A Potpourri of Thoughts & What I Learned on Summer Vacation

Published: September 01, 2003, By Yolanda Simonsis, Associate Publisher/Editor

I keep an odd collection of press releases in a special file I call “Editorial Inspirations.” Here, tidbits of news and personal communications have managed to survive for years (yes, I said years). Unfortunately, there isn't enough space in the magazine for everything to reach your eyes, so when the folder becomes totally unwieldy due to its size, I grit my teeth and plow into the file, hurling yellowed, ragged-edged pages left and right in search of just the right timely topic to pique the minds of PFFC's readers in this column.

So with this lead in mind, you'll forgive me if I seem to jump from subject to subject. I found several topics to entertain your thoughts. Thankfully, the bulk of my editorial inspirations manage to find a new home in my circular file drawer. (Tell me, why is it my garbage can can't hold all this paper nearly as neatly as my lone file folder?)

I'll start with the most current inspiration that came from a reader after reading my July '04 editorial, titled “Kicking Off the Blanket of Mistrust & Stagnancy” in which I expressed that the economic stagnation this country is experiencing has more to do with a matter of trust than simple consumer confidence. Says president Jack Salerno of Nortech Web Converting Systems, Middlebury, CT:

Read your editorial [in] July PFFC, “Kicking off the Blanket.” Congratulations and tip of the hat. Nicely done — glad someone said it…. We can't wait for President Bush or any of his staff to wave pixie dust and make it all better. We need to get on it ourselves and maybe your editorial will give more of us the inspiration to “kick off the blanket.”

Coincidentally, I came across several dust-laden press releases in my Editorial Inspirations folder that added another perspective to Mr. Salerno's comment. The press releases were dated from 1997 and 1998 and came from one source called Lusig-Nont in Las Vegas, NV. It's still in business and must be doing well, largely because of the nature of the business service it provides. Perhaps your human resource people have heard of the company. It's a publisher of written employment tests, and back in '97 and '98 the company promoted its tests to measure honesty among employees. Here are the titles of two press releases: “A Little Polish Makes Honest Employees Shine Like Diamonds (Employers Can Teach Skills, But Not Values)” and the other, “Don't Give 'Em the Keys — They'll Go to the Movies! (Testing Can Unveil Weakness in Time Management).”

With so much focus in the past on watching the average employee, somehow we didn't notice what was happening at the top of the corporate ladder, especially in large, publicly traded companies. I wonder if Lusig-Nont now has an honesty test for CEOs and CFOs? Honesty starts at the top and trickles down, just like attitude. We all need to consider where our opinions and practices fall on this subject to “kick off the blanket of mistrust and stagnancy.”

Then a loyal reader, Pat Bowser, marketing communication manager for Avery Dennison Fasson Roll North America, responded to August's editorial:

Had to laugh at the doom and gloom comments someone had shared with you. Yeah, I think those comments may be a dose of reality that every business experiences from time to time, but it's all how you look at things. Like you, I chose to look at the upside and how I can make a difference to make life (and business) better. You and I have learned to enjoy the ‘moment.’

Again as I rifled through my Editorial Inspirations, I came across a front page article from the July 2, 1998, issue of the The New York Times stating, “The Rosy Economy Is Showing a Blemish as Factories Slow.” (No, it wasn't authored by Jayson Blair, the infamous news manufacturer, who raised broad questions about the media's journalistic ethics.) Who at that time would have thought that just a few months later, we'd experience the biggest boon in our economic history?

Attitude is everything. And that vacation I said I was taking last month? I learned we all need vacations to renew and refresh our spirits to have the proper attitude. I highly recommend it.

For more information on the converting industry beyond this issue's contents, visit pffc-online.com. We offer content there you cannot find here, and it is updated weekly. Once there, be sure to e-mail your feedback to me, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..