Lloyd Benson
Executive Vice President
Schwartz Communications

1. How did you get into PR?
I was acting as in-house marketing director at a large Boston law firm and going against what was the prevailing wisdom at the time, we decided to aggressively use PR as a marketing differentiator. It was controversial, both inside and outside of the firm, but it was fun. And it worked

2. Briefly describe your typical workday.
I get in around 6:30 a.m. I'm the victim of a bad metabolism. I use the early morning to get caught up on e-mail, review documents, read the overnight news and get ready for meetings during the day. It's also a great time to write. No interruptions. Most days are spent meeting with clients, pitching potential new clients and meeting with the account teams who work for me. But as anybody who has ever worked in PR knows-moments of random crisis have a way of appearing just when you think everything is under control. I try to leave around 6:00 p.m. But all my clients and account teams have my cell number.

3. What is the best part of your job?
I've always thought that the best part of the PR job is that it is tangible. Real. If you do a great job, you can read it in the paper. Watch it on TV. Listen to it on the radio. And what we do has influence. It impacts and influences people. I think that sometimes we lose sight of exactly how powerful what we do is. Our work helps our clients. It creates wealth and jobs.

4. What is the worst part of your job?
I'm not sure that there is a real "worst" aspect. Certainly the current economy has posed a challenge. Measurement is a thorny issue. But PR has always been fun to me.

5. What is the biggest lesson you've learned during your PR career?
Only one? Boy-I've learned a lot and still am. Most of them are simple: There's no such thing as a sure thing; never say never; and Murphy's Law is true. But I think the single largest lesson is that if you hire great people, give them the latitude and freedom to succeed and excel, not only will they meet both your own and the client's expectations, they'll usually surpass them. That's certainly been true here at Schwartz. I have had a lot of great people make me look very good in the process.

6. What is the most unique thing about your company?
I think that Schwartz is unique primarily because we are totally focused on results. We're very bottom-line. There is no bureaucracy, internal politics or administrivia. Everything is optimized for the client. I can honestly say that the finest PR pros I know are here. And there are lots of them at every level and they amaze me constantly. The team structure may be different than at other agencies because we are all generalists. Everybody on the Account Team writes for the client and we all pitch the media-from the account coordinator to me. What we write and who we pitch may vary-but I think the client benefits from this as opposed to specialization.

7. What is your ideal dream job?
Well-since it appears at this stage that I will not be pitching for the Red Sox anytime soon-I think the dream job would be White House Press Secretary, assuming I could choose who the president was. Teaching American History at the High School level has always been a dream.