At the advice of Richard Nixon, Robert Dilenschneider takes out a piece of paper every New Year’s Eve and writes down the three most important things in his life. This is one of his secrets to success and happiness.

In the 25 years he has been doing this, the list has changed. Making money made the cut in his younger days, but has now been replaced with family and maintaining relationships.

But whatever makes the list, he makes it a point to live his daily life in a way that reflects those items.

“Make sure you do things that are important to you and that you really like,” he said. “We are only here for a short amount of time.”

This practice has served Dilenschneider well. He is the head of The Dilenschneider Group, a public relations firm that has counseled major corporations, professional groups and more, and the author of eight books, several of which are best sellers.

But before all of this, he was a journalism student on this campus.
Ohio State is recognizing his achievements with the School of Communication Distinguished Alumni Award.

“There are so many distinctive alumni who have done so much, and to be counted among them is very humbling,” he said. “It’s encouraging me to do more and go to greater heights.”

Dilenschneider credits his years at OSU as being very influential and said his education in the journalism school is “unparalleled.”

“Ohio State is full of people on a quest to find out something about themselves and about life and people who are not afraid to challenge convention,” he said.

Challenging convention is something Dilenschneider is familiar with.

“The bureaucracy is the hardest part. People are reluctant to accept new ideas and opinions. It’s never going to change. You have to find a way over them, around them or under them,” he said.

This is what he did.

After doing administrative work at a large public relations firm, he decided to branch out on his own in 1991 to do something that made him happy.

What made him happy was doing the kind of communication and opinion-shaping that would create positive change in the world.

Dilenschneider said he hopes the OSU community will respond.

“Americans are being called on to step up and create a better world and nobody, whether OSU student, graduate or faculty member should shrink from doing this,” he said. “We all have a responsibility.”