The Basics
Name of organization: Sullivan & LeShane Public Relations
Title: Managing Partner
Size of organization: Seven employees
Education: Bachelor’s degree in English from Providence College
Previous job(s): President & creative director, Maher Greenwich and Maher Hartford (advertising); Marketing director, Fred Locke Stereo; Program director, WHCN-FM (radio); Creative director, BodnarFoxGorton (advertising)
On the job
Guiding business principles: Tell the truth, strive for excellence, exceed expectations, treat everyone with kindness and respect, and laugh whenever possible.
Best way to keep your competitive edge: Question everything
Proudest accomplishment: Whenever someone tells me that Sullivan & LeShane Public Relations has an excellent reputation.
Goal yet to be achieved: Celebrate 50 years as a professional communicator in 2020.
Favorite part of the job: Coming up with compelling and memorable ways to tell a client’s story.
Least favorite part of the job: The RFP process (which is why nearly all of our clients are via referral).
Most influential business book: The AP Style book
Personal touch in your office: Stones I collect beachcombing in Provincetown.
Judgment calls
Best business decision: Founding Sullivan & LeShane Public Relations in 1988 with my two partners, Paddi LeShane and Patrick Sullivan.
Worst business decision: Probably starting an advertising agency branch office in Greenwich from scratch with no capital. But we paid all our bills while fulfilling a two-year lease and it was the equivalent of earning a master’s degree — so it might have led to my best business decision.
Biggest missed opportunity: I’ve been incredibly fortunate, but I still regret not accepting an invitation to a party on Cape Cod in 1969. The invitation was from a friend of a friend who was living with his uncle — a writer I had never heard of named Kurt Vonnegut.
Best way to spot trends: Read everything.
Next big move: I’ll know it when I see it.
Your pet peeve: Mendacity. Like my father and brothers, I avoid “phonies” at all cost.
Personal side
City of residence: Glastonbury
Favorite way to relax: Read the New Yorker
Hobbies: Walks with my wife, spend time with my new grandson, travel, cooking healthy.
Last vacation: Two weeks in Provincetown
Favorite movie: MASH
The car you drive: Mercedes Benz S550
Currently reading: “Wheat Belly” by Dr. William Davis
Favorite cause: Hartford’s Camp Courant
Second choice career: Writer
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