Communicating in the City

A driven boss

The other day I had an interesting experience while on the way to a doctor's appointment.

I called the usual car service I use when I need to get somewhere fast. Unfortunately, it took longer than ususal for them to get to my house. I knew something was up - must be short-staffed or something.

Fifteen minutes later, a car pulls up - not the usual Lincoln Town Car familiar to many car service users - but a blue Honda. The driver rolled down his window and identified himself as the car service I called. Turns out he was the boss - he showed me his business card and the dispatcher confirmed his name/title as well.

Since he was low on drivers that day, he decided to "help out" as he put it; to become a "hands-on boss not ashamed to get his hands dirty."

I found the experience to be pretty refreshing - and very smart. As the head of the company, why should he lose a fare? It's better to keep a satisfied customer, not to mention building a rapport by meeting the customer face-to-face. He also said I should mention his name any time I call to ensure quick service.

I'll definitely be doing that the next time I call.

Something to make you think

Yesterday's tragic death of Suzanne Hart sheds light on the importance of elevator safety.

The Young & Rubicam executive was crushed to death during an elevator mishap as two other passengers watched in horror.

All she was doing was entering an elevator on the way to work - something we all do every day.

The horrifying incident has led me to recall many times in which an elevator I was on suddenly shook or stopped abruptly. I was even stuck in an elevator when I worked at CBS.

In addition to the building safety angle, I really hope Young & Rubicam have grief counselors in place to assist shaken colleagues of Hart. As a WPP company (I used to work for one), Y&R should have ample crisis communication plans in place.

On simply-communicate, I recently published an article on how to communicate the death of a leader or executive inside a company which was just followed up with an insighful blog by veteran crisis communications consultant, Jim Lukaszewski. Given the fact that Hart worked in a leadership position, much of the insight in these articles holds true for her passing.

I can only imagine how sad the holidays will be for her family this year.

I feel the Earth move under my feet...

What a week for New York - an earthquake on Tuesday, a hurricane approaching this weekend. What the heck is going on??

For the first time ever, the NYC transit system has been shut down due to a natural disaster. People - including my parents - have been evacutated. They're now staying with me and luckily, they've brought a ton of food!

I dusted off my transistor radio, reloaded the batteries and located all the flashlights I could find. Loss of power is a huge possibility so you really do have to think of everything - going to the ATM for money, making sure cell phones are charged, etc.

If there's no TV, I may actually sit down and finish the book I'm reading - can't read it on the beach this weekend so I may as well read it over (most likely) candlelight.

And if there are no cell phones (or even land lines), we might all have to have actual conversations with each other - no emailing, no texting, no IM'ing, no Angry Birds. Imagine that.

Luckily, I was able to get this blog post in before my computer possibly goes.

So come on, Irene, we're all ready for you now...

A real snow job

Christmas weekend, New Yorkers were slammed with a last-minute blizzard that packed a punch on the 5 boroughs. Three days later, many side streets remain unplowed while cars remain buried in mounds of snow.

Unsurprisingly, Mayor Bloomberg has taken plenty of heat about the weak cleanup job. Is the Sanitation Department understaffed due to the holidays? Perhaps. Whatever the case, it's unacceptable. We live in New York City; not Oshkosh.

My street alone has seen several stuck cars, with elderly people afraid to leave their homes for fear of falling in the snow or on slippery pavements. Traffic (even to local destinations) has been a nightmare for motorists.

If there's a silver lining in all of this, it has to be how New Yorkers have joined together to help their neighbors as well as complete strangers. I've witnessed countless situations where good samaritans have assisted people with pushing their stuck cars or helping the elderly cross the street.

I, myself, was given a hand by a chivalrous guy who helped me navigate a huge mound of snow on Monday. And yesterday, one of my neighbors whom I barely know, came up to my apartment to help me fix a broken appliance.

The snowstorm has also allowed for the opportunity to bond with others. One of my neighbors had me over for tea the other day - something that probably would never have happened if we weren't snowbound.

Fortunately for everyone, rising temperatures are on the way which means a big meltdown. The blizzard will soon be a thing of the past, but one thing is for sure, it won't be forgotten anytime soon.

A pain in the ash

Without a doubt, the ash clouds formed from the volcanic eruption in Iceland caused major headaches for air travelers - especially business travelers.

At simply-communicate, we didn't let a little ash stand in our way. The show went on, namely the 2010 simplysummit. While sadly I couldn't attend, I - and many other communicators - were still able to take part: virtually (courtesy of Adobe Connect).

After reading and reporting on so many companies using virtual meetings to cut down on travel costs, it was interesting to attend one myself. And I must say, the audio and video quality were pretty good. I was still able to capture the flavor of the conference and with the ability to IM and type questions, I felt like I was a part of the action. 

The only hard part: not being to able to mingle and network in person - especially during the cocktail hour. Oh, well. Maybe next year.

While I couldn't make it to London this week, I am off to sunny Florida next week to produce two videos for simplyexperience. 

Luckily there are no volcanos down South!

(Photo courtesy of REUTERS)

Stranded in San Diego

When I embarked on my much-needed California vacation earlier this month, little did I know I'd be staying for awhile. The snowstorm that crippled New York on February 10th and closed city schools for the first time in years, prompted airlines to cancel flights - including my own.

So rather than fly home on the 10th, I instead remained in San Diego through the weekend - not the worst thing in the world given the sunshine, pleasant temperatures and the bevy of men in town for a golfing convention.

Armed with a laptop, BlackBerry and a flash drive, I decided to make the hotel pool and cabana my brand new office. With nice-looking servers bringing me drinks and turkey sandwiches, you really couldn't beat such a winning environment. As a result, my productivity soared: every email got answered, every simply-communicate article got edited - and - I even got a little writing done of my own. Who says you can't balance vacation time and work time? 

Now that I'm back at the home office safely returned to New York soil, I just want to give a big shout-out to the Hard Rock Hotel's head concierge in San Diego, Gaby Delgado, as well as Luke and the rest of the Hard Rock team for all their help and gracious service during my stay. You guys really do rock!!

Next - it's off to Atlanta to cover Ragan's social media conference at the Coca-Cola Headquarters. One thing's for sure - there will be no shortage of caffeine at that event! Looking forward to it.

What the hail?!

After an afternoon of doing some cool interviews at The Wonderfactory for simply-communicate, I headed over to Fifth Avenue to try to hail a cab: my transport of preference any time I'm carrying video equipment.

As I patiently stood on the corner of 23rd Street, I noticed that cabs were either full or were clearly off-duty, as indicated by their lights. So I decided to walk a little; what the heck, it was a nice day, plus I was in the mood to do a bit of window-shopping.

To my chagrin, I discovered my favorite Bath and Body Works was closed and boarded up - obviously, a victim of the lousy economy. My desire to replenish my cucumber melon lotion would have to wait. So I kept strolling along, peeking in windows of stores I couldn't afford. How the heck are they surviving this economy?

Awhile later, I hit pay dirt! Or so I thought. I managed to hail a vacant taxi who pulled over to pick me up. Phew! Just 1 catch - he was about to go off duty and couldn't take me all the way to Brooklyn. What??!!

"Lady, it's 4:30. New York City cabbies go off-duty from 4:30-5:30. You didn't know that? Where are you from?" he asked.

Feeling like the dumbest native New Yorker on the planet, I could only mutter a feeble, "I'm from upstate." A blatant lie. 

After all these years of traveling around the five boroughs, how could I not have known about the off-duty thing? Guess I was on the subway or sitting in an office cubicle during those hours.

As a compromise, my chatty cabbie drove me to Union Square so I could take the subway. As it turned out, I opted for a more comfortable express bus to get me back to Brooklyn which was meant to be since it pulled up just as I was leaving Cosi with my iced vanilla latte. With that, I was finally on my way home.

The next night over cocktails with my girlfriend - another native New Yorker - I asked her if she ever knew about the 4:30-5:30 cabbie schedule. She said, "Of course I did. Everyone knows that."

Obviously not everyone; which just goes to show, you really do learn something new every day. This New Yorker did.