The founder of TOMS Shoes, Blake Mycoskie, believes that entrepreneurs can do good business by doing good for others. He inspired me to launch Bridge Builder Communications last September with a business model of volunteering 15 percent of my billable hours to charities that are important to clients. After six months, how’s the model working? … Read more
The mind-numbing tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School and other school shootings have educators and public officials everywhere wondering if the next crisis will involve them. As someone in charge of communications during a highly charged period in Houston METRO’s recent past, I was asked earlier this month to share my thoughts on crisis preparedness … Read more
In business and political crises, every utterance becomes magnified to the point that ill-fated word choices become forever linked to the incident and the reputation of the speaker and their company. “I’d like my life back” will likely be former CEO Tony Hayward’s enduring legacy from BP’s Macondo tragedy in 2010. So how did our … Read more
Thanksgiving dinner reminds me of a very useful analogy for helping corporate executives better appreciate the health and safety concerns of their fence line neighbors. I was introduced to the analogy about 20 years ago by risk communication expert Peter Sandman, who spoke to several hundred employees and wholesalers of Texaco’s marketing business who had … Read more
Houston Business Journal Guest Commentary headlined “Companies must build trust to secure country’s energy future” (PDF) View article in interactive journal on pg 52.
Houston Chronicle Op-Ed headlined “Vote against Metro referendum could mean more rail“
Press Release: George Smalley Launches Bridge Builder Communications
Houston Chronicle Op-Ed headlined “Everyone wins with new entrepreneurial model”