Your PR Architect

When you need to drop 2,000 words on "what PR Is not about," as a recent online opinion piece does, you're too much in love with the sound of your own words. And losing readers with every sentence. By Joost J. Bakker (Flickr: Do The Right Thing graffiti Amsterdam) [CC BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons Is this really a checklist? It feels like a rant -- a  long-winded epistle about what PR is not about that strayed into TLDR* territory after 300 words.  So, in the interest of brevity and casting PR in a less-defensive light, here's a much shorter list of what public relations is: 1. Public relations is about building trust between an organization and its stakeholders: customers, members, employees, investors, partners, and media. Do this by telling the truth.  2. PR is  about helping organizations and their leadership act and sound smart, innovative, and authentic.  3. PR is about doing th...

I love employee recognition. I despise 90 percent of the photos taken to recognize great employees. HR leaders love to talk about employee engagement. If they wish to do more than talk, they'll advocate for a communications person to strengthen internal communications.  One strategy: beef up employee recognition programs. Some organizations do employee recognition well. Hospitals and health care providers do a good job of honoring their employees. Colleges and corporations, less so.  Often, someone will line up a group of employees for a  recognition  photo that's destined for a local newspaper, company newsletter, or website. The photo itself? It's often rushed, unposed, and you wonder if the organization is recognizing people, or lining them up for a firing squad. Look at these actual employee recognition photos, and consider the following suggestions: 1. The Line-Up: a non-motion perp walk featuring a casual, backlit gaggle of employees...