Winner of a Stevie Award for Best Creative Organization in The 2007 American Business Awards, PR consultancy Maloney & Fox in New York has a strong philosophy of bringing out the best in their staff.  We looked at how they have achieved this.

In 1997, Brian Maloney and Margie Fox had an idea: take the best practices from other PR and marketing agencies and combine them into something new—a place that valued everyone’s input; a place where people took chances; and a place that embraced motivated, well-rounded employees with lives outside the office.
Since forming Maloney & Fox (M&F), Brian and Margie have developed outrageous creative programs built on strong strategic foundations that have led to major marketing and PR successes for some of the world’s biggest companies.  Clients currently include Bacardi, Microsoft, Network Solutions, Rockport, and Sensei. M&F’s creative work has been recognized with over fifty PR and marketing awards.

Maloney & Fox never liked the term “creative boutique,” but as a small agency it was hard to escape. Now ten years old with some twenty-five employees, M&F may have outgrown that designation, but at an age when some agencies start to lose their touch, M&F’s brand of creativity informs all their projects: from straight media relations to large-scale experiential events.

Chips, Chats, and Clichés
One of the tenets of M&F is that great ideas can come from anyone in the company, from the fresh-faced intern to the grizzled veteran.  To ferret out these ideas, the entire agency gathers for a weekly “Speakeasy”—an hour of chips, guacamole, beer, and straight talk about everything from the state of the business, to client initiatives, and the merits of various Family Guy episodes.

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Trevor Gay, author of “Simplicity Is the Key”, has come up with a basic list of the differences between good and bad bosses. His thirty-five years of experience working for the UK’s National Health Service has given him these practical and useful insights into management styles.

The worst bosses, in Trevor’s experience:

-Never seemed to be around when I needed them
-Always wanted to know what I was doing
-Always asked me to justify what I wanted to do
-Often said: “No, we can’t do that”
-Gave the impression of being distrustful
-Didn’t smile much
-Talked about themselves a lot.

In contrast, he observes that the best bosses:

-Inspire confidence
-Are humble
-Have integrity
-Know what they are talking about
-Let employees get on with things
-Are always there when employees need help
-Usually say: “Yes, try it.”

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Sanford Brown is the Chief Sales Officer for Heartland Payment Systems, which won the Stevie® Award for Financial Services Sales Organization of the Year in the 2007 Selling Power Sales Excellence Awards, which the Stevie Awards jointly present with Selling Power magazine. The awards were announced on December 6 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

We recently spoke with Sanford about Heartland Payment Systems. He shared with us his thoughts on how to motivate and manage a salesforce, and what it takes to be a successful chief sales officer.

Listen to our podcast interview with Sanford Brown...

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