I’m still riding a high of goodwill and inspiration after spending a few days together with more than 100 of my colleagues during our annual Employee Connection Week, or ECW as it’s now known throughout PS.
An incredible amount of preparation, care, and energy went into planning the event starting in April, and the result was three days of connection, learning, planning, and fun. The weather even cooperated, which was a nice bonus.
My favorite part of ECW each year is simply getting to reconnect with colleagues and team members in person. We exchange stories and updates about our lives, families, vacations, sports, and everything in between. And, of course, we spend plenty of time talking about our work, our clients, and where PS is headed next.
This year, one of those conversations centered on a question I think about often: How do we continue preparing PS for a future that is becoming increasingly difficult to predict?
Unlocking the Future
During ECW, we held an all-hands skill-building session titled “Unlock the Future.” It’s a simpler way of expressing our company’s 2026 rally cry: Future Ready, By Design.
For us, unlocking the future means preparing for what’s next on purpose. It means recognizing that continuous change and volatility are becoming the norm and building the skills, tools, and mindset necessary to remain strong, adaptable, and competitive.
The challenges that come with change are real. But so are the opportunities to learn, adapt, improve, and ultimately create even greater value for our clients.
And preparing PS for that future requires all of us.
Our session focused on four pillars of skills that every PS team member will be challenged and supported to continue developing:
Think & Adapt. Stay curious, challenge assumptions, solve problems, and become increasingly comfortable navigating change.
Leverage Technology. Use the tools available to us, including emerging technologies, to work smarter, improve processes, and create greater value.
Connect & Lead. Strengthen how we communicate, collaborate, build relationships, and lead from wherever we sit within the organization.
Deliver Results. Turn ideas, knowledge, and collaboration into meaningful outcomes for our colleagues, clients, and partners.
These are not skills we develop during one session or one Employee Connection Week. They represent areas where we will continue investing in our people through intentional learning, skill building, and new experiences.
Greater Value Inside = Growing Value Outside
I believe those investments are essential to continuing to increase the value PS creates for our clients.
I’ve come to accept and appreciate that the essence of my role as President is to ensure that PS continues to become more valuable every year, regardless of what is happening in the external world or business landscape.
But I don’t think we accomplish that simply by focusing outward.
Part of growing the value of PS is ensuring that the value our employees receive, professionally and personally, from being part of this company continues to grow too.
When our people are learning, developing new capabilities, equipped with better tools, connected to one another, and finding greater value in their own experience at PS, they pay those experiences forward.
It shows up in how we collaborate with colleagues. It shows up in how we solve problems. It shows up in how we respond when something unexpected happens. And ultimately, it shows up in the experience we create for our clients, agency partners, and supplier partners.
I think of it as a simple formula: Greater Value Inside = Growing Value Outside.
Investing in What Comes Next
Future readiness isn’t about knowing exactly what will happen next. If anything, the last several years have reinforced just how difficult that can be.
It’s about building an organization capable of responding effectively to whatever comes next.
For PS, that means continuing to invest in our people by growing their skills, improving their tools, strengthening connections, and fostering a mindset that views change as expected, manageable, and full of opportunity.
When we do that well, we become better equipped to help our clients navigate change too.
That is ultimately what Future Ready, By Design means to me. We aren’t simply preparing PS for our own future. We are building the capabilities, resilience, and adaptability that our clients will need from us now and in the years ahead.
I left ECW grateful for the experience, energized by our people, and inspired to find new and better ways to carry that value forward through the balance of 2026 and beyond.
There is a lot we cannot predict about what comes next.
But we can prepare for it.
And together, we can unlock it.