Monday, December 15, 2008

Lesson on Openness




It was obvious to me that the industry I work in -- advertising and marketing -- was tanking long before my newest client told me that her company was being folded into the parent company.

She's a smart, well-liked executive who came to the agency side from the client side with big ideas.

She hinted that the parent company might call me for some help. And they did. That presented me with a big of a dilemna. My loyalty of course, is to my former client. She was shown the door and is trying to put together a new venture. But the prospective client is a big organization. A foot in the door for something that could become something bigger.

After I got off the phone with big company guy, I called my former client. I told her I'd been asked to meet with the big guy. And she said, "if someone wants to pay you money in this economy, I understand." Not sure what kind of response I was looking for, but I knew I could not meet with the Big Guy, without letting her know. Maybe, 10-years ago, I would have done things differently. But I've learned that being upfront and honest is the best way to move forward in business.

Now if only those bastards on Wall Street were reading this blog!


TEXT

3 comments:

Robert Cary said...

Hello -- I'm considering a move to Wilton and am very much enjoying your blog. Also, one of the places I'm looking at is right next door to the Wilton Playshop... sounds like a lot of fun. Do you commute to NYC every weekday?

Toni Lee said...

Robert - thanks for your comment on the blog. As to Wilton, it is a lovely small town. But it is a small town in many ways. I moved here for the schools. That's usually why people come to Wilton. I do commute to NY - not every day - but several days a week. It depends on where in town you live as to the ease of the commute. I live close to the westport side of town and when I take the train, I take it from westport. It also depends where in NY you work. A train commute to my office which is on the west side is over 2 hours door -to -door, making driving a better solution, but not the best.

Robert Cary said...

Thanks, Toni. I'm looking at a place very near the Wilton station; my mother and grandparents currently live in Westport. Wilton seems more "country" than Westport, but I've got a (small) place in Manhattan so I was hoping that the city would be there for diversity when need be, and that we could send our kids to school for less than 50K a year as well! I currently go up to Wilton for movies and always like it very much, and I recently went to (and really enjoyed) your library there. We'll see -- but knowing there are voices like yours in town makes it seem more appealing. Best, Rob

 
Add to Technorati Favorites