What Inspires Me: A Total Focus on QTR, or Quality Time Left
In 1982, I was like any other kid. I was into Atari games, Star
Wars and NFL football. I was an A+ student too.
Then, I nearly lost it all.
It started
with a headache on a flight back to New York. Yet, the pain never went away.
Soon the pounding caused double vision. I couldn't get out of bed or keep food
down either.Something was very wrong. At age 12 I was diagnosed with a Craniopharyngioma - a benign brain tumor the size of a plumb in the center of my head.
The story, thankfully, ends happily. Doctors diagnosed me quickly. A subsequent 10-hour operation removed the tumor. And two months later I even returned to school.
There were a few side effects. I lost my sense of smell. One side of my body is now slightly weaker than the other. And I didn't truly regain the same level of mental acuity for another 10-15 years.
I carry a constant reminder as well. Just beneath my thinning hairline, I have a scar that spans from ear to ear. It looks like an impression left by a good set of headphones. Except, it never goes away.
Still, the good news is that I am upright. Further, my near-death experience taught me early that we have a limited amount of what entrepreneur Wayne Huyzienga once called QTR: "quality time remaining."
QTR is what now motivates me every day to take smart risks, inspire greatness in others and (hopefully) have a lasting impact on the PR industry.
In the mid-2000s QTR, in hindsight, is what inspired me to embrace social media early as a key part of the PR skill-set.
While with my previous employer, in 2004 I helped launched some of the industry's first social media programs. A few years later, I joined Edelman to support the amazing team here in leveraging the power of social media to expand the PR remit. Their work has helped to double the firm's size.
Now, in the mid-2010s, QTR is the motivating me once again to turn my attention to the next frontier. I am doing all I can to help Edelman trumpet the power of Sponsored Content as a new form of advertising and a new way to work with media companies. This, we believe, will encourage more corporations to tell their own story in a way that expands the PR industry's core work in earned media coverage. I’ve bet my career on it.
QTR is limited so we must make the most of it. Every time I look in the mirror and see my scar I am reminded of that. I was lucky that my very dark night turned into a much brighter day. I need to make the most of this time. This is what drives me to smart risks, associate with smart people, champion big ideas and do what I do.
Photo: Earls37a/Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.
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