By Gini Dietrich
Fred Cook is the CEO of Golin (formerly know as GolinHarris).
He is, what you might consider, a big deal.
For any of you who have spent any time in agency life, you know he’s a whale in our industry.
Today he runs one of the most respected PR firms in the world, and he did it in a non-traditional way (barely graduating from college).
I first met Fred in the early days of my blogging career at a PRSA event. He and I disagreed on the topic of client service and he was a complete gentleman about it…even making me think I was right about some of my points (though I’m fairly certain he thought, “Okay, you little punk. Come back when you have some experience.”).
Now he has written a book called Improvise–Unconventional Career Advice from an Unlikely CEO.
What You Will Learn
It’s not often you have the opportunity to ask anything and everything of a CEO of a $200 million PR firm. It’s rare you have one-on-one time with the leader of 1,500 employees in more than 60 offices. And you must certainly almost never have the opportunity to hear from a man who pulled his pants on, one leg a time, and went after what he wanted.
You’ll learn:
- What being a doorman teaches you about problem solving.
- How you can provide feedback to your CEO without fear of losing your job.
- Why traveling abroad—especially to work, if only for a year—helps you your entire career.
- Why this book isn’t just for new college graduates, or Millennials, in general.
- How you can improvise in your job every day.
- How the underdogs can win.
- What it’s like to work with Al Golin (whom, I believe, still goes into the office).
So, get your questions ready, and grab some Gatorade (you’ll need the sustenance). Our author Q&As go at a fast and furious pace and you won’t want to miss a second.
Today’s Author Q&A with Fred Cook
At noon ET (that’s 11:00 CT, 10:00 MT, and 9:00 PT for those of you who can’t do time zones), Fred Cook will be here to answer any and all of your questions.
In order to participate, all you have to do is:
- Make sure you have a Livefyre account or be ready to sign in with one of your social networks.
- Set a reminder for noon ET today.
- Order Improvise.
- Create a list of questions.
- Come back here, scroll to the bottom, and write a comment in the form of a question. As soon as you hit “post comment,” Fred will see it and reply to you. You can even join the conversation around questions others are asking, if you like.
We’ll be here for an hour so you can join us the entire time or step in and out during the hour. It’s entirely up to you; just make sure you’re here before 12:59.
Win a Copy
Those of you who participate in today’s author Q&A with Fred Cook (even if you’re late to the party, but not if you’re an Arment Dietrich employee) will be entered into a random draw for a free hard copy of the book.
Don’t forget—you have to actually leave a comment, ask a question, or participate in the chat to be entered in the draw. Otherwise we won’t know you were here.
Get ready with your questions and join the conversation. And don’t fear! If you missed the live portion of this, we’ll keep the drawing open until midnight PT so you still have time to get in your questions.
Former Guests
For former guests, check out Margie Clayman, Sarah Robinson, Mark Story, Beth Hayden, Sarah Evans, Stanford Smith, Chris Brogan, C.C. Chapman, Mitch Joel, Danny Brown, Chuck Hemann, Michael Brito, DJ Waldow, Tom Martin, Ahava Leibtag, Jay Baer, Shel Israel, Mark Schaefer, Gini Dietrich, Rob Biesenbach, Steve McKee, Neal Schaffer, Ed Zitron, Ann Handley,Tim Frick, Tom Martin, Paul Roetzer, Diana Kander, Jeremy Miller, Hessie Jones, Maddie Grant, Ryan Hanley, Jim Mitchem, and James Altucher.
Who’s Next?
- August 19: Robert Phillips, Trust Me, PR is Dead
- September 16: TBD
- October 21: TBD
- November 18: TBD
- December 16: TBD
Clearly we have some work to do to line up the guests for the rest of the year.
But save the dates…we’ll announce who we have soon!