Some examples of the challenges facing communicators engaged in this fundamental public relations activity.
Donald Trump grew up on the rough streets of Chicago. His father left home when he was only six years old, leaving his mother to raise Donald and his eight brothers and sisters. His mother worked two jobs every day to support the family, and she taught him the work ethic that has been central […]
Read more →America died on Nov. 8, 2016. In electing the nation’s first sociopathic game show host as president of the most important and powerful nation on Earth, voters demonstrated they no longer ascribe to the principles and values that have made America a beacon of democracy. Like so many, I was shocked by the election’s outcome, […]
Read more →(Here is an abridged version of a speech I delivered at the annual conference of the Counselors to Higher Education Section of the Public Relations Society of America on April 14, 2016 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in New Orleans.) Back when our founding fathers, those seemingly omniscient wealthy white guys who articulated the principles […]
Read more →Almost everything I know about design and the management of creative people and processes I learned from Dave Holston. He and I first teamed up at the University of Texas at Austin back in the early 2000s. He was part of the Development Division there when I showed up, but I knew as soon as […]
Read more →I have long been troubled by the misuse of the term “marketing” in higher education and its seeming predominance over public relations in the industry’s lexicon. Some colleagues have told me repeatedly to shut up and move on. It’s just a problem of semantics, they say. Properly chastened, I have gone dark on this topic […]
Read more →Once upon a time presentations were made without PowerPoint. Venerable public relations pros vaguely remember the ancient times when keyboards were essential parts of typewriters, facsimile machines were critical office equipment and people had conversations without pulling out their mobile phones to check Facebook or “tweet.” The finest conference presenter I have ever seen used […]
Read more →They’ve got a bank of TV monitors in the gym where I work out at lunchtime and it gives me choices. I can suffer through the insipid banter from the sports “experts” at ESPN, keep up with local news, reminisce during “The Andy Griffith Show,” or just go brain dead watching a network talk show […]
Read more →Got another huge packet the other day. Several packets, in fact. They don’t all fit in a single inter-office envelope. They come in varieties of shapes and sizes, but they all have common characteristics. They are colorful. They are hugely self-serving. And they are an enormous waste of time, energy and resources. What should I […]
Read more →Those of us who have been in PR management for many years know there is a lot of what former Carnegie Mellon University president and good friend Robert Mehrabian calls “block and tackle.” You come to work each day and execute your plan by nailing down the details and simply getting the job done. Most […]
Read more →One of the theoretical underpinnings of behavioral public relations has long been the well established diffusion process of decision-making. Diffusion process, introduced in 1960 by Iowa State sociologists and economists George Beal and Joe Bohlen of Iowa State University , demonstrated how media and mass communication built awareness and interest in a subject or proposed […]
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