The Short Goodbye

You know the feeling. Someone’s leaving. There are a few nice words. A small gift. Perhaps even some tears.

You stand awkwardly at the open door, or cold window or airport gate, hand flapping in the vacant breeze, mouthing something like “it’s not goodbye, just au revoir” (which is fine, unless you’re in Paris).

And then its back to work, or the TV or the evening rush hour and all the emotional trauma is lost in the needs of the now.

Saying goodbye is never easy. But people tend to bounce back sooner than they think. And for the Weber Shandwick team, the prospect of moving into a new Sydney office that’s super-contemporary, yet wrapped in the coat of a heritage site, makes the challenge of saying goodbye just that little bit easier.

Arriving at our new home this morning, the arches of Royal Naval House on Grosvenor Street beckoned like some architectural Pied Piper. The fact that we’re now able to spend our weekdays (and, perhaps, a few weekends) in this wonderful new space is exciting for every one of us.

But we’re certainly not greedy enough to keep it all to ourselves. Like any new home, the more who have the chance to enjoy it, the better it is. Which is why our clients, business partners and friends have a permanent invitation to visit us at Royal Naval House – and not just for the formality of business meetings.

After all, what better way to get over the ‘goodbyes’, than by getting to say ‘hello again’ as quickly as you can.

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About ianrumsby

Ian Rumsby is Australian Chairman and EVP Asia Pacific at global public relations firm, Weber Shandwick Worldwide. Like every PR flak he is a wannabe journalist. And the advent of blogging presents him with the chance to be exactly that. To some degree. Ian's agency career spans 17 years during which time he has worked for two PR firms. He joined Weber Shandwick Worldwide at its inception in 2001. Having ran the firm's Australian operation for 4 years, a business he continues to chair, he's now immersed in the Asian operation which he hopes will provide a plethora of material for his blog. Ian is English, fiercely proud of it and all the more so as someone who's been living in Sydney since 1998. During that time he has not sent a single Bondi Beach postcard to anyone in Blightly. Instead, he has focused his efforts on getting married, staying married and fathering two delightful young boys. So far, he has been successful on all counts. He's hoping his foray into cyberspace changes none of it.
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4 Responses to The Short Goodbye

  1. Maha says:

    Congrats on the new office . . . look forward to seeing it. Maha

  2. ianrumsby says:

    Thx Maha. Party planned for next month. Will be sure you’re on the invite list!

  3. Maha says:

    I’m getting the party frock ready now :-)

  4. ianrumsby says:

    Careful. You might jinx it!

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