I’ve got kindergarten on the brain. In less than a week my first-born will put on her backpack and walk down the hall to room 222, leaving her preschool days behind for good. Questions keep popping to mind – How will she adjust to the early hours and long days? Will she make new friends easily? What will she learn?
That last question brought to mind Robert Fulghum’s “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” I’ve never read the book, but at the height of its popularity (20 years ago!) I remember seeing countless posters and kitschy items with this list of life lessons. My personal favorite is still “Take a nap every afternoon,” followed closely by “Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.”
Taking a fresh look at the list today, another one stood out: “Remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK.” Look. Isn’t that what we’re trying to do here – get people to look at us/our product/our service/our company? Yes, it is. But the life lesson doesn’t tell us how to get people to look at us – it tells us to be the ones who are doing the looking. Funny thing is, that can be the best way to get people to look at you.
Steve Jobs looks. He looks at a black and white PC world and adds a splash of color. Seth Godin looks. He looks at the ways ideas spread and creatively applies that to marketing. Ryan Gravel looks. He looks at a circle of largely unused rail lines around Atlanta and sees a potential new transit system for the city.
It takes practice to get really good at looking. Start small. Look at your to-do list for the day. What’s there that shouldn’t be? What’s missing? Then move on to the bigger things. Look at your product/service. What does it look like to your current customers? What do potential customers see when they look at you? Taking a good, hard look at the world around you can generate some big ideas. So take a look around, then get ready to take action. And when you do, don’t forget another kindergarten life lesson: “When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.”
As design director at Cookerly, Tim serves as the creative lead in the development of branding campaigns, print collateral and digital media for clients across a broad range of industries, including consumer, professional services, healthcare and technology.
As a senior vice president at Cookerly, Mike Rieman is a strategic communications leader specializing in media relations and reputation management. With a proven track record of securing high-profile placements in top-tier outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN and USA Today, he excels at crafting compelling narratives that resonate across print, broadcast and digital platforms.
Mike Touhill is vice president at Cookerly Public Relations, where he helps lead traditional, social and digital media programs for B2B and B2C clients in packaging, telecommunications and technology, among other industries. As a communication leader, he develops and executes public relations strategy, provides proactive and reactive counsel to C-level executives and secures earned media coverage for client initiatives and product.
Andrew Agan is a vice president at Cookerly Public Relations, overseeing the agency’s internship program and leading media relations, content strategy and social media initiatives. He provides counsel and executes campaigns for clients across various sectors, including finance, healthcare, hospitality, technology, automotive and many others. Andrew excels at crafting compelling stories and building media relationships, resulting in clients being featured in notable outlets such as CNBC, Associated Press, Business Insider, Fox Business, HBO, Inc. Magazine, Sirius XM, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today, among others.
As vice president of Cookerly, Sheryl Sellaway uses her extensive corporate communications background to lead consumer PR efforts, deliver strategy for marketing programs and share expertise about community initiatives.