I’ve been reading about glasnost recently and prepping to do some interviews with Russian journalists about my career and about women in business. I’m a voracious reader—current affairs, politics, fashion, newsstand articles, trashy online gossip columns and weighty publications. I should admit I also buy supermarket fiction, literally the kind sold at the checkout at Safeway, and I devour it like I do the frozen natural meals I buy at the same grocer whenever I’m at home in Arizona. My mind is very demanding, but some would argue not very discriminating. I prefer a buffet of reading material—all I can eat. But back to Russian words for a second (as I typed this, I thought “borscht,” my all-time favorite vegetable soup, and actually available at the Polish Cottage in Tucson, Arizona.)
Glasnost was that period of “openness and transparency” in the dying days of Communist Russia, when it slowly started coming out of its hiding place to engage with the world. A country previously allergic to any kind of external scrutiny cautiously creaked open its doors. In a way, that’s what we’re trying to do here at PMI. Ours is a past we can’t change, but through openness and dialogue we can show the world that we are serious about our transformation and good intention.
But how far should we take that? Since relocating to Lausanne I’ve fallen in like with some aspects of this place; show me another office that has three restaurants, coffee corners with leather armchairs, even sofas on the sixth floor to kick back on and, yes, a rooftop view of the French mountains that seems like it’s straight from an Evian bottle.
The view that’s even better, though, is the vision of PMI increasingly being recognized for its efforts in sustainability, inclusiveness, diversity and gender balance, among others. We have been named (again) to the CDP A-List; we have been named (again) as a Global Top Employer; we are on the cusp of being globally EQUAL-SALARY certified.
Awards don’t just bring recognition of your work to your peers and potential new clients. Their morale-boosting value to employees is immense. They’re the ultimate acknowledgement of often long and trying hours spent laboring behind a desk. They bring their own stress, of course. The disappointment of setting your sights on an award and missing out? Don’t go there. (Once upon a time I had to spend a week tallying mentions and winners at Cannes when I was part of a big holding company agency; you have no idea how disappointed people were when their genius didn’t find its way onto a short list, and then if it did, didn’t result in a heavy old Lion.)
We at PMI are going down the path that leads to more acknowledgement. I know here in Europe everyone’s a bit more modest and self-deprecating; bright intellects sometimes stay hidden behind a wall of charm. That’s not where I come from. In the world of marketing and public relations, in the land of advertising and brand building, if you’re trying to change things for the better, you shout about it. We are growing prouder by the day that we are an industry leader in many regards. I’d love it if the next time the internet ran one of those great innovators listicles we could see PMI up there.
Our workplace practices, our commitment to equal pay and gender equality: We are justly proud of these. However, there are other things for which we’re not yet getting the recognition I think we deserve. For example, I often look at the designs of some our products and think they are works of art. Really. I see no reason why some of them couldn’t be featured in an upmarket design and style magazine (and, yes, this is something I will be working on).
On a lighter note, my French is chugging along like a slow donkey climbing a big hill, or worse like a plane stuck on the runway at Heathrow waiting to be de-iced for the third time. (Read: slowly.) Last week I had “ca va” pretty much dialed. This could be a long journey. For anyone interested in the power of language, next month we are hosting the Fair Share conference (thanks to my wonderful colleague Stacey Kennedy, another American, now our PMI president for the Southeast and South region of Asia, who gave me this term that I have glommed onto and use whenever speaking about gender…just give us our fair share, no more) on International Women’s Day, March 8. (Put it in your diary and nominate a male colleague—it’s not just for women.)
One of the speakers will be the cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky talking about how language shapes the way we think and act. I can’t wait to hear what she has to say. Learning French (if I can be so bold as to say “learning,” when “failing miserably” is more accurate), it’s been interesting to note how many French words we adopted in English, especially around food (cuisine, bon appetit) and fashion (prêt-à-porter, haute couture, cologne). Sometimes it seems to me that the Russian language gifted us primarily with political terms, like glasnost and perestroika. The latter is perhaps more significant for us. It means transformation. So, PMI = perestroika, and here’s hoping it will be heavily awarded perestroika at that.
