Since 2018, I’ve produced over 230 episodes of the Shaping Opinion Podcast, which is released weekly. In all of those episodes I only had to go back and edit one after it was posted because I made the mistake of letting the guest name names.
More to the point, the guest told a few stories that were unflattering to the two or three individuals mentioned in our interview.… Read the rest
One of the exercises I’ve done in media training workshops is to ask participants to spend two minutes quietly writing down the answer to this question. In five words or less, what is the meaning of life?
Typically, it doesn’t take long for participants to get started, and in less than two minutes, most can tell you clearly and unequivocally what life is all about to them.… Read the rest
The biggest misconception about the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, also known as “March Madness” is that it’s all about basketball. It’s not. If it was, fans would watch a lot more college basketball between December through March.
So, what is it about?
In a word, it’s about “community.”
Start with the annual rite of filling out a bracket.… Read the rest
One of the mistakes people make when they point out someone else’s hypocrisy is that they assume that everyone understands that the inherent inconsistency undermines the credibility of the hypocrite.
Years ago, that may have been more practical but not today.
One of the more glaring examples of this is when a group of students who don’t like a visiting guest speaker, so they decide to shout down that speaker when he comes to campus.… Read the rest
It’s a saying you may have heard a number of times. “This is not my first rodeo.” It’s meant to remind the listener that you’ve been here before. You know how this works. You know what can happen, perhaps what will happen, and what can be done to make it all work out for the best.… Read the rest
One of the biggest challenges in media relations is not only having the right spokesperson on a given topic but having enough subject matter experts (SMEs) to go around.
Not every organization or every media relations program can be solely reliant on one spokesperson for everything. No matter how large or small your organization, it may not be fitting for that one person to try to speak to everything.… Read the rest
It’s hardly a secret that police departments at all levels are having trouble recruiting and retaining qualified and talented individuals.
Stellar police officers are opting to retire or just quit, frustrated over lack of resources or support they need to carry out their high-risk duties. Increasingly, good officers don’t want to chance doing what they’ve been trained to do, as they’ve been trained to do it, only to find themselves in the line of fire, literally and figuratively.… Read the rest
A while back, a client hired me to conduct a PR and brand audit of the organization. The process involved establishing a set of questions to be used in interviews with a cross-section of key stakeholders. This sort of research always serves to tell an organization how it’s perceived among those most important to it, how they process information, where they get it and more.… Read the rest
I didn’t have to wait until I started going to school to learn how to communicate effectively. That started from the day I was born, trying to make myself heard in a big Irish Catholic, blue-collar family in Pittsburgh. If you had something to say, no one was politely waiting for you to say it. You just had to say it, quick, sometimes loud, simply and clearly.… Read the rest
Anyone who’s ever hired a PR firm of any size is familiar with the common practice of “bait and switch.” This is where you meet with the senior agency staff numerous times during the courtship phase of the relationship. You’re impressed by the PR agency’s commitment to your business by having its best and most experienced people invest so much time in getting to know you and all of the communications challenges you face.… Read the rest