Two words clinched my decision to leave government and help open Edelman’s office in Sacramento: “Mike” and “Deaver.”
In 1993, I was working as a press secretary for California Governor Pete Wilson. I received a call from an Edelman staffer explaining the firm was interested in starting an office in the state’s capital. They wanted someone “entrepreneurial” and “young,” he explained.
I was flattered, but my first inclination was to pass. I’d seen several large firms attempt to open offices in town, only to close up shop a year or two later. I was about to hang up the phone when the staffer said, “Mike Deaver really wants this to happen.”
“Mike Deaver as in the Mike Deaver?” I said. “As in President Reagan’s former Chief of Staff Mike Deaver?”
“Yup,” he replied. “He works in our Washington, D.C. office and thinks Sacramento is key to a national public affairs presence.”
I let the words sink in.
“When can I start?”
Mike was committed to making the office a success. He flew out to Sacramento and spent several days with me walking around town, introducing me to everyone he knew from the Governor Reagan days, sharing insights on business and life.
His words and encouragement resonated over the coming years as my colleague, Jennifer Smith, and I worked to build the fledgling shop from a one-room/one-desk office into a full-scale operation. We staged many fun and successful campaigns on behalf of a wide range of clients.
Though I eventually left Edelman to take a corporate communications job in Southern California, part of my heart has always remained in that Sacramento office. Years later, it still gives me great joy and pride to see the office as one of the leading firms in town. “That office is my baby,” I tell anyone who will listen. “She’s all grown up.”
Franz Wisner is the New York Times bestselling author of Honeymoon with My Brother and How the World Makes Love, as well as Edelman and the Rise of Public Relations, which traces the history of the firm and the Edelman family.