How Do You Get There?

Dan Edelman got to where he was by making all the right decisions over the years, and maybe getting lucky a few times along the way. He found a balance in everything he did that would define himself and the company he created. On each page of Edelman and the Rise of Public Relations we learn much more than the story of Dan and the company, we learn what is expected for one to succeed in the PR industry.

When Dan started his own firm he relied heavily on the journalism industry to pull talent from for their strong writing skills. Public Relations is an industry built on strong story telling and is one of the staples in the industry. But Dan also picked these people for another reason... Their connections. Dan, knowingly or not, gave himself direct access to the people running the stories and handling the media. In PR, you have to know how to get the story as well as be able to get it to run. Without strong writing and networking skills you'll fall short in this field.

Early on in Dan's career there was a time when he came into the office to find half of his staff gone. As much as we learn how to deal with failure and struggle, we learn one of the most important things we can, ALWAYS BE THINKING & ALWAYS BE PROBLEM SOLVING. He managed to retain every client, immediately calling each of them up to inform them of what had happened. Every time Dan was presented with something (people ending up in jail or business locations failing) he was thinking about how to handle the situation, and what the next step would be that could keep him on track to the end goal. Every day PR professionals are handed new problems, and it is their job to come up with creative ways to fix them.

At the end of it all, it was Dan's drive and passion that led him to the top. Dan set a series of personal goals for himself that he wanted to accomplish, went out, and did everything he could to succeed in his objectives. It is up to each and every individual to find out what it is that they want, what is it that they're working towards? Once you know what you want and the drive is there, everything else will start to fall into place, you just have to want it as bad as Dan wanted it.