Category Archives: Leadership

Three candidates for new PR definition

Posted on January 15, 2012 at 11:31 am UK

prwordcloudThe PRSA-led global initiative to find a new definition for public relations has moved into an interesting phase as it extends the time for deciding on what will be the one.

Rather than the PRSA and its global partners choose from three candidate definitions, those candidate definitions have been posted publicly to encourage further public discussion.

In an update posted earlier this week, incoming PRSA president Gerard Corbett said practitioners have until January 23 to express their initial reactions to these draft definitions, adding:

[...] We’ll then aggregate and analyze your feedback in preparation for a second “Definition of PR” summit meeting with our international partners, from which three final definitions will arise for voting by the profession. This additional step, we feel, will engender greater input and, ultimately, ensure we achieve the broadest possible consensus on — and satisfaction with — the new, modern definition of public relations.

So, here are the three #PRDefined Candidate Definitions:

Definition No. 1:

  • Public relations is the management function of researching, engaging, communicating, and collaborating with stakeholders in an ethical manner to build mutually-beneficial relationships and achieve results. (Annotated version here.)

Definition No. 2:

  • Public relations is a strategic communication process that develops and maintains mutually-beneficial relationships between organizations and their key publics. (Annotated version here.)

Definition No. 3:

  • Public relations is the engagement between organizations and individuals to achieve mutual understanding and realize strategic goals. (Annotated version here.)

If you have a view, add your voice in a comment to Gerard Corbett’s post (there are over 100 comments there already). Remember, the deadline is January 23.

Related post:

FIR Interview: John Clemons, Interim Executive Director, IABC

Posted on January 11, 2012 at 10:25 pm UK

iabclogobanner

Leading a professional association that represents about 15,000 business communication professionals in over 80 countries is a challenging opportunity for a visionary leader.

It’s a challenge that John Clemons, ABC, APR, has grasped with alacrity following his appointment as  Interim Executive Director of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) in early January as the association leadership pursues its search for a new permanent leader.

In this FIR Interview, Clemons discusses his new role with co-hosts Neville Hobson, ABC and Shel Holtz, ABC – both long-time IABC members – starting with his reasons for accepting it on an interim basis. In a wide-ranging discussion, Clemons outlined his vision as interim leader, explaining what he intends to accomplish. He paid tribute to the leadership tenure of IABC President Julie Freeman, ABC, APR, who retired at the end of 2011 after a decade in the role.

And he spoke of present issues and challenges confronting the profession and IABC at a time of continuing change and evolution in society and in business that he intends to address, including the effects and potential of social media, the importance of diversity, the international aspects of IABC, and more.

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About our Conversation Partner

johnclemonsJohn G. Clemons, ABC, APR, is a senior executive and consultant with an  award-winning record of success in corporate and organizational communications. He has special expertise providing strategic counsel and support for top executives and corporate officers of Fortune 500 companies.

His most recent position was corporate director of community relations at Raytheon Company in Dulles, Virginia, where he was responsible for the development and execution of a community involvement strategy for the greater Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia region, as well as corporate outreach initiatives. Clemons’ career has also included leading all areas of professional communications for several Fortune 500 companies, as well as newspaper journalism and magazine writing and editing.

Clemons has a strong history of leadership with IABC. He served as the association’s chairman 2001-2002 and has served on the international executive board for more than six years. He has also been a member of IABC’s multiculturalism committee, the 1996 international conference planning committee, a trustee for the IABC Research Foundation 1997-1998, judged the EXCEL award, and been a member of the Communication World advisory panel. He has contributed to several IABC publications and is a frequent speaker at IABC conferences at the international and local levels.

Connect with John on Twitter: @jgclemons.

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(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel’s and my podcast blog.)

Have your say in redefining public relations for the modern age

Posted on November 21, 2011 at 8:43 am UK

prdefined

What’s your definition of the term “public relations”? Does it match that of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA):

Public relations helps an organization and its publics
adapt mutually to each other.

Or in the UK, that of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR):

[...] Public relations is the discipline which looks after reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour. It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics.

Or even Wikipedia’s definition, which begins::

Public relations (PR) is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc.

The PRSA‘s definition dates from 1982 – almost 30 years ago. I can’t tell when the CIPR’s does but I suspect it’s a bit more recent.

Yet are any of these definitions still valid in today’s contemporary society? A society in which so much has changed that the very notion of the practice of public relations seems anachronistic to many where anyone today with an internet connection is a communicator and, often, seen as an organization’s spokesman? And when news events develop at the speed of the internet?

If you have a more accurate definition, one in tune with contemporary society and the evolving needs of organizations in the context of that society, then why not answer the PRSA’s call to action?

The PRSA is leading an industry-wide initiative to modernize the definition of public relations as the industry changes in the digital age. Their campaign launched today via Stuart Elliott‘s column in the New York Times entitled Redefining Public Relations in the Age of Social Media.

The US PR body has partnered with ten global communication organizations including the Arthur W. Page Society, IABC, AMEC, Institute for Public Relations, the Global Alliance and WOMMA.

Deciding on a new definition will be a good exercise in crowd sourcing. While the PRSA will lead on determining a short list of three new-definition candidates, the final decision will be made through open vote on the website between December 6 and December 15.

So wherever you are in the world, if you have a view about PR, share how you think it should be defined. The closing date for submissions is December 2. And why not also blog it, post it on your social network, communicate it and tell people what you think. Use the hashtag #PRDefined to connect your view with everyone else’s.

It’s a good time to be clear about public relations.

[Update Nov 23] Since this initiative was announced, there’s been widespread commentary in the social spaces, much of which you can find at the #PRDefined hashtag. In the UK, detailed blog posts have been written by practitioners that include Philip Sheldrake and Stuart Bruce, with strongly dismissive comment from Danny Whatmough.

Giving a keen fillip to the overall campaign is the CIPR which today announced its support for it.

I like Jon White‘s simple assessment of it, quoted in the CIPR announcement:

Public relations is a rapidly evolving practice. There are currently at least four competing views of what the practice is and is to achieve. The PRSA’s initiative is a good opportunity to clarify current views of the practice and the CIPR’s own work on the future of the practice fits well with the initiative.

As I mentioned earlier, it’s a good time to be clear about public relations.

So what will you do for ethics in PR?

Posted on September 8, 2011 at 12:49 pm UK

The subject of ethics in public relations often provokes strong opinions from people, especially when questionable practices fall under the critical spotlight – as Scott Adams so cannily grasped in this Dilbert cartoon in August.

Ethics in PR issues from the past few years that readily come to my mind range from Edelman’s shattered pedestal over not one but two Wal-Mart kerfuffles in 2006; the anti-astroturfing campaign by Trevor Cook and Paull Young in that same year; ongoing PR spam (very much a matter of ethical behaviours, in my view); Burson Marsteller’s Facebook dirty tricks fiasco this year; and of course the News of The World phone hacking scandal that came to a dramatic head in July and the subsequent role of PR.

While such unsavoury events always provoke much debate, opinion-sharing and hand-wringing about ethics by many inside the industry as well as outside – especially in the mainstream media – not a lot actually happens, really, to credibly address such things in a way that’s scalable. So as fast as one crisis fades from public memory, another one comes along to outrage or entertain, depending on your point of view.

I believe that individual responsibility is the best way to address behaviours and practices within and by the profession where believing in and abiding by codes of conduct/ethical behaviour is fundamental. Yet that can only have a chance of working when it’s part of a framework, something that people are willing to sign up for, as it were, and where leadership by example is the essential ingredient.

I also believe that the industry’s professional associations occupy a critical role in this regard and could make a huge difference in one key area (in particular) – leading by example in education and awareness-raising about ethical behaviours.

I’d accept without question that bodies such as the PRSA in the US, the CIPR in the UK and the IABC from a global perspective already do a great deal through professional development and other activities for members. Yet I think it needs more, something that gives it a firmer push onto everyone’s agenda.

That was the prominent thought in my mind as I participated in a tweetchat (an online discussion via Twitter) on Tuesday jointly hosted by Rosanna Fiske and Jane Wilson, respectively Chair and CEO of PRSA and CIPR.

During the course of an hour, a wide- and far-ranging discussion and exchange of views about ethics and behaviours took place with some excellent views, ideas and suggestions ebbing and flowing in the discussion.

ethicstweetchat

I think we had a good indicator of leadership by the fact that the PRSA and the CIPR collaborated in leading discussion this way on the topic of ethics, as the PRSA noted in its post-event report:

[...] We’d be remiss if we did not address the importance of this Tweet chat and of enhancing ethical standards in PR. It is something that both of our organizations firmly believe in and will continue to pursue for years to come. Simply put: Ethics form the backbone of PRSA and the CIPR. Our respective ethics codes — PRSA’s Code of Ethics and the CIPR’s Code of Conduct — are well established as the profession’s global standards for ethical conduct.

If anyone ever had any doubt about the significant role and value that ethics plays in PR professionals’ levels, Tuesday’s Tweet chat stopped that idle chatter cold in its tracks. We were impressed with the level of commitment and interest among the commenters to better understand and uphold ethical standards. From @thefishareloose Tweeting that “socialmedia and access to Internet is making it harder for people to hide a lie which should help show why #prethics is so important” to @brandjack commenting that “ethical behavior is what gets results” for clients and organizations, the chat demonstrated the level of recognition and respect that ethics now has in public relations.

September is PRSA’s Ethics Awareness Month. Why don’t we all make September our own ethics awareness month by asking ourselves: What am I going to do?

Here’s a start: before the end of this month, read your respective professional association’s code of conduct:

(If you’re not a member of any of these bodies, read the codes anyway.)

Tell your colleagues and/or your clients you’re doing this and will uphold the code’s values. Ask them to do the same. Ask your boss to do it. If you’re the boss, well, you know what to do.

Individual responsibility. And a framework. Sounds good to me.

Social media for CEOs: a different approach

Posted on July 26, 2011 at 12:09 pm UK

socialceobookticketHere’s a thought about social media – what your CEO and other senior executives want from it can differ from what you, the communicator or marketer, want from it.

So a briefing about social media for CEOs needs to have a very different focus than one designed for communicators and marketers. Obvious? Good.  That’s the foundational thinking behind Social Media for CEOs, a half-day briefing taking place in London on September 20.

I’ve joined Luke Brynley-Jones as co-host of Social Media for CEOs where we’ll offer participants an end-to-end view of the impact that adopting social media across multiple departments can have on medium-sized and large organizations.

With a strong focus on the strategy and leadership implications of the “socialisation of business,” this is the first event of its kind in the UK. The event is designed to answer the critical questions about social media for business that all CxOs need to address, including:

  • What are the opportunities and risks for our organization?
  • What should drive our social media strategy?
  • How should we co-ordinate customer engagement?
  • How can we use social media to harness staff knowledge and experience?
  • What’s the ROI of adopting social media?
  • What’s the role of the “social CEO”?

Guest speakers include Ian McNairn (Program Director, Web Technology and Innovation, IBM), Chris Buckley (Head of Social Brand Consultancy, Headstream), and Loic Moisand (CEO, Synthesio).

Places are limited so sign up soon (early bird pricing up to July 31). More information at the event website. Event hashtag: #socialceo.

  • If you’re interested in this broad topic but think that this particular event isn’t for you, consider participating in Social Media Marketing and Monitoring on September 19 (the day before), also in London. The event brings together leading marketing experts, brands, agencies and journalists for an intensive one-day conference. I’ll be participating in a panel discussion on the topic “What Does Google+ Mean for Marketing?”