Intentions versus Perception

by Robbie Vorhaus on June 28, 2011

in Leading From the Heart,Storytelling

Big Bubble“I’m paying for this?” was the client’s first remark after looking around our beautiful new Manhattan offices, adding, “And good luck on the overhead.”

I was shocked.  We had just completed an expensive six-month build-out of the 16th floor at 1700 Broadway, directly across the street from the Ed Sullivan Theater, home to The Late Show with David Letterman, and I was certain our clients and employees would be proud of the space.  But they weren’t.

My intention as the owner of Vorhaus & Company Public Relations, and my client’s perception as paying customers, was diametrically opposed.

Our first office in New York City was 310 Madison, at the corner of 42nd Street, cattycorner to Grand Central Terminal (inside New York City tip: It’s Grand Central Terminal, not Grand Central Station).  With just a few rooms, we crammed a lot of very talented PR professionals into a few thousand square feet, and in a couple years, and a number of big client wins, including H.J. Heinz, Domino’s Pizza, Pfizer, Keebler and Buick, we quickly outgrew the space.

Representing global Fortune 500 companies, I thought our clients would want us, their PR firm, to have a new, gorgeous, professional office exuding success.  And for recruiting purposes, potential Vorhaus employees would be attracted to a fun, expansive and highly designed space.  I was wrong on both counts.

Our clients didn’t care what our office looked like.  They just wanted us to produce exceptional results at a fair price.  And our employees didn’t care either, they just wanted to work in a clean space, be paid well, and treated fairly.  Our clients saw the fancy space as expensive overhead they would be shouldering in their fees, and our employees saw the well-appointed space as a sign that we were wildly profitable and could pay them more.

Despite the best of intentions, without truly understanding my client and employee perceptions, I made a costly mistake that had I taken a few extra steps, could have easily been avoided.  That won’t happen again.

Although I would like believing I’m fairly intuitive, I am always surprised and enlightened by other’s insight and perceptions regarding my choices.  And just as a smart trial lawyer won’t ask a question he or she doesn’t already know the answer to (or a proficient writer won’t let a participle dangle), it’s important knowing in advance what the perceptions are of your intentions.

Do your intentions align with your board, investors, leadership team, customers, suppliers, employees, regulators, subordinates, competitors, and the media’s perceptions?  Are your intentions perceived to be in the best interest of the people your decision will impact?  Consider these points the next time you need to make significant decisions with a long term impact:

1. Know Your Story Cold.

What is your intention?  What’s the reason for your decision?  What’s your unique point of view (POV)?  If your intention is the main character, the hero of the story, what or who is the antagonist, the opposing force to your desire?  What are the implications of your decision and what is your desired outcome?  What’s your benchmark for success?  Does your intention have a definitive beginning (past), middle (present), and end (future) for the story?  How well can you articulate this story, and can others tell the story, too?

2.  Identify and Understand Your Audience.

What is your intended response from your decision?  Who are the influencers in each group, such as employees, institutional investors, key media, and how do they perceive this decision?  Do they truly represent the whole?  What are the key benefits for each specific audience and are they clear?  What are the main objections to your decision and is any resistance valid and directly opposed to your intentions?

3. Be the Light, Not the Bulb.

Focus on the outcome, not the course of action.  There are 1,000 roads to Mecca and this process of discovery is to avoid surprises and resistance, not declare war or impose your will on others.  You may discover your intentions are completely understood and welcomed with open arms.  But more than likely, your intentions will be misperceived and possibly opposed, and it’s your job to ferret out the potential road blocks and create a new and well received plan for success.

Align your intentions with other’s perceptions and you will, ultimately, improve your chances for success.

What other tips have you found successful for aligning intentions with perceptions?

Creative Commons License photo credit: h.koppdelaney

Tagged as: Buick, David Letterman, Domino's Pizza, Ed Sullivan Theater, Grand Central Terminal, H.J. Heinz, Keebler, Mecca, Pfizer, Public Relations

  • http://twitter.com/SteveBrogan Stephen Brogan

    This event also goes into the category of you cannot please everyone, I think. 

    I found it interesting in that clients would be concerned about your expenses being passed back to them due to your new lavish location. Was the actual cost of the location much higher per square foot that at your last location? Not that it probably mattered to the client, as they perceived it differently that you had intended.I guess it is human nature to think that if the company can afford new digs, the company can afford higher salaries and/or benefits. I liked how your experience enabled you to digest what had happened and allowed you to use it to create a well thought out post on decision making and how to go about it.Thanks for sharing this with us.

    • Anonymous

      hi, steve, at the end of the day, employees and clients want to work w/ a
      successful, profitable, and sustainable business. some may argue, but the
      illusion of a lavish space, especially in these times, doesn’t help create
      more revenue or inspiration. all the best, rv

      _____

  • M. Browne

    Perception is everything!   You never want to wear a big hat and have no cattle! 

    • Anonymous

      amen to that.

      _____

  • Bbrodnick

    You downplay the awesomeness of your New York office. Yes, it was a beautifully designed space with an incredible view of Broadway and the Hudson River, but more importantly, you had the talent to hire an incredible staff that was hardworking, dedicated, inspired and creative. During its reign, Vorhaus & Company rocked.

  • Peter M. Herford

    Yes, perception is reality and the square footage argument would not have mollified a client who was upset at the fancy new digs. I cheer the “know your client” advice. First rule in my journalism world is: know your…reader, viewer, listener (and these days all three at once and usually multi-tasking at that). Add the burden of not being able to please all your clients all the time. Be yourself is what brought you success.
    Would you now have second thoughts coming into a service providers quarters and seeing the best of the best in decor and location? The doctor’s office or clinic that is in the highest rent district, heavily staffed with plush surroundings and the ultimate attention-getter: current magazines for the eternal wait.
    The airport lounges for the privileged that you use for “free”. The most expensive space, most expensively lavished with furniture and food that proves that if you spend more than a dollar a meal for the folks at the back of the bus, airport caterers can produce excellent results. And it is all “free”.
    Oddly most of us do not complain about lawyer’s offices. We have become inured to the astronomical hourly fees. I have even heard clients brag about their lawyers office art: “Its genuine, by well known artists.” You’re paying for it.
    Then there is Michael Bloomberg who worked in the newsroom alongside his employees when he started his successful empire; and thereby changed a culture. The dozens, if not hundreds of family-owned enterprises where the management is thin in numbers, thick in talent and skill, and spartan in decor. 
    Yes there are clients that demand a showy front from their service providers. Keep a small office and conference room on a daily rental-as-needed for them (there’s a business for someone).
    peter m herford

    • Anonymous

      I’m w/ you. Thanks for weighing in.

      _____

  • Ray Crockett

    Robbie:
    Concise and insightful, as always.

     

    I homed in
    on one sentence in your piece: “Do your
    intentions align with your board, investors, leadership team, customers,
    suppliers, employees, regulators, subordinates, competitors, and the media’s
    perceptions?”  You should include “critics” in that
    list. It’s important to recognize that the views/attitudes of your various
    stakeholders seldom coincide. I heard a story recently that is a classic
    example. A pharma company made the decision to donate a significant amount of
    its proprietary AIDS drug to medical organizations working in Africa. Positive
    PR, and it helped take the edge off criticism that this company and other drug
    makers were profiting from misery. At the annual stockholders’ meeting, when
    the CEO proudly described the charitable initiative, he was met with a blast
    from a stockholder who said, essentially, “Why are you giving away my
    money?”

     

    You could call it a very
    narrow view of the business, but he had a point. Should the company have
    changed its mind based upon the opinion of a few stockholders? No, but part of
    a communicator’s job is to understand what all of the stakeholders are thinking
    and saying and be prepared to respond when confronted. I know that before every
    stockholders meeting enlightened companies prepare the CEO and other executives
    with well-researched background and responses on a range of issues, from “say
    on pay” to environmental activism. Thus the CEO invariably has a
    well-thought-out answer to negative questions that probably won’t satisfy the
    critic, but make sense to the large majority of stakeholders and the larger
    public. It also helps to have built a reputation for corporate social
    responsibility and philanthropy.

    Personally, I loved your offices and I didn’t worry about the overhead. You gave us good value for our $.

  • Brew Moscarello

    You certainly bring forth some valid points for us “entrepreneurs” to consider. 
    Although it may have been a painful lesson for you, I am most impressed with your willingness to openly recognize your mistakes in a public forum thereby allowing others to benefit from your painful experiences. This is why you are “The Man” and I am proud to work with Vorhaus and Company. Keep up the good work.

    • Anonymous

      Thank you, Brew.
      I am touched by your note and blessed w/ your friendship.

      rv
      917.693.9600
      http://www.vorhaus.com
      follow your heart. tell your story. change the world.™

  • Tim McIntyre

    Although I was a client, I don’t think I ever equated that cool office with it being something my company paid for. I did think, though, that Vorhaus was kicking ass because the client roster was pretty impressive. I can see, in retrospect, how that may have played with your employees. (“If you can afford THIS, you can afford to pay me more than you are…”) That’s the way it goes.

    One of my favorite “puzzlers” about perception: there are two barbers in a small town. One has the nicest location, a beautiful shop, refreshments for his customers, and he sports a fantastic haircut. The other is in a less visible location, his shop is a bit run-down, tired, and his haircut is uneven, even sloppy. To whom should you go for your haircut?

    (The answer: go to the other guy. Reasoning: because there are only two barbers in town, they must cut each other’s hair. The guy with the run-down shop gives a better haircut than the guy with the fancy shop.)

    In the end, it’s all about results.

  • daniel scales

    Robbie,
    I loved it. In my profession preception is evey thing. Even though my office is in front of a building, what I represent must come through loud and clear. I can understand how some people will take the expanded and more expensive office as warning sign of more money but the people that are truly paying attention will recognize they are getting the best that is available. Keep up the good work.
    Dan Scales

    • Anonymous

      you are the epitome of success through achievement.
      all the best.

      _____

  • Bill Ockford

    Robbie, thanks for thinking of me in regard to your article and I found it interesting. 
    Looking at it as an “outsider” to your industry, I find myself thinking that what you are trying to do is create a perception that appears to be outdated in regard to our present day. In the past your location and setup would be a big seller to your customers but now  many don’t care about that and are only focused on, like you said, “what is the cost to me and what will it produce”. I mean, to me, where you have set up “shop” sounds like a very impressive location but the world has changed so much in the past 10 years that the bottom line is the only thing that matters.
    Like I said, just a thought from an “outsider”.

    • Anonymous

      hardly an outsider.
      all the best.

      _____

  • http://twitter.com/MusicPowerStrat MusicPoweredStrategy

    Thanks for being open and sharing this experience.  I would always suggest running an idea by a  client whom you have a good relationship with and who will give honest feedback.  Anytime I see a location where someone is spending good money I always wonder if “the cover of the book is better than what’s inside.”

    Thanks again!

    • Anonymous

      i like that analogy about the book cover. keep in touch, rv

      _____

  • Matthew Tuttle

    I have seen this very same story play over and over again in the restaurant business. The restaurant becomes successful and the natural tendency is to expand. Of course, the expansion ruins the “feel” of the space and business drop off. When making changes of any kind that affect your customers or employees, make sure they gave input. After all, if you think it’s “your” business, your mistaken. Excellent article. Thank you!

    • Anonymous

      thanks, matthew, you’re right: it’s never really “our” business. all the
      best, rv

      _____

  • Pingback: Robbie Vorhaus: Intentions vs. Perception | The Bull Report

  • Mark Weiner

    Robbie,

    Good to reconnect with you.

    You’ve hit on a critical (but often overlooked) element for building “the value equation.” 

    In my experience as a research-based consult, for example, everyone seeks to “prove the value of PR” and yet, very few understand their organization’s value system and the degree to which it applies to and is satisfied by public relations.  “Value” is subjective, and, as you state so well, it changes not just from organization-to-organization but also from person-to-person within the same organization.  Decision-makers require knowledge of stakeholder preferences and attitudes before imposing values.  This is why so many PR – not to mention business — initiatives fail:  they never accounted for stakeholder values at the beginning.

    All the best,
    Mark Weiner
    PRIME Research 

    • Anonymous

      Why is that, Mark? If more people using PR used the same methodology as,
      say, advertising, you would be incredibly busier, PR budgets would be higher
      because there would be a greater cost vs. return measurable, and the
      campaign would have a very specific beginning, middle and end, not some
      trail off w/ the questions about whether or not it was successful.

      Thank you for this.

      _____

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