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Monday
April 18, 2011 Can Your Boss Keep a Secret?Filed under: Fun From guest blogger and ASICentral Director Samantha Tucker who has exited her code cave to write a blog! Those of you who’ve read Michele Bell’s latest blog post, With a Little Help From My Friends… learned that respect and appreciation for one’s coworkers and superiors abounds at ASI (for the second year in a row, ASI was awarded a Best Places to Work award). Motivated by Miss Bell’s incredibly gracious tribute to her coworkers, I felt compelled to bring up a few points of my own. I recently discovered that my boss, Executive Vice President/Publisher Rich Fairfield, is even smarter than I’d realized. The first day I began work at ASI, I attended our weekly team meeting, and the next day Rich left for a series of business trips over a three-week period. Rich called to check in with me (from China!) and see if I had everything I needed, and then trusted me to figure out the requirements of my new project on my own. At the time it was of course a bit scary, wondering if I had completed the tasks correctly, but I quickly realized I was exceptionally fortunate in my new position with ASI. One of Rich’s personality traits that particularly encourages and motivates me is that he takes the time to truly help his employees, and he’s given me absolutely priceless advice. In previous jobs (and those of some of my friends and family members, as well), managers have wanted to retain control to the extent that they believed sharing advice would make them less powerful. The difference with Rich is that he realizes he needs to help his employees to be the very best they can be in order for the employees and the company to truly be successful. Oh … and one more thing: Rich is always willing to listen to (and actually *hear*) any ideas we may have. Did you notice I italicized the word “listen”? We’ll get to that point later. As I mentioned, Rich is our publisher at ASI. ASI publishes five magazines, and Kathy Huston, editor of Advantages magazine, covered “Regional Sales Report, Top Markets, Hot Sellers” in the latest issue. Perusing the table of contents, my eye caught one specific feature article entitled “Southern Hospitality.” Being the Southerner I am, obviously I found this quite intriguing, and wondered how on-point the article really was. I began reading the article, and when I flipped to the second page of the feature, there was a definite audible gasp that was likely heard in California. My boss, Rich Fairfield, Publisher, Executive Vice President of Listening, and approver of said article, was privy to a secret of mine and last month approved publishing that secret to the 40,000 individuals that subscribe to Advantages magazine. Was my secret buried in a short sentence or two within the article? Oh no, my secret was on display in a large green box entitled “Fun Fact,” complete with large text and an associated image. My secret is definitely noticeable, and I fear that it is likely time for me to discontinue the use of this particular form of “Southern hospitality.” So when Rich briefly mentioned the April issue of Advantages magazine in our meeting this afternoon, and questioned my reaction, well, I had done already taken a notion to go on ahead and take a gander at that there article. To all ya’ll that have not had the privilege of reading the article, if you want to know my secret you’ll have to read it. Many thanks to all ya’ll, including my wonderful coworkers, Tim Andrews, Norman Cohn (even though every time I see him I happen to be carrying a piece of cake and, without fail, he asks me what it is that I’ve brought him), and last but certainly not least, Rich Fairfield. Bless your big heart. As an aside, it appears that Kathy may have missed something when she was researching that feature article. My fellow Southern cousin, Kevin Tucker, Director of Momentum for Collide LLC, (true title, there is also a Director of Trajectory) opened my eyes to a shockingly, not-so-hospitable Southern find documented in the following photo:
Friday
April 15, 2011 Royal Wedding Promotional Products PhotosFiled under: Fun The Royal Wedding of England’s Prince William and Kate Middleton is just two weeks away, and since this is the ad specialty industry, we wondered just how popular are promotional products for this event. Apparently, so popular that royal wedding merchandise could top £26 million [$42.5 million]. Even more interesting are the kinds of promotional products … from shot glasses and tea kettles to condoms and bells, check out the haul of promotional products we found on the streets of London.
Wednesday
January 19, 2011 Bowling with Frozen Turkeys! Counselor Holiday Contest WinnersWhen my colleage Andy Cohen and I set out to find the best holiday office party pics and videos in the industry last month, we had no idea what we’d receive. Coming off a very successful Halloween party contest in which our Best Places to Work Facebook community stepped it up and sent in dozens of great photos and videos, we were totally expecting the goods, but didn’t really think anyone could raise the bar. Boy, were we wrong. Distributor Signet, Inc. (asi/326636) not only raised the bar with their holiday frozen turkey bowling tourney, they set a new standard in employee fun! And for their efforts, they win this year’s Counselor Best Places to Work holiday contest and a cool $100! Listen to an interview with Stephen Tate of Signet about the frozent turkey bowling tourney. And for the record, here are some of my fave pics … enjoy! And congrats Signet!
Thursday
January 6, 2011 Color My World, Baby!Filed under: Fun Quick, what’s your favorite color? Odds are you said “blue” and that’s all fine and good, but what does your favorite color actually say about your personality traits and best qualities? Well, this month’s Advantages magazine put that question to task by presenting 9 popular colors and their respective traits and qualities in a cool, interactive feature! Simply click on your favorite color from the 9 and you will find out a little more about yourself. (Hopefully you won’t be surprised!) For the record, my fave color says I ”keep it real and am happiest when everyone else is happy.” Peace out! – VinnieVerde (colors to choose from)
Thursday
November 18, 2010 Counselor’s First-Ever Halloween Party Contest Winner Is …Filed under: Fun Congratulations to distributor firm CustomInk, winner of the first-ever online competition honoring the best Halloween party in the industry. In October, my good pal and Counselor Editor Andy Cohen encouraged industry companies to submit their stories, photos and videos to our Best Places to Work Facebook page describing why their office Halloween party was the wackiest, most entertaining and most creative this year. The spoils? A $100 gift card. And, wow, did we ever get some great submissions! Sifting through tons of great Halloween content, Andy and I finally decided that CustomInk simply rocked Halloween harder than any other company, with employees dressing up in costumes ranging from the cast of Glee and Jersey Shore, to pop culture icons like Michael Phelps, John Oates (from Hall & Oates), Uncle Eddie from Vacation, Rosie the Riveter and many more. Congrats, CustomInk! And enjoy some of our favorite images, below.
Cast of Glee. 
John Oates. 
Rosie the Riveter. 
Snap, Crackle, Pop. 
Cast of Jersey Shore.
Wednesday
November 17, 2010 My Shirt - Hip or Hideous?OK, during yesterday’s ASI Radio Show, I was assuming my normal duties as one of the radio techs, when all of a sudden two minutes into the show my shirt becomes the topic of conversation. Host Melinda Ligos introduced me as usual, then went on to say: “Vinnie’s wearing a very interesting, denim-y shirt today. A lot of sheen to it. So he’s gonna head out to the nightclubs right after this …” (listen to the ASI Radio clip here). And so on and so forth it went. And now my shirt has become something of a discussion piece in the office, flecked with comments ranging from nightclub anticipation to rodeo wrangling. So I have to ask you, what do you think of this shirt?!! Hip or hideous?! Feel free to post comments below … I can take it!
– DiscoVin |
