The NY Times dives deep into crisis communications examining the lack-luster PR responses from BP, Toyota and Goldman Sachs in their respective PR catastrophes. It's a great look into what to do and not to do in the event of a crisis. 

Some of our industries smartest practitioners offer their insight and perspective, which could come in handy if you ever find yourself in a crisis communications situation. Which I hope you don't. 

Today Mashable interviewed 14 PR pros on the future of public relations and how they see social media changing the industry collecting their thoughts on how social media will affect the future of the press release, the evolution of social platforms, current limitations and solutions for those impediments, connecting with other PR pros, cost savings, and building relationships.

Loads of good insights and resources. 

MP Mueller's 9 Keys to Getting the Most for Your Marketing Money on the NYTimes.com's You're the Boss blog, offers a lot of great suggestions for those looking to hire an advertising/marketing agency that also could prove useful for those looking for a PR firm as well. 

I wanted to focus on the second point in the article because I think this is one of the biggest challenges we as PR practitioners face when working with clients. It suggests to throw back that curtain once you have committed to an agency relationship and treat the agency - specifically in my case a PR firm - as a partner. MP Mueller hits  the nail on the head, stating:

"We are not the printer repairman; we’re an extension of your marketing team. An agency can help create some remarkable shifts in your business, but not if you keep us at arm’s length. Throw back that curtain and share what’s worked in the past and what hasn’t. Give us access to your team. Let us listen in on your customer calls and evaluate all of your touch points — your reception area, proposals, receipts, signage, ads and Web experience. A good agency wants to be challenged and held accountable for results."

Well said. Truth is, in order to get the most out of your PR agency you need to give them access and treat them as part of your internal team and not as outsiders with the approach that it is a buyer-seller relationship, because it can be so much more than that if you let it. Any successful working relationship starts with clear objectives. Understand exactly where PR fits within your entire marketing effort. Share more than your baseline business and marketing objectives with your prospective PR agency so that it can interconnect their strategy and tactics with your organizations short and long-term communications, marketing and business development activities to deliver maximum value both internally and externally.

It's time to throw back that proverbial curtain and let the PR folks and the Sun in. 

Learning new skills is one of the best habits you can form. It keeps your mind open and challenged, and it also provides a steady stream of accomplishment to your life. It keeps you motivated and interested in the world around you.

With this in mind, thought this list of useful sites/resources (40 in all) to learn new skills, from DIY projects around the home to technology tips and tools to make your more efficient at work, would come in handy to cultivate both personal and professional development. 

Do these skills have to be particularly marketable, or even useful? There are probably many who would say that you should focus on work oriented skills to maximize the monetary value for your time. I actually see this as antagonistic to the learning oriented mindset. Of course you should learn new work skills, but that's such a basic requirement of being a successfully employed person that I don't think it counts. Plus, focusing all of your learning time on just one area of your life (your job) seems restrictive. A person who cultivates a passion for learning will find all sorts of things to explore, things that break them out of their routine (and make them interesting to talk to at parties).

And, since you never know which skills may come in useful, so why not just have some fun?

Today's You're The Boss blog via the NY Times has a great contribution from MP Mueller, founder and president of Door Number 3, a boutique ad agency that nicely encapsulates the opportunities, challenges, the good and bad of Twitter for consumer facing businesses and some professional services firms.

And, I think she hits the nail on the head when she says that "there are limits to what you can do on Twitter. For professional services firms like Door Number 3, Twitter is not a tool to drive quick business sales."

She adds, "Even for professional services firms, social media, done well, can be good for awareness. It may not drive quick sales, but if you post articles and research, if you create a persona for your brand that your target audience appreciates and learns from, you will earn credibility — and this can lead to new clients. Eventually."

We've been in this position before, where a CEO of a professional services firm who heard (INSERT NEWEST WIDGET/APP NAME HERE) is going to revolutionize their business and industry and they have to be on it or their competitor is on it, so they need to be on it too, without really looking at how it's going to help them or their business. It's a me too strategy and those never work. 

In cases like this, we think it's so important to thoroughly evaluate your target audiences and your overall business and marketing objectives first and then figure out a strategy that's going to help you reach those objectives followed by a thorough examination of which tools (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, iPhone app, LinkedIn, email, web, media, etc.) and tactics are going to deliver the impact you desire and effectively reach your target audience. Let's remember, as MP states, there are limits to what you can do on Twitter, and if it's not helping your bottom line or reaching your intended target then you should reevaluate your social media strategy and tactics or realize its limitations to drive quick business sales for your business. It's important to remember that, social media takes time and isn't a silver bullet to your business challenges.