A Passion for Winning: Fifty Years of Promoting Legendary People and Products
A passion for winning cannot be acquired.  It is an innate characteristic one is endowed with at birth.  It is the inability to accept "no" for an answer, and the ability to disregard the phase, "It cannot be done."  A Passion for Winning is about how this innate characteristic drove Aaron D. Cushman to build one of the nation’s largest and most prestigious independent public relations firms.His journey began as a pilot in the combat skies over the ruins of Nazi Germany.  Having experienced the exhilaration – and more than a dollop of fear – of aerial warfare, once released from active military service, he believed the only career path he could follow must include stimulation, challenge, and excitement.  He opted for a career in a heretofore unknown area – public relations.His early years as a publicist in the world of show business recount funny, poignant, and intimate anecdotes revealing the human side of celebrities in motion pictures, television, and nightclub entertainment.  He offers first-hand vignettes about Jane Russell, Milton Berle, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Jimmy Durante, the Three Stooges, and other notables.  Those years were interrupted by a telegram from Harry Truman telling Mr. Cushman the President could not handle the Korean War without his personal help, to which he responded.Upon his second release from active duty, Mr. Cushman reestablished his public relations firm in a 200-square-foot office in Chicago.  From a handful of small, local retail accounts, he grew his agency to provide public relations services to a host of Fortune 500 clients, including Marriott Hotels, Keebler Co., Motorola, Century 21, and many others.  From Chicago, he expanded to offices in New York, Los Angeles, and St. Louis.His career also includes the world of professional sports – baseball, basketball, football, soccer, polo, horse racing, and more.  As Mr. Cushman points out, sports is an area where there is no middle ground, no gray area;  you either win or you lose, and no one remembers who came in second.Though retired, Mr. Cushman’s message is timely.  He tackles the concept of "spinning" – the art form of twisting facts to make them read or sound more positive.  While the media has chastised public relations professionals on ethical questions, the author takes the media to task for their lack of ethics and common courtesy – operating under the guise of protecting the people.  Mr. Cushman asserts that if truth and trust are necessary elements in the continued success of the media business, he fears for its future.The author provides a front-row seat on his fifty-year roller coaster ride in the public relations business.  And Mr. Cushman reveals how, through all the ups and downs, he maintained his personal "passion for winning."  To this day he says, "How rare to find a vocation within which to spend your life and never regret a single day.  How truly fortunate to be compensated for doing what you actually love."Just as Mr. Cushman tried to implant that positive outlook into every person who ever worked at the Cushman Agency, readers will be inspired to uncover their own innate passion for winning.