An Incomparable Adventure
Time is such a funny thing. Twenty years: that’s barely adult age for a young man or woman. For an older person, twenty years seems to go by in a flash. Yet two decades is also time enough for an epic to unfold, replete with epic changes and epic adventures.
LEVICK— which has its 20th birthday on February 1, 2018—is still a relatively young firm. Yet consider the mammoth changes that have occurred during this time span. As an obvious example, the Internet was a minor part of our work twenty years ago. Today, of course, it is the medium that dictates how we think, how we talk to each other. It has redefined the word “communications.”
Soon after we were founded, the biggest political story was the Gore/Bush election fracas. Although still in our infancy, we were key players in that controversy, locally in Florida and nationally. Oh, we were precocious!
We still reach beyond our grasp. We still brave the unknown. We still partner with clients, corporate and otherwise, on so many of the matters that shape the collective public destiny.
Read any newspaper or click any high-profile digital outlet in the past twenty years. You will find multitudinous issues and controversies and policy matters on which we have left an imprint. Cyber disasters, legislative battles, bet-the-company lawsuits, sex harassment, human rights —if it’s important, we’ve been there.
Remember that little ole financial collapse in 2008? We were there, in the AIG war room, when the whole world was watching. We’ve been elsewhere too: in the line of fire in the Middle East; in the U.S. Supreme Court for cases that would transform markets; at Guantanamo Bay on behalf of clients for whom no other communications firm was willing to speak up; at the Gulf of Mexico right after the gargantuan oil spill. And so forth.
Sure, I’m bragging, but everyone who’s worked for LEVICK has a right to some swagger. The work we’ve done has been inestimably significant, yet our pride is about many other things as well.
It’s about the business challenges we’ve met and the obstacles we’ve surmounted. I often talk about how, at the nadir of our fortunes, an order of the Catholic Church entrusted us with its reputation; indeed, its future. The engagement came just in the nick of time for LEVICK but it wasn’t just dumb luck. It had more to do with the respect and confidence that had prompted one of our clients to refer us. And, it was our ability to do the job—not just get the job—that allowed for LEVICK’s subsequent success and regrowth.
It’s about how we have continued to grow and take on new challenges. Consider where we started. Twenty years ago, more than 90% of LEVICK’s business was simply getting lawyers quoted in the newspapers. Our work now spans every continent. It involves a stunning diversity of businesses, nation-states, and high-profile individuals.
It’s about the people I have worked with during the past 20 years. What a cast of characters! You know, average people don’t get attracted to a business like ours. The ones who do are by definition adventurers, risk-takers, and dreamers.
And, it’s most certainly about the extraordinary people who work now, today, on the 4th floor of 1900 M Street in Washington, DC and in cities around the country. Much more than employees, they’re comrades on a journey to as yet undiscovered realms of professional endeavor. Amazing adventures lie ahead; the next twenty-year saga is indeed about to begin.
When I started this firm, I dreamed that someday we would be, not just a traditional PR firm, but a global presence and a global force. We still have dreams. Check back in 2038 and I’ll give you an update.
