On Our Radar

Pat Heffernan

Pat Heffernan

Pat Heffernan — marketing strategist, writer, and founder of Marketing Partners in Burlington, Vermont — writes about strategy, words, and communication to create change.

Recent posts by Pat Heffernan

1 min read

Americans are Turning Off the News

By Pat Heffernan on Nov 5, 2021 6:32:28 PM

If you find yourself skimming the morning news and skipping the evening news, you're not alone. Columbia Journalism Review reports that there is a clear pattern of decline regardless of media format — online, print, or TV. What are the implications for change makers?

1 min read

Slowly Ever So Slowly More Female CEOs

By Pat Heffernan on Jun 4, 2021 5:31:19 PM

Over the past 20 years, the number of female CEOs at Fortune 500 companies has increased by nearly 14-fold. Sounds good until you realize in 2021 that represents only 8 percent of CEOs at Fortune 500 companies. Improvement but far from the more than 50 percent of the population and the workforce who identify as female.

2 min read

Ageism, Economic Development and Entrepreneurship

By Pat Heffernan on Mar 31, 2021 11:15:00 AM

The Most Successful Entrepreneurs Are...
Does age predict entrepreneurial success? Yes, say many Americans, and they would be right. But they would be wrong about the age that predicts success. According to a recent study, it's not youthfulness that leads to entrepreneurial success...
3 min read

Is Your Trust in the CDC Eroding?

By Pat Heffernan on Sep 13, 2020 8:42:54 PM

Despite missteps amid a charged political season, I believe the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) remains a public health institution worthy of our trust. Here is why.

A Steady Stream of Essential Information

For decades I have relied on the CDC for timely, important public health information, helpful resources, and useful tools to help spread the word near and far. For example, as we head into flu season, the CDC offers the following animation in its public media library.

 

1 min read

Public Health-Food System-Public Interest Communication Challenge

By Pat Heffernan on Apr 7, 2019 1:32:24 PM

The most compelling and convincing of the many pieces I've seen during National Public Health Week 2019 are an article and a video in The New York Times. The excellent, brief video captures (without oversimplifying) the interrelated problems of:

  • antibiotic resistance,
  • the lack of animal ID-tracking,
  • access to farms for outbreak investigations,
  • and timely hospital reporting in the U.S..

The State of Vermont, which prides itself for leading on public policy solutions for farm-to-plate, organic farming, and public health issues, is likely to find taking the lead here challenging.

1 min read

Toxic Chemicals: States Are Doing What EPA Won’t

By Pat Heffernan on Jun 28, 2018 9:43:44 AM

 

Image Credit Patrick Kyle

Since residents of Bennington, Vermont found PFOA in their tap water last year, it seemed a given to many of us that a broad, preventive response to chemical contamination would be crafted and approved by the State Legislature and Administration in 2018.

1 min read

Unplugging: How To Power Down In A Wired World

By Pat Heffernan on Feb 12, 2018 4:50:00 PM

 

Ryan Johnson for NPR

NPR shared an excellent piece today on the impact of technologies on our brains. This is the subject of near-daily discussion in our offices because marketing communication has become a technology-driven field -- and we find ourselves coaching our clients, particularly the nonprofits and government agencies, to add more so-called martech (marketing technology) to their world in order to advance their cause cost effectively.

5 min read

How to Support Women Entrepreneurs in Rural Areas

By Pat Heffernan on Jun 6, 2017 11:12:00 AM

 

The need is well documented. The Kauffman Foundation and others have detailed the female-male gap in business startup rates, gross revenues and number of employees for comparable businesses, even within the same industry. The challenge has become identifying promising, practical solutions -- especially in non-metro areas.

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About On Our Radar

On Our Radar highlights issues of interest to the MPI Team, our clients and friends. We tend to pick topics of particular relevance to Vermont, whether or not they have emerged in national awareness yet.

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