When Miami-based Burger King (BKC) announced its acquisition of Tim Hortons on August 26, the pundits went wild and consumers made mincemeat out of Burger King on social media. While the burger chain claimed they wanted to leverage their new Canadian partner’s breakfast expertise, financial analysts immediately started debating the financial benefits of Burger King relocating from the U.S. to a country with lower corporate taxes—a move known as “corporate inversion.” While it’s tempting to focus on this controversy, the back story of how BKC got to this point is far more interesting.
Last week, I had the honor and privilege of representing my organization at a groundbreaking ceremony for the U.S. Diplomacy Center, a museum to be built at the State Department in Washington, D.C. In attendance were five of the former Secretaries of State--Henry Kissinger, James Baker, Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, and Hillary Clinton--as well as current Secretary of State, John Kerry.
Recently an esteemed communications colleague in philanthropy retired and left for greener pastures. In his goodbye blog, he listed five lessons he learned on the job, and, as an aside, he mentioned that his daughter still doesn't really understand what he does for a living. It's been bothering me ever since. Whenever people ask me about my job, I hesitate in answering because it should be simple, but it invariably becomes complicated very quickly. So, what is it all about?