AuthenticityPR, Johnson City, TN (2026)

06/16/2026

What should I write about this week?

I debated between , my interview with a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel sports journalist, or Southwest Airlines banning humanoid and animal-like robots from flying.

The world just provides an incessant array of fascinating topics to choose from.

1 Syllable Comms

My guess is sounded most intriguing to you.

Feeling like you want to get in touch with your inner-Neanderthal? Play .

Tangent: Have you played the game Poetry for Neanderthals? You divide into teams, and one person on each team helps teammates guess the words on a list by giving one-syllable hints while the other team carefully listens.

If a clue has more than one syllable or contains part of the word being guessed, an opposing team member bashes the hint-giver with an inflatable club.

However, our seven-year-old granddaughter will playfully whack you with this club if you so much as breathe wrong.

I thot to write this note like man from cave, but you may not like to read or think it worth your time. OK, put club down now, please.

Back to the real message I have for you…

Neanderthal Co. Naming

If a Neanderthal were to establish a device repair company, what would be a good name?

You guessed it (despite me using multi-syllable words):

Here are 13 ways this naming strategy could be applied to other businesses, professionals, and even wild predators:

Restaurant:

Shark:

Bear:

Storyteller:

Plastic Surgeon:

Dentist:

Casino:

Paparazzi:

Doctor:

Law Firm:

Theater:

Politician:

Mafia:

Oh, I could go on for a long time having fun with this. Goodness, I keep getting sidetracked by silliness. NOW onto the real meat of this message…

Filing Battery Charges Against Apple?

Several of my devices have been having battery charging issues lately.

My wasn’t holding a charge for very long. I was about to depart for Cincinnati for 12 days, so I looked up repair options.

I had previously changed the battery in one of my older laptops, but when I looked up how to change the battery in this model, there was no way I was going to tackle it.

There were about 75 different steps. It looked like you had to essentially disassemble the majority of the laptop. To top it off, the battery is glued in (who thought that was a good idea?).

You have to carefully melt the glue to remove it.

This repair was definitely not worth my time.

Looking up options in Cincinnati, I settled upon . It’s a franchise with 700+ locations. So, I called. They said it would cost $300 and would take a week.

But then they said, “We may or may not repair it in shop.”

Huh?

How can you not know that?

Are you going to give it to a high school student to learn on?

I had no idea, but that statement didn’t make me feel comfortable.

So, I decided to call The Apple xChange in Tempe, Arizona. We lived only about 10 minutes away when we lived in Arizona. I’ve purchased all my Apple computers from them for many years now.

Their price was only $225 to replace the battery. Plus, they do the work in-store, and in one day. Much better deal, despite the shipping cost.

My also needed a new battery. Its capacity was at 82%. They say anything below 85% is an issue.

I decided to have replace it. Once I confirmed they had my battery in stock, I took it there and within an hour they had it replaced. It was fast and cost $112.

Let me share three observations about my ( ) at uBreakiFix:

• Pushy about selling their warranty plan. Upon check-in and then again upon checking out, they pushed their warranty plan on me. I was handed a flyer with all the details. For $29 a month, you can have all of your devices covered. I wasn’t interested.

• They forgot to apply my $10 off coupon. I told the fellow who checked me in I had a $10 off coupon. He said they’d apply it when I pay after the repair is completed. He then left for the day, and another employee checked me out. He didn’t apply the discount. I had to ask again. Slightly annoying and certainly inefficient .

• Gave great battery care tips — but only after I asked. Right before I left, I thought I’d ask what tips he had for prolonging an iPhone battery’s life. He gave three fantastic tips. But think how much more I would have been impressed had he proactively told me these tips or handed me a card with them listed. That's the difference between reactive and proactive .

One other minor observation. The company name is written as uBreakiFix on their website, in press releases, etc. But as you can see by the photo accompanying this post, all the letters are lowercase.

So, if I was in your or department, I’d be a little confused as to the proper style for the company’s name.

But… It’s a Great Name

OK, so I’ve been lampooning the name uBreakiFix just a bit.

Overall, it’s actually a great name because it succinctly communicates what the company does.

That’s why I’m always advising NOT to use your personal name as a company name (unless you’re the super rare exception like Michael Smart PR). It’s putting ego ahead of quickly communicating to potential customers what you can do for them.

The one drawback to the name uBreakiFix is it’s a bit presumptuous.

What if you’re not the reason your device broke?

What if it broke on its own?

Then is your company better titled, “itBreakiFix”?

3 Ways to Prolong Your Cell Phone’s Battery Life

These are courtesy of :

• Don’t use your phone while it’s charging.

• Let your phone totally discharge and shut itself off once monthly.

• Unplug your phone from the charger after it reaches 100%.

The 3 Big Takeaways

✔️ If you’re a repair shop and you tell a customer you may or may not do a particular repair in-shop, at least explain why.

✔️ If your company name sounds like a Neanderthal speaking, will that image clash with your perceived value?

✔️ Proactively think of ways to go above and beyond to create great .

Have you ever interacted with ? How was your ?

Do share!

Stay authentic real and know that is hard when all words have just a one-word beat!

06/09/2026

What expertise do you possess?

Share it!

Last week I shared my recent experience as an teaching at Milligan University in Elizabethton, Tenn.

This week I’ll walk you through, step-by-step, how you can land an adjunct position.

10 Steps to Land an Adjunct Professor Position

Thinking about becoming an ? Here’s what you need to do:

Decide if you can balance adjunct teaching with your real job. Unless you’re retired, it can be tricky juggling both. Scheduling your time will be crucial. If you have clients, let them know what hours you’re not available. I found juggling a part-time job teaching with my firm’s client load extremely challenging at times, but in the end, it was all worth it.

Earn at least a master’s degree. Generally, a master’s degree is the baseline requirement at most accredited colleges and universities. The regional accreditation standards (the ones that matter most) typically require adjuncts teaching undergraduate courses to hold a master’s degree, ideally in the subject they’re teaching. If the master’s is in a different field, most institutions want to see at least 18 graduate credit hours in the discipline you’d be teaching.

Exceptions exist, but they’re not common. The most frequent one is the “exceptional practitioner” carve-out — where someone with significant, demonstrable professional expertise in a field can teach without a graduate degree. Think a nationally recognized journalist teaching media writing, or a prominent attorney teaching a law-adjacent course. The professional credentials essentially substitute for the academic ones.

Community colleges tend to have a bit more flexibility than four-year institutions. And some specialized or vocational programs have their own standards that differ from traditional academic departments.

For and specifically, the APR (Accredited in Public Relations) credential and agency experience carry additional gravitas in making the practitioner case. But most institutions would still prefer the degree on paper, even if they’d make an exception for the right candidate.

Bottom line: master’s degree is the rule. Exceptional practice is the exception — and it usually requires someone at the institution going to bat for you.

Create a curriculum vitae. A curriculum vitae, or CV for short, is an academic résumé. Where a standard résumé is typically one or two pages focused on work history and skills, a CV is a comprehensive document that can run several pages and covers your full academic and professional record: degrees, teaching experience, publications, research, presentations, awards, certifications, and professional affiliations.

For a teaching position, especially at the college level, a CV is the standard application document because institutions want the full picture. They’re not just hiring someone to do a job; they’re bringing someone into an academic community. The CV signals that you take that seriously. It shows your credentials, your subject matter depth, and your track record in the classroom or lecture hall.

For an adjunct position specifically, the bar is a bit lower than for a tenure-track role, but a CV is still expected. It establishes your credibility as a practitioner and demonstrates that you have the real-world expertise to teach the subject — which is a bonus for a department and their students.

In summary, a CV differs from a résumé by emphasizing your teaching-related experiences and education.

Identify nearby universities and colleges (for in-class). Search online for all the universities within a reasonable driving distance.

Decide between online or in-class. I’ve looked at online adjunct teaching positions, but to me there’s nothing like the in-person experience — especially when just starting out. But there’s certainly something to be said for the convenience of teaching online (less travel, dress professionally from the waist up, etc.).

Identify universities and colleges offering online classes. If online sounds more appealing to you, or if you want to do that in addition to in-person, then conduct online research for these. I just searched for “adjunct faculty positions” on Facebook and a number of opportunities appeared. Try to find the positions that look like the best match (and best paying).

Identify which classes you’re qualified to teach. If there aren’t any classes that are an exact match to your expertise or training, there are usually classes closely related to your expertise. For example, if there isn’t a public relations class for me to teach, I could also easily teach a journalism or marketing communications course.

Find the right contact and apply. In my case, a professor moving onto another position connected me to the department head at Milligan University. My next adjunct gig at ETSU was secured by contacting the dean of the media and communication department.

Contacts and connections matter. That was how my wife Leticia landed an adjunct teaching position this fall. She was recruited. She’s remained involved in the Communication and Storytelling Studies Department where she earned her master’s — keeping in touch with professors, attending workshops and events, etc.

If hired, sit in on the class(es) you’ll be or might be teaching. That shows you’re going the extra mile to understand the class and what’s expected. I’m even auditing a course this summer to prepare for teaching it this fall.

Once you start teaching, make the most of it. Seek feedback, strive to improve, be willing to make changes during the course — providing they improve the learning experience for your students.

There you go. Follow those 10 steps and you can land your first adjunct teaching position.

The 3 Big Takeaways

✅ Sharing your expertise as an is a great way to give back.

✅ If you don’t have a master’s degree, get one before you venture into teaching.

✅ Have fun doing it. Most students find practitioners teaching a course a nice change of pace.

Have questions about landing an adjunct position? Do ask!

Stay authentic, especially as you share your expertise through , , , , and .

06/05/2026

Recently we took a dive deep into the world of ( ).

Seldom does a day pass when you don’t have some type of CX.

It may even be a micro-CX.

But it’s still a CX.

Better CX = More Profits

Every CX has a direct impact upon a business’s , internally and externally. Ultimately, it affects the bottom line.

(See all the research cited in this week’s blog post.)

Good CX: Waiter Was LITERALLY a Side of Avocado

Start with Michael, our waiter at Costa Chica Grill in Johnson City. He answered every menu question patiently.

Pleasant guy. Normal dinner — until halfway through the meal, he materialized out of nowhere in a giant avocado costume.

In a deadpan manner he asked, "Would you like a side of avocado?"

We absolutely lost it.

Michael wasn't done. Before we finished, he offered a one-inch-square takeout box. Then I opened the bill holder and found a rubber chicken pen. The kind that squeaks.

I've dined at hundreds of restaurants. Never experienced anything like it. And yes — I increased the tip.

That's memorable and .

Good CX: The Pampered Recycle Bin

Then there's Sterling, supervisor of our recycling crew.

About a year ago, one of our bins vanished. I asked Sterling about it on a subsequent visit. He was baffled — they never take bins.

“Did you happen to recycle my recycling bin last week,” I half-jokingly asked.

No, of course not. But what happened next was remarkable .

In the weeks that followed and ever since, he or a crew member started doing something I didn’t expect: taking an extra 14 seconds and walking our empty bin across the street and setting it neatly beside our driveway.

Fourteen seconds.

Sometimes CX is Just a LITTLE Something Extra

Both stories carry the same lesson: great doesn’t require a big budget, a strategy deck or a committee meeting.

It requires initiative — and the courage to do something a little unexpected, a little extra, just because it's the memorable or right thing to do.

What's one small move your team could make this week that no one would expect?

Read the unedited version of this message here.

What stories impressed you? Do share!

Stay authentic — and committed to delivering the kind of and success stories PR pros feature in their newsletters.

05/30/2026

Let’s talk about two letters you should care about A LOT in your business:

CX stands for .

It’s the sum of every interaction a customer has with a brand — before, during, and long after the transaction. Customer service is a subset of CX.

For professionals, it’s essentially synonymous with customer relations, and that makes it our business too.

In my opinion, customer relations ranks second only to in organizational priority, and for good reason: you can’t have happy customers unless you first have happy employees.

Depending on the industry you’re addressing, CX goes by other names — guest experience (GX) in hospitality, patient experience (PX) in healthcare, and B2B experience when your customer is another company.

The label changes. But the stakes don’t.

Here’s the bottom line: effective must be a proactive, company-wide business imperative.

My thinking on CX has been greatly elevated — and frankly sharpened — through my recent work with Chicago-based Experience Investigators Founder and Chief Experience Officer Jeannie Walters.

Jeannie is the kind of client every pro dreams about landing: deep expertise, compelling credentials, and a message that lands in virtually any industry.

6 Steps to Smarter Customer Experience

Define it before you deliver it. ...

Be proactive, not reactive. ...

Remember: is a team sport.

drives customer experience. If you promise a certain customer experience externally but aren’t living it internally, your employees will see right through it.

Measurement without meaning is just a calculator. Organizations can drown in dashboards and still not move the needle if they’re measuring the wrong things.

buy-in isn’t optional — it’s the whole game.

The 3 Big Takeaways

For CX to be effective, it must be adopted company wide.
Proactive CX will blow away reactive CX.
Research shows embracing can boost your profitability.

Next week, I’ll be taking a slightly different angle on CX — sharing a few of my own recent run-ins with organizations who clearly need to purchase a copy of Jeannie’s book.

Have you experienced your own CX nightmares? Do share!

Stay authentic — and stay tuned for some therapeutic CX venting next week…

05/18/2026

If the audience you’re speaking to and about is basically yourself — your wants, your message, your agenda — then you need to read this.

Change out that mirror for clear glass.

You need to clearly see who’s in front of you.

And you need to know them.

We’re talking about your . Your .

Do you actually know your audience?

Not their demographic profile. Not their age range or zip code or median household income.

Those things matter, but they’re not the same as knowing your audience.

Knowing your audience means:
• understanding what keeps them up at night
• what they aspire to
• what they quietly fear
• what they wish someone would offer them

It means getting close enough to their motivations that your message feels less like a pitch and more like a conversation they were already having in their own heads.

I learned very early in my career that it’s a far easier path to business success when you fill an existing need or want rather than educating the public why they need your product.

In , this is audience analysis. And most organizations do it badly.

The WIN Framework

The most practical place to start is what’s known as WIN: wants, interests and needs.

The principle is deceptively simple: you win your audience’s support by addressing their wants, interests and needs, and not by broadcasting what you want them to hear.

This seems obvious. And yet the number of organizations that communicate from the inside out is staggering.

Before you write a single word of a press release, talking point or social post, you should be able to answer three questions:

What do they want?
What would interest my audience?
What do they need or think they need?

Maslow Wasn’t Just for Psychology Class

Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs may get heavy rotation in psychology courses, but it’s also one of the most practical frameworks communicators can use.

When you map your message to where your audience actually lives on that pyramid, it resonates.

When you miss the level, it feels tone-deaf.

Why?

Because it is.

Build a Persona That’s Ruthlessly Specific

One of the most effective tools in audience analysis is the persona: a fictional but research-grounded profile of a representative member of your target public.

When you write to a real person instead of a demographic abstraction, your messaging changes completely.

The persona forces you to answer the questions that actually drive effective communication:
• What would they find valuable enough to share?
• What tone would earn their trust?
• What would make them feel understood rather than sold to?

Know their W-I-N. Then write to it.

The 3 Big Takeaways

• The WIN framework (wants, interests, needs) is the foundation of effective audience analysis. Great starts with what matters to the audience, not with what you want to say.

• Maslow’s hierarchy gives communicators a practical tool for matching messages to where their audience actually lives emotionally and psychologically.

• Personas transform abstract demographics into specific, human characters. Writing to a real person is almost always more effective than writing to a demographic category.

What’s your target market’s WIN? Do share!

Stay authentic — especially in striving to truly know those receiving your communications.

05/13/2026

Innovation, , .

Those who know me know all of those are passion points in my DNA.

Add to that , and I’m knocking on your door asking to manage your PR.

But no matter how innovative, creative and unique your disruptive technology may be, it still has to deliver the ultimate .

That brings me to a technology that completely captivated me when I first saw it on TV, but now the company behind it is dealing with a major crisis.

LED B-Ball Courts: Whistled for a Technology Technical

The Big 12 Conference prides itself on being cutting edge . For the 2026 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, it partnered with ASB GlassFloor — a German company out of Stein an der Traun — to debut what might be the most visually stunning basketball surface ever put inside an arena.

And it is stunning. It’s like playing on top of a giant computer screen. Watch this video of the ABS Glassfloor.

Forget painted lines and static logos. This thing is a living, breathing digital canvas powered by GlassCourt OS software. Real-time graphics. Scrolling stats. Dynamic sponsor messaging. Multiple court configurations at the push of a button. It can even show movies.

The whole setup is built on an aluminum and steel spring-action chassis engineered to mimic the flex and feel of traditional hardwood.

On paper — or glass, as it were — it’s jaw-dropping. ASB GlassFloor holds certifications from FIBA (international basketball’s governing body), FIVB (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball), and the International Handball Federation. Their website tagline? “Redefining Indoor Sports.”

The Big 12 Conference wasn’t the first to use it. The floor has seen action at the NBA All-Star Weekend in 2024, FIBA’s U19 Women’s World Cup and various European professional leagues, including Germany’s Bundesliga and the Greek Basketball League.

In the U.S., a handful of club programs had used it for practice and demonstration purposes. On the international stage, the reviews had been largely positive.

I was completely captivated the first time I saw it on TV. As someone who loves , I thought: whoever handles PR for this company has a dream product.

Ha. Not so. That PR dream quickly became a PR nightmare .

Disruptive Technology Disrupted Players’ Ability to Play

Basketball players don’t play on a skating rink for a reason.

During the opening rounds of the Big 12 Tournament — and the women’s tournament the week before — players were slipping on the surface more than they normally would on a wooden court.

Coaches noticed. Players noticed. Fans at home noticed.

Then came the moment nobody wanted to see.

Texas Tech guard Christian Anderson — projected at the time as a top-20 NBA draft pick — fell and strained his groin after slipping on the floor during a quarterfinal loss to Iowa State. A trainer rushed onto the court. Play stopped.

Anderson told reporters: “Obviously the floor is a bit slippery.”

Texas Tech coach Grant McCaslan was diplomatic but pointed: “It’s definitely different. It’s obviously a different surface than we’re used to playing on, and there were some challenging movements today… the quickness of guard play and stop-and-start action — it just has a different response than what we’re used to.”

Translation: It appears this floor isn’t ready for prime time.

The PR Crisis: Yormark Yanks the Floor

Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark didn’t hesitate. After the quarterfinals concluded Thursday night, he pulled the plug on the glass court for the remainder of the tournament.

In his statement, Yormark said he had consulted with the coaches of the four semifinal teams and decided to transition back to hardwood “in order to provide our student-athletes with the greatest level of comfort on a huge stage.”

To ESPN, he was even more direct: “The focus now needs to be on four of the best teams in the country and not the court.”

Ouch.

That’s a sitting commissioner of a major college conference publicly announcing that your product became a distraction — at one of the biggest events in college basketball, with NBA scouts from every franchise in the building and 10 conference players projected in ESPN’s first-round mock draft.

This was the moment ASB GlassFloor had staked its North American reputation on.

Social media didn’t wait for a press release. It never does. Fans lit up the company’s X feed.

One user fired off: “Cool idea but the surface needs a lot of work. I’ve watched 5 games and every team had guys slipping a lot more frequently than normal.”

Others called for the floor to be scrapped entirely. The story moved fast and went wide.

My favorite response was from who posted an image of a glass basketball on a court and said, “After determining the glass court may have been unsafe for players, the Big 12 will return to a wooden floor. However, in the spirit of innovation, they will now begin a groundbreaking new trial with glass basketballs. Records could be shattered.”

That post made me LOL.

What ASB GlassFloor Said — and What It Actually Means

To be fair, ASB GlassFloor didn’t go dark. After the Big 12 swapped the floor, the company issued its first public statement. It’s worth reading closely because it tells you a lot about how they’re managing this.

The statement acknowledged that the company observed “more player inconsistencies” (i.e., wipe-outs) on the floor during the Big 12 tournaments than at other venues, and said the performance was different from their other deployments. They committed to a full investigation and “scientific testing and review,” and said athlete health and safety remain their “highest priority.”

Then came more spin.

The statement reminded readers that the floor holds Level 1 FIBA certification, which is the highest international standard for professional basketball, and touted the commercial exposure and innovation the Big 12 Championships provided.

It pointed to deployments across the NCAA, NBA, various European leagues, and international competitions as proof of concept.

This was the first time ASB GlassFloor’s LED court had been used in live competition in the United States.

Read that again. They debuted their product in live American competition at one of the most high-profile college basketball tournaments in the country, with NBA scouts from all 30 teams in the building and a top-20 draft prospect who went down with an injury on the surface.

That’s not a product launch. That’s a product stress test with the whole country watching.

To their credit, a company spokesperson told Sports Business Journal they expect the Big 12 partnership to continue and said they’ll be “discussing the necessary adjustments.”

Commissioner Yormark, for his part, told ESPN Sports Analyst Pat McAfee he remains “a lover of the LED court,” but that the Big 12 needs to “go back to the lab” and “refine some things.” That’s a polite way of saying: not ready for this moment.

The statement ASB GlassFloor issued wasn’t completely bad crisis communications. Acknowledging the issue, committing to an investigation, and pledging to protect athlete safety are the right moves. But the framing leaned heavily on credentials and past successes, and that’s a trap.

When a player gets hurt because of your product, nobody wants to hear about your FIBA certification. They want to hear that you understand what went wrong and that it won’t happen again.

The PR work isn’t done. The investigation is just the beginning.

And that’s the real lesson here. It’s not that ASB GlassFloor makes a bad product. By most accounts, it’s a remarkable piece of engineering.

But whether the installation was flawed, whether the surface underperformed under tournament conditions, or whether the demands of high-level American college basketball exposed a gap in the product’s readiness — those are questions that still demand specific, public answers.

Innovative technology that can’t deliver on its promise isn’t just a product problem. It’s a brand problem. And right now, ASB GlassFloor brand’s reputation is doing exactly what their floor did to Christian Anderson… slipping.

The 3 Big Takeaways

Innovation must deliver on its promise. A product can be visually stunning, technically impressive and backed by international certifications — and still fail in real-world conditions. If your disruptive technology isn’t ready for the stage you’ve placed it on, that stage will expose you. And if you’re unlucky, it’ll be loud, national and repeated.
Crisis response requires more than acknowledgment — it requires accountability. ASB GlassFloor issued a statement, pledged an investigation and kept the relationship with the Big 12 intact. Those are the right first steps. But leading with credentials instead of contrition signals that reputation protection is competing with genuine accountability. Say what went wrong, even if you’re still finding out. People respect honesty far more than a credential list.

The biggest stage cuts both ways. High-profile partnerships create enormous visibility in both directions. Debut your product at the Big 12 Tournament, and it either becomes your greatest marketing win or your most public failure. There’s no quiet middle ground at T-Mobile Center.
What did you think about the ABC Glassfloor? How do you feel they handled this crisis? Do share!

Stay authentic — and stress-test your disruptive technology before the whole country is watching.

AuthenticityPR

06/16/2026

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