Tomorrow, May 1, marks the 30th anniversary of the opening day of the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee. During those exciting days leading up to the opening of the international expo, I served as the fair’s director of corporate marketing and promotions. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to use the experience gained in this position to help launch Ackermann PR, which is also celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.
It seems fitting somehow that we are marking these 30th anniversary milestones on the same week the Knoxville Chamber is presenting its annual Pinnacle Awards to businesses judged to be among the leaders in their field. As it happens, we are proud to see the name of Ackermann PR among the list of finalists for this year’s awards.
We are named as a finalist in the category of excellence by a woman-owned business. I am personally honored by the recognition given to my role as CEO and President of Ackermann PR, but I know full well the true honor is given to the leadership illustrated by every member of our team. Without all of us working toward a common goal—bringing value to our clients through every encounter with them—we would not have lasted thirty years, let alone earned the distinction of being named a finalist for an honor such as the Pinnacle Awards.
We are proud of our 30 years in business and our leadership role in serving the public relations and communications needs of our marketplace. We applaud our fellow nominees this week as leaders in their own fields.
Awards ceremonies and anniversaries are excellent opportunities to reflect on past accomplishments, but they should also inspire us to set new benchmarks for our shared future.
Win or lose, we will maintain our commitment to leadership for the future by staying out in front of new opportunities through continuous learning and stretching beyond obvious solutions to challenges. We will make ourselves valuable to those we serve by being able to envision more than the present, including amazing future opportunities. We will create a vision and plan around whatever options the future presents to us so that we may be prepared to lead and to help our clients lead, rather than follow.
We will maintain our commitment to leadership by setting standards of excellence that pervade every aspect of our business and being non-negotiable about sticking to those standards and conveying them internally and externally through every action we take.
Good luck to everyone involved in this week’s Pinnacle Awards and thank you to everyone who has made our 30 years in business possible.
