Profile

Professional summary

Gerard Francis Corbett is Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Redphlag LLC, a strategic public relations, marketing management and executive coaching consulting firm, a position he held since January 2008.

Corbett also served as a Branding Instructor at UC Berkeley Extension's Entrepreneurship Program, Chief Marketing Officer of Producers Forum, Inc., a real estate web start up in Palo, Alto, CA; and Adjunct Professor in Public Relations at San Jose State University. He blogs extensively on career management in the PR field for his own blog and for TalentZoo.com, CareerThoughtleaders.com, BlueSteps.com and HireCentrix.com. He also served as Past Chair & CEO of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA,) the world’s largest member

Engagement overview

Duration, scope and pricing of every engagement is decided mutually with the client during the initial consultation

  • linkedin logo
  • aboutdotme logo
  • blogger logo
Areas of expertise
Insights

Lessons from Uber

The latest imbroglio created by thoughtless conversation, oversized egos and lack of human decency, was a ripe moment for a genuine and authentic apology, followed by a swift kick in the can and canning. But that didn't happen. The object of the company's bile, a well known and well read technology reporter, and customers, including the public at large, instead were treated to nothing more than a ... Read more

Topics:

Question: Overcoming unwillingness to lead

Sit down with him and try to elicit what are his passions and what are his goals. If they are aligned and or intersect, pursue that further down the line. Ask him to be serious about his future. If you do not sense any leadership abilities, just move on... Read more

Topics:

Question: Difficulties in finding suitable mentors for emerging women leaders

I would look to your professional association as a source of mentors. You should already be engaged with your professional association in terms of best practices and advocacy. So take the next step and encourage them to develop a mentorship program. You might do this by providing seed funding for such an effort... Read more

Topics:

Question: How can we brand ourselves as a responsible, community-based business?

Do what you do well. Focus on the customer and the experience. Delight your customers with your product and service. Changing to organic milk was likely done in a vacuum. Did your customer ask for it? That said, the customer is what counts. Be involved in your local community but do it in an authentic way. The rest will take care of itself... Read more

Topics:

Question: How can a seller best influence the online reviews?

Focus on food and service. Delight your customers with both and the reviews will take care of themselves... Read more

Topics:

Question: Performance review with high-performers, without managerial skills

Your question is more common than you might imagine. And it is often awkward to answer in a way that would satisfy the employee. That said, we live in a bell curve world where we have some folks smack in the middle and extremes on both ends. Some folks were destined to be on both ends and not necessarily part of the mainstream.

A technique that has always served me well is to explain how the e... Read more

Topics:

Question: Trouble adjusting to the culture of my new organization

There is a lot of great fodder here in response to your statement of your current environment.
One issue I see is your nervousness in having your authority questioned by your subordinates. While I think there is much to be gained from a command and control environment, the world is changing. And you must change as well. You need to let go of some of your notions about command and control and ... Read more

Topics:

Question: How should business executives engage with social media as representatives of their company?

Social media is not rocket science. Social infrastructure platforms are just that. They are additional channels of communication to reach the constiituencies of an enterprise. There should be no confusion about their use. Frankly, newer platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Quora and Pinterest are just additional tools available to companies to communicate their messages. Recent evidence can be f... Read more

Topics:

Question: How can we have candid discussions in our meetings?

The behavior of your colleagues is understandable but not reasonable. If this is consistent behavior, I suspect that it stems from the CEO and his ability, intentionally or not, to intimidate his direct reports. One rule I use is to ask folks to check their ego's at the door and communicate authentically and honestly. It is only through respectful and open dialogue that organizations can progre... Read more

Topics:

Question: How to confront overselling practices in the sales department?

All good advice above. My only add would be to form a customer team that serves all disciplines and functions within the company. By having a collaborative team no stone will be unturned. You will have complete transparency within the company and hopefully no surprises to the customer... Read more

Topics:

Question: Smooth talked into a bad bonus package during the hiring process

The horse is already out of the barn. You have two choices in my experience. 1. Have an honest heart to heart with the boss making suggestions on how to improve forecasting in the company. Give her/him suggestions on how to tighten up the process and what role you can play. Then move forward. 2. The other alternative is to look for a new gig... Read more

Topics:
Testimonials

Gerry was one of best branding and PR expert I have ever seen with global insight and execution capabilities. He has developed the foreign brands as one of powerhouse in US with great vision and endless efforts. Gerry has also dedicated so much his energy in professional networks such as PRSA for community sharing and cooperation. I strongly recommend Gerry as your friend and consultant.

David Cong, CEO MeetExpo

Gerry is one of the most inspiring marketer's I have ever worked with. It was this inspiration that resulted in his provocative campaign brief to explain "Why Hitachi?" to spearhead the repositioning of Hitachi's corporate brand in North America to business decision makers. The resulting highly successful Hitachi True Stories campaign was in large part due to his tenacity and verve in driving internal support for the campaign over a three year period. From the start Gerry lead a highly creative approach to the campaign fundamentals insisting on a digital platform that led to the web being the strategic hub of the campaign. His relentless collaboration with Hitachi businesses resulted in 5 true story documentary films being developed in less than 3 months. Gerry was never satisfied and it was his constant desire to always improve the campaign that garnered the positive shifts in Hitachi's brand consideration during the campaign and its Effie finalist and One Show accolades. Gerry is not only inspiring to work with but a marketer who really can see around corners and is able to get the best strategic and creative thinking done while making it seem like a conversation among friends.

Andrew Scott, SVP Group Account Director Hitachi America, Ltd.

Gerry is the rare brand steward capable of creating a compelling vision that not only unites a global company but also captivates new and current customers alike. There's an art involved in what Gerry makes look deceptively effortless.

Debbie Curley, Senior Vice President Weber Shandwick Worldwide

Gerry is a savvy marketing person whose immense expertise in the marketing communication field has given me a lot of suggestions on my business and helped it to succeed. His dedication to this work (as the top marcom executive for Hitachi Americal, Ltd.) is also beyond description. The # of projects under his supervision just blows one's mind away.

Dr. Wilson So, Director & General Manager Hitachi America, Ltd.

I highly recommend Gerry as not only as a demonstrated expert in the field of public relations, but as a remarkable mentor and resource. Gerry has freely offered his assistance and counsel with regard to my career, and his thoughtful and creative advice, direction and encouragement have been invaluable. I feel fortunate to have met Gerry and to have received the benefit of his incomparable experience and generosity. I am pleased to have the opportunity to acknowledge him as an example of an exceptional mentor and teacher.

Lauren Becker, Director of Government Affairs Redphlag LLC