The Best People in PR
Adam and Josh are the best. Another Airtable. Hi Taylor Sheridan.
Four weeks ago, I asked you for your favorite executive coaches - and the response was outstanding. Hundreds of you weighed in on Twitter and LinkedIn, and together we created a list of the best coaches out there.
So we did it again. This time: for PR. Here is a link to the Airtable.
Why does PR matter?
How a great PR team can change everything
When I was introduced by my former boss Marc Lore to Adam Schiff, I had no idea that it was going to change my life. I asked Adam if he could help with the launch of Burn Rate. He said he would.
150 days later, this happened:
8-page feature in Inc. magazine, The Haunting of Andy Dunn
deep dive in the weekend edition of The Information, with an eerily similar title: The Humbling of Andy Dunn
launch day appearance on CBS This Morning with Tony Dokoupil and Gayle King
follow-up with Gayle that ran in Oprah Daily
a live interview at the WSJ Future of Everything conference, which became a story here
Men’s Health piece and accompanying Instagram live interview
roundtable story in Fast Company, also featuring Alicia Keys and Paul English, with an accompanying video moderated by Jane Pauley
excerpt from Burn Rate of a manic episode in Vegas, also in Fast Company, which they called “the most challenging material we’ve ever printed”
another appearance on How I Built This, this time specifically on mental illness, which Guy Raz had never done before
And it kept going. Speaking opportunities poured in. More podcasts. More press. It compounded. It felt like we were ubiquitous. We weren’t, of course, but that’s how it felt. Which is how it needs to feel if you want to launch a movement.
I’m not saying we launched a movement, that’s a hard thing to do. And many courageous people preceded me on disclosure of mental health battles. But without Adam and his remarkable deputy Josh Kipnis of CultureSpeed Communications, Burn Rate would have had a fraction of the impact that it did.
It’s not enough to have a great story. The competition for attention is too intense. You need PR wizards by your side, crafting the message; pitching the right journalists at the right moments, knowing what writers and outlets are looking for, and when; coaching you as you go, shepherding the process, prepping you before interviews, being there when you do them, giving you candid feedback afterwards; coordinating the dance as it all goes live, and fielding what it comes in after. Rinse and repeat.
Forever grateful to Josh & Adam for doing this.
My experience with them mirrors my experience at Bonobos, where we would have been nowhere without Polly Ryerson, Erin Zeitler, Kaitlyn Axelrod, Gina DiPietro, and Erin Grant — all of whom brought the Bonobos story to life over a decade of work, the latter three in-house.
Here’s a pic with Adam & Josh on game day, about to go on CBS This Morning with Gayle King. Who I love by the way.
Best boss you’ve ever had
Next up: who’s the best leader you’ve ever worked for?
Answer below on Twitter, or here on LinkedIN.
The Taylor Sheridan-Verse
As if it wasn’t enough to have devoured all of Yellowstone, 1883, and 1923, now I’m getting into Tulsa King. I even got Manuela into it. Who rarely watches TV. No small feat.
In my opinion, Sheridan is one of the most talented human beings walking the planet right now. He is a self-described Hollywood C-list actor who has turned into maybe the most prolific TV creator, writer and showrunner of his generation. 1923 has a budget of $30-35 million per episode. Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren are doing… TV. He has single handedly turned Paramount Plus into a thing.
One of my heroes, Jane Pauley, an OG of bipolar disclosure mentioned above, kicks off this segment on Taylor. Check it out. Or just dive into his work. 1923 is at 90% positive critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Tulsa King is 91% positive for audience score.
It’s hard to get the critics and the audience.
And all of this in just the last five years. Damn.