Career
He joined Edelman in 1978 after receiving his MBA from Harvard, where he had also studied as an undergraduate. Whilst at Harvard he had intended to take a job in marketing at Playtex, somehow his father persuaded him to instead join the family company. In 1981, he was an executive at the company, and in 1983, he was appointed president of Edelman's New York Office. He was appointed president of the whole company in 1985, but his father remained as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). At that time, the company's income was only $14.2 million. In 1987, Crains Chicago Business described Edelman as already being an "industry dynamo" and as "having many of the same driving qualities as his father, but with a smoother edge when it comes to dealing with subordinates". His father said he was "more willing to listen to the people around him." He pledged to keep the company independent at a time when many other PR companies were being bought by advertising agencies. He later became the regional manager of Europe before being promoted to CEO in September 1996, a post that he still holds today.
In 1996, Edelman told Esquire magazine that, "in this era of exploding media technologies there is no truth except the truth you create for yourself."
In 1999 PR Week described him as "undoubtedly bright, personable and constantly buzzing with ideas and inspiration", noting that he was particularly interested in the dot com companies and internet marketing. According to the report however, "he can turn brash when things don’t go his way", with an unnamed inside quoted as saying "If he slowed down, thought about good manners and tried to achieve half as much, he’d achieve twice as much".
Following the Federal Communications Commission warning that broadcasters should disclose the origin of at least some video news releases Edelman pragmatically conceded that disclosing government VNR’s "in some way" was reasonable. However, Edelman drew the line at labeling corporate VNR’s, which comprises the bulk of those produced. He told PR Week "I do not believe in the need for government to put a black box on any VNR that's produced for a company".
Edelman is a regular attendee at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, having attended 9 times by 2007. In January 2012, he presented to leaders in world governments and chief executives, his main message to them was that, based on a survey by his company, the public do not trust governments and business executives anymore - they are the least trusted of any group.
Read more about this topic: Richard Edelman
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“Whether lawyer, politician or executive, the American who knows what’s good for his career seeks an institutional rather than an individual identity. He becomes the man from NBC or IBM. The institutional imprint furnishes him with pension, meaning, proofs of existence. A man without a company name is a man without a country.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“I seemed intent on making it as difficult for myself as possible to pursue my “male” career goal. I not only procrastinated endlessly, submitting my medical school application at the very last minute, but continued to crave a conventional female role even as I moved ahead with my “male” pursuits.”
—Margaret S. Mahler (1897–1985)
“Clearly, society has a tremendous stake in insisting on a woman’s natural fitness for the career of mother: the alternatives are all too expensive.”
—Ann Oakley (b. 1944)