By Peter Shankman
I’m a huge fan of Peter Shankman. An entrepreneur, author, speaker, and worldwide connector, Peter is recognized worldwide for radically new ways of thinking about Social Media, PR, marketing, advertising, creativity, and customer service. I am absolutely delighted to post perfect little excepts from his blog for our NetIP readers.
Last week, during the 854th NYC storm of the month, I had to get out to San Diego to keynote a conference.
Knowing there was going to be a storm, I made a backup plan. I booked the Continental 8:45 EWR-SAN, then booked the Continental 2:45 EWR-SAN as a backup, pretty sure the 8:45 would be cancelled. And of course, it was, and I was all like, “It’s cool, I’m on the 2:45.” And it was cool, until the 2:45 was cancelled, as well.
Crap.
At this point, most people would have pulled the “act of God” clause, and either cancelled altogether, or done the presentation via Skype or similar. They still would have demanded to be paid, despite the fact that as cool as Skype is, it’s still a million years away from being there in person.
If you want to be taken seriously, you simply can’t work that way.
Simply put, I gave my word. I told someone (or in this case, 200 people) that I’d be at a certain place at a certain time, and they’d arranged their schedules to make sure they got to see me. How people view how you value your word is worth more than any speaker’s fee.
I don’t care who you are, you never have a right to break your word.
Read more here.
A marketing pundit for several national and international news channels, including Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, Peter is frequently quoted in major media and trade publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Daily News, The Associated Press, Reuters, CNN, FOX News, and USA Today.
Born and raised in New York City, Peter still lives there with his two psychotic cats, Karma and NASA, who consistently deny his repeated requests to relinquish the couch. In the few hours of spare time Peter has per month, he’s a frequent runner, with 13 completed marathons, seven Olympic distance triathlons, two half-Ironman triathlons, and one full Ironman Triathlon to his credit, as well as a “B” licensed skydiver with over 220 jumps.