executive communications

The terrific writers at GreenBiz have once again provided several articles about how Earth Day is overloaded with green puff.  Matt Wheeland’s Earth Day Fail: The worst pitches of 2012 talks about the bizarre ways PR folks are trying to get their products and services noticed on Earth Day, and Amy Westerfalt’s Has Earth Day marketing jumped the shark?questions why they’re even trying at all.

For the California-based non-profit Love Ride Foundation, last month’s headline in the LA Times could hardly have been more devastating: “Motorcycle accidents cast gray clouds over Love Ride event.”

In the popular comic strip For Better or For Worse, one character makes a suggestion to another who is hoping to mend a damaged friendship: “An apology is the superglue of life! It can repair just about anything!!”

That advice is sound, but a little incomplete. The last sentence could have read, “It can repair just about anything – as long as you get it right!”

The final film in the blockbuster Harry Potter series – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – opens in London this week, in the U.S. on July 15^th. I must admit some sadness as the saga draws to a close.

From the series’ birth 14 years ago, my family and I were enchanted with Harry, his friends and enemies, and their remarkable adventures. My kids were 12 and ten back then, and have literally grown into young adulthood following the unfolding dramas at Hogwarts and beyond.

Leadership Excellence magazine recently released its ranking of the Best Leadership Development programs in the country. From the Adizes Institute to Zenger|Folkman, the list includes some well-known companies and institutions all working to help executives and up-and-coming talent lead the way.

Editor Ken Shelton based his decisions on seven solid criteria: