Back to the balance…

I’m glad it’s summer, and glad to have an occasional day to remember those other dreams - dreams outside of work, outside of family, outside of all the “shoulds” that run much of my life they way they do everyone’s.  I’ve had a “bucket list” for a long time of things I want to do before I’m 80 or so — and I’ve been lucky to have been able to check a lot of those things off the list.  But there’s one thing that’s been looming for a long time, and that is my writing – more specifically, The Story.   If it becomes a novel, that would be great; but more than anything, The Story is for my grandchildren, and I’m going to start chapters online – probably by using another blog here on WordPress. 

Writing is beginning to feel like another piece to the balance I’ve tried to put in my life these last few years.  One of the pieces was to read good literature, good novels, again.  I wasn’t getting enough intellectual stimulation – or intellectual rest, in one sense – through my work, even though my public relations career has always been both challenging and rewarding.  I am a person in love with the language, and when I run across a writer who uses words in a way that mesmerizes me, I am transported – I am rested – I am renewed – I am refreshed.  Along those lines, I’ve just finished reading “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,” and am still floating in delight that this book exists.  This book has inspired me, and after perhaps 40 or more years of saying “Someday, I will write,” I have started writing.

For my students and clients who have sometimes wondered where the words come from that I corral seemingly easily — they come from the inspiration of novels, or plays, of lyrics, of poems.  Do not lose these things in your own life; or, if you’ve never had them, go get a recommendation for a book and start reading.  You could do a lot worse than by starting with “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.”

Watching Iran news: First Amendment gratitude – again

Bill of Rights — Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

This is almost all I can think about this evening, watching the Iran news pour in via Twitter and CNN.  It’s mesmerizing. It makes me even more grateful for our own First Amendment – the Amendment by which I’ve been granted the right to make a living all these years, in helping others to tell their story and to communicate the messages important to them and their audiences.

But some people who are Twittering tonight are sending some disturbing – and, IMHO (in my humble opinion), quite ignorant messages.  There is a category of people who don’t know why we should care about what’s happening in Iran.  There is another category of people who are harshly criticizing President Obama for not speaking out earlier, and with stronger statements.  And then there are those who are making fun of the whole thing, rediculing it with satire and off-color jokes.

I don’t want to think Americans in general are so ignorant of history – including the history of U.S. involvement in Iran –  or current events, but perhaps that is something these people share in common.  I am more than gratified to see yet another category of people Twittering tonight – those who are grateful for their rights and freedoms, and who understand the contrast between what is happening in Iran and the lives we enjoy here.  One person wrote in to remind the rest of us that it was just 40 years ago that our own civil rights protesters were putting their lives on the line, and were greeted with dogs, whips and water hoses. 

As my military friends say, freedom is never free.  And as I’ve said for many years, there are a few things that I feel are worth putting my own life on the line for:  first, my children and grandchildren; second, the First Amendment.

Communicating about land-use issues in the rural American West

First, a list of some barriers to communication; on Monday (if not before) some tips for more effective communication regarding land-use and natural resources issues in the rural American West.  This is an excerpt from my paper, “You Gotta’ Know the Territory!” done as a final Capstone project for my Master’s in Communications Management at Syracuse Universtiy.

Barriers to Communication

 The following are communications barriers which may affect any given public relations program:

 Concerning the company or agency:

1.  Lack of support from senior management.  There is no question but that effective communication needs the active support and involvement of senior management if it is to succeed.
2. The specific cultures within some corporate entities, such as mining companies and pipeline companies.  Here, the difference may be described as one of the strictly utilitarian view of the land held by the company in question (“we need to re-route this pipeline”), and the myriad of cultural, spiritual, intellectual and emotional values which those in the local population hold about the land and the landscape (“not in our valley, you don’t.”).
3. The specific cultures within some government agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and the National Parks Service.  There may be attitudes which are the equivalent of, “We’re the experts, we’re hired to do this job, and the public doesn’t understand or know what needs to be done” (Nesselroad and Mihalic personal interviews, 2007).
4. Lack of understanding of the history and culture of the area.  If a company comes into a western region wanting to open a new mine, drill for gas and oil, or perhaps operate a big game reserve, and doesn’t know whether or not that particular area and its communities have dealt with such issues before – and how they dealt with them – then the company is already operating at a deficit (Dunlap, personal interview, 2007).
5. Lack of understanding the values and views of the “Old West” and the “New West.”  The West is often looked upon as a cohesive region, unified by its vastness, a place that can be treated in a general way.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The clash of older populations versus newer immigrants to the West has often erupted over land-use issues.
6. Lack of knowing about differences in culture, values and perspectives.  The differences throughout the West are not simply a matter of classifying the Old West and then the New West.  There are vast differences in the various communities.  For example, Butte, Montana, will always be a mining town; Missoula and Bozeman are university towns with expanding retirement and newcomer populations, with Bozeman being more “gentrified” than Missoula; and all three of these are different from the ranching community of Malta, on the north central Montana “Highline.”
7. Imbalance of power between the corporation or government agency and the local community.  For example, the citizens of Libby, Montana had no power in their initial dealings with W.R. Grace & Company; the people at Grace knew about the asbestos, and simply kept silent.  Similarly, Native American tribes had no power against the dominant white culture for many years. Efforts to understand how to work with various tribes still lag far behind efforts made to understand business dealings elsewhere.
8.  Assumptions that are not based in fact.  For example, it’s a big mistake to assume that people living in rural America are not educated.  In Montana, at least, most people choose to live there; they could make a much better living almost anywhere else.  Always remember “there are Ph.D.s out in the woods” – and act accordingly.
9.  Prior biases that may need to be discarded before communication begins.  For example, many people hold unconscious biases against Native Americans because they’ve not had any experience dealing with tribes and reservations, and/or because the only education one has received about Native Americans has been full of the same biases and was assumed to be the truth.

Both of these points – #’s 8 and 9 – speak to the need to do the proper homework, and understand the history, culture and realities of the area before work begins

Concerning the Western psyche:

1. Traditional western distrust of outside corporations and government agencies, as described.  That distrust seems to be more pronounced the more a region has been used for its extractive industries and the more it has been approached with a patriarchal attitude.
2. The traditional western reliance on face-to-face communication, not mass media, coupled with…
3. Lack of established relationships.  It is paramount in western, rural areas to establish personal relationships with anyone who has any interest in the issue at hand.  This is time consuming, expensive, and absolutely necessary.  Westerners place high value on being talked with in an informal, personal way, and do not traditionally value canned media messages.

 Concerning logistics and format problems:

1.  Difficulties in disseminating information caused by sheer distances to travel in order to speak with people directly.
2.  Problems with public meetings and other communications tactics which do not engender trust among the local populace.

I’ll be live on Internet radio, Thurs., 6/18, 9 a.m. Pacific Time

Thursday morning at 9 a.m. Pacific Time, I’ll be interviewed by Lee Weinstein on Small Plate Radio at http://prworks.sprnetwork.com/.  From a small list I gave him, Lee chose what one of my favorite topics – land-use and natural resource issues and public relations.  Below, I’m listing some barriers to communications in this area; on the show tomorrow, I’ll give some tips for effective communications.  If you’d like a booklet I wrote about this kind of communication, please e-mail me at kathy@adscripts.com.  Enjoy!

Barriers to communication which make affect your public relations program centered around land-use issues and natural resources:

1. Lack of support from senior management.  If senior management isn’t on board, your project won’t succeed.
2. The specific cultures within some corporate entities, such as mining companies and pipeline companies.  Here, the difference may be described as one of the strictly utilitarian view of the land held by the company in questions versus the myriad of cultural, spritual, intellectual and emotional values which those in the local population hold about the land.
3. The specific cultures within some government agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and the National Parks Service.  There may be attitudes which are the equivalent of, “We’re the experts, we’re hired to do this job, and the public doesn’t understand or know what needs to be done.”
4. Lack of understanding of the history and culture of the area.  If a company comes into a western region wanting to open a new mine, drill for gas and oil, or perhaps operate a big game reserve, but doesn’t know whether or not that particular region and its communities have dealt with such issues before – and how they dealt with them – then the company is already operating at a deficit.
5. Lack of understanding the values and views of the “Old West” and the “New West.”  The West is often looked upon as a cohesive region, univied by its vastness, a place that can be treated in a general way.  Nothing could be further from the truth.
6. Lack of knowing about and understanding differences in culture, values and perspectives within regions and areas of the West.  The differences throughout the West are not simply a matter of classifying the Old West and then the New West.  There are vast differences in the various communities themselves.
7. Imbalance of power between the corporation or government agency and the local community.  For example, the people of Libby, Montana, had no power in their initial dealings with W.R. Grace & Company; the people at Grace knew about the town’s asbestos contamination, but kept quiet.  Similarly, Native American tribes had no power against the dominant white culture for many years.  Efforts to understand how to work with various tribes still lag far behind efforts made to understand business dealings elsewhere.
8. Assumtpions that are not based on fact.   For example, it’s a big mistake to assume that people living in rural areas are not educated.  Most of the time, people choose to live there, even if they could make a better living somewhere else.  Always remember “there are Ph.D.s out in the woods,” and act accordingly.
9. Prior biases that may need to be discarded before communication begins.  This involves a lot of self-awareness and perhaps a bit of self or company analysis.  For example, many people hold unconscious biases toward those in the rural West, assuming they are not educated or aware (see #8); in the same way, they may approach Native American tribes with biases because they’ve had no experience working with tribal members or on reservations.
10. Traditional western distrust of outside corporations and government entities.  That distrust seems to be more pronounced the more a region has been used for its extractive industries and the more it has been approached with a patriarchal attitude.
11. The traditional western reliance on face-to-face communication, coupled with…
12. Lack of established relationships.  It is paramount in rural western areas to establish personal relationships with anyone who has any interest in the issue at hand.  This is time consuming, expensive, and absolutely necessary.  Westerners place high value on being talked with in an informal, personal way, and do not value canned media message or e-mail promotions.
13. Difficulties in disseminating information caused by sheer distances to travel in order to speak with people directly.
14. Problems with public meetings and other communications tactics which do not engender trust among the local populace.

Want some tips?  Listen in on Thursday morning, and I’ll post tips here on Friday!

End-of-the-term thoughts

The original reason I joined PRSA way back in the early 90’s somewhere – and one of the chief benefits I still get out of being a member – is the ability to guage my own abilities and insights against those of my colleagues across the country.  Now that I’m passing on what I know to people interested in exploring public relations as a career, that benefit is more valuable than ever.  Listening to Edelman Public Relations President & CEO Matt Harrington in New York last week confirmed even more.  The young generation now graduating from college is bright, full of self-confidence, educated, definitely not shy.  However, they have unrealistic expectations of the work world, and don’t completely understand the work ethic needed in today’s marketplace – particularly in a time when everyone is being asked to do more with less.  Early in your career is normally when you learn to do more with less; you learn to do whatever it takes to establish a foothold out there.  Later in your career is when you can work a lot smarter, and thus a lot faster; and when you don’t have to start everything from scratch because somewhere in years past, you’ve encountered this problem before.  It’s lovely to reach that point in your career where you recognize the problem confronting you as well as what avenues are available for resolving that problem.  But how disillusioning it would be to assume you didn’t have to gain that hard-won experience early in your career; to think that life as a young professional would be easier than it really is.  What a letdown, if you’ve been highly praised growing up and now must face the prospect of closed doors in the business world.  Far better to be taught to expect less and to work hard, understanding that given a certain skill level (study hard, everyone), attitude makes all the difference. 

For those of us Baby Boomers who may be hiring this newly graduated generation, perhaps a further on-site training course is needed in the work ethic we expect.  At the same time, the X, Y, and Millenial generations can be teaching us more about social media and where it’s headed.   It gets tougher to adapt to change as we grow older, but it’s imperative that we stay open and flexible if we are to show the way into a profession we love.  By the same token, it’s tough for the younger generations to get started, particularly in this economy; they need some specific instructions and expectations set down before them so that they’ll understand they’re now moving into a world very different from the one they’re leaving behind.  Everybody can get there; and it will benefit all of us.

Memorial Day Weekend

This Memorial Day weekend, I’m remembering – and hoping others will remember – those who never made it home.  War, to me, is one of the most horrendous things we human beings engage in… one of the most stupid, the most idiotic, the most tragic things.  War – as Eisenhower said once – has never accomplished anything.  Yet we have to be prepared for war, just as we have to be prepared for a lot of things in life.  I have ancestors who found in every war this country has ever fought, starting with the Revolutionary War; and my Dad, former husband, and son were all in the Air Force, and I was proud of all of them.  I run a web site for service members and veterans at http://www.mvrd.org.  I will do just about anything if I can be of service to those who serve our country.  But – and they say any battle-hardened warrior will tell you the same thing – war is the worst of all nightmares.  So on this weekend, pause for a moment and reflect upon those who never made it home, and what such a deliberate, knowing sacrifice might mean.  We cannot let these men and women be forgotten; we can’t forget what war really is if we are ever to try and find a better way to live.

Can public relations help you get through a recession?

Let us count the ways:

1. Public relations has always been more cost-effective than advertising; you’ll spend less and get longer-term results.  Public relations doesn’t offer an expensive quick fix; it offers long-range solutions.
2. Public relations is more “holistic” than advertising; although it can support a sales function, it’s concerned with much wider concentric circles than just moving a product off the shelves.  Just think about employee relations, media relations, community relations, investor relations – these are the relationships which public relations works with, and these are just some of the relationships.
3. Public relations will help you pull your head out of the muck of this recession depression because it will force you to plan for the future.  While a clever, witty ad is one thing, and might capture attention for a little while, a solid public relations plan will help you take care of this moment, this week, this month, and this year; it’ll get you through, empower you, and make you realize the true value of the relationships you have.

There’s a whole lot more, but that’s all for now.  Just don’t underestimate the power of public relations, or the need for it during these difficult days.

Attitude and Recession

I found myself, earlier this week, in a bit of a funk.  Certainly not the kind of funk that’s gripped people who have lost homes and jobs; I’ve lost neither and consider myself incredibly lucky.  But I was in a bit of a funk about ever-tightening finances: worried about clash flow, about the incredibly shrinking nest egg, about the bills; worried about things I’ve promised to others, promises I don’t know if I can still fulfill. 

It took me a few days to get a grip.  There is so much news out there that continues to be so grim.  Finally, slowly, I seemed to be able to lift my head out of the muck and remind myself of my own strengths: I’ve always, forever, been an entrepreneur, and a recession is the best time to continue being (or to start being) an entrepreur.  There are generally projects available even if there aren’t full-time jobs available; and I’ve always wanted to combine projects and private consulting with teaching anyway.  There are lots of companies which would love personalized, customized training in crisis, or community relations, or social media.  So what’s my problem?  Probably just inertia.  Probably just a big sigh about starting yet again… but that’s how life is when you hang out your own shingle.  You always start again.  You can’t look at how tiring that might be; you have to view it as discovering opportunities out there.  You have to visualize the people who need you, and what it might take to get in touch with them so you can be of genuine service. 

I have a flyer about attitude here on my desk.  The last sentence reads, “I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.”  Yeah.  Why should any of us hide our light under a bushel?

The role of faith in academic teaching

Wow – my whole weekend seemed to center around one particular theme: What roll does faith play in a private religious institution when it comes to teaching? And the answers have, to my mind, been wonderful
First, this past Friday I sat in on a meeting of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC) in Portland, Oregon, just about 25 minutes from my home in Gresham. I listened as the council discussed whether to accredit or re-accredit the communications programs in 25 different universities across the country, some of which are private religious institutions. At first, I was worried: if people did not agree with the religious values and principles expressed by a certain institution, would they still be able to judge the program on its merits? Would they take the stance that a private religious institution has the right to set its own mandates in terms of hiring and firing? Mostly, would the strong concern about diversity – the inclusion of woman and minorities – in both the faculty and the student body of these institutions be met?  Would there be an acceptance and acknowledgement of other cultural traditions?

The discussions were lengthy, deliberative, thoughtful and fascinating, and in the end, I felt like standing up and cheering: the First Amendment is alive and well.  Freedom of religion is definitely compatible with freedom of speech, and academic rigour can still be achieved within the parameters of faith. What a day.

The same point was driven home to me in a more personal way the next morning, when I attended a meeting for adjunct faculty at Marylhurst University, a privatge Catholic university where I’ve been teaching public relations these last few months.  I sat in a circle of fellow adjuncts, and suddenly realized I might be the “odd man out,” so to speak; it seemed as though most people in the room were Catholic from the introductions and conversations.  I’m not Catholic.  Yet from day 1, I’ve been warmly welcomed at Marylhurst without religion or faith entering into any discussion at all;  and everything I’ve done has been met with encouragement and support.  The academic standards are high, and public relations is treated as the separate discipline that it is; those and the reactions of other faculty and staff are the reasons I love teaching there.

I don’t think I’ve been through  a more encouraging weekend on a professional level in a long time.  We seem to be inundated with news about divisivness, conflict, war, and virtriol.  To find such wonderful examples of the First Amendment being alive and well in the space of a single weekend gives me new energy – and a whole new kind of faith in this country that I love.

I’m tired of the fear

I’m tired of the climate of fear out there; and the fear that sometimes grips my own mind.  I know we’re in a down economy; I know it’s been devastating for any number of people.  I know many of us feel paralyzed about moving forward. But I keep coming back to what I’ve learned and have taught in crisis communications:  a crisis is an opportunity, and the only way to make it disappear is to lean into it and embrace it.  It’s incredibly difficult to deal with finances this year; to try and manage well; to cut back; to worry about jobs, about investments, about one’s home.  There’s no easy path through this.  But that’s just the point.  When things are this worrisome and this bad, we need to be looking for the opportunity in it; we need to think outside the box and see what else we can do.  A lot of my students are doing just that – they’re working out a Plan B, and I could hug each of them for being willing to take the risk.  We all need to be reinventing ourselves, both professionally and personally – but we can’t do a good job of it if we’re trapped in fear. 

Confrontation – being willing to see, to grasp, to acknowledge – is the first step.  After that, you need to “scan the environment,” to use a favorite public relations terms; you need to take stock, and really understand and analyze where you are.  Granted, that’s easy to say in theory, when in realitiy someone might have just lost both a job and a home.  But you still have something; you still have whatever talents, skills and abilities you had before the losses; you still have your drive, you still have yourself.  As Dana Reeve told her husband, Christopher Reeve, after the horseback riding accident which paralyzed him, “You’re still you.” 

And, as I tell my younger students, who feel they aren’t doing anything if they aren’t getting straight A’s, that’s not the point; the point is that they stay and add their voices to our human community.  It takes all voices to make a choir; we all need to sing, where we are, and however we are.  A cartoon in this morning’s paper had a bird saying, “I don’t sing because I’m happy; I’m happy because I sing.”   Sometimes it takes great courage to still sing, and to hold on to hope.  But when all is lost, what else do you have?  Your voice, your faith, your hope;  and we move forward, all of us, because of it.