Where do all the aging PR pros go?

It’s patently obvious when you walk into any PR agency in the United States that there are only a handful of people who have actually placed a record on a turntable, stayed up late watching Johnny Carson, or who can fathom how people conducted business before email.

Frankly, the prospect of growing old and irrelevant is not particularly inspiring. I suspect that is why I have never seen an honest article on the topic in my roughly 20 years as a PR practitioner. Unless you make it a mission to stay up to date, there will come a time when your wisdom and experience devolve into stale ideas, colleagues’ rolling their eyes during team meetings, and your own inability to remember where you put your Palm Pilot.

How exactly does a PR executive stay current and relevant? The most important rule is this: Never rest on your laurels. The perception that you are stuck in the past is not attractive to clients or colleagues. Your client’s mission is to stay one step ahead of their bosses—and the market.