What does it mean to occupy a room? Look around. How well do you know the lines, the angles, the surfaces? How great is the overlap between you and your surroundings? We all know what it’s like to move through a familiar room, taking steps and turns, reaching for a light switch, pulling a door closed with just the right amount of force. Our office is a part of me, it’s a part of our team. It’s the solar system in which we orbit every day, all of us comfortably knowing our own places and paths.
When The Fearey Group was founded in 1981 by my mentor Pat Fearey, female executives were practically nonexistent in the PR world when she started the business 35 years ago. For more than three decades she blazed a trail that forever changed the landscape of the industry — locally and globally. She is a person who is not content with the familiar ways. She has never been content to sit in the backseat of her own business. She is an innovator, and she knew that the enemy of innovation is comfort.
We’ve been in the same office for 20+ years. In that time we’ve witnessed a complete sea change in the world of communications. Internet. Email. Mobile platforms. Social media. Streaming media. Virality. The Fearey Group has been at the front of every one, fearlessly embracing any and all possible ways to expand the reach of our clients’ message. We know what it means to sit still. We know what it means to move.
This past weekend we got the keys to our new office. It’s only up one floor from our old familiar home, but it might as well be a different world; we took out the walls.
It’s open and light and completely without the conventional privacy we’ve known for so long. While it might feel strange at first, we know it will benefit us as a team and force us to approach things differently. We will interact differently, we will orbit differently. We will get stronger.
The spirit of growth through change is a cornerstone of the Fearey way. Pat instilled it in everyone she inspired, and it’s the challenge I have embraced since she first inspired me. I’m ready for this new chapter. On Friday I put the shiny new key in the lock of Suite 1212 and opened the door. I went inside and smelled the soft, sweet smell of fresh paint and smiled. It’s beautiful, and it is time. I can’t wait for Pat to see it. I can’t wait to move this coming weekend. Stay tuned. It is a work in progress.