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There are a lot of things to take away from last night’s first debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, but there will be plenty of talking heads and social media debates today to cover those including your Aunt Mildred who will somehow tie your lack of political common sense to your decision to attend college.

But if you find yourself back at work today, concerned mainly with leading your organization’s growth and marketing efforts, still hungover from last night’s political theater of the absurd that is the race for perhaps the most powerful position in the world, I’m going to give you the one takeaway from last night’s debate that will change the course of your marketing efforts for the next four years and beyond. You ready?

“They are waiting for IT.”

When I’m in Pittsburgh, I often get asked where Em-Media is based. When I tell them that our agency is located in Steubenville, Ohio, they often act surprised that we’re at a networking event in Pittsburgh.

“Steubenville, Ohio?! How long does it take you to get here?!”

My answer is always the same. “Less time than it probably takes you.”

In the late 90s, I developed a campaign and corresponding jingle called ‘Burb of the ‘Burgh. The idea was to get across one simple idea. If you were interested in saving time instead of mileage, Steubenville, Ohio was a more than viable option–lower taxes, affordable housing, and good schools were just a few things that this Pittsburgh kid has found by moving, “ … two states over but right next door.” It’s less than a 40 minute drive from my office to some parts of Pittsburgh. Sometimes it takes that long to get from downtown to Murrysville.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about this same thing but from a different angle. I get it, some of you are never going to leave the city for my little piece of paradise. I think a lot of this has to do with Pittsburgh reinventing itself over the last decade and a half. It’s being heralded as the new Brooklyn. It consistently ranks as one of the best cities to live. And here I am with one burning question, When are we going to fix our outdated public transportation system?

When are we going to bring the ‘burbs to the ‘Burgh?

I don’t need a list to tell you what will make an intern successful. I don’t need a list to tell you what traits will get my attention, and I certainly don’t need a list to tell you what will make an intern memorable.

There’s one thing, one trait that each great intern has no matter what their background and skillset.

They want to be mentored.

Don’t get me wrong, positive qualities like ambition and a strong resume are nice, but they’re really only helpful when coupled with a desire to learn. Somehow, the desire part of professional development always gets pushed to the bottom of our interview checklist. For me, it is at the top.

I find it much easier to teach skills than I do to find interns that are open to the kind of criticism and critique that it takes to see real growth and achieve their maximum potential.

Here are 5 ways to tell that your intern is really looking for a mentor.

Last Thursday, Donald Trump officially accepted the nomination to be the Republican nominee for President of the United States of America. This week, barring some unforeseen event, Hillary Clinton will do the same for the Democrats.

America is not short on opinions right now when it comes to these candidates, and I can’t remember an election when the sides seemed more resigned than excited about who their party is nominating.

On one hand, you have Trump. His supporters say he’s Washington outsider that has been a royal pain in the ass to the GOP establishment. He’s brash, arrogant, and unafraid. His detractors call him a bully who manipulates the fears and underlying resentment of whites in an increasingly diverse America.

On the other side of the aisle, you have Clinton who supporters will tell you is experienced, smart, and knows how to get things done in Washington. Her opponents will quickly point out that she’s everything wrong with American politics–a professional liar whose political career has been filled with scandal, whispers, and political maneuvering. A career that, along with her husband, has drawn comparisons to the rise to power of Frank and Claire Underwood from the popular Netflix series House of Cards.

On both sides, we are faced with a decision that has caused many to ask, “What are we doing wrong in our primary process,” when faced with the prospect of choosing one or the other. But whichever way you vote, I think there are some very interesting things that we can take away from these two candidates and our reactions to them.

If they’re really so bad, how did they get here? How did this happen, and what does it say about how we make decisions?”

Here are 3 things this election cycle has reminded me about how we as human beings make decisions whether it’s an election, where we buy a new car, or which doctor we choose.

It’s after lunch, and you’ve just returned to your desk. You’re staring at your computer screen with zero motivation to actually do any work. A little office siesta sounds glorious, but that is unlikely to happen. You try to finish the day’s work, but you spend more time staring into space than you do working.

Interns are people too, and they are often really good people.

No, I’m serious.

As I talk to our college interns, I am constantly surprised at what other companies and organizations have their peers doing with what could be such an amazing mutual experience for everyone involved.

Interns are not for getting coffee.

Yes, at times, I will ask my intern to do some things like clean up the files on our shared drive or post a bunch of photos to a Facebook page, but even those are teaching moments.

I rarely ask my interns to do something that would not be in a similar job description if their internship was a paid position. In fact, and I’d like you to sit down for this, I actually shy away from giving them things that don’t give them useful experience because every time I do, I am decreasing the value that I am bringing to the table and therefore decreasing the amount that I can reasonably ask of them.

Let me say this, at Em-Media, we are still developing our program. We’re not even close to where we want to be, but we’re actively working on getting there. We’re doing that through a mixture of our own experiences, feedback from our past and current interns, and a healthy dose of borrowing from those companies and organizations that are already doing it well.  

I’m intentionally putting a lot of effort into developing the Em-Media intern program for a few reasons, the least of which is boosting our bottom line with free labor and my hatred of walking 100 feet to the coffee pot.

Internships should be an equal value exchange just like all of your other healthy relationships. There are some very basic attitudes and foundation pieces to incorporate into your program development to give your company the best shot of making that happen.

How do I create a social media content strategy? If you’re asking this question, then you’ve officially entered the new era of the marketing world. Welcome.

In the agency business we tend to have very weird hours.  Our work can easily carry on well into the night. Eric Hersey tends to watch television at night. I turn to something like the NFL Network for white noise. During the off-season, it’s just the same clips filtered again and again throughout the night. I quickly realized that the…

Em-Media will soon be one of Pittsburgh’s premier advertising and marketing firms.

Yes, that’s brash and maybe a little cocky. We’re not only convinced of our ability to serve absolutely any client with our team of empowered, young creatives and experienced account managers, but we’re determined. After thirty-plus years into my media career, I have learned that when I decide to do something, I will do whatever it takes to make it happen.