The late George Harrison had it right in his song “The Light That Has Lighted the World” on his 1973 album, “Living in the Material World.” “It’s funny how people just won’t accept change,” Harrison sang, “as if nature itself they’d prefer rearranged.” In his international bestseller, “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying,” Sogyal […]
Read more →As marketing professionals continue to adopt public relations principles to define their practice it might be time to reiterate some fundamental differences between the two crafts. At its root, marketing is based on a transaction. I provide and promote a product or service. You buy it. While marketing uses some public relations concepts to stimulate […]
Read more →The greatest speaker on the subject of public relations I have ever seen was Pat Jackson. No one else has even come close. If Jackson, principal of his own PR firm and former president of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), was in the lineup at a conference sponsored by PRSA or the Council […]
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 […]
Read more →One of the most brilliant, thoughtful and personable scientists I met in my many years in the higher education public relations business was Allen Newell, one of the fathers of the field of artificial intelligence. With long-time collaborator and Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon, Newell built the foundation of modern computer science research and was at […]
Read more →The printing press is unquestionably the most important invention in modern human history, but can the television remote control be far behind? It seems we have long taken the remote for granted, but take a minute to think about its liberating qualities. We’re now a heartbeat away from a channel change when years ago we […]
Read more →Those of you who have labored long and hard in the minefield of media relations know it is a thankless endeavor. You can never generate enough news media coverage to satisfy the leadership of your institution. And even when you score a big hit in the media the story can contain errors or misrepresent some […]
Read more →Many years ago when I told my mother I was working for UPI in my first job out of college she figured I was delivering packages door to door. I decided explaining the work of a wire service journalist and how it differs from what your friendly neighborhood UPS does was too confusing and complex […]
Read more →In my many years of counseling presidents and engaging with top management at major universities I have been fortunate to watch outstanding leadership in action. Though higher education has not been generally blessed with great leaders, I have seen some truly remarkable ones. A close friend once told me, “You could put a grapefruit in […]
Read more →Throughout my career I have had the opportunity to scan hundreds, probably thousands, of cover letters and resumes. I got even broader exposure to letters and resumes when I handled the Job Placement Service for the Pittsburgh chapter of the Public Relations Society for a number of years while vice president for university relations at Carnegie […]
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