1. Trade Tips: How Bending the
Rules Can Benefit Your Life and
Career
Helpful hints for public relations
and marketing professionals
By Ronald W. Simms Jr.

2. What If…
What if you were given
license to not always
follow the rules? Do you
think you would be in
trouble?
What if your thoughts
had no limits, but
certain “rules” have
kept your life in a
neat, tidy box?

3. Ten Dangerous Things
We love the recent
Forbes article, “Ten
Dangerous Things You
Were Taught in School”
by Jessica Hagy.
Hagy says, “To thrive in
the world outside the
classroom, you’re
going to have to
unlearn those lessons.”

4. Think Outside the Box
If you ever needed an endorsement to
think outside of the box, look no further.
Here are ten items
that may be
placing limits on
how you think and
operate in
business.

5. 1 The People In Charge Have All The Answers
That’s why they are so wealthy and
happy and healthy and powerful –
ask any teacher.

6. 2 Learning Ends When You Leave the Classroom
Your fort
building, trail
forging, frog
catching, friend
making, game
playing, and
drawing won’t
earn you any
extra credit. Just
watch TV.

7. 3
The Best and Brightest Follow the Rules
You will be rewarded for your
subordination, just not as much as your
superiors, who, of course, have their own
rules.

8. 4
What The Books Say Is Always True
Now go read
the creationism
chapter. There
will be a test.

9. 5 There Is A Very Clear, Single Path to Success
It’s called college. Everyone can join
the 1% if they do well enough in school
and ignore the basic math problem
inherent in that idea.

10. 6 Behaving Yourself Is As Important As Getting Good Marks
Whistle-blowing, questioning the status
quo, and thinking your own thoughts are nonos.
Be quiet and get back in the assembly line.

11. 7 Standardized Tests Measure Your Value
By value, I’m
talking about
future earning
potential, not
anything else
that might have
other kinds of
value.

12. 8 Days Off Are Always More Fun Than Sitting In the Classroom
You are trained
from a young
age to base
your life around
dribbles of
allocated
vacation. Be
grateful for
them.

13. 9 There Is One Right Answer to Every Question
At least to every
important
question. Those
who can come
up with the most
right answers
will do well in
this economy.

14. 10
The purpose of your education is your future career
And so you will be taught to be a good
worker. You have to teach yourself how to
be something more.

15. To learn more about McKinney & Associates, visit www.mckpr.com
McKinney & Associates was founded in 1990 with a commitment to
social justice that has prevailed for more than 20 years. From the
beginning, McKinney has passionately and skillfully practiced public
relations with a conscience for local, national and international
organizations.
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