Your PR Architect

For many organizations, diversity is a nice-to-do function. When resources get tight, however, efforts to grow a diverse workforce can lose top-of-mind status. But a quick look at many PR departments and agencies’ staff rosters – and the cheery photos accompanying them – leave the impression that few communications organizations pay much attention to diversity. One example: an agency in upstate New York features a slick video reel on its website with quick clips of its employees leading meetings and brainstorming. There’s not a person of color in that montage. By The Conmunity - Pop Culture Geek from Los Angeles,  CA, USA (Anime Expo 2011 - the crowd) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)],  via Wikimedia Commons We all talk about engagement. When will we do more than talk about it among ourselves? You’ll hear abundant reasons to bring diversity to a PR or marketing communications workplace. The one I advocate is the need for diversity in innovation...

(c) DKassnoff, 2008 Next week (Sept. 18-19), hundreds of public relations pros will visit Rochester for the Public Relations Society of America's northeast regional conference. They'll talk about social media, SEO, media relations, and many other hot PR topics. They'll drink coffee. They'll multitask. They'll swap and lose business cards. But they won't talk about communicating with diverse audiences, or hiring diverse account executives. A colleague invited six diversity PR experts (including me) for a panel discussion. But it isn't taking place. Just one attendee registered for the panel, so it's been cancelled. That's disheartening for PRSA's Rochester chapter, which has had a very active diversity committee for about five years. A committee that has earned national recognition for a pioneering "Diversity Apprentice" initiative introducing high school students to public relations. That just one PR practitioner si...

Bill Destler, RIT president A few days ago, I volunteered at an intriguing symposium discussing diversity in the arts in Rochester, NY. My friend Rachel's 21st Century Arts organized this event. I had no role except running a wireless mike to audience members during Q&A sessions, and snapping a few photos. Essie Calhoun-McDavid, retired Vice President, Kodak Kevin McDonald, Associate Provost, Division of Diversity, RIT I've worked in diversity, higher education, community affairs, and public relations for some time. Every so often, I found ways to bring two or more of these areas together. The arts need more diversity, and the companies and individuals who fund these organizations can help bring more diverse artists into the picture. With these modest qualifications, I made a few observations: While many executives from arts organizations (museums, dance companies, art galleries, theatres, etc) attended the symposium, just two individuals with corporate...

Hats off to Google for opening their wallet where it's needed: in diversifying its workforce. Geneva Hats. Photo (c) DKassnoff, 2014. Google is paying to help women and minorities learn to write computer code, according to Business Insider.  A month ago, the company admitted it didn't have enough women or people of color in those IT jobs, and cited a lack of women and minorities studying IT to assume those jobs. This, tied with its $50 million " Made with Code " initiative, are fine steps toward ensuring a more diverse workforce. But, as I wrote here a month ago, Google's diversity effort is only 2/3 complete. Transforming the Internet colossus into a more-diverse business will really succeed if it also diversifies its leadership ranks. That's where the biggest gaps existed, according to Google's own numbers. Women and multicultural executives are essential to creating a business culture that's consistently mindful of the need for continued...

The dance about net neutrality has barely begun. And it's going to affect what crawls across your computer. Unless you start asking questions. By NASA [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons First, Common Cause says this about net neutrality: "network neutrality is the principle that Internet users should be able to access any web content they choose and use any applications they choose, without restrictions or limitations imposed by their internet service provider." You can learn more at http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=1234951 What this means: think of the internet as a collection of pipelines through which media content flows. Verizon, Comcast, or Time Warner are some major owners of those pipes. They can "throttle" downloads of content providers like Netflix if they don't pay for increased bandwidth. Or, you might see Walmart's online shopping pages load more quickly than Amazon's, if Walmart buys preferential pi...

By Oregon Department of Transportation (Diversity Uploaded by AlbertHerring) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons Wow. Say what you will about Google's massive  Internet presence,  but when they mess up, they're not shy about it. A few days ago, Google admitted its workforce was overwhelmingly white. And male. They shared some metrics here . This is unusually forthright, because there's no major litigation facing Google regarding workforce inequities. Instead, they got out in front of their problem, defusing potential negative publicity before criticism or litigation arose. But dig deeper and you find their statistics are somewhat worse when it comes to the diversity of the company's leadership. Google's overall workforce is: 30 percent female, 70 percent male.  61 percent white,  30 percent Asian,  2 percent African American, and  3 percent Hispanic. Google's leadership demographics are less fo...

Today, I'm sharing a link to a 2013 post on the Disney Parks blog, written by my friend and colleague Bernadette Davis. Bernadette is a communications manager for the Disney Parks in Florida, and often helps out in special events that take place on the property. Bernadette's post isn't a deep exploration of some industry topic, nor is it an essay on Florida tourism.  It's not an ad masquerading as a blog, either. It does share some interesting news about an event hosted by Disney that focuses on giving young people a closer look at career opportunities in sports. What makes this blog post successful? You get a small glimpse of Bernadette -- her interests, her family, and what she does -- in a brief sentence. Personalization is important in a blog post. Her blog gives exposure to a newsworthy activity that might not gain visibility if shared as a conventional news release. It shows that Disney's corporate responsibility extends well beyond Soarin' and cha...

Aside from the minor tedious nature of a 6-plus minute slide show, there's plenty to like about MillerCoors posting scenes from its 2011 diversity summit on YouTube. I like linking diversity to the fundamental goals of the business: "Diversity Sells Beer." Or a clear focus on "regular employees" from different backgrounds, not executives in $1000 suits. (Although diversity initiatives really catch fire only when senior leaders actively champion such change.) Capturing key points on whiteboards, and chronicling them in stills (and video) isn't a bad way to keep these learnings close at hand. It's not a Joe Sedelmeier film, but it works. The disappointment, however: MillerCoors' video has had a stunning 116 views as of this blog post. MillerCoors' parent, SABMiller.plc, has 70,000 employees worldwide. If only 10 percent are MillerCoors employees, that still leaves a stunning gap between the number of views and MillerCoors' workforce. ...