Your PR Architect

I didn't know you could buy surplus animatronic figures from Disney parks. Let alone install one from the Hall of Presidents as a company CEO. Animatronic at Disney Hall of Progress By SteamFan (own work (Nikon D80)) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) via Wikimedia Commons You'll read countless New Year's resolutions in the coming week. Some will be preposterous or hard to keep. But if you're a CEO or executive director of an organization, and you don't wish to be mistaken for an animatronic historical figure, there's an easy resolution to keep -- one that will help your internal communications far more than any newsletter or video message. It's simple: Be authentic. Be human.  Not every CEO is a "people person." The leader I'm describing -- call him Gerry -- was a good strategist and a charismatic sales leader. But he was never at ease talking...

Did you hear about the CEO who gave back his bonus because the company missed its financial target? If you did, great. If not, you'll have to look up the story elsewhere. I'm not going into it here. The most important part of public relations is being authentic. Being real. Acting like a human. So if you're reading this, a few short days before Christmas, here's my professional advice: Turn off your your computer. Browser. Tablet. Phone. Whatever.  Go out and do something real. Something authentic. Something that has nothing to do with clients, product publicity, or crisis communications. It'll keep. Be human. Celebrate the love of others, and be generous with your time and talents. Happy holiday.