She was given mere months to live.

Now, I’m sure you’re thinking, “How would I react if I or someone I love were given this sudden news?” and the answer in your mind might be to fold your cards and accept your destiny.

Did this stop my mother from living her life? Not a chance. She had deep roots in faith and religion and she never once complained, blamed God, or even her physician who missed her cancer six months prior. She never stopped fighting cancer. My mother didn’t live for just the six months given to her. She fought ovarian cancer for two entire years, always smiling and spending time with her children.

One could literally see the cancer eating away at her body. She physically was only a shell of the person she was when healthy. But I know that cancer never defeated my mother. It may have taken her body, but I know she was destined for greater things.

She inspires me regularly. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t hold a conversation with her, and I know she is listening. She has taught me what it means to be selfless, to cherish the life you’ve been given, and to help others in need.

That’s why I do what I do.

At 35, while pregnant with my sister, my mom was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. In the 25 years that followed my mom suffered from nearly every complication on the list. It started slowly, but eventually there was a seemingly constant onslaught of medical problems, including high blood pressure, foot infections, hypoglycemia, nerve damage, circulation issues, iron deficiency, eye complications, chronic UTIs, and kidney disease (to name a few). In the last two years of her life she was in and out of the hospital constantly. She’d been diagnosed with end-stage renal failure and continued to struggle with life-threatening wounds due to extreme numbness in her feet. She remained good-natured through it—and even liked to joke about the time she lost a shoe but didn’t realize she was barefoot until she had walked across a parking lot and got into the car with my dad.

My dad was (is) amazing. My mom didn’t want to have to be in the hospital for dialysis treatments so my dad learned how to administer peritoneal dialysis at home (which needed to be administered EVERY night—by my dad, the CARPENTER). He learned how to take care of her wounds—including all of the equipment needed to help stimulate her circulation. He ordered all of her medical supplies and equipment. He dealt with the medical supply companies when things didn’t work properly. He checked her vitals and blood sugar several times per day. He drove her to every appointment. He did all of her shopping. He did all of her cooking. Eventually, he fed and bathed her. He even made a crazy contraption out of wood that enabled him to take her and her wheelchair up and down the stairs—one stair at a time!—so that she could stay at home near the end and sleep in her own bed. (I remember it made a horribly loud noise as is lumbered from one stair to the next and I was always sure he was going to hurt himself.) I never saw anyone more determined.

My mom ultimately succumbed to her disease in 2007 at age 59. It’s hard to say what complication was really the culprit, as her body was so badly ravaged at the end. My dad was destroyed. Not only did he lose his soul mate, but he also felt like he lost his entire purpose in life and his reason for being. He’d spent the last two years caring for my mother 24/7. The concept of “free time” hadn’t existed in his world for over two years. But suddenly there were no medical appointments to fill up his week nor treatments to administer nor vitals to check. Other people were moving on with life but he had to figure out a new life. It was incredibly difficult (and that doesn’t begin to cover it). It took him over two years to find his “new normal”—and of course he still has moments of extreme emotion. In those moments, I just hug him and tell him how much I love him.

In the coming years, I would love to see us (Compass) and our clients do more for the caregivers—not only during the diagnosis and treatment stages, but also after they have lost their loved ones. At the end of life, one hopes that the patient moves on to a better place. But I can tell you from experience that the caregiver moves on to a far worse place. It’s a place filled with despair, guilt, sadness, and an overwhelming feeling of disorientation. I know that we can help them. The opportunity to play a part in that is why I do what I do.

There are two pictures—one of my mom and I at my wedding in 2006 (10 months before she passed) and the other is my dad with my sister at her wedding in 2011. I can see in his eyes that he’s thinking of my mom. I’ve come to know that look. ☺

That’s why I feel very close to Laura when I meet a patient who refuses to see their condition as a limitation or a handicap. Recently, at a patient advocacy group meeting where I was conducting focus groups, a young boy was asked to describe how his condition affected him. He was silent for a moment, and then he said cautiously: “Well…I suppose it might be better maybe not to have it.” That was as negative as he got, and his condition was not something to take lightly. He was so engaged in living, so focused on what he could do and what he was going to do, that his condition almost didn’t matter. My sister was the same way: a mix of optimism, practicality, and uncommon bravery. Laura never, ever talked about her medical problems, even when she was very sick, in the hospital, undergoing painful procedures, or on her deathbed. She talked about her friends, and about what she was doing, and she always wanted to know how I was doing.

Laura inspires me to do what I do.

A posting on the website of an online rare diseases group, which I’m a member, described the frustrations and despair of Antonieta, a Brazilian mother whose 33-year-old son has a rare disease known as Cerebrotendinous Xanthomatosis, or CTX. Since 1993, he had been treated with a medication that had changed manufacturers numerous times. The medication was now being offered for a price 10 times higher than what Antonieta was used to paying, and she could no longer afford the treatment that her son needed for survival. Antonieta, who had already pursued legal measures within her country to get help paying for the medicine (to no avail), had run out of options. She ended her post: “I don’t know what to do…”

The disease sounded familiar, so we at Compass researched it and tracked down the pharmaceutical company that is now in the process of filing an NDA for the drug. At that point, we sent an email to both Antonieta and the president of the company to put them in touch with one another.

That simple online introduction was all it took.

Antonieta thanked us very much for reaching out to her, and in 24 hours we got word from the pharmaceutical company that Antonieta will now be receiving the drug her son so desperately needs through the organization’s compassionate use program.

It was a great feeling knowing that one simple action could have such a profound impact on the lives of others. As a full-service patient marketing agency we understand the intricacies of marketing to patients—from message development and disease education to patient advocacy and support services. But it’s always rewarding to hear from patients directly to know that our contributions make such a difference.

At that moment, though, something told me a deeper answer was in order. See, what my son really wanted to know was why I went to work instead of staying home and playing with him. He’s the only boy in the family (the poor kid has three sisters!) and he’s a Daddy’s Boy. He misses me terribly when I’m at work and I thought he deserved a better answer than any of the facile responses that passed through my head. He deserved an honest answer, one that might help him really understand why I do what I do. So I said, “I work for your Uncle Matt.”

My son didn’t know his Uncle Matt. In fact, Matt wasn’t even his Uncle. He was, however, one of my best friends, and he died last year after a long, brutal, and devastating battle with a rare disease called Huntington’s. Huntington’s is a genetic disorder that affects muscle coordination and, ultimately, leads to cognitive impairment, dementia, and inevitably death. Roughly 50% of children with affected parents will develop the disease. Unlike most Huntington’s suffers who become symptomatic in middle-age, Matt learned he had the disease in his early 20s. He faced it bravely, as I knew he would, but it ultimately claimed his life at the age of 36.

There are no effective therapies for Huntington’s beyond a few medications that can marginally—and briefly—improve quality of life, but I’m hopeful that with continued research and investment a cure may someday be found. In the meantime, I do what I do. I work to raise awareness of rare diseases like Huntington’s and to help those affected by them. I help bring patients together with those who can offer them potentially life-changing therapies. That’s something of which I’m tremendously proud and passionate. Even more than that, though, I’m proud to be associated with the folks here at Compass. Each of us has a similar story to tell and an equal level of passion and pride in the work we do.

But most of all I’m very proud that when I told my son, “Daddy helps people who are very sick find ways to get better,” the look on his face told me that he’s proud of his Daddy, too.

Coincidentally, that one teacher happened to teach that one class. The professor sounds like another cliché; he was elderly, charming, and wise, with abundant experience in marketing and advertising. He drew from real life experiences and told stories of the real business world, rarely using the lackluster book that the department assigned. Of the many things my professor stressed, the importance of account planning was amongst the most important. We learned about the future of agencies and how account planners, also known as brand planners or strategists, will become more vital to a company’s success.

Recently, agencies have attempted to be more account planning-driven in order to understand better the consumer’s wants and needs. Many agencies have strategists, who are virtually equivalent to account planners: “The difference is as simple as some agencies chose one title, and others chose the other title.”¹ However, there is one difference between the two that is becoming more evident as the role of account planning becomes more widely used—account planners tend to be more involved in the creative process than strategists traditionally have been.  Account planners combine research on the target market and strategic thinking, producing work that meets the consumers’ needs with little money or time wasted in the process. An account planner can be described as “the consumer’s representative, the brand’s champion, and the communication plan’s architect.”² They are knowledgeable in consumer behavior and pass that information along to all the departments in the agency. Gaining as much information and insight on who is going to buy or use the product or service will only help the agency in providing a well-tailored campaign, website, advertisement, or any other form of marketing or advertising, which will make not only the client satisfied, but the customers as well.

The account planner must have an active, organized, and positive relationship with the account and creative teams, as well as the consumers and clients. It’s important that information and ideas are conveyed in a clear, logical way. Account planners must be personable, systematized, and knowledgeable about not only the planning process, but the creative process as well. The fact that they are involved in all departments allows for dynamic decision making and more thoughts and concepts spread throughout the agency. An account planner’s main objective should be to know the customer better than the client does. They should know what the customers are looking for and have knowledge of their unmet needs. For example, a client may think the customer wants speed, but the reality may be they are more concerned with convenience. The account planner will discover these insights through market research. By conducting focus groups and patient panels to define the unmet needs of their customers, the agency will aid the client in the process of producing a tailored product or service.

A quote my professor shared helped me realize more clearly the benefit of account planners:

• “The first skill of the planner’s job is to make ideas happen, not necessarily to have those ideas themselves. The second skill is to spend more time listening than talking, whether in conversation with consumers, clients, or other agency team members. A good listener will recognize those good ideas and use them, thus allowing others to do the work for him/her. The third attribute is a chameleon-like quality that allows the planner to develop relationships with an extraordinarily diverse group of people. In the space of 24 hours a planner may be presenting a strategy to the chairman of a Fortune 500 company; moderating a focus group with single, low-income mothers; and briefing a creative team on a new project. It is important that he or she is able to relate to all of them, in order to both gain their trust and understand their points of view.”³

There is a big future for account planning in advertising and marketing. Every day, new technology changes the way we communicate and how we connect with each other not only in everyday life, but in business as well.

“There are more media, consumed in more ways, by more people than ever before. There are more brands, doing more things, in more places than ever before. There is the same amount of money, in the same pockets, to be spent in the same time as before.”²

I can truly say I am excited to learn more about the marketing and advertising industry and am eager to experience firsthand the deviations that are bound to take place. Changes like these will not only impact the younger generation hoping to eventually become part of the industry, but more so those already part of it who will have to adapt and learn as the industry evolves.

References

1. http://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-an-account-planner-and-a-strategist
2. http://www.ephrononmedia.com/article_archive/articleViewerPublic.asp?articleID=108
3. The Anatomy of Account Planning. The creativity behind the creativity. Henrik Habberstad

ABSTRACT
A random, blindfolded, off-centered trial to determine survival rates among predators (n=46) and prey (n=51) that have been intermixed and transported in a tightly confined space. Blindfolded investigators selected a random container of Stauffer’s Animal Crackers (Figure 1) from a local supermarket¹ with the intention of isolating factors that impact animal survival rates (survival is defined as a recognizable completeness of the head and limbs). The study considered factors such as the relative number of predators to prey (the “P to P ratio”) in each cage as one possible means of increasing the likelihood of prey survival. Also considered was the “predator mix” to determine if an increase in the percentage of, for example, lions per cage significantly impacts morbidity (defined as a life-threatening loss of limbs) and mortality (defined as the permanent separation of major body parts required to sustain life) among prey. While the study size was not great enough to achieve statistical significance, several disturbing trends did begin to emerge.

DISCUSSION:
The results of our study support what Feldman² and others have suggested: it sucks to be thrown to the lions. The low survival rate of prey in particular is due in large part to the overcrowded conditions in which these animals have been forced to coexist. In the wild, the predator to prey ratio is typically in the range of 1:20.³ In the case of Stauffer’s Animal Crackers, the ratio approaches 1:1 (Figure 2, Figure 3). Whether or not these overcrowded and unnatural conditions should elicit inquiries into the ethical treatment of animals is beyond the scope of this study; however, suffice it to say we recorded unheard-of levels of morbidity and mortality, and survival rates for all animals are among the lowest on record (Figure 5).

It is interesting to note that in cages where the average number of lions (6.2) was exceeded, there was a corresponding rise in morbidity among all prey, which may be due to the lions ripping off and eating the prey’s arms and legs (Figure 4).⁴ In cages with a higher percentage of lions, there was also an increased percentage (26%) of morbidity among the lions themselves, which may be accounted for by interspecies conflict between dominant males, as evidenced by the missing arms, legs, and in one case, the entire hindquarters of another lion (Figure 4).⁵

Seems easy, right? However, it’s harder than you might think to get people to think this way. David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, Ready for Anything, and Making It All Work, talks often about a “natural planning model.” Essentially, it means that we all think in projects. For example, before we go to work, we have a series of steps we go through to get us to our end goal of arriving in the office. We typically plan out these steps sequentially so that they allow us to meet that goal by the due date/time, i.e. start of business. It seems logical that we wait to brush our teeth before we get out of bed, and the point is that we do this type of sequential task determination all day, everyday. It is a completely natural way of thinking—and part of our subconscious.

But even though it’s natural, as project managers we get resistance to establishing these three parameters. It may be easy for everyone to agree on what needs to get done and even by when, but determining who is going to do it is much more difficult. We might get lucky and know who will do what, but that when becomes elusive! There are entire books, courses, and professions (READ: project management) about this topic, so I won’t belabor it here. Instead, I offer a simple option: make every business communication end with answers to all three.

This may seem completely logical and unnecessary to suggest, but how many meetings or emails have you been a part of where there are plenty of folks talking about what needs to get done, yet no one is owning the task or committing to a due date? When a client calls, do you end the call with a statement similar to, “I will get that report to you by end of day tomorrow” or do you tell them you’ll take action without specifying what that action is or by when you will complete it? While you may think that you’re reinforcing your commitment to customer service, the client is left with a vague sense of dread. Much worse is that you left your commitment too open-ended, which leaves the door open for their disappointment when what you ultimately deliver misses the mark. Not only does confirming expectations in the “who does what by when” way help to ensure a common understanding of what task will be completed, but it also makes it clear how you can deliver something of even greater value than was discussed.

Internal communications, especially meetings, are no exception to establishing the Who does What by When habit. Just try to remember that at the end of every meeting there should be some kind of next steps discussion. Experience will show you that if the steps are not defined, even if the next step is to set up a meeting to discuss next steps, not much progress will be made. Getting into the habit of laying out next steps also gets you into the practice of chunking down larger tasks into manageable bites. A next step of “Joe will set up a meeting today for the stakeholders to decide the goals of the project” is much more manageable than “The project team needs to get together and develop the strategy.”

This concept also works when trying to get a client to commit to handling a task on their end. The only difference is that since you have less influence with a client than you do a resource, you have to add a follow-up task. So once they commit to “following-up with the legal department by end of day Wednesday,” you can reply with “Great! I will call you in the afternoon on Thursday to see what the outcome is if I don’t hear from you beforehand.”  You’re giving them the opportunity to keep their commitment and making sure that there is a plan of action just in case they don’t. While the client may not care, they also know that you are doing your job in making sure the desired action happens—Win-Win.

The great thing about this three-pronged question is that it works outside the work world, too. How many times have you said/heard something like, “I should probably get someone to check out that squeak in my car” or “I need to find a way to lose these last 10 (or 20, or 30) lbs?” The problem is that while you know you (Who) needs to do something (What), there are no parameters around what that next action (another David Allen-ism) is or when you are going to complete it. I know from experience that telling my wife “I’ll throw out the garbage right after dinner” is very different than “I’ll clean up later.” Having a deadline and a defined action gives us a target to hit. If you ever wonder why some bosses give almost impossible deadlines to meet, it’s because (hopefully) they know that you will often find a good way to meet that deadline. Nothing sparks creativity like a deadline!

If you’re like me, you’re always trying to find more ways to squeeze more effectiveness out of every interaction. By using the “Who does what by when” mantra, you will most definitely get more accomplished on your own as well as through others.

Are you a road warrior? Chances are if you are in Account Services within the agency world, you are going to have to be on the road at some point in time. One creamer and sugar at a time on your plane, strange hotel rooms that always have something quirky about them, high priced EVERYTHING, and never enough sleep. Trust me, I know how it is.

For some reason or another, I used to enjoy the “thrill” of being a road warrior: exploring new cities, indulging in delectable restaurants, meeting new people, and of course, all of the perks that come with travel – airline miles, free hotel rooms and upgrades, no lines for anything, etc. Think George Clooney in Up in the Air (which may be the story of my life).

After flying close to 150,000 miles last year though, the glamour of traveling has faded away; the reality of overbooked flights, sleeping in foreign beds, intrusive security pat downs, and travel size toiletries became my norm. If I can’t carry it in my luggage, I don’t want it. If it is more than 3.4 oz., I can’t carry it on. If it won’t fit into an overhead compartment, I am not buying it.

A road warrior doesn’t live the same life as normal folk. I constantly have people asking me where I am and when I am coming back. If I travel to a client for the week, that means I need to spend my weekends running normal errands like doing dry cleaning, getting haircuts, washing my car, shopping, etc. This leaves hardly any time for family and friends, let alone having a social life.

A real road warrior learns how to adjust though. The road warrior I am talking about knows how to get through security lines in 30 seconds by dropping their shoes on the ground with one hand and putting them on while shoving their laptop in their bag with their other hand; and then is putting their belt on while running to the gate and grabbing their boarding passes out of their pocket. We never check our bags either. I would rather lose my 5oz. shampoo that cost me $12 than going through the hassle of checking a bag. This road warrior also embraces the sporadic long lines at the airport because it means they can send a couple more emails on his Blackberry. We don’t care about fancy sheets and pillows in our hotels because we know to throw them off the bed the second we walk in the room. We don’t even take connecting flights unless we HAVE to.

I’ve learned a couple of other things along the way. Now set your ADHD aside for a second, and focus in:

• Always travel with comfortable clothes. You can’t predict that last minute request for some seemingly never ending power point presentation that strands you at your hotel room desk. Comfy clothes always make it better.
• Being that your body will begin to freakishly learn how to sleep more sitting up that lying down, make sure you get all the shut eye you can while traveling. You can’t be at your best with the client when you are walking around looking like a zombie.
• Patience is power. Road warriors don’t complain about traffic jams, flight delays, or having to put their bag in an overhead above seat 22F – even though they are sitting in seat 5A. Build extra time into your travel plans to counter these delays.
• Take advantage of the perks. Make sure you sign up for any and all rewards programs you possibly can. You can’t beat being upgraded to first class and moving up to a suite while traveling, and these perks definitely are usable when traveling for personal reasons as well. Build up those miles to plan that fun summer vacation down to Disney with the fam, or that romantic getaway with your significant other.

Feel free to chime in with your best travel tips! I will make sure to blog a second chapter to this with your suggestions.