Trap of Complacency

John Amatt, president of One Step Beyond WorldWide, an educational and motivational company, spoke at a recent Accelerent breakfast.
Amatt is renowned in the international mountaineering community for making the first –ever climb of Europe’s highest and steepest mountain face, the 5,000-foot “Vertical Mile” Troll Wall in Norway.  He also organized and led Canada’s first successful expedition to reach the 29,035-foot summit of Mount Everest, known as the “top of the world.”
Amatt talked about the “trap of complacency.”  We’re all susceptible to it, especially when things are going well.   He pointed out that being at 4,000 feet of a 5,000-foot climb is no time to be complacent!
It’s no different in the PR world.
We’ve had to – and must continue to – rethink how we do things.  It ranges from things as basic as how we communicate with the media to what should be included in our strategic recommendations to clients.
It’s a matter of survival – find innovative and creative new ways of doing old things while blending them with the foundations and principles that will never change.
We also have to realize that every time we reach the summit, when we’re at the top of the world with a client, there’s always another summit out there waiting for our arrival.