Fred Cook - Improvise: Unconventional Career Advice from an Unlikely CEO

Copyright 2014 by Fred Cook

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including copying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without express written permission from the publisher.

Illustrations by Liz Fosslien

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cook, Fred

Improvise : unconventional advice from an unlikely CEO / Fred Cook.

pages cm

Includes index.

Summary: Advice and lessons for entrepreneurs drawn from the unusual career of a long-time leader in the public relations field-- Provided by publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-57284-733-0 (ebook)

1. Entrepreneurship. 2. Management. I. Title.

HB615.C6493 2014

650.1--dc23

2013048834

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

B2 Books is an imprint of Agate Publishing. Agate books are available in bulk at discount prices. For more information visit agatepublishing.com.

Dedicated to those who dont know exactly where

theyre going,

but have the courage to figure it out along the way

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I am the CEO of GolinHarris, one of the worlds largest and most successful public relations firms, with 50 offices around the globe. For more than 25 years, Ive advised companies like Nintendo, McDonalds, Walmart, and Toyota. Ive worked personally with Jeff Bezos, Herb Kelleher, Sheldon Adelson, and Steve Jobs. Ive introduced the world to Pokmon, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the seedless watermelon. Ive flown millions of miles to dozens of exotic countries, where Ive slept in five-star hotels and dined in gourmet restaurants with dignitaries, scholars, and movie stars. Best of all, every day I get to work with a dynamic group of people whose average age is twentysomething.

Does this sound like something youd like to do? Then answer these questions

Are your parents wealthy and well connected?

Did you graduate in the top 10 percent of your class?

Did you receive an MBA from an Ivy League college?

Have you landed a dream job at the perfect company?

Are you well on your way to achieving your concrete career goals?

If you answered no to every question, dont worry. I did, too. I never imagined I would become a CEO. I lacked all the necessary ingredients. I attended three mediocre colleges, received average grades, and acquired no legitimate skills. My experiences became my credentials.

Before I began my career in PR, I worked at a dozen enlightening jobs including pool hustler, Italian leather salesman, cabin boy, rock and roll record company executive, chauffeur for drunks, cross-country tour guide, junior high teacher, and doorman at a four-star hotel. Although I may not have realized it at the time, each one taught me a profound lesson that inspired my corporate career.

In the following pages, I share a handful of my exploits (those suitable for print) from which I try to distill some helpful insight. Dont think of it as advice. Advice implies the person giving it is an authority, which Im not. Consider my musings as small signs along the road that point in a different direction. You can follow or ignore them.

Improvising with my life has given me a deep appreciation for people who are attempting to figure out where their paths lead, whether theyre 20 years old or 50. If youre one of them, I hope this book will encourage you to take something ordinary and make it special.

take something

ORDINARY

&

make it

SPECIAL

People entering the business world today are a commodity. Theyve gone to the same schools, taken the same courses, read the same books, and watched the same movies. Every summer theyve dutifully worked at internships in their chosen field in hopes of landing the perfect job the day they graduate from college.

Meanwhile, companies like mine are desperately seeking fresh minds to help them navigate the massive cultural and technological changes theyre facing. Where will they find distinctive individuals with diverse points of view to meet these challenges? China? India? Brazil? They shouldnt have to look that far.

While a college education is a prerequisite for most jobs, a life education should also be required. School delivers information. Life delivers ideas. Ideas that drive business. Twitter was an idea. Red Bull was an idea. South Park was an idea.

When I participate on industry panels, someone in the audience always asks what attributes make for a successful employee. My fellow panelists rightly answer that theyre looking for skilled writers, articulate communicators, and aggressive self-starters. My response? I would trade ten of the above for one person with a big idea. But brilliant ideas arent created in a vacuum. Theyre formed by the experiences we have and the people we meet.

My life education began when I was awakened from a nap in Mr. Moodys freshman French class. Although I never found school to be very stimulating, I did manage to stay awake through enough of it to get As and Bs. But French blemished my academic career with a D. My tongue still flops around like a goldfish out of water when I encounter a word beginning with le.

I blame my proclivity for French on my father. He served in the infantry in WWII, marching across France mostly in the rain and mud. He didnt talk much about his stint in the service, but I did glean a few bits of intelligence over the years. At one point, he was reported missing in action and presumed dead. Hearing this news, which was also reported in the local newspaper, his parents buried him even though there was no body. Later it turned out he wasnt really dead. After escaping a German blitzkrieg, hed been living with a family in the south of France. This is where he began appreciating the French language.

The only evidence of this critical period in my fathers young life is a German Luger he kept in his closet and an old scrapbook filled with black and white photographs whose serrated edges were held in place with little black corners glued to the pages. Most of these pictures are of him and his baby-faced army buddies pretending to be members of the Rat Pack, with tough expressions and slicked-back hair. The other pictures feature young French women in bikinis swimming at an outdoor grotto surrounded by rocks and trees. Like the men, the girls resembled young Hollywood stars, with long wavy hair and thin white bodies. These fading photos provided a peek into an exotic world of beautiful French mademoiselles and virile American soldiers enjoying the euphoria of having survived a war they were probably too young to understand. They also explain my dads love of the French language.