Mission & Principles

My mission is to

enlighten,
--entertain,
------inspire and
--------influence.

I am a businesswoman, project manager, writer, editor, consultant and strategic thinker.

My Principles

Before I opened my doors for business, I developed a list of operating principles — a code of conduct to help guide my performance and decisions each day. Here’s a partial list of principles, in no particular order, and my thinking behind each one:

• If I am sick, I will conduct my meetings by phone. I once did some work for a communications department, and one of the employees felt she had to come in for meetings. She had the flu and ended up giving it to the entire department, which was forced to shut down for seven days.

• I will treat every person with the same level of respect, regardless of job title or function. Every person can contribute to the success of an organization. Whether an individual works in the boiler room or the boardroom, he or she possesses unique skills that can help a company’s engine keep running. Each person also has the power to make that engine sputter.

• I will bring the same level of creativity to every project. Sometimes, a client will ask me to create a 200-word story that is tucked inside a small publication; other times, the assignment is a 2,000-word spread. Whatever the size, whatever the scope, I strive to tell a creative, compelling story that will engage readers and make them take action. With that said, I recognize that my creative approach may not always be what the client has in mind, which leads to my next principle.

• I am a businessperson first, a writer second. The source approval process is critical in the world of corporate communications, especially when you work in a highly regulated industry. If I feel strongly about the way I’ve written something, I’ll speak up and explain why clarity is important. But if a client is insistent, I understand that I’m providing a service for them; I’m not in business to tout my prose.

• I will take a break for lunch every day. Food is fuel. Period.

• I will keep multitasking to a minimum. Multitasking is a necessity in the business world today. The danger in excessive multitasking is that it can prevent us from focusing on an important person in front of us or a critical task at hand. Once, a client insisted on calling me while she was driving home from work. I was sitting at my desk, her call came in, and we began the interview. Within a few minutes, I heard her yell a four-letter word. Apparently, she had driven into a mailbox. (Note: No one was seriously injured during the creation of these principles.)