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I had a coffee with Suzanne McCormick, President and CEO of YMCA of the USA yesterday morning in New York City. Founded in 1844 in the UK, with its first branch organized in the U.S. in 1851, the Y has taken on the important mission of creating connected communities. Fighting social isolation and insularity is a major objective for Edelman, given the alarming finding from our 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer: 70 percent of respondents across 28 countries were found to have an insular mindset, which means they are unwilling or hesitant to trust someone with different values, approaches to social issues, backgrounds, or information sources.

McCormick is in her fourth year as CEO. She wants to work much more with the private sector. She has forged partnerships with the National Basketball Association (bet that you did not know that Dr. Naismith created the game of basketball at a YMCA in Springfield, MA) and the National Football League. Among the companies already involved with the Y are American Express, Amazon and Walmart.

The Y has a massive footprint across the U.S., serving 18.8 million people annually, 6.8 million of whom are youth. The Y reaches 10,000 communities and has 2,600 locations. Much of the work happens in schools, with Y personnel running after-school programs. The Y is also the largest nonprofit childcare provider in the U.S. Ys collectively represent $9B in annual revenue and employ nearly 300,000 people. For many of the employees, the Y is their first job, from lifeguard to camp counselor. Each Y is independent but acts as a franchisee, with common operating standards and systems.

She believes that the Y can become the premier third space in the country. “Think of the story of our founder, George Williams, who came to London from the countryside to work in a factory during the Industrial Revolution in the 1840s. Young men had no social circle beyond bars and brothels. So, he began a Bible study class to enable wholesome connections with other young men from rural areas. This began our journey to help people find their purpose and connection in local communities.”

She has big plans for the 175th anniversary, including a once every four years gathering of Y staff and volunteers in New Orleans in September. She also wants to flag Y-Cons (a take-off on Icons), celebrities and athletes who got their start at the Y. I am no celebrity but have wonderful memories of the West Side Y preschool for my three daughters, basketball at the Lincolnwood Y and killer workouts at the Lawson Y with lunatic trainer Dick Voit and Voit’s Warriors (best line…who taught you that push-up style, lover boy).

The Y is open to a new relationship with companies interested in sponsoring national or regional programs. I can see food clients doing work in healthy eating, pharmaceutical clients helping consumers to change lifestyle through exercise and vital sign monitoring or financial services clients helping on financial literacy or tech clients using the Y for reskilling. I am meeting with McCormick at the end of May in Chicago to advance this discussion and encourage all my colleagues in PR to do the same.

Richard Edelman is CEO.

Our assumptions about who believes what about health are spectacularly wrong. Doubts about nutrition, vaccination, and public safety recommendations are no longer a fringe view. They stem neither from a single ideology nor lack of education and do not result from distrust of doctors or experts. In fact, our latest 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Trust and Health, based on a survey of 16,000 respondents across 16 countries, finds that a staggering 70% believe at least one of six divisive health claims about foods, vaccines and medicines to be true. Understanding the worldview and concerns of the public is everything. CEOs and communicators in health must wake up to this radical new reality.

Divisive health beliefs span the globe, highest in the developing nations of India (89%) and South Africa (88%), lowest in Japan, Canada, and the U.S. (50-61%). The divisive health beliefs apply equally across educational levels (university degreed versus non-university degreed) and are more acute among young people (79% for ages 18-34 ) and right-leaning voters (78%), though majorities hold for ages 55 and older (60%) and the left-leaning (64%). It is shocking that only a slight majority (52%) believes the risks of childhood vaccination outweigh the benefits to be false, while slightly over one third (36%) of respondents say adding fluoride in drinking water is harmful is false, a public health staple in the many Anglophone countries since the 1960s.

The one-year drop in confidence (-10 points to 51%) to make informed health decisions for ourselves and our families is staggering. From China to the UAE to Mexico, the majority of people feel their country is divided on key health issues, potentially leading to a profound loss of trust in the healthcare system. Artificial intelligence has already displaced medical expertise in the eyes of many; doctors are competing to influence health decisions with AI, peers, friends and other non-credentialed sources.

More information alone is not the way out of this. Those with more divisive health beliefs are in fact more immersed in information, with on average two thirds saying that they frequently consume health news or consult AI platforms for answers, double or triple the engagement of those who believe no divisive claims. They are nearly three times as likely to read health news from different political orientations. We see evidence of confusion: They are also more likely to be getting mixed advice from credentialed and uncredentialed voices, and so it follows that they’re three times more likely to disregard HCP medical guidance in favor of advice from friends, family, or social media in the past year than those who disbelieve divisive health claims. This is not a story of too little; it’s a matter of too much information without proper context.

Science needs a reset to adapt to this unstable world of trust, offering a new deal to patients and health providers. To date institutional science has solely focused on the WHAT, expressed by top-down communication from credentialed authority figures. That is no longer sufficient for those with skepticism about global institutions, experts, and government borne of the COVID-19 ordeal. The HOW must be explained in simple terms, using data visualizations and with greater transparency on clinical trial processes. The WHY requires acknowledgement of benefits versus side effects and the relative value of the innovation versus cost.

Here is a five-point communications strategy for Health:

Institutions and providers alike need to show up as guides, not advocates.
Trust must be brokered across groups with different views, elevating shared goals without needing to achieve unanimity.
Acknowledge that we don’t have all the answers. Luckily, this is already a built-in part of the scientific method to correct as we learn.
Frequency, frequency, frequency. People need to hear and be heard multiple times before they consider a recommendation on health.
Surround sound. We should utilize a broader circle of trust, valuing friends and family and patient advocacy groups alongside medical experts.

It is time for science to go on offense, to recognize the futility of facts alone, and bring the public along as partner in a better life.

Richard Edelman is CEO.

This post originally appeared on Fortune.com

I have just visited the Anne Frank House installation at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) in Chicago, which will open to the public on May 1. This is the first time that the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam has allowed its precious artifacts to come to the U.S. The installation is a precise copy of the Annex built behind the original Frank family apartment in Amsterdam. I sit on the board of the museum and have been very involved in this project.

When I asked Dr. Chevy Humphrey, President & CEO of the museum, why she wanted to host this exhibit, she told me, “Julius Rosenwald, who made Sears, Roebuck and Company a dominant retailer in the U.S., was the original funder of the museum. He was Jewish, proud of his religion and determined to use his financial success to improve society. He funded the building of schools throughout the South from 1913-32 to educate African American children in towns where local school boards did more to support white students. This exhibit carries on his work, providing students with context about the Holocaust, explained by a young girl their own age.”

The Diary of Anne Frank is a collection of writings by a teenager who lived in isolation with her family for two years in Amsterdam, hiding from the Nazi SS. Thirty million copies of the book in seventy languages have been sold since it was published first in the U.S. in 1952. The Diary also became a play on Broadway, then a movie in 1958.

Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt in 1929 to Otto and Edith Frank. Otto Frank was a successful businessman, running a food business. With the rise of Hitler, the Franks moved to Amsterdam, living above a food processing factory. As the Nazi onslaught proceeded across Europe, he constructed an annex behind their original apartment. In 1942, the deportation of Jews from Holland began. The Franks moved into their annex, fed and clothed by loyal company employees.

This deception worked until August,1944, when two workers in the factory were forced by the SS to give up the Franks. The entire family was sent to Auschwitz. The two daughters, Margot and Anne, were later transferred to Bergen Belsen, another death camp, where they died in February 1945. Their mother died in January 1945 in Auschwitz. Otto Frank lived through the ordeal and was freed by Russian troops in late January 1945, then took six months to find his way back to Amsterdam through Odessa and Marseille, only to find himself the sole survivor.

On his return to his factory in Amsterdam, he met his secretaries, who presented him with four volumes of Anne’s diaries. Her first diary was a 13th birthday present from her parents. Her first entry was, “I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.” There is an incredibly moving video of one of the secretaries, showing how she delivered the diaries into Otto Frank’s hands.

There are three objects from the house that I found deeply moving. First there was a bicycle hung on the wall alongside a backpack. It was useless for the hideaways except as a source of continuing hope for a better future. Second was a makeshift menorah, carved of wood, its candles the symbol of resistance. Third was the cut-out photos of movie stars on the wall above the beds of the two girls; the first awakening of teens to a life on the outside that they could only dream about.

Dr. Humphrey is a singular leader who understands the power of her office to influence and educate the community. She understands that the primary mission of her institution is to improve the understanding of science, enabling visitors to dream about careers in technology. But she told me, “You need an appreciation of humanities to fully appreciate science. The racial pseudo-scientific theories of the Nazis, a master race that sits above Jews and people of color or those with deep religious faith, need to be understood and rejected today. That is the message of the Anne Frank exhibit, painful truth through history.” To all my readers, please come to Chicago in the next nine months to see this all-important exhibition at the Griffin MSI.

Richard Edelman is CEO.

I had lunch last Friday with Daisy Veerasingham, President and CEO of The Associated Press. She is the first non-American to hold the role of this all-important news organization, operating in 100 countries and in all 50 states in the U.S.

The changes in the business model are profound. AP has historically been funded primarily by U.S. newspapers, which now account for only 10 percent of revenue. Key customers include TV stations, digital platforms such as Google, Yahoo and OpenAI, and foreign media. Forty percent of revenue originates outside of the U.S. from broadcasters such as BBC, Al Jazeera, and Channel 18 in India. Now AP is working with influencers on some specific stories and projects.

The AP’s content is now 80 percent visual. The global news organization produced 1.34 million photos, 85,000 news and sports videos and 40,000 hours of live video in 2025. Contrast that to the 344,000 text stories produced by AP reporters. Over four billion people see AP journalism every day.

Veerasingham told me that “AP is a source of truth at scale. We have a foundational level of facts. We want to be the first out with the news, but it must be verified and correct. We must provide a nonpartisan view. We are doing first-hand journalism.”

AP is using AI in the story production process, translating articles into multiple languages, transcribing press conferences. “The story must start and end with a human being,” she noted.

The key editor for PR people is Cara Rubinsky, global business editor, based in London.

AP is going direct to consumers through APNews.com. It is a free service that depends on reader donations and advertising. The site attracted 54 million monthly users and 2.6-billion-page views last year. Veerasingham is coming to the Cannes Festival of Creativity in June to meet with advertisers.

We need to root for the success of AP, a truly independent global news organization devoted to truth and facts in a time of disinformation.

Richard Edelman is CEO.

Tonight is the happiest night in the Jewish year, celebrating our journey from slavery in Egypt to freedom on the way to Israel. It has been the model for so many other peoples as they have sought their own path to liberty from the oppressor.

It has been a deeply disturbing year for Jews. There is a massive surge in anti-Semitism from both the Left and the Right. There have been violent incidents around the globe, most recently the attack on a synagogue in suburban Detroit which forced an emergency evacuation of school children, the torching of Jewish voluntary ambulances in London and an explosion at the Liège Synagogue in Belgium. Rather than dwell on the negative, I thought that readers would enjoy the story of a Jewish woman who endured tragedy and came out the other side to lead a life of importance.

Anne Skorecki Levy is the grandmother of my son-in-law, Marcel Garon. Known as Mamaw, Anne was born in Łódź, Poland three years before the outbreak of World War II. Her father, mother, sister, and she are the only family unit to survive intact through the ordeal of the Warsaw Ghetto. Alongside her younger sister, Lila (who recently passed away last year), she hid inside pieces of furniture inside the Ghetto that her father, a masterful carpenter created. Emerging from the shattered Europe in 1945, the family moved to New Orleans in 1947, where she ultimately married Stanley Levy.

She rose to public consciousness through her confrontation in 1989 with David Duke, grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and a recently elected state legislator, who was running for Governor of Louisiana. Levy had come to Baton Rouge at the invitation of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which was opening an exhibition at the state Capitol. Duke was strolling through the exhibit, hands clasped behind his back. This struck Levy as reminiscent of the pose of Nazi officers. She went up and tapped Duke on the back, asking, “What are you doing here? Why are you looking at these posters? I thought you said it never happened.” Duke replied, “I never said it didn’t happen, just that it was exaggerated.”

The confrontation was seen by Capitol reporters, who then followed up with Duke. “I know there were terrible atrocities against the Jewish people, but it is fair to question certain aspects of the Holocaust,” said Duke. Levy decided to follow Duke around the state as he ran for Governor, confronting him about the Holocaust. She said, “I never wanted to be in the papers, and I never wanted to find myself a nuisance. But my children look at me differently because I did speak up.” Levy went on to be a driving force in educating public school students across Louisiana and the deep South about the Holocaust and became very involved in New Orleans' world renowned World War II Museum and was the linchpin of a warm and loving family.

As the holiday approaches, I am considering my own role in preserving freedom for Jews in the U.S., which has been a blessing for immigrant families such as my own, fleeing the horrors in Europe. My commitment is to build alliances with ethnic or religious groups that have similar values of family, hard work, community, and charity. My wife Claudia and I have organized dinners for Latinos and Jews in Chicago, Houston, Long Island and New York City so that leaders in both communities can stand up for each other in challenging moments. This year, we need to find new friends, educate and cultivate them, turn them into powerful advocates for the truth about Jews in America and the world.

Richard Edelman is CEO.

^{*I’ve included photos of Anne Frank, who was a teenager in Amsterdam at the outbreak of WWII. She and her family hid for two years before being betrayed to the Nazis. The first U.S. exhibit of items from the Anne Frank House opens May 1 at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.}

I have spent the last week in Mumbai, Delhi, and Agra, meeting with business leaders, government officials, journalists, and academics while soaking in the culture. It is a time of acute self-reflection, about geopolitics, Brand India, and solving energy shortages prompted by the conflict in Iran. Here are a few observations about the market:

Friend to All: Indian tankers are some of the few allowed to move through the Straits of Hormuz, carrying essential oil and liquified natural gas (LNG) from the Middle East. India is also receiving energy from Russia. The relationship with the U.S. is strained by tariffs but remains essential. The EU has just concluded a 10-year negotiation that will allow food and wine to be sold in India, in return for access to India’s auto and textiles. India does not want to choose sides, preferring strategic autonomy in diplomatic relations. The Iran conflict is posing severe challenges, with the Government having to manage gas supply to households, restaurants and industries. The Government is considering new energy supply possibilities including South America and West Africa.
India Inc: The Government seems to be replicating the model of South Korea, with large Indian companies leading the charge as industrial champions, including Tata, Mahindra, Reliance, and Adani delivering scale and efficiency. The Hindustan Unilever model of 40 percent local ownership of the company is a powerful asset in an increasingly nationalistic marketplace. Small business accounts for only one-third of GDP; entrepreneurs are a major growth opportunity for the country but startups could do with more access to credit and less paperwork. Executives agree that India can grow 8-10 percent per annum in the next decade.
Deregulation: Since 1991, India has steadily moved from a controlled economy toward a modern, market-oriented economy driven by the private sector. The insurance market has been privatized for 25 years but the top two companies are state-owned. Delivery of services is steadily eliminating the middleman; Reliance and Allianz are launching an online direct to consumer insurance business which will mimic the low-cost Reliance cell phone service, with the goal of advancing the national target of delivering insurance for all by the 100th anniversary of India’s independence in 2047.
Manufacturing Ambition: There have been important success stories such as automotive (Chennai as the new Detroit), steel (second largest producer in the world) and the production of a quarter of all iPhones globally. But the manufacturing sector will need to grow by 15 percent year on year to achieve the goal of 25 percent of total GDP in the next two decades. Target industries include pharmaceuticals, electronics, and food products. Labor costs remain low but capital costs are high, with limited Foreign Direct Investment and high cost of logistics given excessive inventory used as a hedge against delivery risk. The Government has concluded nine free trade deals with 38 nations in the past five years, mostly with countries having capital surplus, aiming to attract inward investment to India.
Companies Are Focused on Domestic Market, Not Abroad: This was the most surprising finding of the week. The growth opportunities, whether in entertainment, retailing, healthcare or technology, are greatest at home. Companies are targeting a market of over 400 million Gen Z consumers and a population with a median age of 29, roughly a decade younger than in the U.S. or China. Hindustan Unilever has created a largely local supply chain (97 percent of raw materials are sourced in India) by helping to build cold storage and financing farmers.
Correcting Bias in AI-Driven Narratives: I also believe we need to confront a critical challenge in the age of AI-driven search. LLMs are often shaped by a predominantly Western media lens, which means the narratives that surface in GEO results can carry inherent bias, especially when it comes to foreign companies and markets like India. While this is not a surprise, it does present an opportunity -- Asian champions have a powerful role to play in shaping a more balanced and representative global narrative. By strengthening earned coverage and ensuring diverse, credible voices are reflected in the information ecosystem, organizations across the region can help correct this imbalance and build trust at scale.
Changed Media Marketplace: India has the largest YouTube audience in the world, with approximately 500 million active users as of late 2025. Brands are spending ten times as much on digital media as on television (sole exception being sports, especially Cricket Championships which are must-see TV). One marketer said, “Ten years ago it was all about branding; now it is performance, with spend concentrated on social media platforms like Instagram and Google, and e-commerce platforms like Flipkart and Amazon.” Industrial giants Reliance and Adani have substantial broadcast media holdings. This is enabling the rise of local brands, often connected to local influencers. One example is OZiva, a local supplement brand that exploded in popularity after a podcaster promoted the product on a recent segment. E-Commerce is about 7 percent of total commerce in India, projected to expand to 14 percent by 2030, with quick commerce accounting for about 10 percent of that by gross merchandise value (GMV).
The Creator Shift: In India, I see the creator economy entering a far more mature phase, with audiences moving toward raw, relatable storytelling and deeply engaged communities over mass reach. In a market shaped by vernacular growth and peer-led influence, creators are no longer just amplifiers but cultural influencers. This means co-creating with creators -- bringing them in early, investing in long-term partnerships, and building ecosystems where content, community, and real-world engagement intersect. In India especially, where trust is often built through word-of-mouth and social validation, brands must move beyond transactional engagement and build sustained, purpose-driven relationships that turn storytelling into a trust-building engine.
Remarkable Progress in Infrastructure: I could not believe the change along the waterfront in Mumbai, with the coastal road now enabling the traveler to zip between meetings at Taj Lands’ End to the bottom tip of the city in 20 minutes. Subways have opened in major cities; underground metro is expanding in Mumbai. Commuting to work will get easier soon. With new roads have come beautiful apartment towers and expansive office complexes.
Spirituality: My most profound moment was a visit to the Elephanta Caves, a 20-minute boat ride from the Gateway of India. This 7th century Hindu shrine was dug into a rock face atop a mountain, constructed by monks with hammer and chisel. Dedicated to the god Shiva, it depicts life stages of marriage and death, betrayal and punishment, love and loyalty. I also took the opportunity to visit the popular ISKCON temple for a Sunday Hare Krishna service. Parents, grandparents and children sang together as the priest twirled candles and chanted the scripture, showing the best of religion and humanity.

I leave India convinced that the market is a massive opportunity for smart businesspeople willing to play the India for India game, with affordable products sold via e-commerce and creator marketing. The country could well become the new linchpin for the region, avoiding the geopolitics while enabling its private sector to play in a deregulated context. The market is moving beyond outsourcing and low cost to quality and sophistication with a human touch. To my team at Edelman India, let’s roll!

Richard Edelman is CEO.

Edelman is working with the Chicago Bears on their quest for a new stadium. I went yesterday to visit with club President and CEO Kevin Warren at Halas Hall, the team headquarters named for team founder George Halas.

The Bears are one of the few NFL teams still owned by the founding family. George McCaskey is a third-generation chairman of the team, with Conor McCaskey in the fourth generation waiting in the wings. Virginia Halas McCaskey, daughter of George Halas, passed away last year at 102 years old.

For a lifelong Bears fan, yesterday’s visit was complete sports fantasy. Here’s what I learned:

Halas was a great athlete. Before his NFL career, he played for the New York Yankees baseball team. He held the NFL record for a fumble recovery and return for touchdown (98 yards) until 1972.
Halas served as Bears coach from 1920 to 1930, then again from 1933 to 1968. He pioneered the T Formation offense in the 1930s. My father’s fraternity brother at Columbia, Sid Luckman, perfected the T Formation to such an extent that the Bears slaughtered the Washington Redskins in the 1940 NFL Championship game 73-0.
He won six NFL championships, the last in 1963 against the New York Giants. I remember listening to that game on the radio in our living room, with quarterback Bill Wade scoring twice on one-yard sneaks.
Coach Halas was the first to name an African American as co-captain of the team in 1966 (Willie McRae). He grouped roommates by position, not by color (example: Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers, both running backs).
The Bears have more players in the NFL Hall of Fame than any other team. Among the notables are Red Grange, Sid Luckman, Gale Sayers, Dick Butkus, Mike Ditka and Walter Payton.

Many of my favorite childhood memories are related to the Bears. My brother John and I would take turns playing Sayers and Butkus, trying to run over each other in my bedroom. I called Sid Luckman, the best Bears QB of all time, Uncle Sid. He told me that my father helped him with his homework in ZBT House at Columbia. Brian Piccolo came to speak at my Latin School Varsity Club dinner when he was halfback for the team, the year before he contracted a fatal disease.

The Bears deserve a stadium worthy of a world-class team. We are working hard to achieve that goal, one family business helping another. This quote from George Halas says it all. “Nothing is work unless you’d rather be doing something else.”

Richard Edelman is the CEO.

The WPP announcement this morning that places Burson into WPP Creative is a significant change in strategy that makes PR a support element for the larger creative agencies of Ogilvy, VML and AKQA. It is a further elaboration of a strategy initiated a decade ago by John Seifert, former CEO of Ogilvy, when he placed Ogilvy PR into a package of services instead of its previously independent status.

The WPP approach is one of three used by holding companies for PR units. The Publicis concept is multi-local, with MSL reporting to country managers, so that MSL is in fact a collective of local firms. The OMC concept is PR as a combination of brands in smaller markets under the OPR flag, with Golin, Weber and Fleishman as stand-alone in large markets. The WPP idea is PR as a key part of bespoke holding company teams such as WPP Open X which services Coca-Cola, while also servicing its own clients. These structures will orient PR firms within holding companies towards brand PR in support of advertising creative.

This leaves the reputation management and corporate segment of the business wide open for Edelman and advisory firms such as Brunswick and FGS. It also misses the opportunity in Earned First communications where an earned idea becomes the driving force in marketing, like Edelman’s Endless Runway for eBay which has exploded the high end second use clothing category. We are investing behind our Earned Flywheel, which will benefit both corporate and brand clients with a process that utilizes synthetic customer profiles to speed the creative process and deliver tangible sales or reputation results. This approach sets us apart from holding companies that continue to invest primarily in paid-first models.

We are not interested in playing second fiddle in an orchestra. We believe our role is to lead in the communications world, with trust as our guiding light. We operate at the speed of culture, partnering with creators as news makers not as channels for paid content delivery. We work with clients taking action like Women For Change, whose Unburied Casket campaign drew attention to South Africa’s femicide crisis.

We want our clients to operate as poly-nationals, with local identity, connectivity to community and commitment to local supply chain while reaching all stakeholders including employees, shareholders and communities, not just consumers. We work across brand and reputation for clients needing public affairs sensibility in evaluating marketing initiatives. The smart client will reevaluate marketing spend in the coming years to commit a higher portion of investment to earned media as the main driver of LLM search. If you want to join the revolution instead of watching industry consolidation, contact me.

Richard Edelman is the CEO.

We’re spotlighting our Edelman Culture Champions, individuals recognized by their peers for exceptional dedication, positivity, and contributions to fostering a supportive workplace environment. These champions play a pivotal role in cultivating a culture where every voice is heard and valued. This edition of Inside Edelman features profiles of these outstanding colleagues from our U.S. offices, showcasing their efforts to uphold Edelman’s values of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB).

Tell us about your Edelman journey.

I still remember a LinkedIn message from Liz Barenholtz almost 7 years ago. Something like, “At Edelman, you might write a CEO speech, create an economic development plan for a city, launch an integrated marketing campaign for a startup.” A broader set of solutions than you typically see at an agency. And her message has proven true. My strategy team has led over 100 projects over the years – across non-profits, tech, food and beverage, financial services. And in my mind, I have a trophy case of campaigns and narratives.

You were nominated for Culture Champion by your colleagues – how do you foster a collaborative and respectful culture within your team?

Ask for help. I read a study that “asking for help” rather than “offering to help” drives more collaboration. You’d think the opposite to be true. But people who have immense expertise are often happy, delighted even, to share their gift with others.

How does your personal background play a role in your professional life?

Even as a kid, I’ve always loved ads, brands, magazines, pop culture. As a parent, it’s motivating to point out to my 7 year-old son how we impact culture – my company worked on this Super Bowl spot, my office launched this new sports drink, my coworker produced this event.

When you think about the future of Edelman, what does it look like for you?

I feel like there is a sense of optimism, with new wins and momentum at Edelman. As for me personally, I don’t make career plans. If at every day, project, team, I’m having fun and learning something new, I’ll see where it takes me.

How do you stay engaged with colleagues who work on a different team or in a different part of the business? Why is it important to make these outside connections?

With the limited time I have on earth, I want to have a good time. I want to make friends, have inside jokes, help make someone’s day.

As for how to engage with colleagues, I think it takes a bit of boldness. I once read better conversations start from making a bold statement rather than asking a general question. Someone who leaves a movie theater and declares to the group, “That’s the worst movie I’ve ever seen, and I’ll fight anyone who disagrees!” is more likely to start a robust conversation than someone who benignly asks, “What’d everyone think of the movie?”

Takes a bit of putting oneself out there to make connections ;)

Tara Hagan is a Senior Vice President on the Social Strategy team based in New York.

The Edelman Family lost a true friend today. Reverend Jesse Jackson passed away this morning in Chicago, ending a fifty-year relationship with our family. He was omnipresent, giving the eulogy at my father’s funeral, presiding at my marriage to Claudia, coming to our new office in Chicago for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the company. Edelman was the PR advisor and marketing arm for Operation Rainbow PUSH for a generation, helping him to broaden his appeal to corporate America.

It all began with a visit by Rev. Jackson to my father’s office in the early 70s. Rev. Jackson was upset about Edelman’s representation of a company that was resisting his efforts to diversify its supply chain to include black-owned businesses. The meeting got quite heated, with Rev. Jackson suggesting that he might even encourage action against Edelman. By the end of the session, these two big personalities found a way forward and began a lifetime friendship. Whenever Operation Rainbow PUSH needed a publicity campaign, a new brochure or support for events, Edelman provided pro-bono services. My mother forged an independent relationship with Rev. Jackson on issues such as mental health in the African American community.

My father passed the torch to me in his final years so that I became a constant recipient of Rev. Jackson’s ideas and desires. There were frequent visits to his office. We disagreed on issues like the proper role of Government in capitalism, but we found an equilibrium, which was mostly him talking, me listening and gently giving guidance.

Here are my favorite memories of our fifteen years together.

Lead from the Front – He volunteered for the hardest assignments, including a mission to Serbia to free an American pilot who had been captured in the Bosnian war. He marched with striking teachers and grape pickers to generate publicity for the cause.
The Matchmaker – He came to the Cannes Festival of Creativity with a message; you are missing the opportunity of a diverse work force. He organized a sit-down on the lawn in Cannes for me and three other Edelman executives with a group of 20 African American marketers. This accelerated our push for diversity and inclusion.
Not a Moment to Waste – His middle name was discipline. He preached it in his Sunday morning sermons from the pulpit. He lived it by exercising every morning and working on every flight while the rest of us were taking a nap. He believed in effort and excellence. There is always someone to help and a cause to be endorsed.
The Performer – He was blessed with a magical ability as an orator. His speech at the 1988 Democratic Convention united a divided party, while providing a historical narrative of struggle. He lit up every room he entered. His eulogy of my father in 2013 at Temple Sinai in Chicago relied on the Old Testament, a reference to Moses taking his people to the Promised Land but leaving it to the next generation to carry on…looking straight at me.
A Fair Share – He knew that the key to African American advancement was getting the black community into board rooms, bond offerings, and supply chains. He held an annual convening on Wall Street, featuring black bankers and money managers including John Rogers and Jim Reynolds who showed the way. He worked with major foreign companies with important investments in the U.S. such as Toyota to endow college scholarships for promising high school students.
Political Force – His presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988 helped pave the way for Barack Obama to become the first Black president of the United States. His office in Chicago was a mecca for ambitious politicians seeking his endorsement. He pushed the candidates on higher minimum wage; more support for unions and national healthcare.
Family Man – Rev. Jackson was devoted to his family, which included the long-time employees of Operation Rainbow PUSH. His son Yusef, a successful businessman, will take responsibility for the NGO, which still has an important voice in the fight for equal opportunity. His son Jonathan has served as the U.S. representative for Illinois's 1st congressional district since 2023. And his oldest son Jesse still has a bright political future, having served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Two years ago, I went for a brainstorm on fundraising at Rev. Jackson’s office. His mind was active, his verbal skills were diminished, and he was confined to a wheelchair by the demon of Parkinson’s disease. He wanted events in Silicon Valley, in Los Angeles and New York City to inspire the next generation of change-makers. He accompanied me to the exit in his wheelchair, then insisted on a photo. He pushed himself up and stood on his own, his arm around me, a force of will triumphing over age and illness. This vignette captures the spirit of the indomitable Jesse Jackson. The world will miss him profoundly. I will miss him even more. I join my wife Claudia, brother John and sister Renée in sending our condolences to his family.

Richard Edelman is the CEO.

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