

Subject: [Eiujou] D.T. has died

Professor Emeritus Dan Thornburgh, the founder and former chairman of the Eastern Illinois University (EIU) Journalism Department, died at the Odd Fellow-Rebekah Home in Mattoon, Ill., where he had been in hospice care for a few weeks after undergoing surgery for a broken hip.

As the news spread, my journalism school friends began circulating emails with their reactions to the news, and their memories of D.T. This blog is where I’m most comfortable leaving my thoughts, and I needed a little time to sort through the feelings and to recall some of my experiences with this wonderful man/professor/leader.

In October 1976, I walked for the first time into the office of EIU’s daily student newspaper, the Eastern News. (Its name was changed some years later to the Daily Eastern News.) The newspaper’s editorial, advertising and pre-press production functions were housed at that time in the basement of the Student Services Building.

The newspaper’s faculty advisor, John David Reed, and veteran student editors filled me in over time regarding the history of the EIU Journalism Department. It is not an exaggeration to say that much of what I took for granted as a freshman journalist—the facilities, the faculty, the curriculum, the daily newspaper, even the journalism major and department—derived from the vision and determination of D.T.

The photo of me and D.T. that accompanies this post was taken in April 2009 at the 50th annual journalism student recognition banquet. D.T. was honored that night for his many contributions to the EIU Journalism Department, the university, and the city of Charleston. Speakers included former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar and newspaper publishers, editors and reporters.

It was D.T. who organized the first student recognition banquet 50 years ago, and he was a former Charleston City Council member, served in the local Rotary Club, and was named Charleston “Outstanding Citizen of the Year” in 1971.

Personally, I learned a few important lessons from D.T.; perhaps none as important as his example of being an engaged member of the community. He helped me to understand that a journalist didn’t have to disconnect from the people and organizations around him; in fact, those connections could make a better, more rounded journalist—and a better human being.

D.T. used his understanding of local history, politics and people to bring context to stories and issues. I remember times when he would pull me aside to provide insight into a story I was pursuing. As he spoke, his soft blue eyes, occasionally crackly southern Illinois twang and warm chuckle would mesmerize me. It felt like I was being schooled by a combination of Andy Griffith, my grandfather and Ben Bradlee.

I didn’t get many As in my college coursework. That was partly due to my declining interest in classroom learning, and more likely due to my desire to spend time at the Eastern News office or a local bar like Ike’s, Sporty’s or Roc’s.

But I earned an A in Communication Law, which was taught by D.T. He made the course relevant and challenged us to debate, think and learn. That A is more a testament to D.T.’s teaching style than to my effort.

Before you submit this as proof of D.T.’s case for sainthood, let’s add that D.T. could be stubborn. When his vision for the Journalism Department or the Eastern News differed from someone else’s, sparks could fly. But that passion never led to the kind of gutter-sniping, vitriolic language and insinuations that has marred popular debate in the United States over the past 20 years.

I don’t look back at my time and experiences with D.T. through a rose-colored lens. I use a journalist’s lens, where the pros and cons, facts and half-truths, lies and distortions are sifted, refined and reported with an eye toward truth and accuracy. That’s how D.T. would want it. That’s how he taught it.

This story ends with the death of a good man, a positive contributor to society, and a credit to the journalism profession. But because of D.T., many thousands of important stories will continue to be written in the decades to come.
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Networking during the holidays Tip #3: Get past it!

This is a construction barrier, used to deter people from moving into a construction area. Its intent is to increase safety at the work site. We’re not meant to get over it, or around it.

This is a high hurdle, similar in shape to the construction banner. Its intent is to increase difficulty during a cross-country meet. We’re meant to get over it, but not around it.

This is a communicator who has become frozen at a networking event, unsure of what to do. My final tip for networking during the holidays is to get over whatever fears, doubts, and/or anxieties are keeping you from getting started. I’m going to share some ideas for getting around those fears, doubts and anxieties.

These barriers are limiting your opportunities to enhance your professional contacts and to increase your opportunities to advance your career. How do you overcome your personal barriers?

1. Recognize your barriers.
You can start with this good article on WikiHow, “How to Overcome Shyness.” It provides advice and tips on how to recognize and overcome shyness in social situations.

2. Make a decision to proactively work on your networking skills.
We often need the accountability and “realness” of concrete goals before we take action to change for the better. That’s true in the resolutions we make at this time of year, the decisions we make in our personal lives, and the planning we undertake to advance our careers. You won’t move forward unless you make a conscious decision to do so. So do it right now!

3. Put yourself in networking situations, and then network, network, network, baby!
Check out local organizations to find networking events. Some events are open to anyone, others are member-only. For example, IABC/Chicago recently held a great networking event that included a presentation on effective networking.

Here are a couple of other resources to help you improve your networking skills:

Barbara Gibson’s Power Networking Tips Former IABC Chair Barbara Gibson is a social media and networking champion, and this tip-sheet offers some practical ideas.

How to Network Effectively This post on eHow contains useful tips for you, as well.

The increasing use of social media is allowing us to make connections in new and wonderful ways. Just remember that networking–in whatever ways you do it–can improve your personal and professional lives. Don’t let the holidays end without making a commitment to putting yourself out there–and get ready to leap over (or move around) those barriers that have stopped you before.

One of my many responsibilities at VW Credit, Inc.’s Chicago Service Center is to place awards, customer letters and other similar items in a display case located in the main hall of our call center/operations office. It’s nice for employees and visitors to see the various ways that our company and its employees have been honored for achievements and thanked for charitable donations.

Today I had to explain why I wanted to remove some older items from the display case. Our facilities head was aghast. “What do you want to do with the stuff you take out of the display…toss it?” he asked. I thought he was going to have an episode when I replied that that was exactly what I planned to do.

“We should keep it to show people,” he said. “Don’t throw it away, give it to me and I’ll find a place to store it.” Awash in the holiday spirit, I agreed to pass along any awards that I remove in the future from the display case.

Don’t tell him that I already had tossed an award from a charity that acknowledged our donation in 2002. That award was proudly presented to “Volkswagon Credit Union,” which misspelled “Volkswagen” and mistakenly called us a credit union.

Does your company store its outdated awards, plaques and mounted correspondence, or dispose of it after an appropriate amount of time?

I used to think that it was clever to convert a telephone number into a word, using the letters on a telephone keypad. “What a great way to make a phone number easy to remember,” I thought back then.

But technology (actual mobile phone design) has changed all that, and companies that use words, rather than numbers, in their advertisements are showing that they are out-of-touch. And that’s exactly the effect that they are having with their device-dependent customers.

It actually is annoying to have to hunt-and-peck on a telephone when all you have to go on is the “secret word.” That’s why I told my church’s marketing team years ago that it was fine to list the phone number for Joy Lutheran Church as 1-847-362-4JOY, but that they should include the final four numbers in parentheses (1-847-362-4569).

What back then was annoying, today is harmful to potential sales and customer satisfaction. That’s because the correlation between letters and numbers on mobile phone keypads is no longer standard.

Here’s an example. I wanted to call OfficeMax regarding its MaxPerks(r) reward program. The only phone number listed in the MaxPerks brochure is 877.OFFICEMAX. The first thing I noticed is that OFFICEMAX is nine letters, and U.S. telephone numbers (minus the area code) are seven digits. So OfficeMax has tacked on two letters that are meaningless–and confusing–to a customer trying to dial.

The adventure continues, depending on the customer’s mobile phone. Here is a keypad similar to the one on my Nokia phone.

See how each number 0-9 is assigned to just one letter? That is not the way that old-time landline telephone keypads are designed. But more and more people are opting away from landlines, and using their mobile phones exclusively.

So when I tried to dial 1.877.OFFICEMAX, I experienced this:

• The letter O--no corresponding number
• The letter F--the number 4
• The letter I--no corresponding number
• The letter C--no corresponding number
• The letter E--no corresponding number
• The letter M--the number 0
• The letter A--no corresponding number
• The letter X--no corresponding number

Without the actual digits shared in the OfficeMax brochure, I was totally unable to call them. Frustrating! Would that be the case for my Blackberry friends? Oh yes!

However, their numbers 0-9 are assigned to different letters than on my Nokia, so the picture is even more muddled. Imagine a Nokia user trying to share a “decoded” number with his colleague using a Blackberry. They’ll never get the number right!

Ok, since so many creative types adore all things Apple, surely the iPhone designers anticipated this issue and made an app for it. Not really:



In fact, I’d say that iPhone users really have no chance, because their phone’s keypad makes no attempt to correlate numbers with letters. Perhaps it’s for the best, right?

If you work in advertising, marketing or sales, point your communicators to this post. It will save your customers much frustration, and prevent you from having a real “hang-up” with customer satisfaction.




















Tip #2: Remember your place, and circulate past it.

The above photograph was taken in 1998 or 1999. It’s a photo of executive administrative assistants from Fort James Corporation enjoying a holiday meal at the Forge Club in Vernon Hills, Ill. That’s me on the left–the only male in the group.

At that time, that’s what I was: An administrative assistant at Fort James Corporation, a global consumer products company. I’m telling you this so that you understand that my Tip #2 is based on my experiences on both sides of the management divide. It’s directed primarily at managers, but definitely does have application for “front-line” employees.

Just a few years prior to when this photo was taken, I supervised a group of administrative assistants within the Management Services Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. My later role just before joining Fort James was manager of a small team that provided document production and other communication services to consultants and staff at a Chicago-based consulting firm for the healthcare industry.

I thought I understood how to navigate between the worlds of administrative assistants and front-line employers on one side and “upper management” on the other. I’ve held positions that provided me access to all levels of the organizations for which I worked, and I thought I knew how to “act” with everyone in the organizations.

But somewhere along the line, I forgot what it’s like to be on the bottom of the corporate food chain…until I accepted the executive administrative position at Fort James.

That move occurred a short time after I decided to quit my manager job at the Chicago-area consulting company. I had been working 10 to 12-hour days, seven days a week for several weeks, and for many reasons, had had enough. Although (maybe surprisingly) my wife supported my decision to quit–she knew how the job was affecting me–it was scary to leave a job without having the next one lined up.

To jump-start my job search (I wasn’t a member of IABC at that time, so I couldn’t use its job board), I went to Manpower to apply for communication positions. My thinking was that accepting a temporary position within a company would give the employer a chance to see my value, and me a chance to avoid another bad employment situation.

The phone was ringing when I returned from the meeting with a Manpower recruiter. She was excited as she told me that I would be perfect for a position with a Fortune 250 company that was relocating its headquarters to the Chicago area. The starting salary, if they brought me on full-time, would be exactly the same as the salary I had made at the Federal Reserve. A step backward from the salary I had earned at the consulting firm, but no doubt a better deal on a work/life balance basis, I thought. The situation sounded great…until she told me the position: Executive Administrative Assistant to the Senior Vice President/Controller.

“Administrative assistant,” I remember almost stammering into the phone. “B-but I’ve MANAGED admins in my past jobs.” I ended the call with a promise to consider the offer. The conversation that followed with my wife was very difficult and humbling. This job would provide a decent salary at a company that was doing well. I could prove myself in full view of the company’s top executives, and work toward moving into a more suitable communication role after paying some dues.

On the other hand, it could be a career-ender, with me painted into a professional corner that would keep me from getting back onto the successful career path I had been traveling along.

I’ll talk more about what happened at another time. To bring this back to the original point of this post, I interacted with people from all levels of Fort James. At times, I could clearly see that someone was looking at me as a lowly admin, and sometimes would seem perturbed when I would assert myself based on my overall experience and skills.

Even in my current position, I’ve worked with a couple of management-level people who clearly wanted to limit their interactions with me and others “below them” according to our internal band levels. This kind of “superior attitude” isn’t directed solely at administrative assistants!

The point I’m making is that, during this holiday season and in the year to come, when you have an opportunity to gather socially with coworkers, don’t blow it off if they are either above or below your pay grade. It’s valuable and important for connections to be made throughout the organization, and people on the “front line” do like to rub elbows on occasion with their managers and other leaders.

Circulate within your organization, and circulate “good will” to all employees.

Every year at this time, I hear from people who, because of the holidays, feel the urge to connect with me and others in their lives. Sometimes we haven't communicated in months; sometimes it's been years.

I hope that you feel that urge to connect with other communication professionals, and that you register for tomorrow's Holiday Networking Reception at Maggiano’s in Chicago. (For the sake of transparency, I have to admit that I have a conflict and won't be there.)

Networking is one of the benefits of your IABC membership, and this session will provide some practical advice from Matt West, Vice President, Insidedge, as well as the opportunity to dust off your networking skills. If you are a newer IABC member, or a more "seasoned" member who hasn't been active in a while, this is a great event to attend. Register here.

Nearly a decade ago, I learned the importance of maintaining a professional network. I was downsized when the declining economy dried up revenue and forced employers to cut staff. Sound familiar? The same thing happened only a couple of years ago, and this nation still has a large unemployed pool of workers.

Back in 2001, I wasn't active in IABC or any other professional organization. I figured that with my experience and skillset, I could find a good job fairly easily, all on my own. Sound familiar? I hope not!

I quickly formed a job search and support group with other unemployed members of my local church. Three weeks after being let go, I was talking with that group in a coffee shop when one of the other members interrupted me, exclaiming, "Someone just flew a plane into the World Trade Tower." I remember my response, "That is sad, but we can't do anything for that pilot now…we have to get jobs!"

It was Sept. 11, 2001.

The nation shut down in large part that day, and for the next several months was not in a hiring pattern. I went through the next 2 1/2 years either collecting unemployment or working temporary jobs for about $15 per hour. I tried to start a one-person communication company, but struggled mightily.

In 2004, a form of networking gave me some hope. My pastor asked me to speak during worship one Sunday about how congregation members had supported my family financially, emotionally and spiritually during our struggles. After one of the services, a man walked up to me, handed me his card, and said that he was looking for a communication professional. I got an interview, and eventually, the position.

One of the FIRST things I did with my first paycheck was to rejoin IABC. I later went through the IABC Accreditation program to become a certified Accredited Business Communicator (ABC). Since then, I've been strengthening my professional network at every available opportunity. I've spoken at communication conferences and meetings to build my professional resume and credibility.

I hope that you see the value of networking, and will take action today to strengthen your professional network.

(Cross-posted on the IABC/Chicago website)

It’s time for me to brush up on networking tips. Not the ones that Matt West, Vice President, Insidedge, will share on Dec. 15 at an IABC/Chicago Networking event.

I need to remember the very practical tips that are burned into my brain because of the painful experiences of life. For example, Tip #1:

Never get drunk at a company function.

Tonight my wife and I are attending the VW Credit, Inc. Chicago Service Center holiday party. It’ll be a nice few hours spent with people I work with, a good meal and the chance to win some nice door prizes.

I’ll be drinking pop or nonalcoholic beer, as I follow my personal Tip #1. I learned that lesson back in 1983, as an editorial assistant at Standard Rate and Data Service (SRDS).

Back in those days, before organizations like MADD educated us on the legal, emotional and life-threatening repercussions of drunk driving, companies actually PAID for the drinks at holiday parties. We employees would only decide whether to throw a dollar or two into the bartender’s tip jar.

But I had heard that if you gave the bartender a big tip right away, you would benefit from attentive service and strong drinks. So when I ordered my first gin martini of the evening, I slapped down a $5 bill, and told the bartender to keep it.

The first martini led to several more, and as my alcohol level rose, so did my tips. I remember a friend trying to stop me from stuffing a $20 bill into the jar of my “best new friend,” the bartender.

I can’t say that I remember much more of the evening. But here is a photo of me twirling around the dance floor with one of the middle-level SRDS managers.

Not coincidentally, my career at SRDS began to wane after that party. So like I said, tonight I’ll be sober and safe in my job. Some free advice for you communicators just entering the field.

Former Chicago Cubs third baseman and broadcaster Ron Santo died yesterday. While it might be more common to write, “a piece of me died with him,” the truth is that a piece of my heart revived, thanks to Santo.

At least the piece of my heart that had hardened to baseball in general, and the Chicago Cubs in particular.

Yesterday evening, before I heard the news of Santo’s death, I was driving my 17-year-old son home from his wrestling practice. The radio was tuned to a football station, and Kevin commented that he’s lost interest in the sport of football. He thought that was weird, because he had played football from the age of 8 through the end of his freshman year of high school. “I think it’s boring now,” he said.

I replied that I could relate, because the same feelings occurred in me several years ago regarding baseball. I told him that after too many years of having my heart broken by the Chicago Cubs, I made up my mind to forget about baseball. Once I did that, and began to watch football, baseball seemed plodding, dull and uninspiring.

Quite a change from the days when I first watched the sport…and players including Santo. I turned 11 years old in August 1969, the month and year when Santo and his fellow Cubs blew an eight-game lead and lost a chance to reach the World Series.

In the months before the collapse, I spent countless hours watching Cubs games on television, or listening to them on the radio, as I suntanned in my backyard. I got a terrific tan that summer–along with a painful lesson in the emotional danger of giving my heart to the Cubs.

But it was almost impossible for me NOT to love them. Santo was one of my favorites, as he seemed to vacuum hard-hit baseballs into his glove and produce clutch hit after clutch hit. When the Cubs won each game that year, we waited for the WGN-TV camera to zoom in on Santo’s feet. As he headed to the clubhouse, Santo would make a little hop and click his heels. That heel clicking started as a spontaneous outward manifestation of Santo’s inner enthusiasm. It soon became an expected part of the Cubs “mojo,” and finally was derided as a sign of hubris within an organization that didn’t seem to understand what it took to win the championship.

I remained loyal to the Cubs in the years that followed, and decided on a whim to try out in freshman year of high school for the freshman-sophomore (frosh-soph) baseball team. I had never played organized baseball up to that point, only joining in the occasional game of catch or running bases. By all rights, I should have been cut after the first day of tryouts.

But I had learned something from watching players like Ron Santo; I understood the importance of a positive attitude and a strong desire to succeed. Those qualities often make a less-talented individual outperform a more-talented person. When I was asked which positions I could play, I said third base (because I wanted to be like Ron Santo) and pitcher (because I heard that the team needed pitchers and I also wanted to be like Cubs pitcher Milt Pappas).

I made the frosh-soph team as a freshman and a sophomore, and made the varsity as a junior. For sake of transparency, I went to a high school with an enrollment of under 300, so the competition wasn’t THAT great. Also, I spent more time on game days keeping score and “coaching” from the bench.

But in practice and on those rare occasions when I played third base for an inning or two, I tried to mimic the stance and attitude of Santo. He had that much influence on me, in terms of baseball.

Turns out that he still does.

Something I read today in news accounts and commentary on Santo has softened my heart. I didn’t think that was possible.

You see, after the Cubs blew subsequent playoff chances in 1984, 1989, 2003…well, pretty much every year if you think about it…I finally reached my breaking point about five years ago. I had to walk away from the Cubs before they killed me. It was surprisingly easy for me to stop following baseball altogether.

But today as I’ve read about the way that Ron Santo persevered against many things that could have convinced him to stop caring and stop trying, I’ve been rejuvenated. He dealt with diabetes as a player, later lost both legs past the knees because of the disease, and seemed to suffer on-air from CRS disease (Can’t Remember Stuff). Here’s some of the other points about his “faults” addressed in the Chicago Tribune article:

• Santo was the quintessential Cubs fan and made no apologies for his on-air cheerleading or his utter frustration over a bad play.
• Santo mangled names, sometimes lost track of what was going on in a game and occasionally didn't realize a player had been on the roster for months, but none of that mattered because people loved it.
• His toupee caught fire in the Shea Stadium press box on Opening Day 2003 after he got too close to an overhead space heater.
• Last spring in Mesa, Ariz., Santo lost his front tooth while biting into a piece of pizza.
• Perhaps most sadly, he has not been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, although his statistics rank him among the top six third basemen of all time.

The news items reporting on Santo’s life and death gave me a renewed appreciation for Santo as a human being. He demonstrated what can be great about baseball and about us: Passion, energy, effort, a positive attitude, and the humility to understand that we are flawed, but that it is ok.

In honor of Santo, I thought about breaking out my 40-year-old Wilson A2000 mitt and playing catch with my son.

But it’s December in Chicago, 27 degrees Fahrenheit, with snow on the way. Opening Day is months away, and for the first time in decades, Ron Santo won’t be there.

Except in hearts like mine.

Anyone who has ever worked in an organization knows about the “grapevine”—the informal rumor-mill where fact and speculation mix together to breed various strains of truth, half-truths and outright misconceptions.

Strategic, open communications can reduce the grapevine’s activity and influence. This is even more apparent, and important, as companies and their stakeholders (including employees) engage more in the range of communication channels powered by social media tools and platforms such as blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Companies today are looking to join in the conversations occurring within and outside of the company walls. Those conversations can change and move rapidly, which makes it more difficult for company “spokespersons” (either formally designated or ad hoc) to be a trusted participant if they haven’t spent time engaging with others.

Some of the bigger challenges occur in times of change, when information may be less available or less readily shared, and the unknown can seem more apparent and more ominous. Does that describe the situation at Hewlett-Packard, following the sudden resignation on Friday of Mark Hurd, HP’s chairman, chief executive officer and president? (Read more in my previous post.)

A few HP executives have been quoted in articles appearing online. For example, in the U.K., a Guardian newspaper’s online article quoted HP’s general counsel Michael Holston as stating that Hurd engaged in a “systematic pattern” of submitting falsified financial reports to hide a “close personal relationship” with a former HP contractor.

The official HP blog, Data Central, on Saturday offered scant information other than a retread of the corporate statement published on Friday. It stated that “Comments are closed for this post and will not be published.”

Let’s hope that the communications internally at HP were much more transparent. After all, Hurd was not universally loved within HP for his tough business decisions that led to thousands of job cuts over the years. How will HP’s communications staff manage this time of change?

That was exactly the topic of a session led by HP communicators Robin Andrews and Desiree Sylvester in 2005. It was titled, “Keeping employees focused and engaged in times of change,” and it was delivered on the day before Hurd accepted the IABC EXCEL Award at the IABC International Conference in Washington, D.C.

Much of what Robin and Desiree shared in that presentation could hold true today, such as the “communication challenges”:

• Balance focus on delivering day-to-day business vs. change
• Manage leaks in the media
• Everything said internally was expected to be shared externally—very difficult to give employees additional or advance information

Check out the presentation and then let’s see what surfaces from HP’s employees. Will they feel like their feelings and opinions have been heard?

Another more minor observation. I had noticed that on Friday, the day of the Hurd resignation announcement, the HP site was not completely updated. Although the press release was posted under HP’s News Releases section, the company leader page still indicated that Hurd was in charge.

On Saturday, the site was updated to indicate that Cathie Lesjak
was named interim chief executive officer and would remain chief financial officer.