Seven years after the IBM Selectric’s debut, I was a high school Junior, taking a typing-for-business course. All the machines in our typing-lab classroom were gray, utilitarian behemoths until the day the IBM Selectric arrived. Like a tall, dark, handsome...
The IBM Selectric reported for work in American offices 50 years ago on July 31, 1961. By the time it retired 25 years later, the Selectric had revolutionized office work and inspired many of the features of today’s word-processing computers: The...
The Stinker Pitch involves sending a media release containing no newsworthy content. Some business people confuse what’s new with what’s news. While teaching a building-a-buzz-for-your-business seminar, I asked participants to list company achievements that could be...
I met Clueless Carl at a Chamber networking mixer. This small-business owner was vexed by the media’s inattention to his company. “My competitors are always in the papers, but they never write about me,” Carl grumbled. When I asked if he had reached out to the...
I’m a contributing writer for “Welcome to The Boardroom,” a business-section feature of the Ballston Journal. Once a month, I submit to the business editor an article in which I discuss an aspect of branding, marketing or public relations. A new...
