Champagne, Café con Leche and a Whole Lot of Balance
It’s PR, not the ER. Spain agrees.
My coach — Monica Villar Caballero, PR Account Director — concurs with this saying. That is, of course, after I explained to her the meaning of this oh-so-common phrase we use in the U.S. PR world. It resonates because almost everything in Spain, and in the office for that matter, is about balance. Let me give you a few examples:
· Yes, you can have that second “caña” (glass of beer) because you walked 25 minutes to get to the bar.
· Yes, you can take that 1.5 hour lunch because you’ll work extra late tonight on that pending project.
· Yes, you can have your fifth café con leche of the day because you stayed out late last night at an industry networking event.
Hopefully you get my point.
Monica leads a team of smart, open-minded, aware and truly nice people. They work hard, but they always find a reason to laugh. They get stressed out, but they’re able to disconnect when needed. They’re busy, but they always find time to grab a coke or laugh at my Snapchat story (ha!). Again, balance.
An incredibly well-networked PR practitioner, Monica invited me to an event last week for luxury champagne brand, Ruinart. Delicious French champagne meets buzzing Spanish culture. I’m in. One of my interactions with Monica at the event went like this:
Leigh: “How did you build such a strong personal and professional network?”
Monica: “I always try to be nice to people and work hard.”
Leigh (internally): Nailed it.
This struck me because I’ve always been a big fan of this quote from Conan O’Brien (←).
I know, I know, I’m a walking cliché, BUT it rings true. You can’t just work hard and expect to rule the world. And you can’t just be nice and expect your dreams to come true. You must find the perfect balance of both.
So, yes, I’ll have that second glass of sangria.
¡Salud!
