Home Some PR wisdom A few months ago my Manila friend. Romeo P Virtusio [left], brought a group of senior Philippines PR practitioners to Australia and, amongst other activities, they came to Jackson Wells' offices and ran a seminar for us where they presented a number of PR case studies. It was one of those friendly and thoughtful gestures for which Filipino people are well known. At the end of the seminar, Romy said he had an announcement to make, whereupon he produced a book and told us he was now going to launch it in Australia. It was hot off the press: so hot Romy, the editor, only had a chance to grab two copies before he and his colleagues left for Sydney. The book, How to Make it in PR, shares insights and tips from nine contributors about building a successful PR career and an effective PR company. Here are some brief extracts: The reason why many companies are prone to crisis is that they do not devote any time worrying about their reputation. And when a crisis looms, they think they can hire a PR agency for the duration of the crisis and junk the agency when the crisis seems to be over. As if PR were like a water faucet which you can open and close when you need water - Charlie A Agatep, President, Agatep Associates Inc Love people and learn how to deal with each and every type of personality whether you like it or not. If you are not a people person, PR may not be the career for you - Joycelyn Buensalido, President, Buensalido Public Relations I am not sure if this is part of the Filipino way of doing things but it is definitely my way. I call it "interventionist PR" or pakialamero! Thus, it is in the interest of PR to intervene (or make pakialam) when, for some reason, an organization is not doing well - Max Edralin Jr, Consultant, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Always do your best. Have a passion for excellence, even in the seemingly minor or menial tasks. One must never be satisfied with "puede na" or good enough - Renato E Nieva, Chairman & CEO, Perceptions Inc You join organizations because you want to serve. Let the position "just another name for the opportunity to serve" seek you, not the other way around - Frankie Roman, Director, International Relations, City Government of Makati I have always believed that in PR we have to know first our own culture, our set of beliefs and value system, our traditions and way of doing things, what makes us the same as and different from other peoples of other cultures, and then apply as many of these as are relevant to our work as strategists, project implementors and communicators - Oscar Villadolid, former Philippine Ambassador to the Holy See When you lose clients, take stock of your organization, find out where you fumbled and resolve to strengthen your weak points, but never sulk nor grieve over the loss of a client - Romeo P Virtusio, Chairman & CEO, Virtusio Public Relations About the book: "How to make it in PR" is priced at USD25 a copy and can be obtained by emailing Romeo P Virtusio here. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it