We have continued to advance our global ambition with acquisitions that fill in the global footprint, such as Dabo in Dubai on the marketing side, Smithfield in the U.K. for financial PR, Ergo in Germany for corporate reputation and public affairs, and Position in Colombia to add scale to our Latin America business.
Edelman maintains a very conservative balance sheet. We do small acquisitions. This helps me sleep well at night.
Walter Isaacson attracts the best and the brightest to Aspen. It is exhilarating to listen to the likes of David Rubenstein and constitutional scholar Jeffrey Rosen speak about George Washington and Newt Gingrich and the original intent of the Second Amendment.
We're not going into advertising. But we see the future battleground existing between ourselves, digital firms, and media-buying firms.
Even with flexible time off to vote, it's still difficult for our people to juggle work, polls, childcare, and other responsibilities.
The tech company needs to win in the war for talent. This means much greater focus on the employee, not simply as cog in the machine, but vital member of a programming team in a race against time and competitors. Wall Street is up-or-out, dog-eat-dog, survival of the fittest.
When I joined the family business, our clients were mostly on the marketing side, from Morris the Nine Lives Cat to KFC's Colonel Sanders.
To be silent is to be complicit.
Social media has had a corrosive effect on government and trust, and I think it is a real cause for concern.
Edelman diversified into public affairs in the late '60s with important programs for the Concorde SST, gaining landing rights at JFK Airport in New York, and in the late '70s generating public approval for the building of the very stark Vietnam Veterans War Memorial in Washington, D.C., from a design by the very young architect Maya Lin.
We like being private because when there is a downturn, as in 2001 and 2008, we do not reduce people. Also, we have flat decision-making. It's quick. We don't have to meet quarterly numbers, and it's all about excellence of work for the client.
In our family business, the Edelman children must earn their way - there were and will be no promises without performance and leadership. That may lead to some skinned knees, but it is certainly the best way to learn life lessons.
I want Edelman to remain a family business.
The world has flipped upside-down. It used to be a pyramid of authority; now it's upside down. The influence actually rests with the mid-level people, who speak peer-to-peer. If they're for you, you win.
The problems of the world, from immigration to populism to income inequality to sustainability to peacekeeping, require a well-functioning supranational body.
There's a lingering notion that elites continue to lead, and the masses will follow. This historic model of influence was predicated on the belief that elites have access to superior information and their interests are interconnected with those of the broader public.
The best tech companies are led by founders with entrepreneurial zeal and strong egos. They consistently deliver what we want and what we need, at prices that decrease over time. The Wall Street firm is a long-standing institution with a more established hierarchy.
Be smart about selecting your micro niches for communicating in the blogosphere.
Gender parity in management is a necessity.
We've learned that when a consumer moves from a relationship rooted in 'me' to one powered by 'we,' a new world of buying and advocacy opens up for a brand.
