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Local newsrooms keep shrinking, journalism schools keep closing their doors, and the reporters who remain are stretched thinner than ever. For organizational communicators, that shift changes the math on media relations. It’s no longer enough to know how to write a pitch. You need to understand who’s left to receive it, what standards still govern their work, and how to build the kind of relationship that gets your story told well instead of not at all.

Circle of Fellows #131 features four IABC Fellows with deep backgrounds in journalism and media relations. Moderated by Shel Holtz, SCMP, the panel discussed what’s changed in the newsroom, what hasn’t, and what it means for the way communicators do their jobs.

The panel dug into what that means day to day for communicators, including:

• Thinking local and strategic. Where does your story actually need to go, and which relationships and networks get it there?
• Knowing journalistic standards and principles (JSPs). Understanding what reporters can and can’t do — and where the real limits are — makes for smarter pitches and fewer frustrated calls.
• Respecting deadlines and information needs. How communicators and journalists can work together, rather than at cross purposes, to produce the stories both sides actually want.
• Getting to know the people in your “journalism ‘hood.” In a shrunken media landscape, personal relationships with the reporters who remain matter more than ever.

About the panel:

Diana Degan, IABC Fellow, ABC, CAAP, BAAJ, is the founder of Diana Degan & Associates. Diana is an award-winning communication leader, educator, and strategic advisor whose 35-year career has strengthened communication practice, elevated professional standards, and advanced human-centered communication across Canada and beyond. She has led work spanning the full spectrum of the profession, from strategic planning, brand development, and integrated marketing communications to crisis communications, stakeholder engagement, internal communications, and accessibility-focused communication design.

Edward “Ned” Lundquist is a retired U.S. Navy captain with 43 years of professional public affairs and strategic communications experience. His company, Echo Bridge LLC, which provides outreach and advocacy support to government and commercial clients. He served on active duty for 24 years in the U.S. Navy as a surface warfare officer and public affairs specialist. Captain Lundquist was a Pentagon spokesman with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, Director of the Fleet Home Town News Center, and director of public affairs and corporate communications for the Navy Exchange Service Command. His last tour of duty was commanding the 450 men and women of the Naval Media Center. He is an accredited business communicator and award-winning communicator who served as president of IABC/Hampton Roads and IABC/Washington, director of U.S. District 3, and chair of the International Accreditation Council. He was named an IABC Fellow in 2016. Captain Lundquist received the Surface Navy Association’s Special Recognition Award in January of this year, for his service on SNA’s executive committee and chair of the SNA communications committee. He writes for numerous naval, maritime, and defense publications and chairs and presents at communications, naval, and maritime security conferences around the world.

Martha Muzychka, ABC, MC, speaks, writes, listens, and helps others do the same to make change happen. Martha is a strategic, creative problem solver seeking challenging communications environments where we can make a difference. She helps her clients navigate competing priorities and embrace communication challenges. Martha offers strategic planning, facilitation, consultation services, writing and editing, qualitative research, and policy analysis. Her work has been recognized locally, nationally, and internationally with multiple awards.

Jennifer Wah, MC, ABC, has worked with clients to deliver ideas, plans, words and results since she founded her storytelling and communications firm, Forwords Communication Inc., in 1997. With more than two dozen awards for strategic communications, writing, and consulting, Jennifer is recognized as a storyteller and strategist. She has worked in industries from healthcare and academia to financial services and the resource sector, and is passionate about the strategic use of storytelling to support business outcomes. Although she has delivered workshops and training throughout her career, Jennifer formally added teaching to her experience in 2013, first with Royal Roads University and more recently as an adjunct professor of business communications with the UBC Sauder School of Business, where she now works part-time to impart crucial communication skills on the next generation of business leaders. When she is not working, Jennifer spends her time cooking, walking her dog, Orion, or discussing food, hockey, or music with her husband and two young adult children in North Vancouver, Canada.

Raw Transcript

Uh, hi everybody, and welcome to episode number 131 of Circle of Fellows. Uh, this is the monthly panel discussion featuring usually four fellows of the International Association of Business Communicators talking about topics of interest to communicators, especially those pursuing certification or looking to, uh, further themselves along their career paths. And we have a topic that should resonate with a lot of communicators today, especially those engaged in media relations, uh, and that is the shifting landscape of media, uh, and media relations, and have four great panelists to discuss this. Before, uh, we get to their introductions, I’ll let you know who I am. Hi, I’m Kjell Holst. I am senior director of communications at Webcor, a commercial general contractor headquartered in San Francisco and operating throughout California. Uh, I’m also the vice chair of the Global Communication Certification Council, which explains that little SCMP that you see after my name. And, uh, if you are watching live, I hope that you will participate in the conversation. The best way to do that through YouTube is just to, uh, use that live commenting feature. I’ll see it here, and I will be able to share that on the screen, and always nice to be able to digress, uh, to answer a question from somebody who’s watching in real time. Uh, and with that, let’s meet the panel, starting with Diana. Hi. Hi, Kjell. Thanks for having me today. Thrilled to be here with my illustrious, uh, group of, uh, other people, f- other fellows. So I am an IABC fellow. I am a, a IABC Canada Master Communicator. I’m based in Guelph, Ontario, um, just an hour west of Toronto. I am the founder of Diana Deegan & Associates, and I am also a professor at Conestoga College, teaching, um, a number of different, um, communications and, um, public relations and marketing courses. Great. And a special welcome to you, Diana. You are a member of the 2026 class of fellows. I am. I am. Thank you very much. So exciting. So exciting. Martha, you’re up. Hi there. Thanks for having me. It’s always a pleasure. I’m actually the, in the far east of Canada, in Newfoundland and Labrador. I run my own consultancy in strategic communi- communications and policy research, and I also teach communications and writing skills with the local business center at the university, Memorial University of Newfoundland Thanks, Martha. Ned? Uh, good day, everybody. Uh, I’m Ned Lundquist. Uh, I’m an accredited business communicator and an IBC fellow. I’m a retired naval officer, and my wife likes to tell me that I’m retired, period, at this point. Uh, I still have, uh, a few clients. I still do some writing. Uh, just attended a conference on maritime security and safety in, of all places, St. John’s. And, uh, Martha and her husband, John, scooped me up and, uh, I got a whirlwind tour of, uh, the far eastern segment of Atlantic Canada. It was fascinating. So, uh, Kjell and I and, uh, Jennifer go way back. Diana, uh, is, uh, a new colleague that I haven’t connected with, but, uh, as a fellow fellow, I’m sure we will going forward. So Kjell, thanks for doing this, and thanks for having me. Well, thanks for being here, Ned. And Jennifer? Hi. I’m in North Vancouver, Canada, and I’m pleased to be here today on a warm summer day. Um- Mm … I’m also an SCMP. Uh, I’m proud of that certification, and, um, really happy to have some listeners here who are pursuing certification. Uh, I specialize in strategic storytelling as a consultant, and, um, like, like many of you, also teach at the Sauder School of Business, uh, business communications to, uh, to business school students. I love that intersection of business and communications, which is, of course, something we’ve all, we’ve, we’ve all been working toward and uplifting for a long time. Looking forward to today’s discussion. It’ll be a great discussion, Jennifer. Thanks. And, you know, um, in, in my early days doing media relations, uh, whether it was for an employer or after I moved into consulting, uh, for a client, it was pretty routine to hear somebody say, “I want the front page of The Wall Street Journal,” or- “I, I wanna be here,” or, “I wanna be there.” And that was the remit, right? That was what you set out to do, at least to get them good coverage that could show them that they moved the needle. And you had built relationships with reporters at the various, uh, mainstream media publications and trade publications and the like. Uh, and you knew how to pitch, you knew how to do a targeted press release distribution, and you got that coverage. Not so easy today with these media outlets constricting, uh, considerably and, and many of them vanishing. Although it was interesting, I just read that I think it’s The New York Times is opening a local newspaper in Minneapolis, so we may see a new model emerging here- Wow if there’s revenue, uh, that they can derive from that. But, uh, for now, uh, it’s a challenge to earn that third media coverage. Third media or, you know, uh, earned media coverage is, is critical, uh, if we’re going to show up in AI search results, the, the overviews and the research results and the like, uh, because, uh, I’ve seen data that says 85% of what, uh, the AEO and GEO engines are producing come from earned media, only about 12 or 13% from a, a, a, a brand website. So we have challenges in front of us. So let me, let me start by asking you, you know, what’s changed most fundamentally? When we, when we say that media relations has changed, which change matters most? Is it, is it the loss of journalism, journalists? Uh, is it the collapse of, of newsroom business models? The, the fragmentation of audiences? Something else? What are you seeing out there? Well, I’ll jump in. Uh, my, my feeling is that, uh, we’re, we’ve lost a whole segment of, I’ll call it local media. Uh, small town papers, small town dailies and weeklies, uh, sec- sec- uh, supplements, uh, with local news in the large papers. Uh, so I’m not exactly sure where people go for that news. I know there are online sites that provide local news, but I, I just think we’ve lost a whole tier of connectivity to connect citizens with, with government, with business, uh, uh, with things to do. I, I don’t think that people are going to the web to fi- uh, to these new, uh, sites. They’re, they’re just browsing and, and finding what they can anywhere, kinda hit or miss. I agree, Ned. It’s been a huge loss to see the decrease in the small town papers, because one of the best things I found with my media relations work was connecting those editors with local people on the issues that I was trying to promote. And being able to provide local content, local contacts, um, and that local context was really critical, uh, to the success, because you don’t want to always just having, coming from head office or the principal city, because, uh, sometimes there are resentments that all the news gets funneled one way. And, uh, it also meant that people could see in different areas how the story could play out depending on that regional context Yeah, I would, I would agree. Um On the, on the community news reporting, uh, element of things, uh, we had a tragic event here just in, in my community, which is not a small town, uh, this week, and what I noticed was that in the absence of, um, hyper-local reporting, so in other words, metro-wide reporting was existing, that nuances around the community that I live in were… went missing. So, you know, the name of the shopping center where the, where the tragedy happened, um, the, uh, you know, even the way that streets were referenced and businesses were referenced. Those kinds of things became slight inaccuracies that added up to a broader sense of, you know, if you’re in that community, kind of go, “Okay, well this doesn’t feel… This doesn’t pass the sniff test.” Um, right through to, uh, you know, important things like traffic reports and, um, and, and those kinds of things. We, a local, I’m sure as in, as in many markets, uh, we had the news a couple of weeks ago of, um, several local radio stations shutting down that are all serving local, local markets. And, um, so that amalgamation and consolidation continues to really shape the way our communities and, and the way our communities show up and the way we show up with each other. I was gonna bring up that point, Jennifer, and um, and it was all the r- it was five Rogers stations across Canada were shut down, and at one of them was the Kitchener station, which is right next door to where I live and, and has a huge impact on this entire area because it was a major radio station, and the outcry locally was huge. So many of the community members were so upset that this station had closed down because it had been around for a very long time and had a very, um, long history in the area, and everybody was outraged. And this goes to how the business model has changed for so many of these, uh, for the media, um, and how that, uh, corporately is changing journalism, right? And that the reason these, I mean, it was so coincidental that this happened the day after Rogers announced that they were buying back a lot of the stock and taking over the Rogers entertainment and sports, uh, franchises. And so, well, look at that. They do this one day, and the next day all of these stations are being closed. And you can’t look at that and go, “These, this is not an isolated situation. These are tied together.” And so there was a lot of outcry going on because of the effect that it has on the daily lives of a lot of these people because of the communication, because of what is, um, the role that these network, uh, networks, that the papers, that the radio stations all play for the communities that they’re in. My community, Guelph, does not have a, a printed daily paper anymore, and we’re not a small community. What had d- has cropped up in the meantime are two online newspapers. Um, what is interesting is that this week, um, because I’ve got my eyes open because we were talking about doing this podcast today, Village Media, which is based, uh, out of, uh, northern Ontario, um, announced that they’re launching 15 local newspapers in the United States along with the Knight Foundation. So they’re taking this model of being online, and they’re now taking it into the United States because it has done so well here in Ontario. So that was really interesting because it is a not-for-profit organization, a charitable organiz- that is providing the funding, and they’re going into, I think it’s three states, uh, Wisconsin being one of them, in, in the US. Um, because they’re recognizing that a lot of these smaller communities don’t have anything anymore. The media are being pulled from these communities. Uh, so it is, there’s a lot of changes that are happening that are robbing the communities of the information that they have traditionally had. I’d like to just add to that when we’re talking about radio stations, and I think it’s true for TV and, and, uh, and print, but particularly with radio, there are companies that are buying up. There’s no restriction, uh, for how many, uh, media outlets you can own anymore in the United States. So we have companies that are just buying up all the licenses, uh, and they may be converting them all to, uh, the same format such as the K-LOVE format, which is now virtually in every market. And, uh, this has really had an impact on local jour- journalism and local programming i- uh, for, for, uh, radio, TV and, and print. Yeah, yeah. When the funding for public radio, public media was, was cut by Congress in the US, it didn’t put an end to NPR and PBS. What it did was it shut down, uh, small local, uh, stations, and a lot of those were in news deserts. It was the only access to local news that people had. And we have a comment from Brian Kilgore, uh, and, and he makes the point that wh- when, when you look at what space is available in the publications, a lot of it’s being fill- filled with what he says is, is repetitive politics. Uh, I, I subscribe to our local newspaper, the East Bay Times, uh, here in the San Francisco East Bay, and as I flip through it, it’s AP and it’s Reuters and it’s other wire copy. Uh, it’s from their affiliate partners with the, the New York Times and, and the Washington Post, which means that we’re not learning about what happened at the zoning commission. We’re not learning what happened at the school board, and I think that stuff is important. I don’t know how important it is from a media relations or a corporate communications standpoint, but, uh, yeah, I think from a democracy standpoint, uh, it’s, it’s, it’s absolutely critical. Um, I’ll tell you what I’m doing is I have, uh, s- set up, uh, a, a skill in Claude, the AI large language model, that scours all of the local government websites for both upcoming meetings and what they’re going to be talking about in the minutes of past meetings, and it builds me a little newspaper, uh, that I can read every day. It also covers things like where there’s gonna be street closures around me. Uh, it does a little police blotter. Um, I’m- I keep tweaking it, and one of these days I’m just gonna set it up so it automatically publishes to the web, not just to, uh, my Claude implementation where, where I can see it, uh, so that there is a local newspaper here that, that does cover that stuff. Um, just, you know, because I can. But y- it, with, with this introduction of, we’ve now heard of two, uh, Diana, what you mentioned and what I heard about The New York Times doing, it’s, it sounds like there’s a bit of a resurgence underway. Are, are there parts of the media ecosystem that are still healthy or, or at least healthier than, than people assume? You know, Shel, just to build on what you’re talking about, I do think this, uh, perhaps, um, uh, responsive rise in citizen, citizen journalism, uh, is probably the wrong terminology in this particular case, but what you’re describing. I mean, uh, like many of you, um, I’ve switched to following a lot of independent journalists. Um, and while that’s in response to shifts in the media, the media landscape to do with what you were talking about, Ned, that kind of broader ownership issue and the influences and independent thought, et cetera. I like the varied and diverse tone that that brings to my understanding of issues in a way that, um, in a way that is, uh, perhaps more insightful than I might have had previously. Now, is that sustainable? I have no idea, honestly, how some of these, in some cases, very well-respected, um, high-profile individuals are funding their independent ventures. But, um, but I do think it’s, uh, it’s not an unhealthy shift in terms of, again, that, uh, diversity of, of, um, presentation of thought. Uh, Shel, I just wanna add something to what Brian said. Thanks for listening, Brian. I know you’re our, our, our, our best patron. Uh, y- an, uh, a news hole abhors a vacuum, and so they’re gonna fill it with something. Uh, that’s why I’ve always said, uh, give ’em something, uh, ’cause sometimes they, they just need to plug a hole. But, uh, you’re, we’re all right. Th- there, there’s no longer the local, uh, budget, uh, going around for, for covering things like the school board and the city council and those types of things that… And, uh, that, that was a, a mission for local, uh, journalism for decades You know, and I’m saying, and h- that was always the reason for, um, local media, right? Like it was, they were always the reason th- why we had the local reporters and the local papers, was to make sure that they were there to cover off what was happening locally for politics, locally for, um, what was going on in your city so that you knew what was happening. My 85-year-old mother constantly talks about the fact that she is not computer literate, and quite frankly, I don’t want her on a computer because she’s been the victim of fraud several times now. Um, and I just know if she was on the computer it would be so much worse. Um, and sh- but she’s constantly saying, “I don’t have access to the news. I, I am not, I don’t know what is going on.” So she’s getting it through me, um, because there is no other way for her to get any information, um, because we don’t have a, a local newspaper anymore. And, um, because of that she’s not getting the information that is coming out about what’s going on in our city. Um, and there are a lot of other, um, vulnerable people in our society who are not getting the information ’cause they don’t have access to getting anything online because they don’t have, um, internet or, or what have you. And, you know, and that is a sign of democracy within, uh, a community and within our countries. Um, and if you don’t have that, how are you getting that information, right, about what is going on in your city? And nowadays it is so important to be making sure that you are getting true information, truthful information, and not misinformation. Um, and when you’re not getting that provided, how are you ensuring that what you are getting is proper information? Um, now the other side of that as well is that, um, there… When I’ve been doing media relations over the last couple years, one of the big changes that I have found is that publications that were always, um, you were able to talk to to get, uh, information to work with with your clients now all of a sudden are wanting money. You know? They are wanting advertising. You can only get a story if you are going to b- be buying advertising, and that has been the other change that I have found that, uh, shocking in some ways, um, because that was not what was happening prior. Um, and so that has been another business model shift that I have found that has happened. And Dia- Diana, you’re 100% right about that because, a- and, and when you have a publication that goes to pay to play, uh, I personally- Uh, view it as just a big, uh, publication of press releases, and I think a lot of other people do. So I think the journalism still has a place for professional journalists And, and it was not even, um… And it’s not because that’s not what they look like. If you’re reading it as a consumer, you would not know. I mean, there’s certain publications you look at and you go, “Okay, they’ve paid for that spot.” These are not publications that when you look at, and traditionally they were never that way, and when you’re looking at these publications, you’re not looking at it going, “Oh, they’ve paid for that, that placement.” Right? Uh, and it’s so disheartening to see that that is now what is happening. Um, and interesting enough as well, I was, um, scrolling through my Instagram, uh, on the weekend and came across, uh, She Would Be a Beauty Editor, and she had put a post up about how often now she is running into, um, PR people, um, from product companies saying, “Where’s my coverage? I sent you product. Where’s the coverage for the product I sent you?” And she’s going, “Hey, hey, wait a second here. You don’t automatically get coverage because I sent you… Because you sent me product. That’s not the way it, it works.” But this is a change with these expectations now because of social media. So, uh, it’s interesting, uh, th- how social media and influencers and have changed this dialogue as well. I, uh, I thought that was a r- really interesting comment to come from an editor, uh, at a, um, a beauty magazine as well with these expectations too. I would, I would say to them, “You gotta, you gotta give me more than just product. You gotta give me a real story with, you know, has news value.” Well, and it was interesting ’cause she actually said, “You don’t just get by sending me product. There actually has to be a reason. There has to be, you know, I actually have to try it. I actually have to like it. Um, you don’t just get.” Like, it, it was… Uh, and I actually responded to her, um, and said, “Yeah, there has just been this change.” Um, and these, these like, you know, and, and, and it’s one of these things like, okay, I, I remember the… Like, I feel like, you know, my grandmother now. Like, “I remember the days of, you know, when we walked in snow and it was 15 feet high.” You know, it, it, it, you know, it’s like I’m now, I’m now of that era, right? But because, uh, it, th- just the way the expectations have changed because of social media and influencers, and you give me something, I’m gonna say something, right? And it’s gonna be nice, right? Well, yeah, yeah, there’s also the expectation that you’re gonna pay for play, uh, not, uh, uh, in a more traditional context. I’ll give you an example. About a week ago I got a call from a production company. They’re under contract to CBS News. So I mean, CBS News is embroiled in its own stuff right now. Uh, but it’s still one of the major news outlets, uh, am- among the broadcasters. And they’re doing 35 segments around the America 250 theme. Uh, and each segment’s about four minutes, and they wanna do one on construction. They wanna come out and highlight our company. I’m on the phone 20, 25 minutes with this guy, talking about, you know, what we could talk about and what we’re doing in, in sustainability and, and things like this that would be of interest to an audience. And the producer is, is getting very excited and, and we’re starting to make arrangements and, and then, and this is, this is a, a classic example of bearing the lead. He says, “By the way, there is a $60,000 buy-in.” Uh, yeah. It’s like, “I thought you were under contract to CBS?” Well, yes, they’re under contract to produce the items, but they have to raise the money to handle the costs of production on their own. So you’re seeing more and more pay to play like this in order to play in traditional mainstream and, and, and trade media I’ve been approached by two different publications since I’ve become a fellow Um, for, you know, the story. Um, and my qu- you know, and it’s like I’m now asking the question of, “And is there a cost to be involved?” Because I’ve- Yeah … you know, we’d like to- You gotta- … feature you. Yeah. Right? And it’s like- Gotta, gotta start with that. Well, exactly. Yeah. Right? I clicked in pretty quickly. Um, and it’s like, lovely opportunity, what’s the cost? Right. Right? Um, which is unfortunate. I think a really big question here is we need a broader conversation about ethics when it comes to media coverage, when it comes to communicators. Um, our association, we have a code of ethics. Um, there are a number of news agencies. CBC, for example, has the JSP, which is standards and principles, journalism. And, you know, a number of news organizations and practicing journalists, for example, have been working with, uh, mental health agencies on how they can, uh, cover appropriately, uh, news stories in which, uh, individuals have died by suicide and what can be done. And often now you see at the end of these stories, um, a link to mental health resources. So there’s a, a conversation happening around how we can approach conversations ethically. And the other side for me about, um, the changes we’ve seen in, uh, media ownership and how stuff is covered, um, the flip side of shrinking organizations means that you have a loss of triangulation. So as a social policy researcher, I try to collect information in different ways. What are the studies that have been done? Can we do a survey? How about testing some of those results in a focus group? What about consulting and holding public meetings with key informants? So that you can test what you find. And the loss of multiple media services means that ourselves as consumers of media, we don’t have the ability anymore to test what we learn against other sources. And when you have media influencers, when you have, um… And I’m not talking about the journalists who are doing really interesting work on their own and publishing that through Substack or other means. But when you have people who say, “Oh, I’m gonna whip out a phone and cover this and tell you the real truth,” to provide the hot take on issues, that’s not necessarily grounded in knowledge or evidence-based, uh, information and research. Um, w- we have a deficit of critical thinking and analyzing because we also lack all those sources in which to, um, assess. And so in my work with media relations is I try to connect people with different kinds of sources, so at least within a piece that results- Um, there can be multiple sources of information about the issues from reliable, trustworthy contacts. And I think that’s part of the bigger conversation when we encounter pay-to-play, because then we’re only getting single source, uh, information I, uh, I’d like to add something to what you said, Martha. I’m so glad you brought up the IBC Code of Ethics, because it really does underpin everything we do. Uh, and, and that is, uh, when we’re dealing with the media, whether we’re an editor dealing with, uh, one of our journalists, uh, or a source, or we’re a journalist dealing with, uh, uh, sources or readers, uh, it all comes down to trust, and trust has to be truth-based. Uh, when, when we, uh, are writing or we’re reporting, uh, we’re consuming information and sharing it, it all has to be based on the truth. And that’s where a, a, a lot of media have, uh, gotten away from fact-checking and gotten away from, uh, uh, ensuring sources are legitimate. Uh, but, but as a communicator, uh, dealing with our bosses a- and, and dealing with our, uh, consumers, our readers, writers, uh, viewers, uh, uh, listeners, it’s, uh, it’s gotta be truth-based and we, we gotta build trust with our, with our, uh, constituents, and we, uh, you have to keep earning it all the time. If you lose it, it’s, uh, it’s, it’s something that’s extremely hard to, to restore. Right. And when we put that, our own professional communications code of ethics, when we use that as our, um, as our, as our filter, as our, our compass, et cetera, in these discussions about, um, the media landscape and, um, the value of ethical communications and, and journalism as it relates to that, uh, really that can, that can help guide us in a kind of a, a, a, a more meaningful way than even some of the tactical, uh, examples some of us are discussing, right? So pay-to-play, for example. Um, uh, you know, I think our code of ethics gives us some guidance about that. And, uh, and that will be, you know, you’ll need to… Will each of us need to figure out how to apply that within our organizations, uh, uh, whether they be educational, um, corporate, not-for-profit, uh, et cetera. Um, so yeah, I think we, we have that guidance within us. And Martha, as you say, and I’m sure all of us speak to students about this, you know, I say like fi- if whatever community you find, whatever path you choose, there will be a code of ethics. So it’s not just ours, it’s, it’s, um, it’s the journalistic code of ethics. It’s all of those things that, that keep us true to the truth. Yeah. Uh, um, Jennifer, you and Martha both raised something I want to talk about for a minute, and then we have a comment from a listener. Uh, but, uh, you, you, you both talked about what journalists are doing, uh, if they don’t want to be associated or affiliated with a mainstream publication anymore, or if they have been let go. A lot of them are starting their own media companies, uh, or they’re just starting to crank out a Substack. Uh, they’re continuing to employ the practices and principles of effective journalism. They’re just doing it, uh, through a different channel. And I, I haven’t checked, but I don’t think that Cision and the other PR services companies that are configured to help you reach journalists are making this transition and identifying all of those newsletters on Substack and Ghost and all of the other platforms that are available for this, uh, all of the YouTube channels that are being set up a- a- as media outlets for some of these journalists creating their own media outlets. Uh, and it, it, it seems to me that it would be a lot of work, uh, to identify those. Um, you know, where I work, uh, we are trying to shift, uh, the perception in the marketplace of the kind of markets where we are active, because that has pivoted. Uh, so that wasn’t that difficult, you know, 10, 15 years ago. It’s a nightmare now. How do you find those? And how effective is it if you pitch one journalist with their Substack newsletter as opposed to the journalist who’s in the publication that’s being read by for- far more people And that is why we do a lot of work. That’s the relationship building part of what we do, right? Um, and that is, that’s what we do. That is, that is what media relations, um, that’s our job if we’re doing it well, is to stay connected and to find out, uh, who is doing what and where people are, and to, to build those relationships, and to understand the areas that we are working in and who is doing what in any given, you know, at any given time. It has always been part of our job to understand who is where, because they were always moving around, always changing, um, and they were. Um, people within the media, uh, were moving from beat to beat to beat within, um, you know, newspaper or TV or whatever at any given time, and it has just become, m- you know, more complex and more compounded and more fragmented than ever before. But as you are doing, you know, building those relationships, and that is, that is what we have to do today. We have to maintain those relationships, and we have to stay on top of that, and we have to, um, understand who is where so that we can, um, be the type of person, um, um, who makes the journalist’s job easier. Um, so that we can have those relationships, foster those relationships so that we can do our jobs. And one of the things I used to do, Diana, when I handled media and communications for a public health organization here in the province, is I tracked the issues that might, uh, attract attention. And so one day I, I… well, I’ll sign up for different Google alerts for different topics to see, A, what’s being said and how they’re writing about it, or how it’s being covered, or what are the kinds of things that people are latching onto. And, you know, came across my, my email that there were, uh, there was a report from out west in Canada of a type of a vaccine that they were experiencing some shortages with, and it was a vaccine that’s used often in the schedule for children, uh, aged one to five. And so I thought, “Oh, this is interesting.” Um- I’ll go and talk with the medical officer of health. And so I went and I said, “Hey, um, you know, this came across my desk. Are we having any issues?” And he said, “Where’d you hear that?” And I said, “Well, it was a reliable report from CBC up in the western part of Canada.” And he said, “As a matter of fact, we just got an update, um, about the shipment of vaccines and how it’s gonna be rolled out because of the supply chain issues.” So I said, “Oh, well, very good. You’re on top of it. No worries.” Anyway, two hours later, I get a call from a local reporter who does this exact same thing, but from a different perspective as a journalist, to call me up and say, “Hey, Martha, I read this story on our sister website. Um, are we having any issues here in this province?” So there are ways that you can use, and, and this is one of the things that I think is positive, um, about search engines and subscribing to updates, is that it can do the work for you of trawling a number of sources so that you can then take time to evaluate and say, “Okay, I regularly want to receive information from this person because I’ve reviewed their content and they’re a reliable source.” And so there are tools that we can use. Um, and as Diana said, one of the things I would always do is also get to know the people in your neighborhood, and sometimes move out of the neighborhood, and sometimes new people move in. So you have to cultivate those relationships and see what their understanding is. And I’ve never had an issue cultivating a particular reporter with an aspect of a story, because different reporters are intrigued, attracted, uh, drawn into a story for different reasons. And so being able to provide multiple angles that might serve my multiple journalistic audiences, uh, was always a helpful approach, because people like something that’s different. They don’t want to be sharing the same information, uh, as their competitor. And, uh, it’s an advantage for you, and it’s also a plus for them. Martha, you raise such a great point about that reporter who called you. Uh, he called you because he trusted you. Uh, and also, and ’cause you already had a trust- a trusted relationship. Yeah. But also, uh, if you hadn’t heard that, that could’ve been the first, uh, information you had received about this, and you could have gone to your boss, who may not have heard about it as well, and become the bearer of this information that came from someone who’s connected with the issues, uh, and, and contacted you as a reporter because he or she trusted you. Um, Kjell, I wanted to just quickly come back to your initial question around, um, you know, where do we as communication professionals focus our time in this, in this new landscape with a lot of independent and, um, perhaps sing- more singularly focused, uh, journalists? Um, do, do you, do you nurture the relationship with someone in their Substack audience or do you look to more mass-market, uh, media choices? And like everything we do, I would say that needs to be audience-driven. So it’s about finding where our audiences are for our particular message, in your case, construction. Um, I used to do a lot of work in healthcare media relations and, um, nurtured some long-term relationships with reporters who were looking for very specific health research stories that I, you know, over a period of time, uh, they would, they would learn to come to me and say, “Okay, it’s, um, heart, a heart month. Um, you know, what have you got?” Or I would have come to them kind of thing. Um, but it is a, it is building, building the trust and also from an organizational perspective, knowing how, what the best channel to my audience is. Yeah, as some of you may know that I am a podcaster and have been for a long, long time. Uh, and I probably get six or seven pitches a day for guests to appear on my podcast. Uh, generally they’re at least somewhat on topic, sometimes completely off topic. Uh, every now and then we’ll actually respond to one that looks good. Uh, I would say probably one out of 50, uh, we’ll, we’ll respond to. Uh, are you- pitching podcasts? Uh, have, have you heard of other communicators doing it? Because I’m doing it now. I’m trying to get our subject matter experts and our thought leaders onto the appropriate podcast. One of the, uh, markets that we’re active in is aviation. We do a lot of work at airports, uh, building terminals and things like that, and, uh, we want to have the, the people who understand what it’s like to be doing construction airside with the security and the safety issues there. Uh, we wanna get them in front of the people who are making the decisions about who are we going to invite to bid on this project. Uh, and, you know, trying to find the aviation podcasts that they might listen to is a bit of a challenge. Uh, AI is, it has been helpful. Uh, but I’m out there actively pitching, uh, podcasts. Is, is that something you’re hearing about? I’ve been building some media lists, um, and I’ve actually been sort, trying to find some podcasts as well, uh, some very specific podcasts. It is on my radar because, um, the, you know, some of the podcasts may be small, um, but they are the target audience that I’m trying to reach very specifically. So again, I think it’s, we’re trying to h- I think when you’re doing, um, the job of media relations, um, that we want to do, uh, you’re trying to get to your audience, right? And I think podcasts are one very specific way to do that Um, and I think, you know, it, it getting to, um, I was looking at Cision’s State of the Media report that was done this year. Um, and it’s interesting the point that you just made, Shell, about, um, whether or not the pitches that you’re getting are the right pitches. Um, and in the, in the report, it said most journalists say that less than 25% of the pitches that they’re getting are actually relevant to them, and so that’s really key. Um- Yes … right? So, uh, and n- not that that has changed, ’cause I think that, that is what most journalists have said for many, many, many years. I think that’s one of their pet, pet peeves. Um, and so we always have to keep that in mind. And I, I just wanted also to point out that, um, 80- in the same survey, that 84% of the journalists actually said that they wanted, um, media communicators to reach out to them via an email and introduce themselves before they ever pitched them, and, um, start a relationship with them ahead of time- Yeah before they actually ever started pitching them. Um, and to start that relationship, introduce themselves, um, and to put some context around why they might be reaching out to them. Um, and so it’s all part of that relationship building ahead of time. So yeah, you know, identifying who you could be reaching out to, you know, and if that’s ca- uh, that podcast is the right source for you to be, um, connecting with the end audience, then that’s the right way to go It’s, uh, a- as, as a writer, I, I write for a lot of trade professional journals, and, uh, if you have a relationship with an editor, they, that they know that you’re gonna write something and send it in that’s gonna be, uh, pretty good and pretty close to on time, uh, th- then they, they don’t say, “What is it? Just send it along. I, I got a space for it.” Uh, but if you don’t know that editor, uh, it’s very hard to crack, uh, crack the nut. You, you really have to send all kinds of clips and, uh, examples of, of things that you’ve done and, uh, answer a lot of questions about what you’re gonna write. Uh, so, so b- getting that relationship, once you’re there, uh, it makes all the difference in the world. I think that’s the absolute key to having a, a successful media relations, uh, component to your communications practice. It’s connecting with the people and understanding what their needs are. They get hundreds of emails, and lots of them get funneled into the spam folder. Um, they don’t have time to read, uh, a pitch from someone who’s just sent out 1,000 emails hoping something will stick or catch somebody’s eye. And- Pray and pray … respecting their time is critical, and also understanding how they want to receive information. I once got a comment from a journalist who said, “You know, I can’t actually do anything with your news release.” And I said, “Oh dear, you know, what did I do wrong?” And he said, “No, this is exactly how I would write it as a story, but I can’t just run it 100% as is.” And I was thinking, “Well, okay, that’s pretty cool. I haven’t lost my journalism training,” ’cause that’s, I did go on to do a journalism degree after my undergrad. But, um, being able to present the information in the way that they can use, and so I do a lot of work supporting people who want to write op-ed pieces. Um, and space is a consideration, and word count is a consideration, and being tight and concise and focused is huge. And sometimes people call me up, and they’ve got 1,500 to 2,000 words, and I said, “Guys, no one’s gonna publish that,” right? Even though there is a market for long-form journalism, and there’s been some really incredible work done, but when it comes to an editorial piece or a commentary, you need to be really tight. And so being able to work with people who know that the stuff I’m going to send them is going to meet their specifications is already a step ahead in, in being able to achieve that coverage. ‘Cause then if it attracts the attention of the op editor, then they can move into, “Oh, well, maybe we should pursue this in the news section.” Um, and sometimes I’ve done that, and I’ve pitched that and say, “Hey, you know, this person has written this piece. It’s being published on Wednesday. But there are other nuances or aspects to the story that you might wanna consider as a separate standalone news piece.” So being able to cultivate those relationships, to have the trust, but also to respect their time and what their needs are is, is super important. Just to go back to the podcast thing, Shel, for a second, um, I will say that, uh, at least in my observation of the next generation of, of business leaders, communication professionals, and, and our audience frankly, in other words, the, the students I’m seeing in the classroom, when I ask them about channels, you know, “How would you get… If you were, if you were in, imagine you were working for an organization, how would you get your message out?” I would say podcasting would, would be, the vast majority of them would, it would be in their top two or three, if not their number one, in part because that’s their, they have a more intimate relationship with podcasts and podcasters than perhaps previous generations have had. And so in fact, there’s this, um, there’s this, uh, new form of, of connection and trust that is built between liter- listeners and audiences and, and podcasters, uh, that I think needs to be taken into account in the ways that we show up as communication professionals. I’d like to add to that, Jennifer. You know, we, we’re Luddites, right? Uh, if you’ve been around long enough to be considered to be a fellow, you’re, you’re, you’re entrenched in, in the old ways. Uh, except for Shel. Oh, come on, Dan. Speak for yourself. He’s always… So I, next, I’m sat next to this w- young lady on a plane. She was an influencer. She had millions of followers on Instagram and, uh, and Facebook, and I’m watching her and she’s going like crazy with her thumbs. And I, I said, “How do you do that?” She said, “What do you mean?” I said, “You go so fast with your thumbs.” And she goes, “Well, how else do you do it?” And I said, “Like this.” And she gives me the, she gives me the, “Okay, Boomer” look, you know? Right. Yep. Uh, yeah, the other thing to think about with podcasts is, is that they do end up getting quoted now in the mainstream media. It’s, it’s, uh, sort of the, the new man on the street. Uh, you, you end up seeing so-and-so said on a podcast. Uh, in fact, I’ve started listening to some podcasts because they get referenced, “Oh, you need to listen to this interview with this guy on this podcast,” said Paul Roetzer on his podcast, right? So, uh, I, I think there’s a, a way to get amplified if, if you’re on a podcast. Uh, I do wanna share a couple of the comments that we got, starting with, uh, Mirko Pecevic, uh, who says, uh, yeah, basically kudos to me for my little local online initiative. Uh, he does say that it doesn’t fill the gap of critical reporting, and, uh, it, it absolutely does not. Uh, it’s, it’s just finding facts and, and publishing them. Uh, what practices can comms pros adopt to support local reporting? And I’ll, I’ll turn that over to all of you in a sec, but I, I do wanna direct people to Alabama News Center at alabamanewscenter.com. It was started by Alabama Power, uh, because they saw a vacuum in local reporting where they could get their own stuff out. So you’ll see a lot of Alabama Power coverage in here, but you’ll see coverage of other things. Business, community, innovation, food and drink, and weather, uh, are the categories they have. There’s no politics addressed here, but, you know, if there’s a, a parade, I, I’m looking at a, a story here that, uh, you know, Run for the Wall motorcyclists stopped in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to honor veterans. Uh, those types of stories. So, you know, this is, is one model is if you’ve lost the local media outlet that you relied on to get information to your stakeholders, start your own Uh, all news is local, and if you can find a way to find someone in your organization who’s, who’s, uh, achieving something, accomplished something, uh, has an interesting story to tell, uh, that localizes your, uh, main messages a- and, and gets you some opportunities in, in more local media. Uh, some of, uh, in, in an earlier lifetime, uh, in the Navy, I was responsible for the fleet hometown news center, and we sent 1.13 million individualized press releases a year to local media, to, uh, radio, local, local newspapers, high s- uh, college alumni associations, uh, about the accomplishments of someone localized or, uh, someone who went to that school, who lived in that town. Uh, these are their parents, uh, and this is the accomplishment. They, they won an award, uh, they graduated from a special course, a- and this was local news. And the vast majority of our newspapers, our editors, uh, used it because it was local, and people will look for something that they can connect with locally The problem becomes now that the end source to be able to put that into something is now gone, right? So- Yeah … right? ‘Cause I, I know exactly what you’re talking about, and now those papers or those places are no longer existing. So where do you send something like that, right? Um, and they’re just not there. They’re just not there anymore. Um, it’s funny ’cause Martha was just talking about, um, uh, news releases that, you know, they can’t run them anymore. Now, I, I actually wrote a news release for becoming a fellow, um, and I actually sent it to the local, um, online newspaper, and they actually ran it word for word. Um, so y- you lo- you gotta love it, right? It’s always, it’s… Y- you love it when they actually run the, the news release you wrote word for word. Um, and they actually ran it in the online, um, local newspaper that I had become a fellow. Um, and so it is that same kind of local story. Um, and they, you know, so them doing something like that, but there’s a lot of places that just don’t have, um, the capacity to actually be able to do that anymore. Um, I have seen a number of, uh, as a judge for the Gold Quills or, uh, an evaluator, I have seen a number of, of submissions come through where corporations or companies are actually including in their, um, corporate newsletters, uh, places where they’re talking about what is going on in their local cities. Um, and so there are companies that are, are taking up that gauntlet and including information about what is going on within their company newsletter, so that’s always nice to see. Um, um, doing something like that. It’s a good way to humanize your organization. Yeah. People like to be seen. People like to be recognized, and organizations that have, uh, departments or divisions or teams, um, in different parts of the country or, or their provinces or states, um, do well to include those perspectives rather than always seeing it come from head office. Um, it’s a challenge in Canada where a lot of the media outlets in terms of national coverage are concentrated in central Canada. Um, it means that the local voice gets lost, and it’s a bigger challenge if you want to, um, really get some national coverage. And I work with a, a company in Ottawa, and one of the things that we have found is that the, uh, what media wants is something that will connect the issue to the people in the area that they are servicing, um, in terms of news, however it is, in terms of the web or an actual publication, a radio broadcast or a podcast. And sometimes you’re finding crossover where some former newspaper outlets are now including, uh, video coverage in their stories so that they can show the progress of a news conference. Um, so being adaptable and responsive, I think, um, is challenging when that funneling thing is happening with centralization of news sources. But if you can connect people to other people in their different regions, then it, from an internal communications perspective, it really does build solidarity, uh, and humanizes, as Ned said, the, the workplace because people see that their employer recognizes that unique aspect of them in terms of if you’re in the south or the north or the west or wherever. Let me, uh, get this last comment in from Brian Kilgore, and h- this is fascinating, and I, I don’t disagree with this at all. Uh, this is looking at this from the other angle. Sources at the decision-making level won’t talk to reporters or appear on camera, and instead only issue statements. I remember a few years ago, I, I read a, a piece, uh, I think it might have been in, uh, the Columbia Journalism Review or, uh, the, the Nieman Labs or, you know, one of the journalism reporting outlets, uh, that said that, uh, The Washington Post had approached a big company, I think it was Clorox, about participating in a, a report that they were doing, and the response from Clorox was, “No, thanks, we don’t need you,” to The Washington Post. Uh, if coverage is important, how do we convince our, our, our leadership that we need to be doing this even as, as, as we see the erosion of the, the media landscape? Well, I think, uh, it’s funny, I had, uh, I had coffee with a journalist friend yesterday morning and, um, she was talking about an article she was working on for The Economist, so, you know, pretty high-profile piece. Um, and she approached a, um, a federal cabinet minister whose, whose, um, purview it was, it is to, to, um, uh, who is a subject matter expert and, um, and his office, uh, said, “We’ll provide a statement.” And she said, “This is The Economist.” Um, “I think I can … I th- I, you know, I think an interview is warranted.” Um, to which they agreed, uh, but it sort of took that ri- reminder. But what I, something related to this, Shell, that I wanted to mention is the, is this kind of, um, dissemination of responsibility for sharing the news, which we’ve been talking about in a, in a variety of ways, that comes to us as organizational communicators, but it also ne- it also takes into account the weaving, the new, the new look of the, of the media landscape. Um, the, uh, the same journalist friend is, runs a major journalism program here in, in British Columbia. It’s a recognized program across Canada, and they’ve stopped intake of their journalism program and are reevaluating its, um, its role, its relevance, its purpose, et cetera. However, one of the really interesting things she’s been talking to us about is the, is the distribution, the desire to ensure that the distribution of those skills continues at the s- at the school. So in other words, um, they still want, uh, uh, to ensure that students have good writing skills, uh, critical thinking skills, all of those things. So where this comes back to your question about the executive level presence is the, is the reminder that we are, uh, like with many roles, we’re wearing many hats, uh, and executives need to see themselves that way, um, need to see themselves as part of, um, not just a contributor to or an observer of or a bystander of the news cycle, but an actual participant in the news cycle, which we as communication professionals are in a new way as well. We’re partners with journalists. Many journalists are working in communications. Um, and, and so I think we can bring a re- a refreshed understanding of the way that landscape works in a way that means we build trust and community within each other to get those important messages out. Uh, uh, no, no other thoughts on Brian’s point? Well, I think we’re seeing more of it. Sometimes it’s because people have less time and it’s easier. They feel that way they can control the message because it’s the statement, so the statement gets quoted. Um, and I think it’s interesting what Jennifer said because there is still a lot of fear in terms of how you might get treated by the media and how your words may get used. And so I think people see it as the easy way out to say, “Okay, we have, um, a statement. Um, they have a photo of the person who’s speaking. They can run with that.” And so I work with media relations coaching and performance presentation, and getting people over that fear, uh, is one of the things that comes up every single time. And I had to throw up on the screen a comment that we got from Diane Chase saying, “Yes, Jennifer.” So. Thanks, Diane. We are about out of time. Uh, less than 90 seconds left. Uh, so I do want to let everybody know what’s coming up in August on Circle of Fellows. Episode number 132 will take place at 6:00 PM East Coast time. Uh, the time shifts based on who’s on the panel, and this time on the panel, uh, we have Adrian Cropley, uh, from Australia, so the time has shifted to accommodate his participation. I still think it’s gonna be a, a, a very early hour for Adrian. But, uh, we will be talking about artificial intelligence issues in communication, notably pivotable, pivotal points for the profession. Um, and I’m, I’m not gonna guess what we’re gonna be talking about in a month because the whole landscape could change again, uh, in, in, in 30 days. I mean, you look at the news just recently and it’s all about open weight models from China. Um, reading Chris Penn saying, you know, y- y- you can’t block them because they’re the only ones that people can use to develop their own models, uh, even if it’s a US, uh, research company. Uh, so I mean, all kinds of interesting things that, that we can talk about. That panel, in addition to Adrian, uh, will include Bonnie Caver, uh, Pia-Mary Caramanis, and Mike Klein. So it should be a great panel. And to Diana, uh, Martha, Jennifer, and Ned, thank you so much for your participation today. I think this has been a great discussion. Uh, just a, a, I, I think a sign of what a really good conversation does. I didn’t get off question one on my list of- … of questions. It just kind of snowballed from there, and we had a, we had a great conversation. Uh, so, uh, until next month. See you all later, everyone. Thanks, Sal. Always a pleasure.

The post Circle of Fellows #131: The Evolving Media Landscape and What It Means for Media Relations appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

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Circle of Fellows departed from the discussion of communication issues, as we do once each year, to introduce IABC’s newest Fellows. Five new communicators join the Fellows community in 2026, spanning the globe from Canada (from which three of our Fellows hail) to South Africa and Australia.

Part 1Part 2Meet the Fellows

Diana Degan, IABC Fellow, ABC, CAAP, BAAJ, is the founder of Diana Degan & Associates. Diana is an award-winning communication leader, educator, and strategic advisor whose 35-year career has strengthened communication practice, elevated professional standards, and advanced human-centered communication across Canada and beyond. She has led work spanning the full spectrum of the profession, from strategic planning, brand development, and integrated marketing communications to crisis communications, stakeholder engagement, internal communications, and accessibility-focused communication design.

Founder and Principal of Fluency Leadership, Catherine Ducharme, IABC Fellow, PCC, CLC,is a career communicator, certified coach, and facilitator with more than 35 years of experience in communication and leadership. She has held senior roles across public relations, corporate, internal, and marketing communication in industries, including high-tech and health sciences, grounding her work in deep, real-world expertise. Building on that foundation, Catherine now focuses on developing communication and marketing professionals to be exceptional leaders.

Cyrus Mavalwala, IABC Fellow, ABC, MC, is a sought-after communication strategist who leads a team of trusted advisors that senior executives rely on to capture, own, and sustain mindshare with the people that matter most. After senior roles at global PR agencies, Cyrus founded Advantis Communications in 2002. Advantis’ proprietary frameworks operationalize AI, elevate social media, and deploy video as core drivers of thought leadership and influence, strengthening visibility and relevance.

André Oberholzer, SCMP, FCSCE, is group head for corporate affairs at Sappi Limited, a global pulp and paper company with operations across South Africa, North America, and Europe. He is a member of the Group Management Committee. He chairs the company Brand Council, ensuring close alignment between corporate, service, and product branding. He also serves on the Sappi SA Social Impact committee and the Group Sustainability and Risk Councils.

Sia Papageorgiou, IABC Fellow, FRSA, FCSCE, SCMP, is one of the world’s most awarded communication strategists, with more than 60 accolades for excellence in strategic communication and leadership. Over three decades, she has worked across journalism, public relations, corporate communication, and strategic advisory roles in government, business, and the not-for-profit sector. She is the co-founder of the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence (CSCE), a global professional development and insights organization trusted by leading organizations worldwide.

The post Circle of Fellows #129 and #130: Meet The 2026 Class of IABC Fellows appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

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In the second of our special Circle of Fellows discussions, Brad Whitworth moderated a panel to discuss the remaining three chapters of the book, “The 7 Cs of the New Communication Compass.” The book’s author and editor, Dianne Chase, joined Brad, along with the IABC Fellows who authored the three chapters:

• Zora Artis, who wrote the “Cohesion” chapter
• Cindy Schmieg, author of the “Collaboration” chapter
• Shel Holtz, who penned the “Community” chapter

About the panel

Dianne Chase helps organizations and leaders harness the power of strategic communication to navigate crises, build trust, and drive positive change. With over two decades of experience in journalism and corporate communications, Dianne has developed a unique approach for training and consulting clients that combines crisis management expertise with the art and science of business storytelling. Dianne is an award-winning media, journalism, and strategic communication professional with profound expertise in communication disciplines, most notably crisis communication, issues and reputation management, media training, and executive communication. She is one of two people in the world accredited in the powerful GENIUS Business Storytelling methodology, created by international communications thought leader, Gabrielle Dolan. She is former chair of the International Association of Business Communicators, and author/editor of The 7 Cs of The New Communication Compass.

Although Zora Artis began her career outside the communications field, she has had an outsize impact on the profession since entering it more than 20 years ago to as an account director and then strategic planner with branding and integrated marcomms agencies. Since then, she has led her own brand and communications consultancy and served as CEO of a 20-person creative, digital, and strategic communication firm. In 2019, formed her current management consulting practice bringing together strategic alignment, brand, and communication expertise. She has received five Gold Quill awards. Her significant contributions to the profession and the body of knowledge include her original research with IABC colleague, Wayne Aspland, on strategic alignment, the role of communications and leadership – the first substantial research effort for the reconfigured IABC Foundation – and co-authoring a subsequent white paper, “The Road to Alignment,” supported by 27 senior communicators from five continents. Zora has also researched the correlation between strategic alignment and experiences and the impact on stakeholder value and brand. This has led her to develop her own proprietary Alignment Experience Framework. She has also examined gender equity, perceptions, and bias in organizations, and wrote a chapter on this topic for the Quadriga University e-reader, Women in PR. Since joining IABC a decade ago, she has impacted IABC as a volunteer, including roles as chair of the IABC Asia Pacific Region and IEB director; she currently serves as the chair of the 2022 World Conference Program Advisory Committee. A certified company director, as chair of the IABC Audit and Risk Committee she introduced proper risk oversight to the board’s processes. Zora has been honored with the 2021 and the 2015 IABC Chair’s Award for Leadership and was named IABC’s 2020 Regional Leader of the Year. She is also a Strategic Communication Management Professional, Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute, and Certified Practising Marketer.

Cindy Schmieg is an award-winning strategic communicator. Her 30+ years of corporate, agency, and consulting experience focuses on making the communications function strategic within an organization. Cindy now teaches online in the Communications Master Degree program at Southern New Hampshire. She has served in many IABC leadership roles and is today a member of the IABC Audit/Risk Committee and Pacific Plains Region Silver Quill Award Committee, as well as assisting on the IABC Minnesota Annual Convergence Summit.

Shel Holtz, SCMP, ABC, is senior director of Communications at Webcor, a commercial general contractor and builder based in San Francisco. He is a member of the Global Communication Certification Council and will become vice chair of the Council in June 2026. Shel has written six communication-themed books, and his seventh, “On the Same Page,” a practical framework for implementing internal communication strategies, will be published later this year. He co-hosts the 21-year-old communication-focused podcast, “For Immediat Release.” Shel served for six years on IABC’s executive board and has also been president of the IABC Los Angeles chapter, along with other IABC roles. He has led communications at two Fortune 400 companies and had his own consultancy for more than 21 years before joining Webcor in 2017.

Brad Whitworth, ABC, SCMP, IABC Fellow, is a pre-eminent thought leader, lecturer, and author in organizational communication. He has led global internal and executive communication programs at HP, Cisco, Hitachi, PeopleSoft, AAA, and MicroFocus. He holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and undergraduate degrees in journalism and speech from the University of Missouri. Brad lives in California, a wine country, and he grows Pinot Noir on his property. A former broadcaster, Brad has made more than 300 presentations to executives, communicators, and university classes worldwide. Brad is a past board chairman of the International Association of Business Communicators and a Fellow of the association. He is one of the authors of The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication and the new IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer. He chaired the Global Communication Certification Counsel in 2021.

Raw Transcript

Speaker: Well. Greetings and welcome to our monthly Circle of Fellows. This is episode one hundred and twenty eight. That means we’ve been at this for ten and two thirds years if you’re doing the math. Um, and today we’re talking about a new book, The Seven Seas, the New Communication Compass. And this is part two of our exploration of that book. And we’ll be diving into that. My name is Brad Whitworth. I’m your moderator, and I’m filling in for Michelle Holtz, whom you just saw for a moment. Your regular host, shell, is one of the contributing authors to that book. So he’s here as a panelist instead of the moderator, and he’s joined by two other contributing authors, Cindy Schmieg and Zora Artis and the lead author, Diane Chase. And I’ll let them introduce themselves in a moment, just to set the stage for what it is that we hope to accomplish in this next hour. And don’t forget that if you’re watching, you can jump into the conversation at any time. throws your comments or questions into the chat, and we’ll put them up and talk about them with the conversation. Amongst these four great contributors, the seven seas of communication, the new communication compass, um include collaboration, connection, compassion, cohesion, community congruency, calibration. And in episode one twenty seven, we did cover the ideas behind connection, compassion, congruency, and collaboration. So today it’s chapters one, three, four, and five. And just for the record, I’m the contributing author for chapter two. So we got one, two, three, four, five, all right here on the screen. But I’m going to introduce them one at a time and let them tell you a little bit about themselves and where they’re coming to you from today. And we’ll start with chapter one. Um, Cindy. Hi, I’m Cindy Schmieg. I’m typically in the Phoenix, Arizona area, but today I’m in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Okay. And chapter three is the lead author, Diane. Hello. Hello. Diane Chase from Charlotte, North Carolina. At the moment where it’s gray and rainy, but happy to be here. We’ll bring some sunshine and Zora Artis. Well it’s good. It’s good morning from me in Melbourne, Australia. And it is almost light. And it’s definitely gray and raining as well. Chapter five is Shell Holes. I’m coming to you from Concord, California. Uh, where this morning it was great and rainy. Yeah. Since we’re doing the weather report. Yeah. And I’m in California wine country, where we’ve got some big puffy white clouds and some blue sky and a little bit of sunshine. But we had some rain this morning as well. So, um, before we dive into those chapters, I’d like at least Diane to give a little bit of an overview of the new Seven Seas, and I talk about them as being new because I can remember listening to, um, a past iabc fellow, the late doctor Don Ranley, talking about the seven seas that were designed to gain credibility in writing and included clear, concise, complete, consistent, coherent, creative, and correct. Um, but Diane, it seems to me that the, you know, you really up leveled the game for all of us. We’ve gone from sort of very tactical communication, skill set worries of writing, which is still important. But now we’re talking about communication strategy and how teams and leaders behave. So why the seven seas and how did you pick them? Well, you know, I, I have been thinking about the seven seas as, as of communication, as core leadership competencies. And in our uncertain, volatile world, uh, across many, many areas, it’s really more important to elevate and empower and lead communication in a new way. And I feel like these seven C’s underpinned, again, some of the leadership competencies that are necessary in today’s world, not just in today’s world, but in in the future. Our AI driven future. What is that doing to the way we connect as human beings? And that is more imperative than ever. Because if we can’t build relationships through our strategic, authentic, trustworthy communication, we’re going to be subject to whatever AI determines that we do. So I just feel like a new mindset, a new approach, new thinking, and new empowerment for communication professionals and leaders writ large actually is really important. Well, I think it takes it to another level as well. I mean, it’s not just the tools and the channels and the communications that get put into those channels is really creating the communications environment in which all of these pieces come together. And I think communications people are up to that challenge now. So, um, what I love about the book and where you took this was that we’re talking at a whole new level about a whole different set of communication leadership skills. Absolutely. It really does underpin any successful organisation. Having communication leadership have it as a fundamental in your strategic plan, your business plan, your goals, and it it really drives a purpose driven organisation, especially because it’s how you engage people and you’re going to have greater results, greater loyalty, certainly greater productivity for the long term, if you’re able to connect with people through your communication skills as a leader. And I think it also parallels what’s going on on a number of campuses. I know both at Stanford and Cornell, so sort of from coast to coast in North America, um, communication skills are being taught to up and coming MBA students who before they get turned loose on the world or at least being exposed to the you better master this skill set as a leader and use communications as part of, um, everything that you know, besides finance and legal and all the other sort of functional areas. Um, Diane, I’m going to come back to you to dive a little bit deeper into your chapter three compassion. We did talk about it on the last episode. So people can go over there but don’t want to skip you over. What I want to do is sort of go through the book from the front to the back, and we’ll start with Cindy to talk a little about your chapter on collaboration. And I know, um, maybe you could just start with sort of what’s your definition of collaboration as you wrote about it? Well, I think that’s a good place to start, Brad, and to set up collaboration as a leadership skill is another element of the book. But I think collaboration is more than just sharing information or coordinating details, because it’s about building relationships and understanding multiple perspectives and creating outcomes or results. And to achieve these things, you really need a plan, systemic approach to collaboration. And that’s how you can create collaboration as a leadership skill is through that planned approach. You know, I shared a story in the book about I ran into a guy in a restaurant who was talking about, he got an award for collaboration and he worked at a global consulting firm. And I asked him, oh, what did you do to get that award? And he said, well, I don’t know. Now. I said, well, what was on the award? What did it say? And he goes, it didn’t say anything. It just said collaboration. And I just thought that that organization missed an opportunity to create a planned approach to collaboration, where you could bring employees up together to work on collaboration in the system systematic way. Right? So then through that, collaboration becomes a strategy and you hear companies using collaboration as a value and it can be a value. But without that approach and planning for collaboration, it’s not, it really isn’t going to go anywhere. So that value doesn’t mean a lot. Um, so if you have the approach bringing the employees together, you should get better results. And I know Brad mentioned earlier when we were prepping for the call about collaboration tools such as Zoom, Slack teams. And there definitely collaboration tools. But remember, it requires people to initiate the collaboration on all of these. So we need a human approach to collaboration, where we are all working together and creating that environment or culture that is collaborative. Um, and so you say, why would you need this now? Well, collaboration has always been needed, but there is still that continuing return to the office. So we really need to retrain employees on how to collaborate. I guess that really gets to the gist of what was talked about in the book. And of course, I’ve shared a lot of, uh, points that would help build collaboration, you know, through better team building and getting to know each other, relying on each other to, um. So did the time of Covid help or hurt collaboration? I mean, we have new tools to be able to collaborate and we’re able to have different communities that extend in different ways that didn’t exist. But is it a plus or a minus or jury’s still out? I think it’s going to be a plus, but I think there’s a lag time. We have to learn to use those tools better. And we also have to learn to put the human systems back in place to help us become better collaborators. So when we’re using systems like team, there’s a lot of information. There’s a lot of ways to connect people to people. But the value of the human side of it, you know, building the trust, the relationships, the reliance on other people, gaining all the multiple perspectives that has to come back into play when using those tools. Yeah. Um, Meg, go a little bit out of order here because I want to pull in Chelle for a second and have you weigh in because if anybody knows software and platforms and tools and technologies, it’s shell holds. I mean, you are the go to guy on all this stuff. Are you seeing anything sort of in this collaboration space that’s got you excited or scared? Uh, nothing terribly new. I mean, you know, we’ve seen during Covid the rise of Zoom, which is definitely a collaboration tool. Uh, we see Slack and teams which have been widely adopted, uh, they can, uh, under the right circumstances with the right guidance, be very effective collaboration tools. I think nothing beats face to face, but that’s not always practical. In fact, in bigger organizations, it’s rarely practical. Uh, what I’m seeing is, is AI, which worries me a little. Um, I shared with you all a little earlier an article from Business Insider that talked about the fact that employees are now entering, uh, a question into a prompt box rather than getting up and going to talk to somebody who knows these things. So even within the office, when people have come back because of a return to office mandate, they are still isolating, uh, and interacting with a model instead of each other. And, uh, there has been a noticeable and precipitous decline in collaboration happening in some workplaces. You know, shell going back to a different podcast that you were on and you were talking about AI as more of a hybrid, um, partner or employee at work. And I can see that happening because when I was putting the chapter together, I thought, boy, wouldn’t that be slick if you had a bunch of people sitting around a table or somewhere where you were collaborating on a project and there had you have your AI speaker there, and you could just say, hey, wait a minute. What was the results last year when we ran this ad? What happened then? and you could get that real time information. So to help boost the collaborative results. Yeah, I think that would be great. I have not heard a lot of instances of that. Mhm. That use case, but I’d love to see more of it. Me too. Uh, especially as people start talking to their AI more instead of typing to it. I’ve been experimenting with a tool called Whisper Flow that allows you to engage in that conversation more easily with all of your AI tools. So do we have to speak up? Yeah, you can speak up. Okay. But but it will hear you if you whisper for those open office environments so you’re not disturbing the person next to you. MM. Hence the name. Great name. In terms of the collaboration. Chapter two. What I love Cindy is, is the mindset that this offers opportunity for co-creation, which leads to greater engagement and buy in for whatever it is the initiative, the project, or, you know, the business success overall. Yeah, I see these collaboration tools also following the business model anyway. I mean, at one point, we did have the notion that an organization was bringing people together. And what we’ve seen is sort of a satellite version as companies are sort of exploding the value chain and outsourcing different component pieces and sort of shattering that oneness that used to define an organization. Um, you know, somebody outsourcing their manufacturing or they’ve outsourced their R&D or production or sales is being handled by distributors. Um, it used to be a vertically oriented structure to things in which communications was paramount. I think in some ways this, um, sort of new set of collaboration tools. um, sort of represents the way the environment is changing for organizations out there. So, um, there’s some parallel paths there, but I think what you’ve hit upon so well in the chapter is talking about the human side of it. Um, let’s not put aside these tools, but let’s make sure that we in them along with human behaviors as well. And maybe that ties into sort of the chapter three and compassion. And I want to come back to Diane to talk a little bit about that, because I’m seeing a lot of books that deal with that human side of leadership and management. There’s a one that you guys may have seen out there, love and Work by Marcus Buckingham, uh, a best selling book. And our, uh, iabc friend David Grossman has one called The Heart Work of Modern Leadership. So, Diane, maybe you could sort of talk a little bit about, uh, how did caring and compassion disappear from organizations. And why do we have to write books to remind people that that’s part of the equation? Isn’t it interesting, Brad, how, um, you know, historically in a lot of organizations, it’s been personals personal professionals, professional, never the twain shall meet. There’s a firewall, you walk into the office and you leave your humanity at the door. Those days are gone. And when we are engaging with Gen Z and especially upcoming Gen A, they have no time and they will not tolerate that approach in their work and in their personal lives as well. So again, back to the age of AI, when there’s a loss of human to human connection for a lot of people in their work and even in their personal lives. I know we’ve all seen the research about the unbelievable growth in loneliness that people are feeling, especially younger generations. There’s a there’s an isolation that happens, which is not healthy for across any level. Um, in our work, in our personal lives, whatever it might be. So compassion is, is really, I’m so glad to see it elevated as a core leadership skill and an imperative for working in today’s society. So to me, compassion is action. It’s empathy in action. And it’s, it’s something that takes thought. It takes some skill building in terms of we hear about active listening and, and that sort of engagement, but it really takes caring about another human being, whether it’s caring about why maybe they’re, they’re slacking off in their productivity or their engagement, much less, hopefully not getting to the point of undermining the organization’s goals. That happens as well with disgruntled employees. So being compassionate just means elevating the the critical nature of connecting with another human being in the workplace, as well as outside of the workplace. And it takes that idea of, um, sort of employees are our most valuable asset and said, you better walk the talk. It’s not just the words that are important, it’s the actions that take place. And, and you do see some of that in some places. But I think, um, one of the thought I had was, you know, years ago, it was like, don’t worry, the company will take care of you. Um, and there was a little bit more concern and there was a little bit of sort of, um, motherhood and apple pie kind of stuff wrapped around it. Um, and then it seemed to have disappeared where people were distant and it became more businesslike. And nobody I actually had an HR person said, I can never afford to have anyone as a coworker, as a friend, because I might have to take an action against them. So I distance myself from people and I thought, what a shame that they don’t know who their coworkers are and want to be close. Um, wow. You mentioned in the book the Covid period. Um, and maybe you could just explain a little bit of how that may have, uh, sort of opened our eyes to the human side of some people that were more remote and more distant. Mhm. Well, um, back to that disengagement and that isolation piece, which is impacting mental health and, and just productivity, feelings of well-being, personal and professional success. I think again, um, it was kind of a double edged sword in a way, because it created that sense of isolation for a lot of people. introverts were in heaven. But at some point that’s not healthy either. You have to have relationships. You have to connect with another human being. It’s really important. And, um, so the other side of that is that people were beginning to say, you know what? I’m not really going to spend my time and my effort and my talents with an organization that doesn’t see me as a human being and value me as a human being, appreciate what I do and who I am, not just in the workplace, but outside of the workplace. I’m coming to my work with my own set of experiences, my current challenges, and I want to feel I mean, the old, you know, cliche understood and heard and supported. So, I think Covid elevated compassion because of that. And I work for a company that actually measures, um, whether employees feel known, feel loved and feel proud to work for the organization. So the fact that this is a metric that’s sort of being looked at on a regular basis and how leaders are being judged sort of says, yeah, there is room for that in the workplace these days. Um, let me move on if I can, to chapter four and Zora. Um, and I think the sort of the intro to your chapter that sort of like, am I reading about the same Richmond or not? There are many of us who got hooked on TV’s Ted Lasso, and we quickly discovered it really wasn’t a show about sports or Premier League football. It was really about leadership. It was about communication. It was about caring for people. And it all was revolving around this fictional team called AFC Richmond in the UK. But your chapter is about cohesion, is about a real team. Um and it’s the Richmond Football Club. So same sort of name. It’s based there in Melbourne with you and it’s part of the Australian Football League. So different version of football because we do have different versions of that around the world. We have different rules. Um seventeen thousand kilometers away from Ted Lasso’s fictional team. But maybe you could explain how this case study that you have done for this book is about shared leadership and organizational transformation that you describe in the chapter. And what’s, what’s the story behind this case study and what makes it so relevant to this conversation we’ve had about leaders and comms professionals? Thanks, Brad. And I love the fact that your organization does that, that metric as well, because I think that’s something that Richmond Football Club would actually do as well, although I’m not quite sure, but the word love was mentioned quite a bit when I interviewed the CEO. The Richmond Football Club, which is also known as the Tigers, is is a a rules football team. It’s one of the oldest, most supported clubs in the country. And it’s, you know, over one hundred years old. And by twenty ten, the club hadn’t won a premiership, which is what you would call a championship. And in, in in thirty years, they had a huge debt. They had a declining membership down to about thirty, zero zero zero, a fractured culture. And they had this reputation for moving on coaches really quickly because they they weren’t delivering results. So it’s very it was very much performance focused leadership. And it was known for not being a finals contender. And most people had written them off completely. So what happened over the next decade was totally remarkable. And I’m going to admit, like I am a huge fan of this club. However, I looked at it with immense pride and I rode the waves with them for decades. So I had that sense of feeling. And those who are members and supporters of this club had been through that roller coaster of emotion. So for so long. So over the next decade, they had they had set out this huge vision, a really big vision that by twenty twenty, they would, um, win three premierships. They would eliminate all their financial debt and they’d grow their membership from thirty five to seventy thousand. So by twenty twenty, they had won three premierships in four years. And the final one was in twenty twenty. They grew their membership to over one hundred thousand. They eliminated all their debt, and they built what is probably one of the most admired organizational cultures in Australian sport. And then, just as importantly, they face a significant transition where their key leaders and their players moved on and they had to start to rebuild from the bottom of the ladder in twenty twenty four. But what was really interesting, in twenty ten, the CEO created this amazing strategic narrative that he it was a rallying call to the the club, to the organisation, to the players. And he put it out there. And I’ve included that narrative, which he wrote himself in the book, and it’s really quite powerful. And of course, the narrative leaked at some point. And he was just the media just went to town on him. They basically attacked. They said in an interview, one one of well known media commentator said, aren’t you embarrassed? And the CEO said, no, I’m not embarrassed. I’m proud. We have a vision to come to compete and to be the best on and off the field. If we’re not locked into that, we might as well pack up and go home. And he was incredibly passionate. He never let go of that. And that was quite amazing. Um, but what I want to really focus on here is that this is not just a story about sport, it’s about how organizational transformation can happen and how you can, and how you can create that alignment and the cohesion that you need. So it’s not a story about a visionary CEO, although he absolutely was. And he was there for fourteen or fifteen years. It’s not a story about the brilliant coach. And he, he was amazing. Uh, and they stuck with him even though they were losing for the first six years. They were showing improvement, but still losing. And they had a determined president. And the president, um, Peggy O’Neal, was from the South in America, and she had migrated to Australia and wanted to connect with Aussie. So she found herself a team, and that was Richmond. And she became the first female president of an Australian rules football club, which was quite incredible. So all three were really exceptional. But what Brendan Gale, the CEO, was determined to say was that the whole story is actually about shared leadership and that ownership and the accountability that’s distributed across the whole organisation, the vulnerability and the trust that they’ve built really quite deliberately and carefully, the love and the commitment that they had for each other. And they talk about love. And it was for it was that commitment to something bigger than themselves. And they had this incredibly deep connection to their members, to their partners, and to their community. And then they also have that financial and organizational foundation that they built that was made that performance possible. Um, so it’s a story that about any team or organization that needs to perform, to endure and to fight back when things get hard. Well, in your chapter, one of the other things that you do include is this idea of a cohesion cycle that shows organizations are not static. They, they move. And, um, there are four phases and maybe leaders know about them or maybe it’s not even taught in schools, but, um, could you say what these four phases are? And I think one of the things you point out is that a lot of organizations get tripped up and one of them that they tend to go wrong on and, and it has a cost that goes with that not knowing about cohesion cycle. Mhm. Well, when I was, when I was working through the story and looking at what what is happening with cohesion and performance and having that winning culture, but having a healthy culture as well. Uh, and looking at how Richmond went through the fight, through it. It occurred to me that cohesion is absolutely, absolutely not linear. And so I created this cycle because it’s very much cyclical and it’s got four phases. So the first one is creating that shared meaning and momentum. So getting people genuinely aligned around purpose, direction and moving forward, moving as one, building the cohesion and the culture. So establishing trust, uh, the behaviors and the ways that they were going to work today, work together and then sustaining that high performance, which is really maintaining alignment and avoiding complacency. And then the final, um, part of the cycle is the dynamic realignment and the renewal. So it’s adapting when the circumstances change, while you’re still staying grounded in your values, who you are. And that last phase is what I think is where most organizations struggle, because that renewal is asking something different of leaders and the people. It’s asking them to let go of, of what has worked and to sit with that uncertainty and to rebuild. And a lot of organizations don’t necessarily have the patience because it’s about speed or potentially even the self-awareness of where they’re really at. And so the cost of that is quite real. So they’ll either cling to something that made them successful or trying to protect that past rather than focusing on that future, or they might panic and make really reactive decisions that undermine those foundations that got them there. Right. So you’ll see them lose their way to a degree. So when you’re in uncertainty, you need to be able to work through what’s shifting around you with things that aren’t, that aren’t within your control. You need to be able to manage and move with what’s emerging. And that’s that added adaptation and the resilience, um, that Richmond has been putting in place. And it shows what that looks like. So once cohesion fractures under that pressure, rebuilding is a much, much harder task. Um, and when I spoke with the CEO and also with the, their high performing psychologists, high performance psychologist, doctor McLeod, it demonstrated that it’s really hard for them, but they have the real belief and they know what it takes. And the psychologist, doctor McLeod, she actually mentioned that it was really important for the team to learn how to fail. Well, because all the others who weren’t in the championships to date knew how to do that better than them. So they had to relearn things and I had to learn from that failure. So it’s a story that’s really telling you about how you can rebuild as well. And so everyone’s on board. They told their story. They’ve been telling their story well since twenty twenty four. They hit the bottom of the ladder. They’ve been rebuilding. Everyone’s on board with them within the organization, their community, their members, the players, everyone’s on board. So as they’re going through that phase, that ugly scrutiny that they used to get in there, the earlier years of the transformation just isn’t there anymore. So as comms people, what you can learn is that you can have a clear, honest narrative about where you are in that cycle, and that changes how people experience that journey, uh, with you as they move through that with you. Oh, and you’re going to have to keep us posted on the comeback. And I’m sure as a fan, are you a member? I am. Okay, well, send us the scores and keep us posted. And maybe there’s a new chapter, a new book in that. And then for those of us that are, we’re stuck with Ted Lasso. There is a new season of Ted Lasso coming. In case you haven’t seen all the sneak previews that they’re running. Uh, Ted goes back to the UK to lead a women’s football team. So, um, more or less, with the excitement going on there, and this Richmond Football Club has a has introduced a women’s team as well. All right. Well, maybe they’re, maybe they’re borrowing some storylines from your part of the world. Perhaps. Yeah. Um, let’s turn things now to shall. We’ve heard a little bit from you about some collaboration technologies and a few other things, but your chapter was focused on community. And I think you start out by sort of going, you know, there’s this standard standing belief out there that the reason companies exist is to create a profit, to make money. And some might argue that if you don’t have a profit, your company’s not going to be around very long. So it’s not really a nice thing. It’s really a good thing to have, but it’s not the only thing. And maybe you could explain where you’re coming from and how that sets up what’s coming in the rest of the chapter. Yeah. Well, I’ve heard this from a number of CEOs. When talking about a corporate purpose. They say our purpose is to make money. Our purpose is to return a profit to the investors, to the shareholders, to the owners, whoever they may be. Uh, and my answer to that is this is every company. How does this differentiate you in the marketplace? How does this help people understand who you are and what you do? And this is why we have statements. We’ve all heard about value statements and vision statements and mission statements and purpose statements. And I think a lot of organizations go through these as rote exercises without planning on taking them very seriously. I think the smart organizations are the ones that recognize that the profit is an outcome of living their mission well and living their purpose well. If they do that well, they’re going to make gobs of money, along with effective strategic planning and financial controls and the like. Uh, but if all you want to do is make money, you’ll do just about anything to make that money. It doesn’t focus you on audiences on customer segments, uh, or on marketplaces. So if we look at the profit motive as an outcome of, you know, primarily the organization’s mission, uh, then it’s a lot easier to define the approaches that we’re going to take to, to making that profit. And you talk in the chapter also about communities. And you take a sort of I mean, one of the cuts you looked at was this whole notion of generational differences and how they impact, um, the definitions of community, but also sort of the way we go about communicating with these different segments. Yeah. And in fact, it’s a very timely topic. Giving an email thread I was reading just this morning from among Ibcs fellows, uh, and there was an interesting, uh, contribution from one of the fellows who noted that they were no longer participating here in Circle of Fellows. Uh, because the younger demographic, the ones in their twenties aren’t going to sit and watch an hour long panel discussion. And we’re not going to appeal to that segment with, with this show. Now, I feel that that’s not mutually exclusive that the this Circle of fellows panel discussion, um, has value. Uh, even though we do need to find better ways to communicate with the younger demographic, but, uh, especially these days, given the influence of digital media and social media, uh, and the tendency to watch snackable content, we used to call it, uh, maybe ten or fifteen years ago, uh, bite sized content. I was just reading, uh, within the last couple of weeks. I didn’t know these existed before this. Their clip forms, uh, these are companies that pay freelancers to take long form content and create short thirty, forty five second clips out of them that the owners can then post to YouTube shorts or Instagram reels or, uh, wherever TikTok, uh, and monetize those clips. And I was talking at work about this with somebody who said, yeah, I never watched Saturday Night Live. I just watched the clips that get posted. Um, so it’s a real thing. Uh, the attention span is very short. And, uh, one of our new fellows who was in the classroom was saying in this thread that it’s hard to keep the students attention for more than a couple of minutes, that they’ve got their phones out. Uh, and they’re consuming this, this bite sized content rather than paying attention to, to longer form content. So as we look at connecting with communities, whether it’s internal or external, I think that demographic cut is, is really important. And by the way, Brad, um, since I think I’m the one who can see this, we have a comment from, uh, Mirko coming in. Yeah. It says, do you have any suggestions for prompting genuine conversations between colleagues of different generations? Because in my experience, chit chatting about Taylor Swift isn’t enough to bond. Yeah, that’s a fascinating question. Uh, and what if it’s the Grateful Dead? I mean, we can all bond there, right? That appeals to generate. I mean, there are new Deadheads coming on the scene all the time. Uh, Bob Weir believed that it was, uh, that they’d be listening to this music in three hundred years. So, I mean, I think that’s a fine way to, to bond with, with people. Uh, no, I think it’s important that there be some resources available in the organizations to help generations understand each other. Uh, there was a book many, many years ago about communicating with generations. And they had a, a series of, of matrices, uh, that, that explained exactly what the influences were from each generation and what their communication preferences were and the like. Um, I think, you know, updating that and making something like that available. Doing some training, uh, having some opportunities to connect with people from different generations, uh, is important, uh, by and large in the workplace though. Um, I think there’s, there’s more that the generations have in common than, uh, distinguishes them or sets them apart. Uh, and I think when we’re working on a team, when we’re working toward common objectives, it becomes less of an issue and less of a challenge. Yeah. I’ve said oftentimes when I was doing some global communications work that you get people together from all different parts of the globe, and there would be sort of like, you don’t understand us. You don’t speak our language. You don’t know our culture. Um, there’s no hope for you. And it’s like, we’ll get that out of your system because yes, we’re all different. Uh, I think that is not just different countries from which we come. It’s also we’re all wired differently. We’re made up differently. But get out of the system and let’s focus, as you said, on the things we share. And usually the list of what we have in common is, um, a whole lot longer than the, what is different about us because we are all humans. Um, so I think the other one that I would love to ask you about is that some of the values that you talk about in the book that are sort of, there’s the old school corporate values of things like quality and customer service and value for money that tend to show up as objectives for an organization. But they’re also being they’re not being thrown aside, but they’re being joined by others that are as important, if not more important, to other generations. Is that a way of sort of shaping what it is you said? Yeah, I think it is in some organizations. Uh, some are sticking with the old types of values. And then there are those where the values are just words on the wall that have no bearing on the reality in the in the workplace and lead to a lot of cynicism. Uh, employees, uh, but in organizations that take it seriously, I have seen a shift toward the adoption of, of values like trust and community. In fact, uh, community is one of the values of the company where I work. And it’s taken very seriously, both internally in terms of the community of employees and, and sort of the subcommunities that exist within that population, but also the communities in which we work. Uh, you could also look at the marketplaces we’re in as a kind of community, but, uh, if, if you have a value and you know, what do we mean by values? It’s basically, uh, these are the things that we believe that are going to drive our behaviors and our decisions. They’re our are core beliefs as an organization, and if we believe the community is important, then we are going to make decisions around how our decisions affect those communities. We’re going to bring the communities in to some of those decision making processes, and we’re going to support employees in their embrace of those communities, both internally and externally. I think if you believe in communities internally, you’re going to support the creation and the sustaining of employee resource groups. Those those sub communities can come together and engage with each other, but also be a resource to the organization about, you know, our needs, our differences, what we can contribute, what we’re looking for out of the organization, um, as well as providing the time and the resources to go out into the communities where we work. Um, and, uh, make a difference there. Uh, so yeah, I think the same applies to, to things like trust and some of those other values that, that we didn’t see, uh, twenty five, thirty five years ago. You mentioned the word trust there. And I know that Cindy had sent me a note earlier saying that one of her observations from looking at all the chapters and, uh, the whole book was that trust seemed to show up in all seven of the C’s. And maybe, Cindy, you could sort of, you know, how did you see this and connect the dots across the chapters and maybe after you have a chance to talk about it, we could get the lead author of the why did she trust all of us? Right. Well, as I tell my students, trust is needed in every relationship. And we always talk about trust is the ultimate value that communication can bring to the company. Because from there, like shell said, profits result in that in in terms of communication and collaboration, though, if you trust each other, you are much more likely to share information. So you better collaborate and you also want the other person to succeed more likely. So I think that that’s where the core of it comes in is that that trust is so important because it is the top of the pyramid in getting something accomplished between people. And Diane, did you see that as, uh, a subtheme coming through? Doesn’t trust doesn’t start with C, so we couldn’t include it. But, um, how key is it? Absolutely, absolutely. The future of communication depends on trust now more than ever. So trust is just fundamental to success. We are in an age of such a dearth of trust across our relationships in business and outside of businesses. And I think that stems somewhat from Covid. Um, the whole, the whole fake news and all of that really started to spiral spiral, um, this, this lack of trust. And that’s why there’s so much fear. And I believe so much polarization because we’re not trusting each other and we’re not actually communicating with each other in a way that opens up dialogue. We’re coming with our opinions and trying to, to get people to believe what we believe without first understanding where they’re coming from, why they care about what they care about. And back to the whole community building thing. What is it that we can do to find out the motivators we each have Uh, in our lives and build on those and, and build that trust, which is going to lead to all kinds of positive outcomes. Mhm. Can I jump in here, Brad? Please? Um, a couple of things. It occurs to me, and I’ve said this numerous times when I’ve run, uh, when I’ve worked on facilitating workshops with, with organizations about building, uh, culture and values and defining the behaviors and all that sort of thing. And when trust comes up as something that they want as a value, I push back on them. Because to me, trust is something that’s earned through someone’s experience. Um, with, with you, whether it’s as an organization, as a leader, as an individual. It’s not something it’s, it’s that person is granting that to a degree. So it’s not a value per se. It’s an Outcome and the behaviors, uh, it’s what makes you trustworthy. So, you know, are you, have you got that? Are you behaving with integrity? Um, you know, with congruence? Uh, is it, uh, are you accountable? Responsible, all these sorts of things. Do you deliver what you say you’re going to do? So it’s, you know, going back to Jane’s chapter, for example, that is that’s quite foundational. So I would, I would push back on that. And at the moment, what we’re seeing is there’s a huge gap in organizations between leaders and employees, and trust is breaking down. And when trust is breaking down, the employees don’t hear what the leaders are saying. They don’t listen. And so you have to really work on creating the right conditions for people to trust you. If I go back to my chapter in the book, uh, there was an Example of in at the end of twenty sixteen, uh, that football club had again was, you know, deteriorating performance and everyone started to jump on the bandwagon and attack them. Uh, instead of getting rid of the coach, they, he had gone, he had been sent to Harvard to do, um, some work on leadership. He came back and he did the triple H sessions with them. So he increased. He created an environment where he started first and he they shared stories. So they did three stories each. Every single leader in the in the team did that as well as every single player. And then that spread through the whole organizations. So they shared a story about a hero who shared a story about a hardship, some sort of defining challenge, and they shared a highlight for them. So some a moment of joy or an achievement. And they shared that with each other and that vulnerability, that space to be to share something about yourself that’s quite personal, that means a lot to you really created this environment of trust. And that’s where they lifted. And it did that through the rest of the organization. So and it just helped them work better together. They were able to collaborate better. They really had that sense of belonging and community. So trust is fundamental and Cindy is absolutely spot on. It is the common thread that runs through the whole thing. Now we have touched a little bit about on AI, um, artificial intelligence. And um, I loved what film filmmaker Guillermo del Toro famously said a while ago about this. He said, I’m not afraid of artificial intelligence. I’m afraid of natural stupidity. Um, which okay, there’s a lot of that going around these days. What I would love to know is a little bit about, um, you know, we’re now putting things into prompts. Are we going to start putting the seven seas into prompts to help us solve some of these issues that we’ve been talking about across our organizations? And do leaders have instant, you know, if I just give it to copilot, it’ll take care of things for me. Or is AI not a help in things that are so close to human? It could be a thinking partner for you across the seven seas, but at the at fundamentally what we’re talking about is fundamentally human, basically. So, you know, it’s built like a lot of the stuff that we’re talking about, whether it’s, um, collaboration, connection, cohesion, um, compassion, all of that is built through conversations. And that’s very much human, not necessarily the conversations with the AI. It can help you, but it doesn’t give you that it’s not that nuanced. That’s something extra. That’s something that’s unexpected, that will come through a conversation. I mean, people come into the workplace and into relationships because everyone is is unique and different in their own way. No two brains are the same. You know, you’ve got, you know, we’re all built on our own lived experiences, our cultures, our biases, all of that sort of stuff. And we’re bringing that into the conversation. The AI is not going to predict that. Absolutely. That’s that’s back to the human to human connection that still is going to be the differentiator. And humans will really still be driving creativity and innovation. They’ll bring judgment. They’ll bring relationship building that an artificial intelligence platform cannot just just spitballing here. Uh, I could see, uh, just theoretically Taking a PDF of the entire book and training my model on it, and then launching an agent internally to look at the email, uh, archive and look at what has been happening in Slack or teams and other collaboration platforms to identify trends that either, uh, support or, uh, represent examples of the opposite of what is presented in the text of the book so that the humans in the organization can take action on that. But, you know, it provides the context for identifying issues, uh, things that you might be able to leverage, things that you might be able to correct, but you wouldn’t know about them if it didn’t have the context to identify those trends. Uh, based on the principles of the book, just one idea of how that could work. Isn’t that the C in calibration? Yeah, I love celebration authors. Not here. Yes, I would like to add a point to that, that if leaders are going to lead authentically, they can’t rely on the AI to do it for them. They can rely on AI for the background, the information as well described, but they still have to put themselves out there to lead authentically. MM. Is there. Interestingly, I, Neville and I just did an episode of our show about a study that found that increasingly, leaders are delegating decision making to AI, which makes you wonder why they’re getting paid, what they’re getting paid, if they’re not bringing their experience and their thought leadership to, to bear on, on decisions and just delegating them, um, abdicating them to a model. Well, that depends on the type of decision, doesn’t it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, is there a place that one can go besides reading the book to learn how to Navigate the seven seas and how do we get leaders to behave that way? Are they teaching this in schools? Are there classes besides reading? What else is there? I listening to this podcast. Yeah. There you go. I think, um, I think this is a massive opportunity in our world today for, for decision makers across an organization, not just communication professionals, but especially communication professionals to step up to lead. And this is where we can get traction with all of the wisdom from this work, with the thought leaders in our profession and communication to, to really take the strategic approach and underpin that with some tactical keys that can be implemented inside organizations. So, Diane, you have to be happy about this launch in the book and and the impact it’s had so far. It’s your first book. And I know it was not an easy process to get it out and about, but you did reach that number one spot in the Amazon leadership training category. Um, if one is if people want to get a hold of the book, how do they do that? And then any plans for a follow on? Oh great question. Well, you know, the ever present Amazon is the place to go to get it quickly. I, I will be in Toronto at IBC World Conference with some copies for anyone who would like to. And I’ll actually be giving some away at the crisis SIG on Sunday. So if you can be there for that. Um, I have several to give away there. Um, so Amazon there certainly reach out to me on LinkedIn. That’s kind of where I, I live most of the time. And yes, a second edition is rumbling around in my head because I know, um, all of you have had thoughts since since creating your chapters about how even in this short amount of time they have evolved, your topics have evolved somewhat. So, um, stand by. I’m going to, I’m going to give away a couple of copies in my, um, session on the Monday when I’m speaking. So, um, hopefully people come along to that and they can grab one of these awesome books. Okay, we need to get autographs from one another when we’re in Toronto because autographing doesn’t work well. Remote control. Oh, you could auction off a copy of the book that had all our autographs on it. Oh, that would be an achievement. I think there’s an auto pen that does that, right? It could be a collector’s item, for sure. Yeah. Put it on a baseball. Yeah. I’m delighted to have had a chance to converse with all of you and sort of probe a little bit more into what’s in the book. Certainly would encourage anybody to pick this up. And one of the things that I always like to put a plug in, it’s the conversations that take place in the circle. It is books like this that you, if you’re looking at doing certification, um, through the G, triple C for your career, these are the kinds of topics that you need to at least be aware of. And, you know, this sort of discussion and listening to people who’ve been at this for a little while are going to help prepare you for that next step in your career. So a little bit of a plug for, um, the global communication certification, uh, Council and for the book. Um, and with that, I think I would love to just thank you guys. Cindy Schmieg Zoro, artist, Shell Holtz, um and the lead author Diane Chase for taking part in this wonderful conversation. Our next episode of The Circle of Fellows will be taking place in June. Stay tuned. We’ll get you the exact time and date and watch the normal channels. One twenty nine is the episode number. Shall. We’ll be back in this seat, and it’s going to feature members of the new class of twenty twenty six Iabc fellows. Um, and they’re actually being introduced at IVC World Conference. So give them a day to decompress after that and then they’ll be on the program. We also have to thank Anna Willy, who’s our executive producer and our chief fellow herder. Um, and I want to also thank you guys for joining us and, and watching through this session and for the Iabc Circle fellows. I’m Brad Whitworth. Hi. Thanks all. Thank you. Thanks, Brad. Thank you.

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The next two “Circle of Fellows” episodes will offer something different from our panels of the last several years. We welcome Dianne Chase, a veteran communicator and former IABC chair, to the discussion. While Dianne is not a Fellow, she did recruit six Fellows to write all but one of the chapters for her new book, The 7Cs of the New Communication Compass. (Dianne wrote the seventh chapter.)

The book, which has five stars on Amazon, “offers both a guiding framework and a practical roadmap for mastering strategic communication in complex environments,” according to its description. “If you are a leader, manager, educator, public official, influencer, or anyone striving to make an impact, this book is an essential and thought-provoking read. It distills communication excellence to foster collaborative results and organizational effectiveness.”

The book’s Cs include Collaboration, Connection, Compassion, Cohesion, Community, Congruency, and Calibration.

For the first of these conversations, Dianne will join Shel Holtz, Ginger Homan, Jane Mitchell, and Brad Whitworth to discuss Connection (Brad’s chapter), Compassion (Dianne’s chapter), Congruency (Jane’s chapter), and Calibration (Ginger’s chapter).

Join us for this very different “Circle” at noon EDT on Thursday, April 23. Participants in the live stream can ask questions and share comments, observations, and experiences, and become part of the discussion. If you’re not able to join us, you can listen to the audio podcast later or watch the YouTube replay.

About the panel:

Dianne Chase helps organizations and leaders harness the power of strategic communication to navigate crises, build trust, and drive positive change. With over two decades of experience in journalism and corporate communications, Dianne has developed a unique approach for training and consulting clients that combines crisis management expertise with the art and science of business storytelling. Dianne is an award-winning media, journalism, and strategic communication professional with profound expertise in communication disciplines, most notably crisis communication, issues and reputation management, media training, and executive communication. She is one of two people in the world accredited in the powerful GENIUS Business Storytelling methodology, created by international communications thought leader, Gabrielle Dolan. She is former chair of the International Association of Business Communicators, and author/editor of The 7 Cs of The New Communication Compass.

Ginger Homan, ABC, SCMP, IABC Fellow, counsels senior leaders seeking to bring out the best in their people and brands. Her award-winning communication model for driving transformation has been used to change behaviors, align cultures, and build thriving communities worldwide. Her work with senior communication professionals has enabled them to align their department goals with business goals, achieve measurable results, and expand their influence. Founder of Zia Communication, she is a seasoned speaker, coach, and workshop facilitator. Her clients include Walmart, the Walmart Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, T.D. Williamson, CITGO Petroleum, Phillips Seminary, and MOSAIC. IABC, PRSA, and SMPS have honored Ginger’s work on the local, regional, and international levels. A past chair of IABC, her volunteer work has been honored with three IABC International Chair’s Awards for leadership, and she is a recipient of the Leadership Tulsa Paragon Award for work in her local community.

Jane Mitchell’s career began at the BBC in London on live TV programs. She moved on to producing award-winning films and videos for public- and private-sector organizations and to developing groundbreaking employee engagement programs. Since 2006, when she formed her own consultancy, she has guided organizations (some of which have experienced cultural trauma) in embedding values and ethics by understanding culture and leadership, and their link to high-performing, sustainable organizations. She has worked with Top 100 companies worldwide and is a regular conference speaker. Jane has been a member of IABC since 2008 and has served on local, regional, and International IABC Boards. In 2021, she was Chair of the (virtual) World Conference and became an IABC fellow in 2022. She is based in the UK and now spends the majority of her professional time as a Non-Exec on company boards and Employee-Owned Trusts.

Brad Whitworth, ABC, SCMP, IABC Fellow, is a pre-eminent thought leader, lecturer, and author in organizational communication. He has led global internal and executive communication programs at HP, Cisco, Hitachi, PeopleSoft, AAA, and MicroFocus. He holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and undergraduate degrees in journalism and speech from the University of Missouri. Brad lives in California, a wine country, and he grows Pinot Noir on his property. A former broadcaster, Brad has made more than 300 presentations to executives, communicators, and university classes worldwide. Brad is a past board chairman of the International Association of Business Communicators and a Fellow of the association. He is one of the authors of The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication and the new IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer. He chaired the Global Communication Certification Counsel in 2021.

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The days when a crisis communicator could simply reach for a dusty binder and follow a pre-scripted, linear checklist are gone — and they aren’t coming back. In the “good old days,” a crisis was often a contained event with a predictable lifecycle; crisis teams could address them by checking off items on a checklist. Today, we face the era of the polycrisis, where economic instability, geopolitical friction, and a 24/7 social media cycle collide, creating a torrent of simultaneous challenges. This new reality has effectively obliterated the traditional news cycle, replacing it with an always-on environment where a single viral post can tarnish a brand before leadership even knows there is a problem.

Thriving in this volatile landscape requires a move away from rigid manuals toward a more fluid, strategic approach. Rather than a step-by-step rulebook, modern practitioners need logical scaffolding — a flexible framework of principles and values that provides a foundation for action while allowing for real-time adaptability. It is about preparation, not just prescription. As the boundaries between internal and external perception continue to erode, the ability to maintain transparency and connection through these multifaceted disruptions is no longer a luxury; it is table stakes for organizational survival.

Four Fellows of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) shared their perspectives in this episode of IABC’s Circle of Fellows.

About the Panel:

Edward “Ned” Lundquist is a retired U.S. Navy captain with 43 years of professional public affairs and strategic communications experience. His company, Echo Bridge LLC, which provides outreach and advocacy support to government and commercial clients. He served on active duty for 24 years in the U.S. Navy as a surface warfare officer and public affairs specialist. Captain Lundquist was a Pentagon spokesman with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, Director of the Fleet Home Town News Center, and director of public affairs and corporate communications for the Navy Exchange Service Command. His last tour of duty was commanding the 450 men and women of the Naval Media Center. He is an accredited business communicator and award-winning communicator who served as president of IABC/Hampton Roads and IABC/Washington, director of U.S. District 3, and chair of the International Accreditation Council. He was named an IABC Fellow in 2016. Captain Lundquist received the Surface Navy Association’s Special Recognition Award in January of this year, for his service on SNA’s executive committee and chair of the SNA communications committee. He writes for numerous naval, maritime, and defense publications and chairs and presents at communications, naval, and maritime security conferences around the world.

Robin McCasland, IABC Fellow, SCMP, is Senior Director of Corporate Communications for Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC). She leads the company’s communications team and the employee listening program, demonstrating to senior leaders how employee and executive communication add value to the business’s bottom line. Previously, Robin excelled in leadership roles in communication for Texas Instruments, Dell, Tenet Healthcare, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe. She has also worked for large and boutique HR consulting firms, leading major communication initiatives for various well-known companies. Robin is a past IABC chairman and has served in numerous association leadership roles for over 30 years. She was honored in 2023 and 2021 by Ragan/PR Daily as one of the Top Women Leaders in Communication. She’s also received IABC Southern Region and IABC Dallas Communicator of the Year honors. Robin is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and a Leadership Texas alumnus. Her own podcast, Torpid Liver (and Other Symptoms of Poor Communication), features guest speakers addressing timely topics to help communication professionals become more influential, strategic advisors and leaders. She resides in Dallas, Texas, with her husband, Mitch, and their canine kids, Tank and Petunia.

George McGrath is founder and managing principal of McGrath Business Communications, which helps clients build winning corporate reputations, promote their products and services, and advance their views on key issues. George brings more than 25 years in PR and public affairs to his firm. Over the course of his career, he has held senior management positions at leading strategic communications and integrated marketing agencies including Hill and Knowlton, Carl Byoir & Associates, and Brouillard Communications.

Caroline Sapriel, founder and Managing Partner of CS&A, brings over 30 years of specialized expertise in risk, crisis, and business continuity management to the table. A Fellow of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and a recipient of the Gold Quill Award for her “10 Commandments of Crisis Management,” Sapriel is a recognized authority in providing high-level, results-driven counsel to senior leaders across the energy, pharmaceutical, and aviation sectors. Her deep academic roots as a lecturer at Antwerp, Leuven, and Leiden Universities, combined with her authorship of Crisis Management – Tales from the Front Line, underscore a career dedicated to transforming systemic vulnerabilities into robust reputation management strategies. Fluent in five languages and possessing a multi-disciplinary background in International Relations and Chinese Studies, she offers a uniquely global perspective on the evolution of stakeholder engagement during high-stakes disruptions.

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The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals a troubling shift from polarization to grievance to insularity—a progression in which stakeholders aren’t only divided or angry but also withdrawing into tight circles of “people like us” while viewing outsiders with suspicion. In this Circle of Fellows conversation, our panel will examine the strategic and practical implications of a world in which employees trust their CEO and neighbors more than external sources, domestic companies enjoy trust advantages over foreign competitors, and income divides deepen distrust across organizational hierarchies. The Fellows will explore how communication professionals can position themselves as trust brokers within their organizations, helping bridge the executive suite, front-line employees, and diverse stakeholder groups while navigating generational differences in how people experience and express grievances. From Gen Alpha’s focus on external blame and politicized “whataboutism” to the role of AI governance in building institutional credibility, this fast-paced discussion will provide frameworks for communicators to remain centered and effective even as insularity and grievance reshape the landscape we navigate daily.

Episode #125 of “Circle of Fellows” was recorded on Thursday, February 26.

The next episode of Circle of Fellows, which will focus on the new realities of crisis communication, is scheduled for noon ET on Thursday, March 26. Mark your calendar and watch for details!

About the panel:

Priya Bates is a senior communications executive who provides strategic internal communication counsel to ensure leaders, managers, and employees understand the strategy, believe in the vision, act in accordance with the values, and contribute to business results. She is president of Inner Strength Communications in Toronto and previously served as senior director of Internal Communications at Loblaw Companies Limited.

Alice Brink is an internationally recognized communications consultant. Her firm, A Brink & Co., works with businesses and non-profits to clarify their messages and communicate them in ways that change people’s minds. Her clients have included Shell Oil Company, Sysco Foods, and Noble Energy. Before launching A Brink & Co. in Houston in 2004, Alice honed her craft in corporate settings (including The Coca-Cola Company, Conoco, and First Interstate Bank) and in one of Texas’s largest public relations firms, where she led the agency’s energy and financial practices. Alice has been active in IABC for over 30 years, including as chapter president, district director, and Gold Quill chair.

Jane Mitchell’s career began at the BBC in London on live TV programs. She moved on to producing award-winning films and videos for public- and private-sector organizations and to developing groundbreaking employee engagement programs. Since 2006, when she formed her own consultancy, she has guided organizations (some of which have experienced cultural trauma) in embedding values and ethics by understanding culture and leadership, and their link to high-performing, sustainable organizations. She has worked with Top 100 companies worldwide and is a regular conference speaker. Jane has been a member of IABC since 2008 and has served on local, regional, and International IABC Boards. In 2021, she was Chair of the (virtual) World Conference and became an IABC fellow in 2022. She is based in the UK and now spends the majority of her professional time as a Non-Exec on company boards and Employee-Owned Trusts.

Jennifer Wah, MC, ABC, has worked with clients to deliver ideas, plans, words and results since she founded her storytelling and communications firm, Forwords Communication Inc., in 1997. With more than two dozen awards for strategic communications, writing, and consulting, Jennifer is recognized as a storyteller and strategist. She has worked in industries from healthcare and academia to financial services and the resource sector, and is passionate about the strategic use of storytelling to support business outcomes. Although she has delivered workshops and training throughout her career, Jennifer formally added teaching to her experience in 2013, first with Royal Roads University and more recently as an adjunct professor of business communications with the UBC Sauder School of Business, where she now works part-time to impart crucial communication skills on the next generation of business leaders. When she is not working, Jennifer spends her time cooking, walking her dog, Orion, or discussing food, hockey, or music with her husband and two young adult children in North Vancouver, Canada.

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The communication profession is currently weathering a perfect storm of tectonic shifts, from the promises of AI to the messy realities of hybrid work, and we are languishing in denial if we think traditional, one-way “career advice” will save us. In the January 2026 Circle of Fellows, our panel will move beyond the clichés to examine mentoring as a pragmatic, strategic tool for institutional knowledge transfer and professional resilience.

High-impact mentoring fosters the “trusted advisor” mindset, helping practitioners navigate the minefield of ethical leadership while bridging the gap between academic theory and high-stakes business execution. Whether you’re a senior leader looking to cultivate the next generation of strategic thinkers or a rising professional seeking to future-proof your career, this episode provides actionable frameworks for building the kind of meaningful, two-way developmental relationships that drive both individual growth and organizational success.

The panel was recorded on Thursday, January 22, 2026.

About the panel:

Dr. Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, accredited by both IABC and PRSA. She is Managing Director of Business DNA, based in South Africa, which provides strategic research and consulting, including communication audits, customer service, and women’s leadership topics. She is licensed in Adobe Connect and WebEx, using these to conduct virtual professional learning and education sessions. and other focused research and training in communication skills. Her career has also included a 15-year stint as a research manager for the National Productivity Institute.

Brent Carey is an award-winning communications executive and corporate storyteller who has been helping organizations connect with their stakeholders and achieve successful business outcomes for more than 30 years. During his career in corporate communications, he has practiced the complete range of the profession’s disciplines, including internal/HR communications and employee engagement, recruitment marketing, issues management and crisis communications, public and media relations, marketing communications and government relations. Brent is currently Vice President, Communications, at Mattamy Asset Management (the parent company of Mattamy Homes), based in Toronto, where he leads the corporate communications function and a small, impactful team that provides strategic planning and execution across Mattamy’s operations in Canada and the US. Brent has also held communication leadership roles with KPMG International, Deloitte Canada, CIBC, TD Bank and Imperial Oil. In 2004 he earned the Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) designation from IABC and in 2024 was recognized with the prestigious IABC Canada Master Communicator Award, an accolade bestowed upon select professionals who have demonstrated exemplary contributions to the field of communication. Brent graduated from York University in Toronto with a double honours degree in Communications and English.

Andrea Greenhous’s life’s purpose is to improve the world of work. For over 30 years, she has helped organizations improve the employee experience and build workplaces where people thrive. As founder and president of Vision2Voice, an internal communications agency, Andrea and her dedicated team help organizations adopt a strategic approach to employee communications to achieve results. Andrea has led initiatives and transformation projects for Fortune 500 technology companies, large government departments, and organizations as diverse as construction, biotech, finance, and higher education. This has led to a signature approach emphasizing harnessing employee voices and amplifying their insights and ideas.

Andrea is a storyteller, a PROSCI-certified change leader, and Dare to Lead trained based on the work and research of Brené Brown. She is also a certified Fearless Organization Practitioner. She uses the tools and processes developed by Amy C. Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, to build psychological safety in teams. Andrea has been named one of the top 10 influencers in internal communications and is a frequent guest blogger and speaker at industry events.

*Russell Grossman,* DipPR, ABC, FRSA, FCIPR, FCIM, IABC Fellow, has been a communications practitioner for 40 years and a UK Senior Civil Servant since 2006. He is Director of Communications at the UK Rail Regulator, the Office of Rail and Road, and recently stepped down after 13 years from his additional position as the head of the Government Communication Service (GCS) internal communications profession. He’s a non-executive director of the “Engage for Success ” movement, which aims to advance employee engagement, and a sponsor for both the GCS Fast Stream and GCS Talent. He is a past International Chair of IABC. Russell and his long-suffering wife of 40 years are blessed with four children (one of whom also works within GCS) and five grandchildren.

Raw Transcript:

Hi, everybody, and welcome to Circle of Fellows. Uh, this is the monthly panel discussion featuring members of the Iabc fellows cohort. Uh, and we have four fellows joining us today for an, uh, interesting conversation on a topic that we have not tackled before. So I’m really looking forward to this one. Uh, we are talking about mentoring, uh, in today’s session. Uh, this is of particular interest to me because I’ve been on both sides of this, which I’ll talk about a little bit more in a minute. Uh, I do want to let everyone know who is watching in real time, uh, that you are welcome to participate by, uh, using the chat feature in YouTube, uh, to, uh, contribute your questions, your observations, your thoughts, your experiences, and we will share those on the screen and make them part of the conversation. Uh, so, uh, please take advantage of that. We really enjoy, uh, responding to the things that are of interest to you. Uh, hopefully all of our conversation is of interest to you. Uh, and we will jump into that in just a minute. But first, I would like, uh, like you to meet the panel. Uh, and we’ll just go around in clockwise order as I see you, starting with you. Amanda. Um, good day everybody. It is evening here in South Africa. I am talking to you from Pretoria in sunny South Africa. It’s not raining at the moment. It’s not cold. It’s beautiful weather. I am the CEO of business DNA, and I’ve been, uh, that for the past twenty six years now. Um, and, we do all kinds of research and consulting and, uh, strategic planning and, uh, it’s just fun. And, you know, I’ve been a member of the Iabc, uh, for so many years. I don’t even want to mention that. And, uh, I’m still as passionate about the profession, um, as I was when I started this journey many moons ago. So that’s me. And I am ABC, and, um, you know, a fellow. Of course. Of course. Uh, Andrea. Hi, everyone. My name is Andrea Greenhouse. My pronouns are she her. I’m coming from sunny, beautiful Ottawa. Even though it is cold, I run a small internal communications agency, and we’re in the business of helping organizations modernize internal communication changes everywhere. And you can’t lead change without modern, effective internal communication. So that’s what I do. Um, here in my little office with my two dogs. And I’m really excited about this conversation. I’m excited about it, too. Uh, Brent, you’re up next. Hi, everyone. My name is Brent Carey. I’m the head of corporate communications at Mattamy Asset Management in Toronto, Ontario. Also very cold and sunny. Um, uh, Madam Asset Management is the parent company of the more well-known brand Mattamy Homes, which is the largest family owned homebuilder in North America. I’m super passionate as as all my fellow panelists are about the topic of mentoring. Uh, I’ve been a mentor for many years, both within my organization and IBC and, uh, so looking forward to the conversation today. Thank you. Looking forward to it too. And Russell, last but not least, hi there. So I’m Russell Grossman, I’m coming to you from London. That’s London, England rather than London Ontario. And where I’m afraid the weather isn’t too good. But I’m director of communications at the Rail Regulator for the UK, and I’m also one of the senior directors in the Government Communications Service again in the UK. And I’ve been an ABC member for quite a long time. And like Brent and the others, mentoring is something that I’m particularly interested and passionate about as well. I’ve been on both sides of that, and I’m interested to see what we explore in this conversation. Thanks for being here, Russell. Uh, and I should probably mention that I’m shell holes. Uh, I am the moderator of the panel. I am senior director of communications at Webcor. We’re a commercial general contractor and builder operating in California and elsewhere. Uh, and very happy to be here with you all. Uh, I mentioned that I have been on both sides of mentoring, uh, that includes a formal mentoring Entering relationship that I’m in now. This was the result of an Iabc San Francisco initiative. I think it was about four years ago, where they solicited people who wanted to be mentored and people who would be willing to do the mentoring, and then they paired them up. It was supposed to be a one year program, but the the young woman that I was assigned to and I have continued to meet monthly ever since then, and I have found that to be a very beneficial relationship for for the both of us. Um, on the mentee side, uh, nothing formal. Uh, I had, uh, a boss once. Um, who? I don’t know if he would call himself a mentor, but I certainly saw him that way. Uh, he taught me a lot. We spent a lot of time just sitting and talking through the various issues that that I was facing and, and challenges and career growth. And, uh, I feel like I owe him a lot. We’re still friends. He’s in his eighties now and living in Montana, but we still stay in touch. So having been on both sides of this, I see the value of it. So what I would like to start with is a question of, um, what is, in your experience, the best approach to mentoring? Is it a formal program with, with scheduled meetings, uh, and agendas, or is it finding somebody who can just fulfill that role on a day to day basis? What’s what’s your experience been? Can I start off maybe by saying that I think rather like communications. Uh, it depends on your audience. And I think, uh, it very much depends on whether you feel, uh, that the person that you’re mentoring is looking for a formal or informal mentoring relationship. And, you know, I’m sure we’ll come on to this a little bit more, but the way in which the mentoring relationship starts can be very different. Some people may come to you because they know you as a person. Some people may come because you were a name on a list of a number of mentees, and they’ve just kind of put a dart into that piece of paper, as it were. Um, so I think just to just to start off, I think it depends very much on both who the mentee is and of course, your insights and your judgment on that situation. It might be useful also shall, to draw a distinction. And I think one of my colleagues here raised it in the sort of our pre work difference between mentoring and coaching. Right. I kind of view mentoring as, as a more formal arrangement, as you indicated, where coaching can happen anytime, anywhere with with anyone. Yeah, I think that was me. And I think because I try very I’m not a certified coach, so I try very hard to not say that I’m coaching, but I yeah, I have different kind of mentoring relationships with different people. I have formal ones where I’m actually getting paid, helping people, sort of nudging them along, sharing expertise. We have a formal program where we’re, you know, we’re tackling their strategy. I’ve got one coming up tomorrow where I’m, you know, we’re talking about business acumen. Then I have others where I think I have a link on my website where you can just have coffee with me and I’ll share all my failures, and you can learn from those. Then I have my employees that I, you know, mentor more formally. And then I’ve been part of formal mentoring programs. So, um, my experience is that, you know, um, the fact that people confuse mentoring and coaching, uh, often causes the, uh, person on the other side of the table to be confused as well because, uh, you know, it’s easy to confuse them because they both develop mental. But the one is, uh, where you share your experience that’s mentoring. While coaching is while when you actually enable the person to solve the problem himself or herself. So, you know, and it’s so important to when you start this relationship, especially if it’s more a formal relationship that you clarify what what is the situation, what is the primary goal. Because it often, you know, coaching will go into mentoring uh, or mentoring will go into coaching. But it’s important that we understand that there is a difference between the in the the outcome of the situation and not to throw yet another term into the mix. But there’s also networking, right. Which might be the most informal of everything where you you just occasionally connecting with folks and and offering some advice or what have you. Um, so I think they probably ratchet up on the the formality scale as you go from networking to coaching and mentoring. Yeah, it probably pays to define mentoring a little better. Amanda, I’m intrigued by the notion that it is it is focused on sharing your experience. I know that my mentee, Sarah, um, will talk about everything from her career path to how she deals with, uh, a, a, a supervisor who is, uh, problematic is probably the diplomatic way to, to put it, uh, and everything in between. So. So when you talk about mentoring, um, what exactly are you talking about? I think shell, that brings in the concept of trust, what you’ve just mentioned there, uh, and the degree to which the mentor and mentee relationship is one built on trust and the degree to which the mentee is actually prepared to open themselves up and share in a way that, uh, obviously they need to trust you, but also in a way that they probably wouldn’t with people that they know. More, more more, um, than than than you, you know. So I think the, the way in which the mentor is positioned relative to the mentee is clearly important as well. Um, I always think I was interested to hear Andrea talk about your mentoring of your employees. Uh, is that something that they would expect, do you think? Um, so I read something somewhere a few years ago, and it’s stuck in my head that, you know, my business isn’t going to last forever. It’s a small business. Maybe we’ll get acquired. Maybe. Who knows what will happen. But the people in my team, they’ll have long careers. And so a part of my why is because I love internal communications so much and I feel so passionate about it. Part of my why is to help share my knowledge, my approaches, like help them basically carry the torch in the future. But in their own way. Like I have one woman who’s just amazing at client relations and she has a real focus on digital. I have another person who’s a really great strategist, so like helping them grow in their own way. But at the same time, you know, my vision is people who will carry the torch for internal communications for the next, you know, twenty, thirty, maybe even forty years. I’ve always used mentoring as, um, a two way street as well. Right. The best mentoring relationships that I’ve ever had was I learned as much from my mentee as as they may have learned from me. So I love going in into the relationship. Um, looking to get something out of it myself. And and if there’s a selection process, try to, you know, not necessarily go for somebody who’s in the exact same role or, you know, it’s about diversity of thought or age or gender or roles, whatever it might be. Because the the most successful mentor relationships, I think, is when you learn as much as you give. Uh, but I would like to know, you know, how did you see, um, because. Okay, let me start from my side. Um, I see mentoring is where I, the person will come to me and say, I have this, uh, problem with my supervisor, and he or she will tell me the situation. And if I mentor the person, I will say, well, in a situation like this, this is what I would have done or this is what I have done, and that was the outcome. So this is how I solved the problem for me. And you know, my definition of mentoring, that is mentoring. While coaching would be, um, if you look at your, uh, supervisor would why do you think he is responding like that? And then the person will say, why? And then I would say, well, how does your personality perhaps contribute to this problem? And then perhaps, well, how do you see the long term impact of this relationship. And you know, so if I mentor I do all the thinking. I do all the talking while in my coaching role, the other person would do the thinking, the other person will do the talking. And I think that’s that’s important to distinguish between the roles. So, um, you know, uh, I’ve been working with a client for eleven years now. I started mentoring and coaching her when she was a generalist, and she’s now a GM. So every time she gets to this ceiling, we would have this relationship. And for me, that is the the amazing satisfaction that I get from that. Mhm. Don’t you think it also depends on what the person needs and to a certain extent what you need. Like now I have a bigger team and I’ve got different generations. So I need to understand them. So I’m, I’m learning from them as Brian was saying. But it’s also like where are the gaps. Where do they need help? Where do they need support. It’s like really driven by the person, the relation, like the aspects of the relationship. You know, like everybody, you know, you need five different friends, A friend who will go running with you. A friend who will, like, go on a holiday because they’re really great at travel, you know. You know, that kind of thing. You can also say that about husbands or wives, like different people satisfy different things. But my point is it really depends on what what’s needed in the relationship. Yeah, definitely. Amanda, in your in your description that you just had, how would you describe who drives the process? Um, I’ve always thought of mentoring. As you know, the mentee has to own it and is responsible and accountable and and really drives the process forward. So would how do you how do you react to that? Uh, in the mentoring process, the person would come to me and say, um, I have a problem with this, please help me. And so initially, the person will come to me, so the the driver will be the person, but then I will say, okay, now in a situation like this, this is how I responded. So then I would do the thinking, I would do the talking, and the person will ask me questions and I will respond to the questions. So the person will learn from my experience while in the coaching, uh, situation, uh, I want the person to dig into his or her own experience and see if we can perhaps find a solution there. And that is why also, um, like to in a, in a situation like that, say to the person, perhaps we should, uh, think about using this model. Why don’t you read this article or read this book? And then next time when we get together, we discuss this concept. Um, so it also gives the person a Responsibility not only to look at me for advice, but to have this higher level discussion about, uh, emotional intelligence, uh, about, uh, impact players. So how do you become an impact player? So that for me is very healthy. So I drive the advice in that sense. But eventually in our next discussion, the person will again do the talking. I will ask, do the the guidance on applying this in this situation. Yeah, I think you’re right though, Brent, that people need to come prepared to the conversation in terms of what they need to know, what they want from the conversation, uh, from the relationship. I think that’s really important. Like even just the one on ones I have with my team, it’s their meeting, their chance to to talk to me, for me to help them with their career or, or their, you know, their goals, those kinds of things. So and of course, I come prepared as well. And I’m thinking about, well, what do I see? Um, I also get a lot because I own my own business. I also get asked about business advice too. So people who want to start their own, either consulting company or even just a different type of business. So there’s that too, you know? Yeah, I always found that it like the more structured the mentee can make it in terms of maybe topics or, you know, agendas or even setting the cadence for how often and when you’re going to meet, uh, is a great starting point. And then, of course, the conversation as it’s happening is very, um, free flowing and, you know, kind of fewer guardrails on it from that perspective. But I think having the mentee own the responsibility, um, for kind of the logistics side of it almost makes a ton of sense. Yeah, I completely agree with that. I’ve always seen that the process and the relationship is owned by the mentee. I think this is particularly important given that there’s a certain volunteerism about this. The mentee is coming to you voluntarily for assistance, uh, and therefore, uh, what what you owe the mentee for that is to ensure that they are satisfied. And I think part of that satisfaction is to ask the mentee, for example, always, as I as I do, always come to me with a specific issue that you’ve thought through and with specific points that you’d like, you’d like to deal with. So it’s just like any situation be be clear about what our objectives are, because otherwise you could spend a whole of a mentoring session going around the houses, but not actually get anywhere concrete in terms of what the what the mentee either wants or indeed needs. And of course, sometimes what the what the mentee wants and what the mentee needs are not the same. And part of our responsibility, I think, sometimes as mentors, is to eek out what the difference is between the two of them. For somebody who is. I’m sorry. Go ahead. Thank you. You go. Alright. Uh, for somebody who is going to become a mentor for the first time, they’ve agreed to fulfill this role. What can they do to prepare if they’ve never done this before? Uh, I can start. I, I was part of a mentorship program, and I was. I was actually afraid. I’m like, what do I have to offer? Um, and I, I always also wanted to really be like, I’m a helper. I really wanted to be supportive. I wanted to be, you know, the best mentor. And so I did quite a bit of preparation. There’s lots of resources around. But you also to friend’s point, you have to make sure that your mentee becomes comes prepared. Um, but I think listening with an open heart, sharing your experience in an honest way, like I think people will learn more from our failures than our successes. Um, and that, you know, building psychological safety, helping make it a safe space for them to talk and to share your own experience. I think you need to be prepared to be part of an open relationship. Uh, you need absolutely agree with Andrew. You need to be able to prepare to to be prepared to expose some of your own vulnerabilities as an example of where you’ve been, uh, so that people can see the mentee can see that, you know, this is not something that’s unique to them. It’s a problem that many people have come across before. And I think, um, there are probably things that I might discuss with mentees that I may not discuss with many other people. Uh, that, of course, is part of the trust relationship that we that we were talking about earlier. Yeah, I would say the keys for me are, you know, active listening, which of course is way different than just engaging in the conversation and, um, transparency overall. Be vulnerable yourself. Be ready for vulnerabilities. On the other side, I’ve had mentees, you know, in tears, uh, during conversations, I assume. Not because of anything I did, um, just because of the situation. And, um, you know, being able to help them, help them through that. So it, um, it’s very much that, that to a to a street, um, of course, but but active listening, um, and pretty much complete transparency. And as Russell said it that goes to to trust. And so it’s probably not going to happen at the very first session, especially if you don’t know each other. Um, do you ever ask the mentee to sign a document of confidentiality, or do you sign a document of confidentiality? Uh, that is a good question. I think even in the super formal programs that I’ve been a part of, I’ve. That that’s not been a part of it. I mean, you agree to certain, um, parameters as as part of the relationship, but I’ve never actually signed anything that I can recall. Yeah. Now, I just wondered, uh, because I haven’t signed it. You know, anything? Also, uh, except the declaration that I signed with the company, but, uh, otherwise, never. Um, but, uh, you know what? What intrigued me about mentoring is that, uh, at different stages of a person’s career, they need different types of mentoring. And that as a mentor, you should know that if you if you’re mentoring a foundational person, that you should not come from a business strategist framework when you mean to that person, because that my experience is that that poor person would be so scared of, you know, oh my goodness, is that what I need to do in my role? So, you know, aligning your mentor, mentoring input with the level of the person that you are mentoring a little bit higher to let them grow. But also remember that you you must stay, not you must stay on the level and a little bit higher and not more than that. Yeah it’s great. And as with audiences, right? It’s not about you. It’s about them. Yeah, yeah. I also think like helping people see like see the bigger picture and, and look forward because a lot of people are stuck in what’s going on now. And I know there’s a lot of uncertainty in the world and careers are changing. But helping them see the different paths, like we know in our work, employees want to know how they can learn and grow. And so helping them, seeing those different paths, seeing the different options, helping them help themselves in terms of learning, career development and growth, I think is also a really big thing that that, uh, your mentor would appreciate. There’s another aspect, if you’re if it’s a program within your organization, which is how to navigate some of the things that might be particular to your company. Um, you know, whether it’s politics or, you know, um, what the signs of, of good leaders are or what, what to work on to sort of get ahead within this organization, which, you know, we’d need to be more general if if it was sort of, uh, you know, through IVC or some other similar organization where it wasn’t specific to the company. So I think that is where you can be a of particular advantage, particularly in a large organization where you know enough about the organization to be able to to to provide advice and guidance. But you’re not so close to the issues, and you don’t know the people too strongly that it would be difficult to to to talk about, um, across the government communication service. We have a formal mentoring program in which we just put ourselves forward, uh, on a list, as it were. And I find that the people who tend to look me up, and I’m sure it’s the case with other mentees, are those that are kind of at arm’s length, but not so far away. So that that that element of the relationship that I’ve just described where you’re close enough. But but not not not too close allows you I think you, I think allows you to have an effective relationship and effective and an effective solution, uh, and one that, uh, you know, you would regard as successful if when the mentee then comes back and says, actually, thank you for solving that. I didn’t see that that that does lead on actually to how how do we judge the success of a mentoring relationship? Well, for me, was that the progress that this person made in the organization because, uh, I was, you know, I would say I, I coached sixty percent of the time and mentored forty percent of the time because she had to build her confidence that she actually can deal with what is on the table, because that was the reason why she came to me, that she felt helpless and in instead of just saying to her, well, this is how I do this and this and this. I say to her, okay, what what do you think we could do? And, uh, if you if you take the personality of this person, what can you do to convince this person that you can actually do more. So for me, and that is why I keep coming back to coaching because, uh, coaching, uh, in the I’m a certified coach is building the confidence of the person. Mentoring is sharing your experience to give the person an idea of potential behavior. So that’s that’s what I do. I was going to say that I can’t really answer the question, except if you see them succeed. Succeed them. See them happy in their role solving certain problems. But I also wanted to say it’s immensely satisfying, and I think that’s why I love doing it. When you’re mentoring someone, seeing them solve these challenges, seeing them grow, seeing them flourish is is always so amazing. Yeah, I have a bit of a funny story. We had a formal mentoring program in my company that has since evolved, but it began as a retention strategy around, um, you know, uh, retaining high performance in a particular demographic group. And so all the mentees came from that group. Um, we I meant I mentored four people throughout the course over four years. Um, and three of them, you know, promptly left the company after, uh, the mentoring relationship was over, uh, which, you know, maybe, um, unsuccessful at some point because the strategy was around retention. But I viewed it as highly successful because they were able to grow. And yes, it would have been great to to see them flourish within the company. But having helped set them up for success, they go elsewhere. Uh, you know, I’m perfectly fine with that. And it’s, it’s part of the risk of a, of a program that we ran like that. But, uh, so I was one for four, but in my mind I was really for, for, for. I think a lot of companies are developing like formal mentoring programs to as a part of the employee experience. I think it’s really important, especially for marginalized communities or people who may have be at a slight disadvantage. Um, so I hope those high performers, Brent, were also like from disadvantaged groups or whatever, but I think it’s it’s something that organizations really look at. Um, it’s also a way of maximizing the benefit you’re getting from your senior staff and tapping into their experience. Yeah, I remember I remember communicating, uh, a mentorship program for an employer several years ago. And one of the things that I remember about it was that one of the rules of the program was that you would, uh, change mentors. Uh, I think it was every six months, uh, that you shouldn’t stick with the same mentor for the duration. Uh, I’m wondering about your feelings about that. I’ve. As I said, I’ve been mentoring, uh, Sarah now for, uh, three or four years. Uh, and she has no interest in finding somebody else. And I’m very happy with the relationship. Um, and I think about my mentors, and these are just people that I’ve known and worked with. There was no formal program. Um, I think when you hear people say, oh, yeah, he was my mentor, uh, or she was my mentor. These are people that had that sort of an ongoing relationship in a formal mentorship program. Is it important to rotate through different mentors and mentees? I can tell my own personal story. When I was very new in in academia, I had a mentor, and unfortunately I had the same mentor for the whole duration of my tenure, and I fell into what they call the mentor trap. So I became so, um, close to this person that I could. I felt that I couldn’t make any decision before he approved it, before he said, well, this is what I would have done. And yes, that’s the right way. So when he resigned, it was like, in my whole world fell apart and I just couldn’t see myself going on because he also didn’t, you know, um, enabled me to go alone. And I think as a mentor and a coach, that is one of our responsibilities to give the the person wings and not to make him your property and become dependent on you. And, um. Yeah. So, um, I think, uh, it’s two ways, uh, it’s your responsibility to to grow the person. And, you know, not that the person become too attached to you. And, uh, it is sometimes necessary that, um, people change mentors, but I think it can also be disruptive. I also think there’s a law of diminishing returns. Uh, I think you’re probably most effective in a mentoring relationship. Um, after, say, sessions two, three or four, you’re welcome to disagree with this, but I think by the time you get to maybe sessions, I don’t know, eight, nine or ten, if you’re still going that long, then I think there is. Most of the heavy lifting has probably been done by then, and I think there is a danger that sometimes you can over mentor, uh, that you won’t you go into areas that probably are not that necessary for the mentee. Um, but because the mentor and the mentee are in this relationship, neither of them wants to break it off. I think. I think that can be quite, uh, quite disadvantageous to both, to both mentor and mentee, actually. So, um, I would say I think there’s probably to your question, I think you should rotate, actually. Yeah. And some like I agree, mostly because I also think that you, you learn a lot from different people. Like one person, you know, you learn from different perspectives, different experiences. But I also think there’s something really powerful about having a long term relationship, someone who can maybe open doors for you or help you through different, you know, really gets to know you, helps you through different phases of your career. I think that, like, I’ve never had that. And I think I always think that that would have been really helpful or powerful for me. Um, so I can see both sides. Yeah. I was going to say, um, you know, the classic. It depends. And, um, I think my favorite answer to any question. Yeah. Um, I think the key word you raised there was relationship, right? Because. Because it is a relationship based on trust as we’ve we’ve talked about. And that takes time to develop, especially if you’re meeting, say, monthly, right, in a formal way. Um, I would personally, I think six months is is probably a little late. Um, but at the same time, there’s definitely value in, um, in a diversity of, of voice for the, for the mentee. Right. Um, different perspectives, different personality types, different roles, whatever it might be. Um, and I think there also has to be an understanding that, like, listen, if it’s not working for either party, you got to, you got to, um, call it. And, um, that doesn’t need to, you know, last the, the program recommended length or whatever, right. If it’s if it’s not a fit, it’s not a fit. It happens. Yeah. Yeah. I think one of the benefits of this long term relationship mentor coach relationship that I have with this one client of mine is that it is intensely project based. So we will work on a project with her. I will work with on a project with her, and then we will, you know, go through the project and see to its end. And sometimes entries for a call even. And then we’ll start with another project. Or sometimes we work on several projects together. Always things that she works on. And so then we, um, I help her think through things or help her research things. I find research articles for her. Then we discuss the research article. So perhaps it’s not a, you know, typical, uh, relationship mentor coaching relationship. But I do a lot of mentoring, and I, I do even more coaching because she needs confidence. I have a question. Sorry. No. Go ahead. I think it gets back to solving the problem that’s in front of us. Um, and making sure that we tailor our approach to the person that we’re trying to help. Yeah. Yeah. I have a question for Russell and Brent, because you both mentioned that you have, uh, had mentoring programs within your organizations. What was the motivation in the organization for establishing that program? And after I hear from you, I have a follow up question that I’ll throw to all of you. I think in the government communication service in the UK, it was a recognition that we’ve got some six to seven thousand communications practitioners across the whole of you need to understand this is across the whole of every government and arm’s length body that you can, you can imagine, of which there are about five hundred different organisations. Um, and uh, recognition that, uh, that we weren’t really maximizing the potential, the experience, etc., of quite a lot of senior practitioners. Um, and how did we how did we do that? Uh, it was started as a pilot, uh, probably, I’m guessing now five or six years ago. Uh, and, uh, there’s absolutely no, you know, there’s no compunction. There’s obviously no money involved. Uh, it was very much a feeling from some people. I’ll include myself in that, uh, of wanting as a senior practitioner to give something back to the profession. Um, and also, I think many of us also find it satisfying. We’ve talked about this already, a satisfying thing to do. Um, so the the program is self-sustaining. Um, it largely runs itself. It’s very much down to mentor and mentee choosing each other. Um, and we might go on to this in a second, but of course, uh, that, that the choice of a mentee to a mentor isn’t always right either. Um, and, uh, we have a few guardrails around it. There’s a kind of, uh, crib sheet about, you know, how to how to mentor and what to do and what not to do and stuff like that. Um, but that that was the original, original motivation for it. Brent. Yeah. And for, for our organization, I mentioned earlier, it started as a retention strategy around a, um, a particular underrepresented group that had high performers who were leaving the company at a, at a rate that we didn’t feel was acceptable. So this was one of the solutions, um, to retain, uh, high performers within that group. Um, so that, you know, was a fairly manual process at the time, going back several years, uh, where, um, leaders were involved in matching mentees and mentors. Um, but they were cross-functional areas. I think I had two marketing, uh, folks, uh, in the United States, uh, I had a purchasing person and then a project manager. So the, um, it was, uh, a highly successful at the time other than me, I think, because I lost three of them. Um, and then that evolved over time into sort of just opening it up to everybody who thought that they might need a mentor as a bit of an employee experience, um, uh, program. And so now we use, uh, online tools that, you know, upload profiles, and the mentees can, uh, based on their needs and, and whether they want, you know, kind of in person or they don’t want somebody, uh, in this role or whatever. So there’s a whole matching process that, uh, that goes along with it now and, uh, it’s it’s proving to be, uh, you know, quite a good, um, quite a good program. The reason I ask, as I did some research on this topic in preparation for today’s panel, uh, I found that there was some criticism of organizational mentor programs in that they promote conformity. uh, that if you have the current leaders in the organization mentoring the younger people in the organization, you’re just turning them into mini me’s, right? Just, uh, it’s. Sort of the anti-diversity, uh, pipeline. Uh, and I’m wondering, how do you handle mentorship within an organization without that program becoming a pipeline for conformity? I have something to say. Pipeline for conformity, a good idea? Yeah. No, I have something to say like that. Forgets that the mentorship goes both ways. Right? So we are as we’re mentoring, we’re also learning. And like I’ve learned a lot about like from my Gen Z and my millennials about like their expectations around work. And I’ve changed. Like I’ve changed my policies. I’ve changed how I work. Just I’ve yeah, I’ve I’ve learned a lot from them and that’s changed our organization. I think our small little organization for the better. Um, so I think that that’s the missing piece there. Yeah, I would say shell that within our organization in this in our program. It’s certainly true. For me personally, your responsibility as the mentor is not to the company, it’s to the mentee. And so, um, I, I don’t feel the need to not that I coached anybody to leave, but, um, setting them up for success in career and life. Uh, if I can put it that way, uh, is the most important thing based on what they need to do. Not necessarily that we, um, retain them. And hopefully no one from my company is watching this. I agree. I agree. Your responsibility is is not to the organization. It is to the mentee. Um, it it’s also true to Andrea’s point that actually it’s one way that you’re keeping in touch with the rest of the organization. So what can happen, particularly in a large organization, is as the organization demographics, if you like, are changing at the at the lower level, you can keep out. You can be out of touch with that. And it’s one way to just keep in touch with what is happening across the whole organization, from what the mentee is mentoring is mentoring you about in terms of that, that, that, kind of that, that kind of approach. Russell, I once I recently read one of these business philosophers said that any person older than fifty needs a mentor of twenty five. Mm mm mm. Yeah. In our program. Amanda, to that point, you can sign up and lots of people do sign up as a mentor and a mentee. Yeah. Do you have a twenty five year old mentoring you, Brent? Uh, not at the moment, but I you know what? We have actually the kickoff to the next year of the program is in about an hour and a half, and, uh, I may, I may I may take it up on that I may set myself down for as being a mentee. Lots to learn from those folks, right? Yes. Oh, yeah. Tons. Yeah. So it raises an interesting question because there is this concept of reverse mentoring. Yeah. It’s usually brought up in terms of technology, uh, because the younger employees are are more adept at the newer digital technologies that the, the older, uh, more senior people, uh, probably aren’t using because they have admins to, to do that sort of thing. Uh, have you been involved in any of those kinds of mentor programs, and what do you think of them? More informal than formal because they definitely they they say these programs are these platforms are intuitive. I think they’re intuitive for the younger generations, not from my generation. I think that there’s like you can get tutorials almost anywhere. Like the other day, I fixed a problem that no one on my team was able to fix, and I just ai helped. But, um, I think there’s much more powerful ways to use reverse mentoring. Kind of like I was talking about before. Understanding different generations. What can they bring to the table? I wrote an article about because I’m really fascinated about making sure like how to make sure different generations create a better workplace rather than, you know, create friction. And there’s a lot of great studies that show if you harness the power and the values and the perspectives of all those generations, you can really flourish as an organization. So I think that’s where the power is not figuring out where to my, my, um, my conquest or whatever was figuring out how to put page numbers on Canva presentations like, you know, like that’s not to me, that’s not really that powerful. But the power is in the generations and learning from each other. Yeah. Amanda, you’ve talked about the difference between mentoring and coaching. Uh, and I’m wondering about mentoring people on your own team when you’re supposed to be their supervisor, you’re supposed to be supervising them. You’re supposed to be evaluating their performance. You’re supposed to be coaching them. Uh, this is something that I have heard from leaders in my organization is I work in construction, which very traditionally is I tell you what to do, and you do it, uh, and they’re really trying to change that to to coaching. I remember our former CEO talking about, you know, if you think about a coach on a Little league team helping you adjust your swing, uh, this is the type of thing he wanted to see our managers doing with their employees. Uh, should those managers be mentoring as well? Or should they advise their people to find somebody else to be their mentor? I think in some industries, it’s easier to have a mentor and a coaching program, um, as a supervisor, because, you know, I think, for instance, in a construction environment, in a mining environment, especially in the operational levels, I think it is it would be difficult. And I think that a person becomes ready for mentoring, um, and ready for coaching. So I think on the operational levels where you have a team leader, where way. You have a supervisor. I, I think few people at that level have the need for mentoring and coaching as a leader. You have the responsibility, in any case, to mentor and coach these people, uh, during work, uh, you know, team meetings, during personal interactions with them. But that would be unstructured. It would be, um, how are you dealing with this? So it would be five minute coaching, five minute mentoring here and there during the day. So I can’t see that they would that as a supervisor in a construction company or in a team leader in a hospitality industry or a, um, mine that I would coach and mentor these people. I think they’re not ready for that. But in the more the more, um, senior Their levels, they will become ready for that. Now you just solve their problem. I completely agree with that. I think it very much depends on on the the nature of the business that you’re in. Um, certainly I regard my main, my principal relationship with my team as a mentoring one, mentoring or coaching, whichever you want. I do not regard it principally as a supervisory one. Uh, and I think if it was a supervisory one, something has probably gone wrong in the relationship. But that’s the kind of business that I’m in. And I think maybe in construction where safety is first and you do need to do what you’re told for your own safety. I think it might be different. So, um, maybe it’s horses for courses. Um, definitely. I would say that like. Let’s say within my, my team, for example, which is not huge, uh, the, the lines or the definitions of mentoring and coaching are, you know, a little less important, perhaps. Um, uh, it’s just what you do on a on a day to day basis, whether it’s something really specific and they need to be told what to do, or they need some advice about some other potential issue, whatever it might be, that’s just part of the day to day job of a of a manager or leader of a team. I would hesitate to, and I don’t think I would actually take on a member of my, my team in a formal mentoring relationship. I think that’s that’s for somebody else in a different perspective. Yeah. Great. Definitely. Andrea, you mentioned AI earlier. Not in the context of mentoring. It was looking looking up how to do something technically. Uh, but there’s a lot of data suggesting that, especially among younger people, they are turning to AI for this type of activity. Uh, I wonder what you think about that. Uh, as AI as a mentor. I have to tell you, I set up a custom GPT. Um, there are only two of us in our communications department, and I don’t have the budget to work with a consultant. Uh, and there are times that I would like to be able to bounce my ideas or my thoughts off of, uh, a very knowledgeable, senior, experienced, uh, communicator. So I created one, uh, in a custom GPT, uh, and I have to confess, it works pretty well. Uh, I wouldn’t call her my mentor. Uh, just a senior colleague that I can I can bounce ideas off of. But I wonder what you think AI fits into this whole realm of mentorship. First of all, you called your your AI expert a she, which I’m very happy about. Sorry, Russell. No, it is a female dominated profession, so it seemed appropriate and and a different perspective. Right. I think it’s just another tool in our toolbox. Right. It’s just another way of bouncing, like you said, bouncing ideas off, getting direction, whatever. So I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. Of course, what’s missing is the human relationship we talked about relationship built on trust. Um, um, support, empathy, those kinds of things. And I don’t think you can replace that, but it is another important tool. Yeah. And I agree with you. I think that there is a place to have this, uh, mentor in your screen and to ask them a couple of questions, but eventually, um, people would need people to, to engage with that. It is more, you know, talking about your problem and talking about your need for assistance, that that’s solving half of the problem. Like Socrates said, we all have the solutions. We just need to somebody to ask us the right questions. So, um, you know, either the mentee or the the coach doesn’t matter. But, uh, I think use AI for certain things, but eventually they will be a need for a person. I’m I’m sorry to say I agree with what Amanda just said. I’m sorry to say that if we were asking this question in twenty years time, we would probably concede that the AI was a much better mentor and empathizer and, um, more structured approach had a more structured and professional approach than the human. And that’s really worrying. Um, I think the question you’ve asked is very interesting. Um, shell, uh, particularly young people over relying at the moment on what is basically a machine to provide them with life advice. Uh, and I think that’s, it’s a really I’ve seen a couple of examples of that. And I think it’s really, really worrying. And, um, I don’t know where it’s all headed. Uh, but let’s see what happens when we have this conversation in twenty years time. Well, not only that conversation, not only life advice, but relationships like people like talking about attachments or whatever. So, yeah, that human relationship is just so important. And, uh, yeah, I can tell you, I have made way more mistakes than ChatGPT has ever made. So people are learning from those, right? Yeah. And people will learn from your mistakes. Right? Like, exactly. Just not there yet. That the human element and all the things, the lived experiences that we bring to the table as mentors or to the relationship, um, at the moment can’t be replicated by the machine. Yeah. You know, one of my prescribed books in my early studies said that originally, um, the the church decided to, uh, print the Bible and teach the people to read that they can read, you know, all the mistakes that they make and that they they need the church. But unfortunately, uh, the people also read other books. So it was that unintended consequence. But, um, I also feel that, you know, when books, when advice books, self-help books became so popular, people said, yes, but everybody is now finding solutions in these self-help books. They don’t go to the, uh, the people that they used to go to, which would typically be the mentor or, sorry, the the minister, the parents. And because books books is a problem, everybody, they’re not going to need us anymore. So, Russell, I fear that I don’t agree with you. I think in twenty years time, the people that will sit and discuss this problem would say, yeah, some people you can find solutions on AI, like you can find solutions in books, but eventually people still need. While we are human beings, people still need the right of somebody else’s eyes to just do, to feel cared for and to feel helped. And not this cold thing that you know. So I hope so. I hope, I hope so. I think one advantage AI has if, if, if I’ve had a particularly troubling or upsetting experience at the office, and I want to talk to my mentor and he’s not available, the AI is available. It’s not going to tell me it’s busy. I’m sorry, I’m in a meeting. I can’t talk right now. Uh, we only have a couple of minutes left. I want to go around and, uh, get your your one quick response to the question what can cause mentoring to fail? Chemistry. Chemistry. Oh, the lack of it or the lack of it? Um, I thought we might have touched on this earlier, actually, that, um. Sometimes the chemistry just isn’t right. Uh, I think we talked about trust and everything. Everything in that, in that department. Uh, I think the truth is that as humans, uh, relationships are based ultimately on chemistry, and sometimes the chemistry just isn’t right. And I think you I think you know that after the first, um, interaction, I always say to anybody that I’m taking on as a mentor, let’s have an initial chat and then see where we want to go from there. I never commit, and I would never want a mentor to commit to a relationship from the get go before we’ve had an initial, uh, basically, you know, what what What are we? What do we like to each other? Uh, Russell, I want to take the total opposite. I think another reason why mentorship programs fail is when people become too close. Because the chemistry is working too well, and that eventually you cannot distance yourself sufficiently from that person because you feel too sorry or anything like that. So I think the balance is important. Yeah, that open conversation, I would say a lack of preparation or effort. Okay. And Brent. Yeah, I would say maybe a mismatch of objectives. Right. Like a lack of understanding of what each party wants to get out of the relationship. You have to you have to come to agreement on that. Um, kind of more upfront. Yeah. And let’s see if we can cover this one question that we actually got from Brian Kilgore. Uh, is YouTube a mentor? It certainly tells photographers what camera to buy or how to set up lights, and I can agree with that. Uh, it does, but is that mentorship or is that more something else? That’s instructions. That’s instructions. Resources. I would say it’s an aid mentor. Yeah. Not a replacement. Right. No, it’s I think it’s like the difference between a teacher and a mentor. Um, so AI, uh, sorry, YouTube would be the teacher. I would sit there and look at this video and learn something from it, because I want to learn something from it. So I’ve always seen it as a relationship. Yeah, yeah. I’ve written a little, uh, routine, uh, using one of Google’s lab, uh, tools that goes into the YouTube video, extracts the steps. So I’m no longer having to rewind the video to find the one that I missed. Uh, the steps have all been articulated for me in this tool. So there’s a use of AI. Uh, this has been great. Uh, we’re out of time. I do want to let everybody know that the next circle of fellows is scheduled for the same time, noon eastern time on Thursday, February twenty sixth. We will be talking, uh, to some extent, about the new Edelman Trust Barometer, which talks about, uh, insularity. Uh, last year’s was about grievance, and we’re talking about communicating in the age of Grievance. The panel is Priya Bates, Alice Brink, Jane Mitchell and Jennifer Waugh. So that will be great. Thank you, everybody, for a wonderful conversation today. And for those of you who are watching in real time, uh, appreciate that, Brian. Appreciate the question and see you all next month. Thank you. Thank you so much. Bye bye bye.

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The communication profession stands at a pivotal moment. Artificial intelligence is transforming how we create and distribute content. Trust in institutions continues to erode while employees demand authenticity and transparency. The hybrid workplace has permanently altered how we reach our audiences. And the pace of change shows no signs of slowing.

In this environment, what does it mean to be a communication professional? More specifically, what will it mean in 2026 and the years that follow?

The December Circle of Fellows panel tackled these questions head-on, bringing together four IABC Fellows to share their perspectives on where our profession is headed and what opportunities await those prepared to seize them.

The conversation explored several interconnected themes, including the evolving role of the communication professional as a trusted adviso,; the new capabilities and mindsets that will distinguish the communication leaders who thrive from those who struggle to keep pace, the skills the next generation of communicators should be developing now; and how we can maintain professional standards and ethical practice when the tools and channels keep shifting beneath our feet.

About the panel:

Zora Artis, GAICD, SCMP, ACC, FAMI, CPM, is CEO of Artis Advisory and co-founder of The Alignment People. She helps leaders and teams tackle tough challenges, find clarity, and take action, particularly when the stakes are high and the path isn’t obvious. Her superpower is being comfortable with the uncomfortable: aligning people, solving problems, and navigating change so leaders can focus on what matters most and teams can do their best work.
With more than three decades of experience across consulting, executive leadership, and strategic communication, Zora has guided major brands, government, for-purpose and for-profit organisations in aligning purpose, culture, strategy, and performance. A leading thinker, researcher, and expert in strategic and team alignment, leadership, brand, and communication, she is co-authoring a global study on Strategic Alignment & Leadership. She is a Research Fellow with the Team Flow Institute.
Zora has served as Chair of the IABC Asia Pacific region, as a Director on the IABC International Executive Board, and on multiple committees and task forces. She holds multiple IABC Gold Quill Awards and Chairs the IABC SIG Change Management. Based in Melbourne, she works globally.

Bonnie Caver, SCMP, is the Founder and CEO of Reputation Lighthouse, a global change management and reputation consultancy with offices in Denver, Colorado, and Austin, Texas. The firm, which is 20 years old, focuses on leading companies to create, accelerate, and protect their corporate value. She has achieved the highest professional certification for a communication professional, the Strategic Communication Management Professional (SCMP), a distinction at the ANSI/ISO level. She is also a certified strategic change management professional (Kellogg School of Management), a certified crisis manager (Institute of Crisis Management). She holds an advanced certification for reputation through the Reputation Institute (now the RepTrak Company). She is a past chair of the global executive board for the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). She currently serves on the board of directors for the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, where she leads the North American Regional Council and is the New Technology Responsibility/AI Director. Caver is the Vice Chair for the Global Communication Certification Council (GCCC) and leads the IABC Change Management Special Interest Group, which has more than 1,300 members. In addition, she is heavily involved in the global conversation around ethical and responsible AI implementation and led the Global Alliance’s efforts in creating Ethical and Responsible AI Guidelines for the global profession.

Adrian Cropley is the founder and director of the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence, a global training and development organization. For over thirty years, Adrian has worked with clients worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies, on major change communication initiatives, internal communication reviews and strategies, professional development programs, and executive leadership and coaching. He is a non-executive director on several boards and advises some of the top CEOs and executives globally.

Adrian is a past global chair of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), where he implemented the IABC Career Road Map, kick-started a global ISO certification for the profession, and developed the IABC Academy. Adrian pioneered the Melcrum Internal Communication Black Belt program in Asia Pacific and is a sought-after facilitator, speaker, and thought leader. He has been a keynote speaker and workshop leader on strategic and change communication at international conferences in Canada, the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, China, India, Hong Kong, Thailand, New Zealand, and Australia. He has received numerous awards, including IABC Gold Quill Awards for communication excellence, and his Agency received Boutique Agency of the Year 6 years running.

Adrian is the Chair of the Industry Advisory Committee for the RMIT School of Media and Communication and a Fellow of the IABC and RSA. In 2017, he was awarded the Medal of Order of Australia for his contribution to the field of communication.

Mary Hills, ABC, IABC Fellow, Six Sigma, FCSCE serves as MBA Faculty in Benedictine University’s Goodwin College of Business. Her work in marketing, finance and organizational communication and management brings an interdisciplinary perspective to her students. Mary’s professional career includes serving large corporations such as First Wisconsin National Bank – Milwaukee, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Whiteco Advertising, NiSource, Northern Trust, Unilever and Zebra Technologies. She supported starts-ups through Purdue Technology Center and Research Park of NWI. As a member of senior management, her work includes research, risk analysis and strategic planning for product launches, market expansion, and change and crisis management. In 2009, she co-founded HeimannHills Marketing Group, Chicago and Phoenix, serving as business principal until 2021. Most recently, Mary’s work involves AI’s impact on the role of the communication professional. Her work has been recognized nationally and internationally.

Raw Transcript:

Circle of Fellows Episode 123: The Future of Communications in 2026 and BeyondShel Holtz: Hi everybody, and welcome to episode 123 of Circle of Fellows. I’m Shel Holtz, the Senior Director of Communications at Webcor, a commercial general contractor and builder headquartered here in the Bay Area. We have a great panel today to talk about a really fascinating topic: the future of communications in 2026 and beyond.

I want to emphasize that this is not one of those “lists of trends for next year” that you see flooding social media. I think that has gotten worse since AI made it easier for people to come up with these trends rather than thinking it through for themselves. We will explore where we think communication is headed based on everything going on in the world, including AI.

I’m going to ask the panel to introduce themselves, but before that, I want to take a moment to note the passing of one of our community of IABC Fellows. This happened on April 15th, but we all just learned about it yesterday. The Fellow who passed is Les Potter. Les was hugely influential to more than one generation of communicators. There are likely hundreds, if not thousands, of communicators out there practicing sound strategic communication because of what they learned from Les.

He was a great friend of mine; we spent time together socially, and he will be sorely missed. He was a past chair of IABC, and his passing is a tremendous loss to the community. After leaving the corporate world, he became a beloved professor of communication at Towson University in Maryland. I just wanted to share that for people who may not have heard. I hope he is resting in peace.

With that, let’s find out who is on the panel today. Adrian, starting with you.

Adrian Cropley: It’s great to be with everyone. Thank you, Shel. I am Adrian Cropley in Melbourne, Australia. It is hot today. I am an IABC Fellow and the co-founder of the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence.

Shel Holtz: Great to have you with us, Adrian. Bonnie, you’re up next.

Bonnie Caver: Hi, I’m Bonnie Caver. I’m in Austin, Texas, and I run a company called Reputation Lighthouse, where we do brand and reputation change management for mid-sized companies.

Shel Holtz: Thanks for joining us, Bonnie. Mary?

Mary Hills: Mary Hills in lovely Scottsdale, Arizona. Our temperature is perfect, as it always is in Scottsdale. I am graduate faculty for Benedictine University, teaching out of their business school, and also on the faculty at the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence. I am glad to dive into the topic.

Shel Holtz: I have to ask, is the weather going to be perfect in Scottsdale in August?

Mary Hills: It’ll be a little wet and a little hot.

Shel Holtz: Okay. And Zora.

Zora Artis: Hello, everyone. I’m coming to you from Melbourne, Australia, not too far from Adrian. I’m the CEO of Artis Advisory and co-founder of The Alignment People. I work with leaders and executives on tackling tough problems, finding clarity, and taking action. I’m really excited to be here today closing off the year.

Shel Holtz: Thanks, Zora. I also want to shout out Anna Wyllie, our executive producer behind the scenes. In the document she sent to prepare for this, she suggested a potential opening question: What is your one headline for the future of the communication profession in 2026? Let’s go in reverse order, starting with Zora.

Zora Artis: I think as we head into 2026, communication leadership is entering a much more pressured time. This isn’t just because of AI, but because the pace of change is relentless and outstripping people’s ability to make sense of everything. We need to help them move fast and bring them along with us, which is quite daunting, but it puts us in a position where we’re indispensable.

Mary Hills: I would say that so much of the future is not new; it involves things that are maturing and evolving. I don’t think there will be any grand flashes. We have made progress, and we are just going to keep going.

Bonnie Caver: Transformative. We must, as communication professionals, transform ourselves, and we must lead transformation within our organizations and with our stakeholders.

Adrian Cropley: I was scared Bonnie was going to be before me on this one because we think the same here. It’s absolutely about change and transition. But let me add that it will be an exciting time if communication professionals seize the opportunity to grow their value in organizations because the moment is now.

Shel Holtz: I will add mine: I think we are going to have to be laser-focused on building trust. Trust is eroding, and AI is contributing to this. I don’t know if you heard that The Washington Post created AI-generated podcasts that were loaded with factual inaccuracies. If that’s coming from The Washington Post, we’re in trouble. I don’t know who is going to want to be aligned with or engaged with an organization they don’t trust.

Let’s dive into it. What are the leaders of organizations looking for from communicators, and how prepared are we to deliver on those things?

Bonnie Caver: I’ve done quite a bit of research on what leaders are focused on. Profitable growth is on their mind, alongside transformation with AI technology, transforming talent, and the future of work. They also have to protect and govern. As communication professionals, we have to plug in there. We are part of growth, but we must also help lead transformation and address risk, trust, and sustainability. Stakeholders are going to have very different expectations of us going forward.

Adrian Cropley: Shel, you talked about the state of trust, and I think this is critical. Leaders have this opportunity to lead their organizations and employees to buy into what the organization stands for. The reality today, with the amount of misinformation and mal-information on steroids due to AI, is that people gravitate toward what is comfortable.

The role for a communication professional is to give leaders the information, insight, and advice they need. We have to be the “sense maker” more than ever before. There is also a morality role coming into play. When Bonnie and I were working on the Venice Pledge for the Global Alliance, a theme popped up that it is more than ethics; it is about how we engage our world. It’s about home and security.

Zora Artis: I’ve been talking to a lot of leaders this year, and while there is a lot of talk, things are happening in real-time. Strategic horizons have shrunk. We’re constantly trying to outmaneuver the competition to grow and win. Comms professionals need to look at how to make sense of that complexity. We need to look at the system overall—actions taken, decisions made, money invested—and ask: Is this going to reinforce trust or erode it?

There is often a gap between what leaders say and how they behave versus what employees and stakeholders see. Communication professionals have a role in making sense of that and bringing it back to leaders to help them make better decisions.

Mary Hills: I may have a few data points worth considering. Communication professionals must finally become interdisciplinary. They can’t stay in the silo of comms; they have to understand the business, economics, and the value and risk model of the organization.

In communication, we balance the vision and mission of the organization. We represent both the short term and the long term. We have to find that harmonious balance. We also need to apply a rigorous professionalism, including emotional intelligence and behavioral economics, to foster discussion within organizations. Use the PESTLE analysis and attach ethics right to it.

Shel Holtz: Shel, you’re working in-house now. What are you hearing from your organization regarding their expectations?

Shel Holtz: I think they are expecting me to tell them. We are not a massive organization, and most of the leadership team has a construction or engineering background. They expect me to help them figure this out. Even if they don’t articulate it, that is the expectation. Based on Adrian’s thoughts, the first thing that leaped to mind was that we had better get a lot better at listening.

Adrian Cropley: Absolutely. We don’t have the excuse not to listen or measure anymore. This is where I think AI has really helped us. We need to be better at listening and helping our leaders listen to get the insight that informs true connection. Listening has become critical.

Zora Artis: I wrote a piece about this last month. It became obvious that true listening was missing in organizations, as well as the capability among leaders to listen to understand rather than to respond.

I know a Chief Comms Officer in professional services who spends time listening on platforms like Fishbowl, where people talk outside the business. She gathers that information and takes it back to the executive team to explain why it matters. We’re often seeing people skip the listening. If we don’t listen, we can’t counter misinformation or AI bots controlling the narrative because we don’t actually know what our stakeholders believe.

Bonnie Caver: We have challenges today with fake surveys. If you think you’re going to survey your customer base to make critical decisions, but AI bots are participating, it changes your playing field. True listening—picking up the phone and talking to your customers and stakeholders—is more important than ever.

Mary Hills: The one caution I would throw out is that the stakeholder network is tired of irrelevant questions. If we are going to have a conversation, we better have our background research done. They are tired of giving feedback. We need to look at discursive leadership skills: open-ended discussions rather than closed-ended five-question surveys.

Bonnie Caver: The reason people are tired of us asking questions is that communication is not coming back to them regarding how we are acting upon it. We never close the loop.

Shel Holtz: Exactly. There is no such thing as survey fatigue, but there is certainly “bullshit fatigue.” If they see the survey leads to change, they will take surveys all day long.

We have a question from our live audience. Bill Spaniel asks: Regarding the emotional factor of communication and the need for listening, how can communication schools build those requirements into their curriculum?

Mary Hills: We have been doing that for a good eight to nine years. It requires active experience of learning in the classroom. It’s exhausting because you are “on” for three hours, but it reinforces that it’s not just about hearing what was said, but agreeing on the next action item.

Adrian Cropley: We’ve built relationship-building skills and emotional intelligence into the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence programs. You have to be able to build relationships with stakeholders, not just rely on data. You get data on where people navigate, but you must overlay it with the right context—that is the true listening stuff.

Shel Holtz: Years ago, I read a book called Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management, and I learned the term “boundary spanning.” It’s almost like surveillance—lurking in the conversations stakeholders are having to glean intelligence. Listening isn’t just asking questions; sometimes it’s just listening.

Adrian Cropley: There is a social awareness aspect, too. If you can’t even connect with people as humans—like saying thank you in a shop—how are you supposed to get context? We need to go back to some of those old skills.

Zora Artis: It’s also about being observant. Observing the people in the room and observing what is left unsaid.

Shel Holtz: Listening strikes me as one of those uncomfortable truths we need to face if we are going to stay relevant. What other uncomfortable truths are there?

Zora Artis: We confuse activity with impact. We are good at producing stuff, but not always good at understanding if it changes behavior or decisions. We need to be relevant rather than busy.

Mary Hills: The Communication Value Circle came out around 2016. It helps us understand how to provide value and assess risk. We have to understand the value and risk model every organization is on. Marketing has a value circle, too. We need to understand where we bring present value and how we protect future value.

Adrian Cropley: Often, the perceived value from leaders drives the behavior of the communication professional—churning out content or tidying up PowerPoints. That value has disappeared because AI can do those things now. We have to educate organizations on what real value for communication is: providing insight and context.

Zora Artis: It comes back to the business side. I remember learning Net Present Value and risk calculations. Comms often skirts around the edges of finance. We need to talk about revenue, productivity, trust capital, and risk exposure in language that matters to the business.

Bonnie Caver: Reputation is huge right now. CEOs say it’s important, but they don’t know how to do it. We haven’t positioned ourselves as being in the business of building and protecting reputation; we often treat it as a byproduct of crisis management. It’s not reputation management anymore; it’s reputation design.

And let’s not forget, AI is now a stakeholder. AI controls the narrative and answers questions about your organization.

Shel Holtz: What else are communicators not focused on that they should be?

Adrian Cropley: Understanding and interacting with AI. I am surprised how many people have not dipped their feet into the water. If we aren’t exploring AI to make our roles more efficient and gain insight, we are missing a huge opportunity. We recently published a playbook for AI into 2026, and a key play is using AI to carve out time to do the higher-value work.

Mary Hills: We treat AI as an agent. You are the owner of what AI brings back to you. It is merely the agent acting for you to get information. We must manage what it gives us back.

Bonnie Caver: We shouldn’t look at AI just to solve problems, but for efficiencies. I was on a panel with an organization that saved almost a thousand hours using AI. They used that efficiency to free themselves up to do transformative things.

Zora Artis: AI creates incredible speed. The problem is alignment. People are moving at speed with decisions, but they aren’t creating clarity around what stays the same and what shifts. Communication professionals need to enable the alignment needed across the organization so they can work at pace sustainably.

Shel Holtz: We have talked about the need to be transformative. However, there are things like professional standards and ethical behavior we don’t want to transform. But now, the people doing the communicating are often not journalists or professionals—they are pastors, barbers, or WhatsApp moderators. How do we maintain professional standards when we have lost the traditional gatekeepers?

Adrian Cropley: We aren’t short of standards; we just don’t publish them well enough. The Global Standard for the Communication Profession is critical. We have to build those standards out to everyone communicating. The work Bonnie did with the Venice Pledge regarding AI usage is a great example. We need to work with governments and agencies to enforce requirements.

Mary Hills: The professional associations are the keepers of the standard. Academia builds the body of knowledge, but associations like IABC bring it to the marketplace through certification.

Zora Artis: I don’t think we ever had control; that’s an illusion. We had influence. We need to double down on the “Do, Say, Be” alignment—making sure that what we do, what we say, and the lived experience are true.

Shel Holtz: We are almost out of time. Let’s do a closing round. In one sentence, what is your boldest prediction for communication by 2030?

Adrian Cropley: Absolutely radical change. We are going to find out we are changing completely.

Bonnie Caver: We’re going to become advocates for ourselves, or we’re going to disappear.

Mary Hills: The natural inclination for communicators to bring human-centric abilities to the forefront will protect our space. We have to be the ones keeping our heads when everyone else is losing theirs.

Zora Artis: Communication should be the essential organizational infrastructure that creates shared understanding to keep strategy, trust, and performance from falling apart.

Shel Holtz: My thanks to all of you for a sparkling conversation. The next Circle of Fellows is scheduled for noon Eastern Time on Thursday, January 22nd. The subject is the impact of mentoring. Thank you all for your participation.

Panel: Thank you. Happy holidays.

The post Circle of Fellows #123: The Future of Communication — 2026 and Beyond appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

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The forward-looking discussion was joined by five seasoned leaders: two professors shaping the next generation of communicators and three senior practitioners traversing today’s real-world pressures. Together, they bridge campus and workplace, theory and execution, to define what readiness really looks like in a world of constant change. Shel Holtz, SCMP, IABC Fellow, will moderate the session.

This episode featured a candid, fast-paced discussion on the skills and mindsets that matter now — and the ones you’ll need next. From AI literacy and data comfort to ethical judgment, change agility, and human-centered storytelling, the panel will share practical frameworks you can apply immediately. You’ll hear how universities are evolving curricula, how employers can cultivate lifelong learning, and how individual pros can future-proof their careers without losing the craft that sets them apart.

You’ll get actionable guidance, plenty of examples from classrooms and boardrooms. Whether you lead a team, teach, hire, or are building your own career path, this conversation will help you set priorities for the year ahead.

You’ll leave with:

• A clear, current skills map for modern communicators
• Practical ways to integrate AI and analytics—without sacrificing trust and creativity
• Playbooks for continuous upskilling across individuals, teams, and organizations

About the panel:

Diane Gayeski is recognized as a thought leader in the practice and teaching of business communications. She is Professor of Strategic Communications at the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College and provides consulting in communications analysis and strategies through Gayeski Analytics. Diane was recently inducted as an IABC Fellow; she’s been active in IABC for more than 30 years as a featured speaker and think-tank leader at the international conference, the author of 3 editions of the IABC-published book, Managing the Communications Function, and the advisor to Ithaca College’s student chapter. She has led more than 300 client engagements for clients, including the US Navy, Bank of Montreal, Fiat, Sony, Abbott Diagnostics, and Borg-Warner, focusing on assessing and building capacities and implementing new technologies for workplace communications and learning teams.

Sue Heuman, SCMP, ABC, MC, IABC Fellow, based in Edmonton, Canada, is an award-winning, accredited authority on organizational communications with more than 40 years of experience. Since co-founding Focus Communications in 2002, Sue has worked with clients to define, understand, and achieve their communications objectives. Sue is a highly sought-after executive advisor, specializing in leading communication audits and strategies for clients across all three sectors. Much of her practice involves a strategic review of the communications function within an organization, analyzing channels and audiences. She creates strategic communication plans and provides expertise to enable their execution. Sue has been a member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) since 1984, which enables her to both stay current with and contribute to the field of communications practices. In 2016, Sue received the prestigious Rae Hamlin Award from IABC in recognition of her work in promoting global standards for communication. She was also named 2016 IABC Edmonton Chapter Communicator of the Year. In 2018, IABC named Sue a Master Communicator, the Association’s highest honor in Canada. Sue earned the IABC Fellow designation in 2022.

Dr. Theomary Karamanis is a multiple award-winning communication professor and consultant with 25 years of global experience. She is currently a full-time senior lecturer in Management Communication at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business and regularly delivers executive education programs in leadership communication, crisis communication, and strategic communication. She has held several professional leadership positions, including Chair of the GCCC (Global Communication Certification Council), Chair of the IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) Academy, and Chair of the IABC Awards committee.

Her academic background includes a PhD in communication studies, a Master of Arts in mass communication, and a postgraduate certificate in telecommunications, all from Northwestern University, as well as a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Athens University of Economics and Business. She also holds professional certifications as a Strategic Communication Management Professional (SCMP), online facilitator, and executive program instructor. She has received 40 professional communication awards, including 12 Platinum MarCom awards, 7 Gold Quill awards, 4 Silver Quill awards, and a Comm Prix award. In 2020, she received the Award for Excellence in Communication Consulting by APCC (Association of Professional Communication Consultants) and ABC (Association for Business Communication). She is the author of several books and academic papers on communication, and she also regularly delivers presentations at international conferences and other business forums.

Leticia Narváez, ABC, is the CEO and Founding Partner of Narváez Group, a consulting firm specializing in Strategic Communication, Crisis Management, Employee Engagement, Communication Training, and Change Management. A 30-year experienced professional, she held top-level positions at Sanofi, Merck, American Express, and Ford Motor Co., among others. She builds communication bridges to the highest standards of excellence. She has developed communication strategies for several employers and clients, including those involved in mergers and acquisitions, diversity leadership, crisis management, and senior executive consulting. Many of these strategies have earned global awards for their proven results and successful impact. She has been a speaker at international forums, is a co-author of several books and manuals on business communication, public relations, and inclusion. She teaches Measurement and Evaluation in the Master of Institutional Communication at the Panamericana University in Mexico City.

Jennifer Wah, MC, ABC, has worked with clients to deliver ideas, plans, words and results since she founded her storytelling and communications firm, Forwords Communication Inc., in 1997. With more than two dozen awards for strategic communications, writing, and consulting, Jennifer is recognized as a storyteller and strategist. She has worked in industries from healthcare and academia to financial services and the resource sector, and is passionate about the strategic use of storytelling to support business outcomes. Although she has delivered workshops and training throughout her career, Jennifer formally added teaching to her experience in 2013, first with Royal Roads University and more recently as an adjunct professor of business communications with the UBC Sauder School of Business, where she now works part-time to impart crucial communication skills on the next generation of business leaders. When she is not working, Jennifer spends her time cooking, walking her dog, Orion, or discussing food, hockey, or music with her husband and two young adult children in North Vancouver, Canada.

Raw Transcript

00:00:00 Speaker: Hi everybody, and welcome to episode one hundred and twenty two of Circle of Fellows. I’m Shel Holtz, your moderator today, and I am the senior director of Communications at Webcor. We’re a commercial general contractor in California, headquartered in San Francisco. And I’m coming to you live today from our offices across the bay in Alameda. Uh, and I am also a certified, uh, communication professional through the Global Communication Certification Council. And I am delighted to have a terrific panel joining me today to talk about preparing tomorrow’s communication professionals. Uh, that includes some people from the world of academia. Uh, you’ll learn who they are as they introduce themselves in just a couple of seconds. But first, I’m going to give you the, uh, the first of a few reminders that, um, you are welcome to participate in this discussion. You are watching this presumably through YouTube and there is a chat feature. And if you send us a question or a comment or an observation through that chat window, I’ll be able to share it on the screen and we can get feedback from the panelists who will now introduce themselves, starting with Letty. Um. Hi, everybody. Um, I’m Letty Narvaez, I’m based in Mexico City, and I’ve been working on communication for more than thirty years. For the last ten years, I have had my own consulting firm specializing mainly on employee communications, change management, crisis and risk management, and and a lot of training on measurement and presentation skills. And it’s great to to be here. It’s great to have you here, Letty. Uh, Theo. Mary. You’re next. Hello, everyone. Thanks for being here with us. I’m Theo America. I’m based in Ithaca, New York. This is upstate New York. I work for Cornell University, and I teach MBA and executive MBA students. And I’m also very much involved with executive education. So I get to see a lot of executives and leaders across industries and professions. Um, I’ve been in communication for more than I don’t want to say, but I will, uh, twenty five years now. And I started after my PhD. I started in corporate communication. So I had a corporate life. Then I went into consulting. I had my own boutique firm, and for the past ten, maybe now close to fifteen years, I’ve been full time in academia. I’ve been in contact. I always have contact with executives, uh, through my executive education courses and also through my Um, MBA courses, and I’m looking forward to sharing with you some insights about communication professionals and what communication will mean to us, uh, in the future. And thank you so much for inviting me. Uh, thanks for being here. Uh, Diane, you’re up. Hi, I’m Diane Gajewski, and I am on the other hill from Theo Mary, also in Ithaca, New York. I’m a professor of strategic communication at Ithaca College, which is also my alma mater. And, uh, I’ll embarrass myself and say I’ve been there for forty seven years. Um, in addition to teaching, I practice what I preach through my consulting firm, Gaieski Analytics. Um, I mostly focus on new technologies and, uh, trends in both corporate communication and corporate learning. And I teach almost exclusively undergraduates. And, uh, they are very worried about the topic that we’re talking about today, so I look forward to the conversation. It’ll be a good one. Uh, Sue? Hi, everybody. Sue from Edmonton, Canada. Um, I have been in communication for forty three years. And, um, through the course of my time, I have actually been, um, uh, an instructor with MacEwan University, and I have worked with other academic programs as a guest lecturer. Um, but, uh, I think I’m hoping to bring the perspective today of somebody who’s done a lot of hiring, um, over the years and have seen a lot of different folks come through the door for our small agency, which is focused communications in Edmonton. So, yeah, happy to be here and happy to be here with this great group of very impressive women. So thank you. Thank you. Uh, Jen, your last but not least. Excellent. Uh, hello. From Vancouver, Canada. Just over the hill, as it were, from Sue in Edmonton. Um, and, um. And happy Thanksgiving to those who will be celebrating in the next, uh, in the next day or so. Um, I, uh, I’m, I teach as an adjunct professor at the UBC Sauder School of Business. So I teach business communications to first and third year students, which is, um, which is a, um, something I’ve been doing for the last four or five years. Um, I absolutely am enchanted by it and by the students and, um, love being in the classroom with them. And it, uh, I think only makes me stronger as a, as a professional. Um, in my consulting business, as a storytelling consultant for organizations. Um, and, uh, yeah, really looking forward to the conversation today and and echo what, what I’ve even heard so far in terms of what what the next generation of entering the workforce are worried about and how, um, and how we all just need to keep learning. I’ve been doing some rough math as we’ve gone around, uh, at my forty eight years in the profession. I was a newspaper reporter for a few years before that. Uh, and I think we have well over two hundred years of experience on this panel, so you should get some good wisdom. We don’t look a day over one ninety nine, so that’s true. Uh, it’s good. Genes is what it is. Um, so let’s jump into this and I want to share a quick story. Uh, several years ago, uh, I was invited to come speak to the faculty at San Jose State University by the dean of the journalism department. That was Bill Briggs, who is an Iabc fellow. Um, and one of the questions I was asked, uh, really struck me. They said, what aren’t we teaching that we should be? Um. And I thought about it a minute. And this was in the heyday of blogging. Um, you know, the big social networks didn’t exist yet. Facebook and LinkedIn and the like were not around. Uh, but blogging was getting really big. Uh, and, uh, newspapers were starting to close, uh, in some frightening numbers. And I said, I think what you need to be teaching is entrepreneurial ism. Uh, when I went to journalism school, they taught us to work for a newspaper or a news magazine, uh, a news broadcast outlet or a news radio station. And that was it. Um, and I think today, uh, journalists are going to have to reinvent themselves. I mean, look at the number of them that are doing podcasts, like, uh, Jim Acosta, who used to be with CNN, uh, they’re doing Substack newsletters for communicators. Uh, let me ask, what aren’t universities, uh, with, with communication programs, teaching that they should be. Well, I can start if you want. Um, I want, um, I’m in a business school, and of course, I don’t have communication students, but I have the future business leaders, and we teach them communication skills, and I’m really, um, very happy about it. But I think what we do not teach, and we need to start teaching, and I don’t know how is agility, adaptability and the the capacity to take things as they come and be able to, um, confront the challenges and have grace under fire, uh, being calm under stressful situations. So I think that a lot of the preparation that we do is based on the assumption that you know what’s coming and therefore you do the steps and ABC and the stakeholder analysis and all of that. But I don’t think we teach them necessarily, um, how to be resilient and be adaptable when things change. And I could add also that I think it could be very important. We speak a lot about being strategic, but I don’t think that universities really insist on this, on how to be really strategic, how to participate and to design strategic plans and to, um, to get to know the business much better so that we really can advise on how what kind of of communication strategies we should use, how to, uh, emphasize the human connection and to understand and listen to the needs of our audience so we can, uh, respond with our communication according to the, to our audience needs. And another thing is, uh, measurement and evaluation of the communication. I think that very few universities really, uh, really teach the different techniques and the benefits of really measuring the communication and what we are doing in our communication plans. Good point. I was going to add to what you said, Theo. Mary. Um, uh, sorry, Diane. Um, and just, uh, build on that in terms of, in terms of the agility and the resilience. I would say, like I kind of joked in my intro about, you know, that all of us need to keep learning, but I think there is a critical need to bring that beginner brain along with us, uh, especially for the next generation entering the workforce. They will need to learn and relearn skills and strategies and approaches, uh, within different contexts, at a much faster speed than than previous generations. And so I agree, I don’t quite know how to teach that either. That, um, that, um, ability to pivot, that ability to, uh, to, uh, re-embrace and, um, turn a corner and, and, uh, reengage in a whole new way on a regular basis, not just a couple of times over a career. Um, so sorry, Diane, back over to you. Uh, yeah. Great points. You know, I’d like to build on what everybody has said, I think, and I do teach communication students. And what I think we could do a better job of is teaching them business acumen and, um, financial analysis and being able to, uh, understand how businesses and nonprofits really work. Um, I find that my students often avoid that as I talk to them. They don’t understand how the stock market works. They they really have not much sophistication in terms of understanding, uh, how how businesses really get along. And, uh, and to build upon the point of, uh, assessment, I think is a really important one that what I find is because students don’t really understand how businesses make money and they don’t know how to read financial reports. Uh, they will often come in with, um, you know, very proud of some kind of ROI, thinking that they’ve done a great job because they’ve saved the company a thousand dollars or, you know, or they increase sales by, you know, a couple of dollars. And they don’t understand that in the large scheme of things, that is quite literally lunch money. So, um, I think we could do a better job collaborating across communication schools and business schools. Can I just second that? Because what you’re describing is exactly the opposite of what’s happening in business schools. So my students know everything about budgeting, everything about accounting, and they’re just focused on that, but they don’t necessarily understand the value of stakeholder analysis. Audience analysis how to communicate to different people. So I really think that your point, Diane, is very valuable. Uh, we need to just somehow find a way to merge these schools of thoughts and show students that there’s value to both. Like, of course they want to. They need to know the business side, but they also need to know the communication side. Um, I’m not sure how much I can add to this, except I would say, as someone who’s hired a lot of new graduates, um, we’ve always had entry level positions in our firm. Um, the thing that I would like to see schools teach them is how to better value every voice. Um, you don’t know everything when you graduate, you certainly have learned a lot and you’ve gained a lot of skills. But there’s there’s wisdom everywhere. And so how do we invite conversation? How do we invite people to accept constructive feedback and criticism? I feel sometimes, um, especially young employees, they get offended easily if someone corrects their work, and I feel like they just need to be better at understanding that they don’t know everything. They may have learned a lot, but there’s still. It’s a big world. I learned something new every day. Um, so I feel like if we could get them to to just be open to hearing other voices, um, that would go a long way to develop their soft skills around the boardroom table when they eventually get there. Yeah. Diane, uh, my favorite, uh, ROI assertions by by young communicators is when they come in and tell me the ROI was something that has absolutely nothing to do with money. Uh, you know, uh oh, we we we grew our readership. You know, that’s that’s not ROI. ROI is always money, always expressed as a percentage. Uh, it’s a formula. It’s it’s, you know, not negotiable. Um, but, uh, Sue, you mentioned, uh, entry level positions. Uh, one of the things that I’m hearing a lot about the, the threat, uh, to employment that AI, uh, is, is, uh, potentially going to, to bring us, uh, is that if it takes away a lot of the drudge work? Uh, well, that’s what a lot of entry level positions are all about. Uh, so, so what do we do with entry level positions in order to, uh, get people started on their careers in the right direction, doing work that that matters, um, but is still entry level. It’s not, um, you know, raising unrealistic expectations about what? Somebody brand new to the field might be able to do. Yeah. So what we’ve done is we’ve really brought our entry level staff in to things like client meetings and, um, you know, leadership meetings so that they can understand the business of the business. Um, not so much the financial statements necessarily, but we’re a small agency. So there’s, there’s how do you get new clients? What do you do with them? What’s the process? So we’re trying to teach them skills that they can. Then um, they will be the front end part of that of course. But then eventually they will start to manage projects on their own. And having had the experience of, um, you know, being in the, in the room when the big meetings are held, being in the room when decisions are made, they can see the debate, they can see different points of view, and it really helps to round them out. So I feel like that that’s probably something that more organizations can do. Do not put your, you know, new employee in a room by themselves and say, okay, here you go. Um, they need interaction and they need role models. They need people to understand how do I behave at work? Um, what does a what does a board meeting look like? Um, because this is all new experience for them. You can’t just, you know, suddenly be thrown into a board meeting and expected to, um, expected to, you know, swim. You’re probably going to sink if you haven’t had that exposure. So I really encourage people, if you’ve got an entry level position, is make sure you’re teaming them up with mid-level or senior level people so that they can shadow you to important meetings and, uh, see how the assignments are, are managed and how strategy works and how to anticipate things like that’s critical thinking that they can learn by observing. Yeah, that’s a great point, Sue. Um, you know, I, I think we’re running into, uh, almost like a triple threat of problems We still have students coming off a Covid experience. Um, the ones graduating now at least had a much more normal high school and college. But, you know, there was still there was still a lot of disruption. Um, then many organizations are doing more hybrid and remote work and, uh, still pointed out a lot of the entry level jobs are this kind of, you know, sort of routine grunt work which people can say, oh, you know, you don’t need to come into the office. You can do that at home. Um, you know, and then we have, you know, AI, um, stepping in and doing a lot of those kind of tasks. So what are young employees going to be doing? So, um, I, I know that our students are very worried about all of that. One of the things that I’m telling them is that they have I’ve got to kind of get them to the point where I was in my career, fifteen years in, and be much more adept at speaking to executives and understanding their language and holding their own and actually being able to push back. Um, what I’m doing a lot of is having consulting projects with my students. We, you know, always gave them projects, but now I am trying to take on projects where clients will, um, allow meetings to be on zoom in front of my class, and I’ll have the students watch me interact with a client, and we’ll debrief afterwards. And I’m trying to model how to politely push back and understand that what a client or a project sponsor comes in asking may not be at all what they need. And, um, you know, I think they need to learn how to do that in a convincing way, Even though they are young. But the ability to be in the office and have mentors and have that sort of informal learning cannot be overemphasized. If I may interject here, I’m so happy to hear you say all these things. I think that the industry needs and we as educators, we need to understand, in essence, there are no entry level positions anymore because that’s AI. It’s really if you think about it, it’s what we call an entry level position is a sort of a mid-level position because you require three years of experience, you require a master of analytics tools, the ability to manage stakeholders. And that’s a lot to ask. I would agree with both Diane and Sue that organizations and this is not on the candidate, but this is on businesses that they need to maybe rewrite job descriptions and focus on trainable capabilities. So like maybe curiosity, writing fundamentals, critical thinking and learning mindset. So I love that Sue said. Bring them in in a meeting. Show them how it’s done. So shadowing or I hear some businesses have this, um, rotational, um, programs where they go from one department to the next, uh, for training. So I think that this is where we are supposed to go as a, as a society, not even as communication professionals. Yeah. Something else that I think would also contribute to the, the entry level or the or just graduated is, uh, the experience of, of working in a company, in a big organization and also the experience of working for a consultancy or an agency. Having worked myself like for more than twenty years in different companies, you learn many things that you have not learned at the university as the importance of interacting with the cross-functional situation to to learn about the other areas of the company, to interact with all of them. So you can you can advise them on on communication strategies and to support them to to get to reach their objectives and the importance of the human connection, not only not only the communication tools, but what understanding, learning, listening so you can respond to their own needs. Um, the adaptability and then being on the on meetings within the organization so you can learn from other leaders. And also if you work in an agency then how to work with the client, how to respond to a client, how to contribute and advice. So both experiences, I think are very important for for someone who’s just starting in their career. To marry you. You mentioned AI, which it’s it’s inevitable that any panel is going to talk about AI these days. Um, I am reading continuously on LinkedIn professors, uh, saying they don’t allow AI in the classroom. They don’t teach it. Uh, to me, that’s insane, because as soon as they get to the workplace, they’re going to be expected to know how to use it, uh, and apply it in their jobs. Um, how I’m wondering, for those of you who are teaching, uh, what’s your view and how are you employing AI as as part of your curriculum? I’ll start. Since you mentioned my name. Um, You’re very right. Uh, there’s a lot of talk and a lot of backlash in the academia about AI, and I want to recognize that it’s different for different courses. But I will tell you how I am managing this. I’m telling them to use it as much as they can. First of all, AI literacy will be is a skill that, uh, people need, uh, at the workplace. And I think my students need to be able to, to use it. I still tell them that they’re responsible for accuracy of the final outcome, and they should have a unique perspective. So through the prompts, they need to give a perspective to the assignment or to the project that they’re doing. And the other thing is that AI cannot replace the critical thinking of the human. And because I’m in communication, just like all of you, they need to be able to defend it so they get an outcome. Okay, fine. It might be perfect. Can you come in front of me in person and justify it? Defend it, explain it. Um, and give me all kinds of aspects on the specific project. And I think at least with my level of students, because they’re, they’re a bit older, they’re not undergraduates. Um, I think they get it. And a lot of them are working towards that. So how do I use it? Uh, so that it’s very authentic because of course, authenticity is part of what leadership is nowadays. So if you come to me and you feel robotic or you feel like you are AI generated, you do not promote trust. And that defeats the purpose of any organization or any leader. And people are still grappling with that? Um, but I do feel that there’s a need for us to incorporate AI into what we’re doing and still find what is the differentiator, uh, between using AI, everybody will use AI. But what makes you stand out as a leader? What will make you stand out is if you own it, if you have a unique perspective and if you can present it with credibility, empathy and confidence. Just to build on the innovation factor, um, I recently had, uh, students doing a group project and they all each group in, in my class had a different idea, groups of four or five. And they were building that into a group presentation. And, um, I, uh, had them. I also embrace AI in the classroom and in, in, in all the ways that you described the human input in human. In human. Humans at the beginning and end of the process. Um, but I had them ask, uh, AI to take their idea and expand on it in bold and innovative and new ways and and help them consider some ways, some some different, uh, elevated ways of thinking. And they and frankly, I were quite their jaws dropped. These were third year students because, um, because AI returned to them all like five, five or six or eight different ideas in the classroom. And each group got very, very similar responses. And so we had this very robust discussion about originality and, uh, and unique thinking and, and so just to circle back to the last question about entry level positions or whatever we’re calling them, um, I actually think that that original thinking can be part of, of the learning process in workplaces because although they’re coming into the workplace with, with perhaps more, um, mature skills than, than many of us did, they haven’t necessarily caught up, uh, in other ways, especially especially some of the Covid impact, uh, young people. Um, and so they may be, um, you know, they may be looking for a professional maturity and opportunities to grow in other ways, uh, that I think exploring critical and innovative thinking can really, uh, allow them to do so. Um, yeah, I there’s we need the AI fluency. I’m not sending my my students out into the world without that. Yeah, I’m I’m doing the same thing. I require my students to use it in different ways, and not just the large language models to, you know, help them write things. I have them, uh, do at least prototypes using AI generated images and video. So, for example, in an intro PR class, one of the assignments is to do a PSA, a video PSA, and uh, they don’t have time to go out and and shoot it professionally. And a lot of them don’t have those video skills, but I will have them mock something up on AI. Um, I’ll have them mock up things like, uh, posters, uh, or bus wraps. Um, in some of my other classes, I will, uh, have them use AI as a thinking partner, as a brainstorming partner, uh, to help them come up with clever titles for a white paper, for example. Um, and then I also, uh, as they’re writing recommendations, I will have them, uh, ask AI what’s missing in this report, or if I were to deliver this final report to clients, what might their questions or pushback be? Or how might different stakeholders react to these Suggestions? Um, I’m also building some simulations where, um, AI will act as various stakeholders, and they can interview those stakeholders and get different kinds of interviews and feedback on on an issue. So, uh, but you know, what’s really interesting is students are all over the place. A lot of them really don’t like AI. Some of them because they don’t know how to prompt it very well, get frustrated. They, they they work with it. And it doesn’t, doesn’t give them anything that they find as usable. And so we need to work on that. But a lot of them are, um, ethically, uh, very worried about AI. Uh, some of it in terms of harvesting their ideas or other kinds of data or profiles about them and the environmental impacts. Um, Ithaca is a place where there’s a lot of people very interested in the environment from way back, and our college attracts a lot of students who are, um, very concerned about sustainability. And so we have a number of professors and students who really don’t want to use AI because of what they feel are the significant, uh, climate impacts. As, uh, as an employer, I’ll just pop in and say that we use we have our, um, staff use AI not to draft things, uh, to final product or anything like that, but more for research purposes. Uh, I loved your examples, Diane, of some of the things that you’ve asked your students to do. We do the same, you know, read this. Tell me what’s missing. Um, just to prompt ideas. Um, you know, when you’re staring at the proverbial blank page, you know, give me five words that describe space. Um, you know, that kind of thing. Um, we use it carefully at this time. Um. We’re still waiting to see. And I know you can do a whole show on this. We’re still waiting to see where it all shakes out in terms of, um, you know, need for disclosure and all that stuff, uh, that’s happening in the world. So, yeah, I mean, we do expect students to come with some AI, uh, fluency when they show up to work. Yeah. We have a comment. And this is from, uh, Brian Kilgore. Uh, I think he means twenty twenty five here, not twenty fifteen. But why don’t PR students in twenty twenty five have video production skills? Uh, any thoughts on that? I mean, I’m doing video all the time, uh, largely based on the trend of of people paying attention to short form video. Yeah. Our our staff do it with their, with their phones. I mean, they do video production and we have actually on our staff, we have a graphic designer who’s an animator. And so he does animations and that sort of thing. So you can absolutely do Video without having to have the old school, you know, video camera situation happening. Yeah. Our students certainly can do video for social media. But, you know, if you’re asking them to do something that might be like a public service announcement where, you know, they would need locations and actors and all that sort of thing, they’re certainly not up to to that level of production or complexity of logistics. Yeah. There are things where I would still hire a video production company, but on the other hand, for example, for recruiting, uh, I saw a trend of injecting videos into, uh, job listings that have people currently doing that job talking about what it’s like to do that at this company. And I went out and recorded the interviews. I edited it together. I did all the titles and the transitions. I just used Camtasia, you know, if you can use word, you can use Camtasia. And, uh, you know, they’re fine. Um, are they up to the level that I would get, uh, production quality from a professional? No. Clearly not. But, you know, some of these things, uh, as Martin Waxman would say, just have to be good enough. Yeah. From from what I’ve seen, they’re good with video production and tech and using even, like, their own phones to do stuff. I think that the, the script is a gap, like the key messaging, how they’re reaching their, their audience. So I see a lot of good videos, like from a video production standpoint, but I don’t see the background of it that I would have liked to see, you know, like like how do you reach your target audience? What are you trying to say? The key messaging. You know what we did that with, uh, with a few of our staff. We do a lot of videos and, uh, you know, we’ll get new staff or young graduates out of school and we’ll say to them, hey, how’d you like to write a video script today? And we walked them through the process of how you do that, how you do the key messages, how you, you know, make it interesting and engaging, uh, concise, uh, because you’ve got about fifteen seconds these days. Um, you know, if you’re doing it for social media. So again, we need to expose young employees. I say young, but I mean new to the field. Um, you know, right at the beginning, don’t let them, you know, hang out for two years before you let them do something like write a script, model the behavior, show them how to do it. And they’ve been terrific. Yeah, I’ve been, uh, actually doing some, uh. Yeah. Go ahead. Mary, I want to ask a follow up question to Sue because you’re employing people and I hear a lot. So I fully agree with what you said. Uh, the backlash when I give that advice to employers, just, you know, get people engaged really early on, they’re like, oh, they don’t know nothing. So let them just learn first and then I’m going to engage. Engage them. So how do you feel about that? Like how do you would you, um, respond to someone who says they’re not ready? They’re very young. They don’t know what they’re doing. Um, what would you say to that? Well, you don’t learn anything sitting in a cubicle by yourself. I’m sorry. So to say that they’re not experienced, they’re not going to get it sitting in a cube by themselves. So we always bring our staff along, uh, on, on client meetings, both on zoom or out of the office or at the client’s workspace. Um, we did a website for a client. Uh, that was a retail site. So we took the staff there to go and look around and experience it like a customer. So you have to do these things because it’s a real world out there. You cannot just sit at your desk and expect to, I don’t know, learn things by osmosis and waiting two years is to wait. You’re going to lose good people in the short term, because they will go and find a company that will give them those experiences. And arguably, those of us with two hundred years of experience don’t know what we’re doing. So there you go. There’s that. There’s a lot of learning to do both ways. That gets to what I was going to say. I’ve been creating animated videos, uh, which, you know, two years ago I would not have had the budget to do. Now they’re pretty damn close to free. Uh, I watched a couple of YouTube videos on how to do it. Um, I paid the ridiculously low monthly fees for some of these services. And for example, we’re doing one that is, uh, their three minute management tips. And I’ve got a sort of a grizzled, wise old construction manager out in the project trailer or out on the construction project, uh, talking about this particular management issue. And then we do cutaways to scenes that sort of convey the idea, tell the story, and he comes back and says, well, here’s the four things that you need to remember. Um, and so far, uh, they seem to be well received. Uh, they take me about a half a day to to crank one out. Um, which which leads to the question I have. Yeah. Uh, I had to learn how to do this. Um, you know, uh, how do we keep people engaged in learning new things? I find that a lot of the people who speak to that. Yeah, go for it, Sue. Yeah. So we we hired a really talented young guy fresh out of university, uh, a couple of years ago. And, uh, he expressed an interest in learning all about digital media. So we supported him with, uh, training courses, with, um, webinars, with research, anything he needed. And now he is, uh, making incredible, um, advancements for our clients in the areas where they want to either grow their client base or they want more, um, click through to a register for something or what have you. Um, He designed himself for one of our fundraising clients. Uh, he came up with an idea that raised through digital media. Organic? No, uh, no paid posts. Um, he did a little video, he did a little pitch, and he raised thirty thousand dollars in ten days for that client. Just an initiative he did on his own. I’m going back to your question, Shel. I think it’s quite. If we want to future, future proof our communication careers. Precisely. It’s to adopt a mindset of continuous learning. Because technology will evolve. But curiosity, adaptability and ethics will always matter. So, uh, we need to advise to learn one new tool every few months. Seek feedback often. Never stop refining your ability to tell stories that inspire action, because the future will see professionals moving away from manual content creation and focusing more on leveraging creativity, contextual awareness and strategic input. And the winners will be business communicators and agencies that can integrate AI to drive insights, campaign evaluation, and and stakeholder engagement skills. Less susceptible to automation. If I may add to that, I’ll tell you what I tell my students in class and also even in executive education workshops, which is very risky. But I do tell them I give the content and I always tell them what I’m telling you now is probably good and valid for the next two to three years. I don’t know what’s going to happen next. Maybe in three years time we come, you come back and I’m going to tell you something different. So I kind of position, uh, all the content, especially communication based leadership based on the fact that there’s also so many societal perspectives to take into account. What I’m telling you now might not be the same in five years from now, and people need to understand that there’s a dynamic, um, nature into what we teach, at least at least what I do with leadership and leadership communication skills. It’s it’s almost as if, uh, Frank Diaz was listening in. I, I happen to have LinkedIn up on one of the screens here in the office, and he just posted. Are we hiring internal comms roles for yesterday? Uh, three years after ChatGPT launched, ninety one percent of IC internal comms roles are designed as if generative AI didn’t exist. Uh, based on an analysis of one hundred job postings. Uh, he said, uh, ninety percent of roles still demand strong writing skills. Uh, while storytelling is vital, reframing the role around a skill that is rapidly being commoditized. By AI scaling, eighty percent ask for strategic expertise. Yet this is rarely defined. Employers want strategy, but they describe tactics, managing channels, drafting updates and supporting campaigns. And his killer stat only nine percent of roles mention any AI capabilities or skills. Um, I don’t know if that’s worth a comment, but, uh, I thought it was interesting that that scrolled by just as we were talking about this. You know, I will say that my clients on the on the client side of things, from my perspective, um, if I think of my three, say, three top clients right now, like in the last six months, um, none of them are. They’re very they’re slow to AI. And so, um, I do think that the that the hiring organizations are doing right now are not necessarily with that skill set in mind, because the organizations themselves aren’t, um, Um, for various reasons, including, uh, firewall related and and security related, etc.. Um, for various reasons, the organizations themselves are are hesitant or moving more slowly toward that, including for Diane, some of the reasons you talked about from an environmental impact perspective, organizations are getting their their their own strategies around their own strategic heads around that part of it. Um, so I do think that’s worth considering. Like, we’re not it’s not like it’s not like new employees, depending on the industry, are are new to the field. Employees are running to running to catch, uh, running to catch, catch up kind of thing. Um, it might be the other way around. I think what’s also interesting is that AI is rapidly being baked into every kind of platform. So you can’t not use AI in a way, if you use Canva, if you use PowerPoint, you know, Web browsers, I mean, AI is baked into everything. So, um, I think at a certain point it’s not even going to be relevant to mention it. It would be like saying, um, that you have internet skills, you know, so we’re we’re all on the internet, right? It’s kind of assumed, uh, so, you know, I think you have that. And then as others have pointed out, uh, most organizations don’t have their heads wrapped around AI yet either. And they still think of it, especially in terms of the kinds of things that communicators do. Uh, it’s seen as kind of cheating, you know, it’s like, well, you’re having this write it for you. And do you really know how to do this? Do you really know anything? Or are you just having AI do your job for you? Yeah, I guess you could always make the t, I, uh, calculator uh, argument there is, you know, there was great resistance to having a Texas Instruments calculator to do your math for you. And now it’s a given that you’ll do that both in school and at work. Uh, I want to get Brian’s follow up comment in here. Uh, he said there’s no significant difference writing a video than there is writing a brochure than inviting a TV news crew to come to a factory for a business interview. Sue, you have a thought on that? Yeah, I have to disagree. Um, I mean, the video scripts that we write are very strategic, and they’re definitely, um, set to meet the client’s needs with whatever that is, whether it’s, uh, like I say, it could be sales, it could be fundraising, it could be, um, hiring. Um, and so that is very different than, um, just asking a news crew to come. Uh, of course, videos belong in the owned category of media. So you have the right and the ability to control the message and the distribution of that message onto the channels where you want it to be seen. So yeah, I’m not sure I would agree with you, Brian, on that one. Um, the skill level is very different because you have to think both, uh, with words and visuals together at the same time, um, when you’re writing a script. So. Yeah. Okay. Uh, I don’t remember who it was who mentioned critical thinking earlier, but I did write it down, uh, several years ago when I was still an independent consultant. Uh, I had a client who asked if I could, uh, create an online course for his staff on critical thinking because they didn’t learn it in school. Uh, this was an organization that dealt with a lot of scientific papers, uh, generally papers that were, uh, not complimentary to the kind of product that this organization was, an association, uh, professional, uh, business association, not like ABC. It was around a a product type. Um, and they would come up with a response to it that was not based on critical thinking, and he felt it was important for them to learn it. Um, I did develop that training, but I’m wondering, uh, do you find that students have not been taught critical thinking at earlier grade levels? And is it important for students of communication to to learn that before they enter the workforce? Absolutely. It’s it it is quite probably the most critical skill that we can encourage and, and, and teach and insist on and hold to a standard, um, and, you know, uh, like Mary, I teach in a business school. And so I would say that those, uh, qualities are more baked into the business curriculum in general, um, because of because of more, um, um, quantitative analysis Processes that that come with business. Um, and, and so ensuring that we are also bringing that same level of rigor and thinking to communications teaching, uh, I think is, um, is is absolutely essential. And to, you know, that idea, that slow process of, of questioning everything and, and coming to our own conclusions and, and, uh, applying our, our, our own original human and ethical brains, um, to processes. So for me, critical thinking, a huge element of critical thinking has to do with ethics and integrity as it relates to our work and our businesses. Let me add on to that. Critical thinking is a core course, uh, for for our business school. It was not like that. Uh, shout out to my good friend and colleague Amish, who’s amazing at teaching it, but she was the one. She’s a lawyer, uh, by by bye profession, and she was the one to propose it and make it a core course for the curriculum. But what is interesting is that we do a lot of executive education together, like for senior professionals, and sure enough, they get a leadership development program that combines critical thinking, which Risa does, uh, with communication, which I do. So it’s a very important skill. Um, it’s often overlooked, but I do feel that there’s, um, I see a trend, uh, where the industry has really recognized that this is something that people really want. I’m not sure that it’s embedded in undergraduate education, though. It is. It is difficult. Yeah. Sorry. Go ahead. Uh, I just wanted to mention that I think that, uh, if there’s one thing that can differentiate us as communicators, uh, from just, uh, writing or speaking or delivering a message. Is that the skill of critical thinking, uh, adaptability, data literacy, uh, to know how to interpret analytics, understand human behavior, collaborate across functions, and being able to translate complex ideas into human language, I think will will make us invaluable. So I think, uh, that really would be the difference that we can make, uh, in order to be strategic and to give a strategic advice to the CEO and to the executive committee. I think it goes back to those job descriptions, uh, you know, and, and expectations. You know, I see that business leaders say they want critical thinking, but then I also see how they treat communication professionals, especially young ones, and they treat them like order takers and and they want them to be responsive and helpful. Right. And give them good customer service. When really I think what critical thinking implies is to be able to look at a problem from a very different angle and probably reframe things and show, um, the client or project sponsor the person requesting your services to kind of push back or give them a different viewpoint or a different approach to something. And it’s and I think in our job descriptions and expectations, we’re, we’re supposed to be, um, you know, pleasant little order takers who are creative and come up with cute ways, cute words or graphics to kind of make our audience happy. And, and and that’s not critical thinking. So I think there’s two aspects of it, I think especially for newer employees, early career employees. They’re kind of not sure how to employ that critical thinking. They’re not sure whether they’re just supposed to do what they are asked to do and not raise questions, or whether they are supposed to use their brains. Yeah, I think that’s really on the employers, to be honest. They need to, you know, make sure that they’re they’re being open to all of that kind of thinking. I mean, as I said at the beginning, there’s wisdom in many voices. And even if you are like five minutes out of university, you have life experience and cultural background and, you know, whatever, um, that that can inform something maybe we’re working on. So I don’t know why I would discount that just because you’re young or you’re fresh out of school. I mean, that makes no sense. Um, so, you know, I think you’ve really hit on something, um, Diane, that, uh. I think it’s important, but I think the onus is on the is on the employer to be honest. Yeah, I’ve been paying a lot of attention very recently to quantum computing. Uh, there are people who are saying that it is going to be more consequential than AI, uh, and bigger than AI. Uh, I really can’t wrap my mind around how this works. The idea of superposition is, is something that I just can’t grasp. But, uh, I am looking at the fact that these computers, which, uh, should be, uh, ready for businesses to buy in the next three to five years if what I’m reading is right, will be able to do in five minutes what it would take a supercomputer today, uh, a couple of trillion years to do. Uh, it’s going to be remarkable when it comes to things like drug discovery. Um, I wonder how many communicators at the mid level are paying attention to emerging technologies and, you know, massive trend shifts that will prepare them to thrive and be relevant as as they move forward. So what do those mid-level or mid-career communicators need to do in order to be relevant, and how do they impart what what they what they learn and what they do to to those, you know, incoming communicators, they need to take training from folks like the wonderful people on this panel who are educators, uh, with their various universities. So you need to keep up training. You know, I think all of us probably started as I did, which is on a manual typewriter. Big day when we moved up to an electric with an automatic correct button. Uh, everything I know about computing is. And technology is self-taught. Um, I think we’re beyond the ability for people to teach themselves. And so continuous learning. It’s just that simple. I will I will second that and say that everybody, including us, need to do continuous upskilling and especially mid-career communication professionals. And also I think that they the the way that I conceptualize mid-career communication professionals right now is that they would have some, uh, AI fluency and data data literacy, but the differentiator for them would be the ability to frame decisions, uh, which goes back to what Diane was, was saying to guide leaders and how to navigate complexity. And I will confess that in classes, it’s very difficult to teach that. And or we have not been trained as as professors to teach navigating ambiguity or how to, um, do strategic thinking. And I think that we need to reinvent ourselves and how we teach to help young people to go into the into the work with more skills, um, into that direction we have. Go ahead. Um, I was just going to add that I think that part of the upheaval that we’re discussing and talking about and bringing into classrooms, um, is right across the spectrum of all careers. So, again, we are most of us with our two hundred years of experience are, um, are though although I, you know, we are bringing some fresh thinking, we have grown up in a framework that is that is linear, that talks about a early level career, a mid-level career, and an advanced level career. And I think that’s part of the upheaval that’s going on right now, is rethinking what those entry points in the career and entry and exit points and contribution points look like. Um, I, uh, you know, I’m sure for any of us in the classroom, I, I it’s a cliche, but I learn as much from my students as, as I hope they learn from me. And, uh, and, and I would jump at the chance and I tell my clients I would jump at the chance to employ, uh, many of them, um, as business school graduates with strong communication skills and, and, and vice versa. Um, and the same. So I think it comes more to the packaging of and the, the curiosity and again, the ethics and integrity that we bring at afresh in the face of new ambiguities at all points in our career that makes us that is going to make us valuable, that future proofs us. We. I’m sorry. Go ahead. Yes, definitely. I would also recommend just to build that is, uh, evolving from tactical execution to strategic leadership. That is, shift your value from from producing content to shaping decisions, to influence strategy, advise leaders and connect communication to business outcomes. Uh, to build tech fluency but not take of sexual obsession. So you don’t need to be like an AI engineer. But you do need to understand how AI, analytics, automation, and digital ecosystems reshape audiences and reputation and workflows, and but also to strengthen our unique human advantages like judgment, empathy, cultural sensitivity, um, facilitation, storytelling, ethical decision making. I think those those characteristics I think could help also mid-career professional. We have about three minutes left. And I do have a last question and I’ll go around and ask you each to give me a a nice, terse answer. Letty, you suggested this question, so I’m going to ask you first. And that’s what’s one thing you wish you had known earlier about the future of communication? Um, I think, uh, mainly, uh, that I had to develop strategic judgment, uh, becoming comfortable with ambiguity, uh, strengthening my storytelling and influence skills and understanding that trust and not technology is is the real currency. Theo. Mary, how about you? Well, this is, uh, relatable to Letty’s experience, but I’m a very structured person, and I like preparation. And I like the degrees and the studies and all of that. That’s why I have a PhD. Um, but I wish I knew sooner how much adaptability and agility would be a huge skill for the future. I can confess that even now I know it. Cognitively, I know how much adaptability means in this world and how we need to change. Uh, like in real time, even like I’m going into classes and I’m getting interactions I almost have to change every day. And I find that very challenging, very difficult. But I also will tell you that it’s it’s a skill for the future. Agility, adaptability and and resilience. Diane, what do you wish you had known? Boy, um, so I’m kind of a tech nerd. I was a radio and television major undergrad, and so I feel comfortable around technology. I’ve always been playing around with whatever was new. Uh, but what I didn’t realize, and what a very kind client, uh, kind of advised me, was that, um, there are times that when I meet, especially with more senior executives, I need to get my hands off the technology. One. One very nice client, said, Diane. You’re great at setting all this stuff up, but you don’t. You shouldn’t ever do that. Bring somebody with you and have them set all this stuff up. So I guess I wish I knew earlier how to be convincing to upper level management and how to get out of the nerd, uh, technology creator content creator mode and get more into the strategic conversations. Great. Sue. Um, similar to Thea Mary. Um, I wish that I had known when I started my career that change was going to be as rapid as it is today, um, in the mid nineteen eighties, the organization I was with had a major organizational change program, and my goodness, there was a lot of pearl clutching and swooning and the whole thing around. Oh, change, change. What’s that going to mean? And now today, it’s like we’re going to change. People go, yeah, okay, cool. So I wish I just wish I’d known that I had to get comfortable with it a lot faster and just know that that’s the way it is. And what does Jennifer wish she had known how much fun I was going to have. And if you’re not having it and you’re not around people who are inspiring you and and, um, giving you juice, giving you fuel on a regular basis, then, um, look for it somewhere else, uh, because we all got to be having some fun. I couldn’t agree more. Uh, I want to thank the panel. It’s been a terrific discussion. We could probably go on for another hour, but I do need to let everyone know about next month’s circle of fellows, which will be episode one twenty three, uh, scheduled for five p m Eastern time on Thursday, December eighteenth. It will be, uh, morning on December nineteenth for two of our panelists, uh, we have Zora Artis and Adrian Cropley coming to us from Australia and Bonnie Carver and Mary Hills from here in the US, and we’re going to be talking about, uh, something very, uh, related to what we’ve been talking about today. It’s our crystal ball moment, the future of communication opportunities for our profession in twenty twenty six and beyond. So mark your calendars. That’ll be a fun one. Uh, it’s always fun when Adrian’s, uh, part of the panel. Uh, again, thank you everybody. It’s been great. Uh, and see, everybody next time. Thank you for facilitating, Chelle. Thank you for everything. Hey, everyone. Bye. Bye bye

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Communication professionals today face an environment characterized by rapid change, emerging technologies, and evolving workforce expectations. In Circle of Fellows episode 121, “Evolving Roles and Strategic Goals,” a panel of Fellows from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) explored how communicators can adapt to emerging challenges while staying aligned with their organization’s objectives. From navigating the impact of AI to addressing ongoing change and strengthening internal communication, this discussion offered insights on keeping your strategies relevant in a digital-first world.

The Fellows tackled significant issues facing the profession, including leading change within organizations, supporting business adaptation in an unpredictable global landscape, and keeping pace with a transforming workforce. Whether you’re refining your strategic communication goals or looking for practical ways to enhance your impact, this conversation delivers guidance you can put to work immediately.

The session was recorded on Thursday, October 23, with Fellows Laurie Dawkins, Mike Klein, Robin McCasland, and Martha Muzychka, with Shel Holtz moderating.

About the Panel

Laurie Dawkins, ABC, MC, SCMP, Fellow, is vice president of Communications & Engagement with the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), one of the largest public sector health-care organizations in western Canada. She leads a team of close to 50 communication professionals in delivering timely, strategic and meaningful internal and external communications, media relations, crisis communications and C-suite counsel to meet the needs of more than 29,000 employees and 5.5 million citizens who turn to PHSA for specialized health-care services provided by BC Children’s Hospital, BC Cancer, BC Emergency Health Services, the BC Centre for Disease Control, and more. Laurie has more than 25 years’ experience in the communications industry, and holds the professional designations of Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) and Strategic Communications Management Professional (SCMP). In 2017, she was delighted to be named a Master Communicator of Canada (MC) by the IABC-Canada. She has hands-on experience in partnering with First Nations and Indigenous leaders to co-create communication strategies that are foundational to PHSA’s organizational vision to “Boldly create an equitable, anti-racist and culturally safe health care system where everyone thrives.”

Mike Klein is the Editor-in-Chief of Strategic Magazine, Founder of #WeLeadComms, and a communication consultant specializing in internal and social communication based in Reykjavik, Iceland. A former US political consultant, Mike shifted direction toward internal communication while pursuing his MBA at London Business School. Since then, Mike has been one of the leading voices for empowering communication professionals, and advocating a focus on internal influence and social connection as drivers of communication, integration and performance. His 2011 book, From Lincoln to LinkedIn remains relevant as organizations recognize that personal credibility and connection are critical to communication success in a world where content volumes are increasing and instability flourishes. Raised in Chicago, Mike has lived and worked in seven different countries, and is also a Fellow of the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence and the Institute of Internal Communication.

Robin McCasland, IABC Fellow, SCMP, is Senior Director of Corporate Communications for Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC). She leads the company’s communications team and the employee listening program, demonstrating to senior leaders how employee and executive communication add value to the business’s bottom line. Previously, Robin excelled in leadership roles in communication for Texas Instruments, Dell, Tenet Healthcare, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe. She has also worked for large and boutique HR consulting firms, leading major communication initiatives for various well-known companies. Robin is a past IABC chairman and has served in numerous association leadership roles for over 30 years. She was honored in 2023 and 2021 by Ragan/PR Daily as one of the Top Women Leaders in Communication. She’s also received IABC Southern Region and IABC Dallas Communicator of the Year honors. Robin is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and a Leadership Texas alumnus. Her own podcast, Torpid Liver (and Other Symptoms of Poor Communication), features guest speakers addressing timely topics to help communication professionals become more influential, strategic advisors and leaders. She resides in Dallas, Texas, with her husband, Mitch, and their canine kids, Tank and Petunia.

Martha Muzychka, ABC, MC, speaks, writes, listens, and helps others do the same to make change happen. Martha is a strategic, creative problem solver seeking challenging communications environments where we can make a difference. She helps her clients navigate competing priorities and embrace communication challenges. Martha offers strategic planning, facilitation, consultation services, writing and editing, qualitative research, and policy analysis. Her work has been recognized locally, nationally, and internationally with multiple awards.

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As hybrid work transitions from pandemic necessity to permanent business strategy, communication professionals face a dual challenge that’s reshaping the entire profession. Not only must they master the art of reaching and engaging a distributed workforce scattered across home offices, co-working spaces, and traditional workplaces, but they must also learn to function effectively as hybrid communication teams themselves.

In the September Circle of Fellows panel, four IABC Fellows and moderator Brad Whitworth, SCMP, IABC Fellow, will explore both sides of the hybrid communication equation. You’ll discover strategies for creating inclusive, impactful messaging that resonates equally with remote and in-office employees, avoiding the common pitfall of defaulting to those who are physically present. The panel will share proven approaches for maintaining a consistent brand voice and organizational culture when your audience is experiencing your company in fundamentally different ways.

Equally important, the discussion will delve into the operational realities of leading communication teams in a hybrid environment. Learn how to foster collaboration and creativity when your team members may never be in the same room, how to maintain the strategic thinking and relationship-building that drive communication excellence, and how to ensure that hybrid work enhances rather than hampers your team’s ability to serve the organization.

Whether you’re leading a fully distributed team, managing hybrid operations, or advising executives on how to communicate with their own hybrid workforces, this conversation will provide practical frameworks and real-world insights from communication professionals who are successfully navigating this new reality.

About the panel:

Priya Bates is a senior communication executive who provides strategic internal communication counsel in order to ensure leaders, managers, and employees understand the strategy, believe in the vision, act in accordance with the values, and contribute to business results. She is president of Inner Strength Communications in Toronto and previously served as senior director of Internal Communications at Loblaw Companies Limited.

Ritzi Villarico-Ronquillo, APR, IABC Fellow, is a Fellow of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), an Accredited in Public Relations professional, and a senior leader in Philippine organizations and in IABC. She held key roles as VP for Communication and Corporate Affairs in the manufacturing sector, and was PR Head for Communication and Publications, Advertising and Special Events, and General Public Programs in the energy sector. A multi-awarded communication professional, she has experience across corporate, community, associations, advocacy, and academia. With more than four decades of experience to date, she is a consultant, adjunct faculty, professional lecturer, training professional, speaker, and mentor on communication and public relations in prestigious educational institutions in the Philippines. She is a graduate of the country’s national university, the University of the Philippines’ College of Media and Communication, a center of excellence in the field. She is a contributing columnist of PR Matters, a weekly column of IPRA Philippines in the Business Mirror, a national broadsheet and online news platform.

Angela Sinickas is the founder of Sinickas Communications, which has worked with companies, organizations, and governments in 32 countries on six continents. Her clients include 25% of the Forbes Top 100 largest global companies. Before starting her own consulting firm, she held positions from editor to vice president in for-profit and government organizations and worked as a senior consultant and practice leader at Hewitt and Mercer. She is the author of a manual, How to Measure Your Communication Programs (now in its third edition), and chapters in several books. Her 150+ articles in professional journals can be found on her website, www.sinicom.com. Her work has been recognized with 21 international-level Gold Quill Awards from IABC, plus her firm was named IABC Boutique Agency of the Year in 2015. She holds a BS degree in Journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MS in Leadership from Northeastern University.

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With numerous competing business priorities demanding attention, and government policy decisions often pushing sustainability to the back of the agenda, organizational communication professionals play a critical role in keeping sustainability front and center. We are uniquely positioned to connect sustainability to the organization’s purpose, values, and long-term success, ensuring it is viewed not as an isolated initiative but as an integral part of the company’s identity. Through strategic messaging, storytelling, and the consistent integration of sustainability into internal and external narratives, communicators can make environmental goals relevant to every employee’s role and decision-making process. We can spotlight progress, celebrate champions, and translate complex sustainability metrics into compelling, human-centered stories that inspire action. By making sustainability a visible, shared priority across all levels of the organization, communication professionals can help ensure it not only survives but also thrives, despite shifting external pressures.

Four Fellows of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) gathered on August 21, 2025, to share their expertise and experience communicating sustainability during these fraught times. The international panel featured Zora Artis, Brent Carey, Bonnie Caver, and Martha Muzychka, with Shel Holtz serving as moderator.

About the panel:

Although Zora Artis began her career outside the communications field, she has had an outsize impact on the profession since entering it more than 20 years ago to as an account director and then strategic planner with branding and integrated marcomms agencies. Since then, she has led her own brand and communications consultancy and served as CEO of a 20-person creative, digital, and strategic communication firm. In 2019, formed her current management consulting practice bringing together strategic alignment, brand, and communication expertise. She has received five Gold Quill awards. Her significant contributions to the profession and the body of knowledge include her original research with IABC colleague, Wayne Aspland, on strategic alignment, the role of communications and leadership – the first substantial research effort for the reconfigured IABC Foundation – and co-authoring a subsequent white paper, “The Road to Alignment,” supported by 27 senior communicators from five continents. Zora has also researched the correlation between strategic alignment and experiences and the impact on stakeholder value and brand. This has led her to develop her own proprietary Alignment Experience Framework. She has also examined gender equity, perceptions, and bias in organizations, and wrote a chapter on this topic for the Quadriga University e-reader, Women in PR. Since joining IABC a decade ago, she has impacted IABC as a volunteer, including roles as chair of the IABC Asia Pacific Region and IEB director; she served as the chair of the 2022 World Conference Program Advisory Committee. A certified company director, as chair of the IABC Audit and Risk Committee she introduced proper risk oversight to the board’s processes. Zora has been honored with the 2021 and the 2015 IABC Chair’s Award for Leadership and was named IABC’s 2020 Regional Leader of the Year. She is also a Strategic Communication Management Professional, Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute, and Certified Practicing Marketer.

Bonnie Caver, SCMP, is the Founder and CEO of Reputation Lighthouse, a global change management and reputation consultancy with offices in Denver, Colorado, and Austin, Texas. The firm, which is 20 years old, focuses on leading companies to create, accelerate, and protect their corporate value. She has achieved the highest professional certification for a communication professional, the Strategic Communication Management Professional (SCMP), a distinction at the ANSI/ISO level. She is also a certified strategic change management professional (Kellogg School of Management), a certified crisis manager (Institute of Crisis Management). She holds an advanced certification for reputation through the Reputation Institute (now the RepTrak Company). She is a past chair of the global executive board for the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). She currently serves on the board of directors for the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, where she leads the North American Regional Council and is the New Technology Responsibility/AI Director. Caver is the Vice Chair for the Global Communication Certification Council (GCCC) and leads the IABC Change Management Special Interest Group, which has more than 1,300 members. In addition, she is heavily involved in the global conversation around ethical and responsible AI implementation and led the Global Alliance’s efforts in creating Ethical and Responsible AI Guidelines for the global profession.

Brent Carey is an award-winning communications executive and corporate storyteller who has been helping organizations connect with their stakeholders and achieve successful business outcomes for more than 30 years. During his career in corporate communications, he has practiced the complete range of the profession’s disciplines, including internal/HR communications and employee engagement, recruitment marketing, issues management and crisis communications, public and media relations, marketing communications and government relations. Brent is currently Vice President, Communications, at Mattamy Asset Management (the parent company of Mattamy Homes), based in Toronto, where he leads the corporate communications function and a small, impactful team that provides strategic planning and execution across Mattamy’s operations in Canada and the US. Brent has also held communication leadership roles with KPMG International, Deloitte Canada, CIBC, TD Bank and Imperial Oil. In 2004 he earned the Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) designation from IABC and in 2024 was recognized with the prestigious IABC Canada Master Communicator Award, an accolade bestowed upon select professionals who have demonstrated exemplary contributions to the field of communication. Brent graduated from York University in Toronto with a double honours degree in Communications and English.

Martha Muzychka, ABC, MC, speaks, writes, listens, and helps others do the same to make change happen. Martha is a strategic, creative problem solver seeking challenging communications environments where we can make a difference. She helps her clients navigate competing priorities and embrace communication challenges. Martha offers strategic planning, facilitation, consultation services, writing and editing, qualitative research, and policy analysis. Her work has been recognized locally, nationally, and internationally with multiple awards.

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Communication leadership takes many forms, each requiring its own set of skills and vision. At its core, it involves leading a communication team—setting direction, fostering talent, and ensuring excellence in execution. On a broader scale, communication leaders play a critical role in guiding the entire organization’s messaging, advising executives, and shaping the narrative both internally and externally. Beyond the organization, communication professionals often step into industry leadership, setting standards, sharing best practices, and elevating the profession as a whole. Whether managing teams, advising the C-suite, or championing industry progress, communication leaders are essential in building trust, driving alignment, and advancing both organizational and professional goals.

Four Fellows of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) discussed the qualities of communication leadership during the most recent Circle of Fellows panel. During the hourlong conversation, you’ll discover how communication experts drive alignment, build trust, and shape culture from the inside out. You’ll gain practical strategies and fresh insights from industry leaders, equipping you to influence decisions at the highest levels and make a measurable impact on your organization’s success.

About the panel:

Russell Grossman, DipPR, ABC, FRSA, FCIPR, FCIM, IABC Fellow, has been a communications practitioner for nearly 40 years and a UK Senior Civil Servant since 2006. He recently stepped down from his position as the Director of Communications at the UK Rail Regulator, the Office of Rail and Road, and head of the Government Communication Service (GCS) internal communications profession. He’s a non-executive director of the “Engage for Success ” movement, which aims to advance employee engagement, and a sponsor for both the GCS Fast Stream and GCS Talent. Russell and his long-suffering wife of 38 years are blessed with four children (one of whom also works within GCS) and five grandchildren.

Sue Heuman, ABC, MC, IABC Fellow, based in Edmonton, Canada, is an award-winning, accredited authority on organizational communications with more than 40 years of experience. Since co-founding Focus Communications in 2002, Sue has worked with clients to define, understand, and achieve their communications objectives. Sue is a highly sought-after executive advisor, specializing in leading communication audits and strategies for clients across all three sectors. Much of her practice involves a strategic review of the communications function within an organization, analyzing channels and audiences. She creates strategic communication plans and provides expertise to enable their execution. Sue has been a member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) since 1984, which enables her to both stay current with and contribute to the field of communications practices. In 2016, Sue received the prestigious Rae Hamlin Award from IABC in recognition of her work to promote Global Standards for communication. She was also named 2016 IABC Edmonton Chapter Communicator of the Year. In 2018, IABC named Sue a Master Communicator, the Association’s highest honor in Canada. Sue earned the IABC Fellow designation in 2022.

Mike Klein is a communication leader with experience spanning corporate, political, and NGO communication, focusing on internal communication and the social dynamics of organizations and societies. Mike is the founder of #WeLeadComms, the world’s largest recognition program for communication leaders, a former IABC EMENA Regional Chair, and the author of “From Lincoln to LinkedIn”, a guide to understanding and influencing social communication in enterprises and communities. He is based in Reykjavik, Iceland, and has lived in seven countries. He has driven communication programs in major organizations, including Shell, Maersk, and Cargill, and holds an MBA from the London Business School.

Robin McCasland, IABC Fellow, SCMP, is Senior Director of Corporate Communications for Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC). She leads the company’s communications team and the employee listening program, demonstrating to senior leaders how employee and executive communication add value to the business’s bottom line. Previously, Robin excelled in leadership roles in communication for Texas Instruments, Dell, Tenet Healthcare, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe. She has also worked for large and boutique HR consulting firms, leading major communication initiatives for various well-known companies. Robin is a past IABC chairman and has served in numerous association leadership roles for over 30 years. She was honored in 2023 and 2021 by Ragan/PR Daily as one of the Top Women Leaders in Communication. She’s also received IABC Southern Region and IABC Dallas Communicator of the Year honors. Robin is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and a Leadership Texas alumnus. Her own podcast, Torpid Liver (and Other Symptoms of Poor Communication), features guest speakers addressing timely topics to help communication professionals become more influential, strategic advisors and leaders. She resides in Dallas, Texas, with her husband, Mitch, and their canine kids, Tank and Petunia.

Raw transcript

Shel Holtz: [00:00:00] Well, hi everybody and welcome to episode one 18 of Circle of Fellows. I’m she Holtz. I am an IABC fellow. I am also Senior Director of Communication at Webco in San Francisco, and I am joined today by four of my colleagues in the, uh, college of Fellows at IABC, uh, to talk about leadership, uh, in the communication profession, which, uh, is one of those topics that’s both a, a mile deep and a mile wide and cover a lot of ground here.

Uh, so, uh, I’m gonna ask each of our participants today to introduce themselves, uh, going walk wise as I see you on the screen. Um, Mike, uh, we’ll start with you and welcome to your first, uh, livestream Circle of Fellows, one of the 2025 class. [00:01:00]

Mike Klein: Thank you very much. She And indeed, I am a newly minted IABC fellow.

Um, I am based in Revic Iceland, where I have a practice mainly focused on internal and nonprofit communication. Um, used to do political campaigns in the States before I went an internal, um, back in the nineties, um, working mainly across the Atlantic with different clients and groups there. And I’m also the editor in chief of Strategic Magazine, which can be found at Strategic Global.

Shel Holtz: Great. Thanks, Mike. Uh, Sue, you’re up next.

Sue Heuman: Hi everybody. Good to see you all. Just to underscores the I in IEBC with the crowd that’s here today, Bruce. From all over the place, Sue Human from, uh, Edmonton, Canada. I am a co-owner of a little boutique, uh, communication agency for the past 23 years. Uh, we do work [00:02:00] mostly in, uh, all three sectors, but mostly in, um, websites, strategic communication.

Um, we organize a lot of conferences too, which is just a, an interesting side gig. Um, but ha, happy to be here and especially with the esteemed group.

Shel Holtz: Thanks, Sue. Uh, Robin. Hi. Good to see you. Hello.

Robin McCasland: Hi everybody. Uh, I’m Robin McCaslin. I’m senior director of Communications for Healthcare Service Corporation.

We are the largest customer owned health insurer in the United States. We now have more than 26 million members across the country. Um, and in addition to our, uh, typical health products, we also, uh, are in the Medicare and Medicaid space. We offer through some of our subsidiaries and other entities, life insurance, dental, vision, you name it.

So we are got the health space covered and I am in Dallas, Texas, USA.

Shel Holtz: Great. And that leaves Russell.

Russell Grossman: Hey there. Well, uh, so I’m Russell Grossman. Uh, [00:03:00] I’m in London. That’s London, England. Uh, and I’m the director of communications at the UK Rail Regulator. I’m also director of the Government Communication Service.

And in fact, I’ve just also stepped down, uh, after 12 years as the head of profession for internal communications across the UK government. Um, never a dull moment here in, uh, government as you would expect from, uh, any government. But my specializations, I suppose, uh, tend to be towards a topic today, communications, leadership, internal communications, and organization development.

Shel Holtz: Excellent. So I do want to, uh, let those of you who are watching, uh, in real time, and I can see that there are some. Some of you out there that you are invited and, uh, encouraged to participate in this conversation. There is a field where you can enter a question or a comment or an observation, uh, and I’ll be able to display that on the screen and the panel will be able to weigh in on it.

[00:04:00] Uh, always, uh, fun component of. These conversations is, is bringing in the folks who are watching. Uh, so let’s start this conversation from a, a, a, the, the 40,000 foot perspective. Uh, when we talk about leading communication, this could be the chief communication officer leading the entire communication function in an organization.

It can also be a manager who has two people reporting to them and multiple layers above them. Part of a larger organization, uh, handling communication in a function. It could be leadership at an agency. Uh, you could be leading your own consultancy as, uh, some of you are, uh, and as I did for 21 years. Uh, but, um, all of these require certain.

Traits, uh, certain characteristics for people who are aspiring to leadership [00:05:00] in communication. What traits should they be nurturing, uh, and, and building?

Robin McCasland: Oh, uh, start with emotional intelligence. If, if that’s not something that comes naturally to you, cultivating that, um, being able to demonstrate authenticity, a sense of humility, um, all of those things will help, um, will help the people who report to you or the people who are paying attention to you to feel a sense that you are honest, that you sincerely care, um, and that you have their best interest in mind.

Sue Heuman: Yeah, that’s an interesting point, Robin. I feel like there’s two sides to this question. One is the people leadership, which you’ve touched on, but then there’s also the communication practice leadership where you’re staying abreast of the latest, uh, innovations in technology and practice. And you are helping to guide your team toward being their [00:06:00] very best every day.

So I feel like there’s two sides to this question. Perhaps agree. I say

Mike Klein: there are three sides.

Russell Grossman: Uh, I would say one of the interesting things about communications, I think is that. It’s a discipline or, or a practice that most people, even if they’re not in the discipline or practice, think they know a lot about.

Uh, and in some cases that is true and in other cases it’s not. But just picking up on Robin’s humility point, I think it is important for people aspiring to communications leadership to be able to spot whether others in their organization who are non communications practitioners actually know a lot about the practice.

And if that’s the case, to respect that and to have the good grace, uh, to, to, to, to look at that, uh, particularly, uh, regard that as important if you’re looking, uh, with leaders, many leaders achieve their leadership, be in, in an organization because they are good communicators. And if they’re good communicators, they probably [00:07:00] know something innately or otherwise about communications.

So that humility point and good grace, I think is really important in terms of the kind of skillset that you should be aspiring to.

Mike Klein: Mike. Any thoughts? I think there’s actually three elements to it. One is, you know, the extent to which we can develop ourselves as leaders in a, in, in a corporate context. You know, leading a function, interacting with leaders, those relationship piece. But there’s also a separate piece around what I call communicational leadership, which really focuses on maximizing the value and impact that we can deliver uniquely as communication professions.

And, you know, we can talk about that in some length, like later in the conversation, but I think there’s, you know, a clear distinction be made about, about leadership within the hierarchical context and then the leadership role that we [00:08:00] have through the work that we do.

Russell Grossman: I’ve always seen communications leadership as pointing it in kind of four directions.

Um, you’re obviously, you know, if you have a team, you’re obviously leading that team. Um, if you are counseling seniors, then you are leading them in the practice. Uh, if you are part of an organization like A A, B, C, when you have a leadership out to the profession. And then I think for peers who are non communications practitioners, there is a leadership role there, which allows them to understand the value of communications, uh, which is a leadership role that we often need to pedal.

I would say, um, in order that people do understand that the value of our practice, um, has, has value.

Robin McCasland: And I had another thought related to what you were talking about, Russell, which is. Many people who are not in our profession, but many people are promoted into roles in their organizations because of their technical [00:09:00] skill or what engineering, whatever it might be that they do.

But if they don’t have the other skills, then that be, can become a weakness for them. Um, and it, I’ve been talking about this with my own leadership and some others that I work with in my own organization and my team where there’s an opportunity to help that because communication in my estimation, and there are a lot of research studies and white papers and whatever, and it’s like, it’s so critical to ultimately how successful you can be.

Um, and so I just, I’ve seen it happen and I’m sure you all have as well, where somebody got promoted ’cause they were brilliant in one area, but when it came to communication, they were not, it was not, it did not come innately. They were introverted maybe, or maybe they’re just like, that’s not part of my role, that’s not why I was promoted.

And it’s like, oh, but it is part of your role now. And I think that’s something that they need to develop.

Shel Holtz: Well, as an interesting point, Robin, I’ve long wondered about the, the issue of, [00:10:00] of managers as communicators in organizations, as, as part of the process. Uh, I mean, I think they’re vitally important, but most managers were promoted based on their achievements as individual contributors.

They don’t necessarily have management skills, uh, which would include communication, which makes it a challenge to communicate consistently, uh, through managers. So, so I’m, I’m, I’m wondering how y’all think about the notion that being a communication leader means taking some accountability, some responsibility for the cultivation of, of managers, or a culture of managing in an organization.

Russell Grossman: I think that’s spot on shell. Uh, I think one of the things that we ought to be doing in communications leadership is understanding where individual managers in the organization are or, or are not [00:11:00] in their own communications leadership. The further up the, the, the, uh, the management entry you go, uh, the more likely it is that you need to be a good communicator.

Uh, incidentally, I, I’ve never described myself or people in my practice as communicators. Uh, my own view view is that the communicators are the managers. And as you observe in an organization, those people who have, if you like, being promoted for technical reasons, but not for their managerial ability, spotting those people out and if you like, triaging them, uh, based on the needs of the organization and reaching out to them to see how they can be assisted by you, I think is really quite important.

Yeah, teach ’em those soft

Shel Holtz: skills. Uh, any other thoughts on that from, from anyone? Sure. I mean,

Robin McCasland: no, go ahead, Mike. Go ahead.

Mike Klein: No, you go ahead. Okay. So I’m somebody who’s [00:12:00] always been a bit skeptical about the emphasis placed on the communication role of managers, because I often see, particularly in internal communication circles, a desire to default to management communication, because a lot of people believe that there’s research that says that managers are the preferred source of information.

Now, managers are a critical source of communication, particularly when employees feel insecure about certain things, about their jobs, about their work arrangements, about, you know, what’s going to impact them based on, you know, different agendas that they’re hearing about. But at the same time, I think. As much as it’s important to support managers in becoming more effective at communication, one of the key ways we do that, and it’s not emphasized nearly enough, is the extent to which we try to reduce the communication burden on managers to the absolute [00:13:00] minimum so that they can be used as effectively as possible.

And, you know, the stuff that’s not requiring a manager’s involvement gets shifted to other channels that are better safe for that.

Robin McCasland: That’s a, that’s a key point, Mike. And, and yeah, I understand and, and agree with what you’re saying. We also have looked at, like in my own organization, it’s a pretty large company.

We look at different surveys that are conducted, um, periodically throughout the year, and we look at. The how senior somebody is. So you’re an individual contributor, you’re a manager, you’re a director, you’re a vice president, whatever. We look at all these different things, um, and then we look at employee feedback about where you see a dip, where you see those leaders not buying into something or complaining about something.

And then we see same thing with individual contributors and in the open-end con uh, comments and how they’re responding to questions. It’s like there’s a gap. So you’re right. Maybe part of it is, is that the burden needs [00:14:00] to come off him. On the other hand, there’s still a very strong, uh, belief among rank and file employees that it’s like, I want more from that.

I need more from my supervisor or my leader. I’m not getting that. And it’s not, or it’s not being communicated. News is not being communicated consistently from that leadership level.

Sue Heuman: And so what you all are describing in my view, is really the role of the strategic communication leader within an organization.

You’ve picked up on those little pieces that need work, perhaps in the organization, individuals who need support, um, you know, corporate materials and things that can be used as templates and, and guidelines for them, whether or not you’re going to use the cascade method, which is a much debated, um, and time honored method of communication in an organization.

But all of these tactics in my mind really underscore the role of a pr, uh, strategic communication leader within an organization. [00:15:00] And that’s what we do. We assess the situation, we find the right tools and methods, we support people in leadership. That is the job of our strategic communication leader in my view.

Shel Holtz: I would, I,

Russell Grossman: go ahead, Rustin. And I was just, I’m just reflecting, uh, on what is the defactor role of that strategic communications leader to point out to the c the C-suite, perhaps managers a little bit further down the organization who could become even better leaders if they were better communicators.

Not necessarily with their teens, but perhaps for the organization, senior spokespeople, for example. Uh, or the way that they may interpret change, um, in transformation programs within their organization. Um, and I, I think one of the things about communications practitioners is we often have, particularly at a morethe level, but not necessarily so, not exclusively.

So we often have the run of the organization to be able to do that rather than if in a sense just, just be stood in our [00:16:00] box. And I think since we’re talking about communications leadership, I think that that proactive. Leadership from communications practitioners into the C-suite, I think is an a value add that we bring, even though we may not be asked for it all the time.

Shel Holtz: Yeah. My, my view on managers as communicators is that they are interpreters. Uh, they understand the situation on the ground where they work, uh, better than anybody else, uh, and are better positioned to explain change, for example, to their employees. How is this gonna affect us in this team? Uh, and they need to be equipped with the resources to help them do that.

Not just the training to help them communicate effectively in general, but the resources to help ’em communicate this. Change. Uh, for example, we have two manager publications that come out of the department where I work. One is monthly, [00:17:00] uh, and it’s called Manager Talking Points. And it starts with three or four bullets saying these are things that we would like you to emphasize with your teams in the month ahead.

Uh, and the other is, uh, is called manager briefing. Uh, they come out as needed and they’re single topic FAQs to help them answer questions that their employees may bring to them around, uh, a given change. Um, and I think. That if we’re going to be asking our managers to service translators or interpreters of messages are, are, are delivered, uh, from the, the top down, we need to be adept at doing that ourselves.

Uh, if you are the manager of, say, the intranet and you have two or three people who report to you, uh, isn’t it just as important that you be good at translating these messages, interpreting what’s coming from above so that people know how it affects them? [00:18:00] Uh, having those soft skills, uh, in, in your toolkit,

Russell Grossman: it’s even more important because actually it’s difficult to be a light unto others if you’re not a light unto your own un your own team.

I think it’s really important. Yeah.

Shel Holtz: By the way, uh, du Martin, whom I met at conference, uh, in, um, Vancouver, uh, in, in June, says, uh, love the idea of manager talking points and employee FAQ sent frequently, not just as is needed or when there’s a crisis. So there’s

Russell Grossman: that. You knew you knew when you’ve met Du Martin.

Martin.

Shel Holtz: That’s right. No question about that. Um, Sue, I, I, I, I wonder based on some conversation we had had before, uh, about how important it is if you are aspiring to a leadership role to, to speak the language of, of leaders. Uh, you know, I, [00:19:00] since we all come up as individual contributors and what we do is sort of a, a crafty, um.

Uh, occupation. By that I mean we’re engaged in the craft of writing and producing collateral and things like that. Uh, we tend to speak the language of that craft. Um, and, and when promoted, you know, you go into leadership and you talk about hits and, and views and, you know, letting and kerning and what have you, uh, that does not resonate, uh, or inspire a lot of confidence in, in your leadership abilities with, with leaders.

So what do. Communicators need to understand about speaking that language of leadership.

Sue Heuman: Yeah, absolutely. Shell, you know, I started going to IBC World conference, I don’t know, like 25 years ago. And, and even before then, the, the topic of, you know, how do we get a seat at the table? I mean, my goodness, it’s still.

Is discussed today. Um, and the [00:20:00] real answer is demonstrating your value to senior leadership. And then to do that, you need to speak the language of business. So you need to be able to talk about, uh, performance metrics and measurable objectives that actually contribute to the organization, not just to your comms plan outcome, right?

You have to be able to say, this is how we’re gonna move the needle on important issues for the organization. You need to talk about ROI, you need to talk about investment. So using the language of business when you’re in those boardroom meetings or in your correspondence with senior executives really demonstrates that you understand.

What keeps them awake at night and the, how communication is contributing to solving those issues.

Robin McCasland: And the, the thing I would add to that, um, I coach some other organizations that come to me in various ways within the company. ’cause they wanna understand that better. So they’re not people in my own organization necessarily, but what I always remind him is too, is [00:21:00] beyond everything that Sue said, which I agree with wholeheartedly, is leaders are different.

Um, maybe they’re not, but I mean, they’re, they have their own responsibilities and things that they have to deal with on a daily basis. And so when I’m coaching people on how you’re gonna approach this, I’m like, okay, if they tell you, you. Their assistant or what tells you you have 30 minutes, assume you have 15 and you better get to the point out front.

Like, like in our organization, I’ve said this before, we use Axios Media Smart brevity for how we communicate with employees works really well. They’re, they are totally down with it. We’ve been doing it for almost six years. Um, but when you’re presenting it’s the same thing. It’s like, don’t go in shelter.

Your point where it’s like, you know all the stuff and you’re so involved in it and you’re so passionate about it and you’re like, I wanna tell you everything and all the back step to how we got to this recommendation. And it’s like, no, tell me up front what your recommendation is and then gimme the key points about how, why this is gonna matter to a senior leader, how it’s going to impact the organization cost.

All those things that are critical. [00:22:00] And then you have all that detail in the back of your head. So when you only have this few minutes, ’cause you wouldn’t inevitably get cut short. You can answer those questions, but it’s like you have to learn to think differently about how you are when you are in the presence of a senior leader.

Sue Heuman: This is so true, and I can recall a few years ago I was asked by, by, uh, someone in the C-suite who had to make a presentation to their colleagues at the boardroom table, and they were told they could only have six slides. They came to me with like 30 slides and I helped them edit it down to six slides.

Got to a point, the, the manager had all of the detail, to your point, Robin, as as sort of back pocket notes. But when you are presenting to senior leaders, get to the point, get to what’s, what’s in it for me from their perspective. Um, and, and don’t talk a lot about hits and, you know, communication metrics.

Talk about how you’re gonna help them solve their problems.

Russell Grossman: In order to do that and assume, uh, Robin, [00:23:00] absolutely. Right. Of course you need a good insight into what their problems are, and particularly if you are in, say, a technical business, um, one similar to mine, I suppose, uh, which is mostly focused on a kind of engineering and regulation and the like.

You need to understand the language of that business specifically. And the earlier that you can do that, the earlier you can make an impression. Uh, and, uh, it is interesting to see how people do respond much more positively when you talk to them in their own jargon, uh, but obviously in a way that you understand it,

Mike Klein: acknowledge in your own.

Managing your own onboarding is absolutely critical in that, in that type of situation, because no one’s necessarily going to teach you that lingo. And particularly if you’re coming in from another organization, you may be very well trained in standard business terminology or, you know, standard KPIs or standard issues.

But if you’re moving into something [00:24:00] that’s, you know, for example, rail regulation as, as Russell’s been involved with, you’ve gotta be able to learn those specifics quickly and you can’t necessarily expect the person above you to train you in all.

Shel Holtz: Yeah. Although, you know, with the, the, the coaching trend in management, uh, I think there’s an increasing expectation that a manager will do that.

Uh, but, uh, two, two quick thoughts. One, uh, and this. I, I was glad to hear you say this, Sue. Uh, I was just listening to a podcast, uh, on my drive home yesterday, uh, in which Christopher s Penn, I don’t know if, uh, you all know Chris Penn, uh, just sort of casually mentioned, uh, ROI and, and made the point that if you’re talking about ROI, you’re talking about money, uh, don’t use that term if you’re not talking about money.

And I think a lot of, uh, communicators tend to use it very generically as this is the benefit that is accrued as a [00:25:00] result of what we have done. This is the ROI of our campaign. And if you say that at a board table, uh, when you leave, uh, they’re gonna go, he doesn’t know what ROI is. Right? Is there a very specific accounting formula for, for ROI, uh, and uh.

The other thought was just a, a quick story that I, I feel compelled to share, uh, based on the, the, the conversation about CEOs and what they want to talk about. I did have a CEO once where, uh, and this was many, many years ago, um, but it was a Fortune 400 company. And I took in the, the tissues for the design of the annual report that year.

Uh, and what we were looking for was his, uh, buy-in into the theme, uh, and the concept, uh, that was going to anchor everything that we were going to write in the annual report. And he put on his reading glasses and he looked at it very carefully. I was sitting there with the designer next to me and he looked [00:26:00] up and he said, there’s too much space between the lines.

This, this was the CEO who actually did care about the wedding. Uh, there, there was one.

Sue Heuman: I, uh, I actually had somebody try and re read Lauren Ipsum once, uh, presented a concept. So, yeah. What language is this? Um, it’s not,

Robin McCasland: yeah, we, I worked with the CEO once a long time ago. Well, when, that long ago. Uh, where, um, and he literally said this, when communication was written for him, um, you know, we would do, you know, single space, da da da, da da.

And he’d go in and he’d be like, I don’t know who’s writing this, but there needs to be two spaces between sentences. And we politely tried to explain that. That ended a long time ago. And he goes, no, no, no. I was in the AV club in high school and I, and I learned about journalism too, and I know, and we were just like, oh my God.

So we literally, I love that word. Literally, we sent out his messages with two spaces. We didn’t do it in anything [00:27:00] else, but that’s what he wanted. And we could not convince him otherwise. So.

Shel Holtz: That’s amazing. And,

Russell Grossman: and that also points to the issue. We, we talked quite rightly about, you know, understanding the language of your business and the language of business, but also if you are canceling senior leaders, CEO, the managing director, you need to know what also is bugging them at the, at the minor level, whether it’s the letting on the paper, whether it’s the font, whether it’s the color.

I once worked for a gentleman, uh, I wouldn’t say who it was, but he was a very senior person, uh, who insisted on a two and a half inch margin on the left hand side of all scripts that were presented to him so he could put what were called in the business inky blues together. And that’s how it was, and that’s what he wanted.

The point here being that if you, although these may seem minor irritants, if you don’t overcome those, you’ll never get to the bigger stuff that you want to cancel or advise on, because they will always be irritated by something that happens to be in their little [00:28:00] set of foils.

Shel Holtz: Important to get to know them and what their preferences are, uh, in, in terms of being strategic.

Uh, how important is it to accommodate what you know about executive biases and preferences, uh, versus being bold and, and going in with what you know will work as you’re aspiring to that seat at the table, which is a whole other conversation that we can have, uh, maybe we will. Uh, but if that, if that is the aspiration, uh, how, how do you treat your, your, your proposals, your strategic plans, uh, for the business?

Sue Heuman: I like to, uh, I like to present my very best work. Um, and then see if. It matches with the expectations of the leader. If the leader has something specific in mind, I try and understand why, what outcome are we [00:29:00] trying to achieve with that particular, whether it’s a tool, whether it’s a, a color of the rainbow, God only knows what is it you’re trying to achieve.

And then see if we can either compromise or at least have that person hear me. Um, you know, at the end of the day, it’s their money, honey. So, um, you know, if they really want you to do something, you know, and, and you’re, it’s not the best practice from your view and you’ve made your case, then you just kind of have to, you know, do it.

But I feel like you have to at least be heard, uh, and present things in a way that they will hear you and respect your expertise and give it full consideration before they make a decision

Robin McCasland: and everything aligned with the business direction and the prior, like everything you do. 99% of the time is tied to what the company is trying to achieve.

What’s the, what’s the business trying to achieve? What is this division trying to achieve? And showing that your communication is focused on those [00:30:00] opportunities to help support whatever it is they’re trying to achieve. Any, I won’t say anything else. There are times when you’re doing other things, but most of the time it’s aligned with what the business wants to achieve and that usually gets their attention.

Russell Grossman: I think this is a fundamental point. Um, actually, so the first rule of communications is to listen and, uh. Then to apply and through that to influence. And ultimately where I think you want to get to here is to influence your C-suite or your managing director or whoever it is, in what you believe is right, but also recognize from what I was also said earlier and the bit about good grace, that they may have some ideas which are possibly worth incorporating as well.

And so particularly if I go into a room and I have the opportunity to listen first rather than talk, I’ll always do that. ’cause it allows you to tailor your comments, remarks, approach to the audience, and through that come, come [00:31:00] at it to with them as a partnership. Uh, and through that then influence their influence, that partnership through your own ideas, what you believe is right, et cetera.

Uh, but I, I think it, it’s a, it is a fundamental issue in strategic communications that I don’t believe that we should go in and, uh, insist on an idea just because we think ours is the only idea.

Robin McCasland: I’ll add one thing of it, while Shell was saying was asking about it, but if you’re asked, so you’re doing what you’re doing right and you’re sharing what you’re sharing, um, and I’m sure you’ve all had these opportunities as well.

If somebody says, well, what about this? I have some off the wall. And it’s like, you have an idea. That’s when you speak up with that, you know, it’s not that you don’t have other opportunities, but it’s like they just opened the door for you. And if you have that idea you wanna push that you didn’t think would fly before, and it’s well articulated and again aligned with business, but maybe it’s a little atypical for what you would typically do, that’s the time to do it.

They’re [00:32:00] asking you, they’re inviting you for that feedback. Generally. I have found that’s a good time to do that.

Mike Klein: Well, there, there’s, there’s another way to go about it, particularly if you don’t have a lot of face time or conversation with, with the leader or with the leadership group. What I use sometimes, and I’ve, I’ve often had decent success with this.

Is draft something or prepare something from two different angles, angle one being what you think the leader will accept, what you think, you know, where you think their, um, same threshold is if you will, um, their comfort zone on a particular topic. So provide that version, but also provide an alternative version, which would be what I call the what would you do if you had that person’s role version, which would be a bit bolder, a bit more ambitious, and in a potentially could, um, in a provoke some sharper thinking or, [00:33:00] or or more ambitious positioning on their part.

What I found is when they see, and I wouldn’t do this all the time, obviously, but where they see the gap between the two. Either they’ll go in another direction or they’ll go at least somewhere between the more conservative version and the more ambitious version. Occasionally they’ll go with the more bitch ambitious version, in which case you as a communication leader have actually moved the needle in the organization.

Shel Holtz: Uh, we have a comment from, uh, Miko, uh, one of our regular viewers. Uh, good to see you Miko. Uh, thanks for all the great advice. Can you share your top communications tip for business leaders who are trying to forge partnerships with other organizations, whether businesses, schools, or community groups?

Community

Mike Klein: outreach,

Shel Holtz: each

Sue Heuman: I, you know,

Mike Klein: so comment about [00:34:00] listening is a really good starting point. What is it? They’re, they want get out of that partnership. Um, is it money? Is it sponsorship? Is it. Um, political clout, what have you. Um, because you know, once you get what they’re interested in, then you could figure out what it makes sense for you to contribute to, um, to help them achieve their goal in a way that forwards your agenda as well.

Robin McCasland: I would say also you meet a need that, you know, that maybe they haven’t even brought up. So, for example, I, and I realize healthcare is, is handled very differently in different countries, uh, in my organization because we’re in the health insurance space. Um, and I’m really proud of this. Our company has invested millions and I mean.

Millions of dollars in things that will support the community for people who, um, are underserved, who may not have access to health insurance or the opportunity to even have an annual physical or just get their vital [00:35:00] basic blood work, the basic stuff checked. We invest in areas where they have food deserts in other, to try to get more nutritious foods into areas where that’s a problem.

Um, we have. Spent a lot of money in the, in the states that we serve on free fitness courts that anybody can go to in a city park. We do. And we, and we mean what we say when we do that. Um, we, uh, our own government relations people go into the communities because they wanna understand if they’re trying to represent us at the federal level, they wanna understand and hear from people directly.

And they have good relationships with our, um, our, uh, plans that have relationships there. So, um, I think that’s something because you, you’re delivering something without even being asked, that’s gonna be real value add. Um, and that sets you up to be a good partner for future things that you may want to do with a community or they may want from you, but you’ve already proven yourself to be a really good, um, partner with that organization or with that community.[00:36:00]

Sue Heuman: And if you’re trying to be the one who is forging this partnership, which is kind of what I read in your question, I think that what you wanna start with is to figure out where your organization and the other are aligned. Whether it’s on values, whether it’s on services, perhaps there’s something that you do that the other organization needs, and there can be some reciprocity there.

So I think that, you know, finding alignment, uh, between the two organizations and seeing how we can help each other achieve our business or, um, social corporate goals, uh, can be a great way to start a conversation. So if you’re the one initiating for sure. Yeah,

Russell Grossman: I think my, um, top tip, my top comms tip would be be cautious.

Uh, do you know why you wanna do this to Mike’s point? And perhaps also ask the key question where, how, how the end of this project would you want to extricate yourself from it? Uh, some CEOs, MDs, et [00:37:00] cetera boards even go into this. And then over a perhaps short period of time, two or three years, you know, the CEO’s been run under a bus.

They, the board has changed and actually the strategic direction is no longer what it was. Or maybe the money is no longer there. So how, but you may have created an expectation, uh, in the business or the school or community group. So I, I think where before you go into something like this, just my, my top tip apart from be cautious would, would then be, just be careful to that, you know, that if you needed to pull out how you would pull out, and that might be, for example, establishing expectations right at the start.

Uh, that, you know, this may not be an open-ended thing. We’ll give it a pilot, we’ll try it for a year, maybe a couple of years, et cetera. I think that’s really quite important.

Sue Heuman: Yeah. And have a partnership agreement. You know, when you go into this, understand who’s doing what, what success looks like. To your point, Russell, how do you extricate yourself?

Um, you know, the expectations on both sides I think will [00:38:00] really set you up for a positive experience.

Shel Holtz: Yeah. Just a, a logistical point, some organizations have outreach managers. Uh, my organization does this is mostly for, uh, labor type groups and, and for underprivileged organiza, you know, uh, serv services that, um, serve the underprivileged and, and move them into the construction trades.

Uh, but they may have a lot of insights about how to build these partnerships. They may even have contacts for you. So if there’s somebody like that in, in your organization, maybe, uh, worth. Reaching out. Uh, and Miko offers his thanks for all of that. Many years ago, uh, there was a, a, an IEVC leader named Dean Landes.

Some of you may remember, Dean. Uh, he wrote an article, I think it was in the old communication World magazine, in which he said, uh, most leaders perceive communicators as hired guns. Uh, the folks [00:39:00] who are brought in to clean up the town after the mess has been made. Uh, we were not at the table. Uh, when the decision was made, uh, we were not able to provide counsel to say that this decision is going to have some, uh, serious negative repercussions that we need to prepare for or maybe even consider changing this decision.

Uh, how do you build the trust with the senior executive team in an organization so that they want your input at the time the decision is being made and not after.

Russell Grossman: I think a lot of, a lot of the things that communications leadership is founded on is relationships, uh, both at the individual level and at the group level as well. So, um, you know, what is your reputation as an individual practitioner in the organization, but beyond that, how many people do you personally know, and particularly people in the [00:40:00] organization of influence, uh, what did they think about your performance?

How did they regard you? Do you know this, um. Uh, my, my, my experience of, uh, and I’ve worked in 13 different organizations in a, uh, world year plus year career, uh, I is that you, you go into an organization and, and, uh, you, you are aiming always to do the things that I’ve just described, but also get to a physician where you can influence the organization at the right level in the right time.

Uh, and that also means that if you see something, which could have happened, if you’d have been in the room, but you weren’t in the room, don’t be afraid to come back afterwards and say. If I’d have been around, you have to temper how you say this, but if I’d have been around my, the result, there would’ve been different.

Um, and that requires a certain degree of boldness. It requires a certain degree of courage and a certain degree of [00:41:00] chutzpah that equally, if you are too timid and you just, you and you just stay in your box, and I know that’s a theme that I mentioned before, then you are not going to be the best communications leader for that organization.

Robin McCasland: I, I, I would tack onto what you’re saying, Russell. ’cause I was thinking about several examples while you were saying that I have seen instances where somebody I work with, maybe my boss, maybe me, maybe my peers, um, who have had the opportunity to advise and the advice was not taken at all. And then when things went awry as we thought they might, some will come back and go, but what, why is this, why are they, why is this audience upset?

And we’re like. As we said politely and respectfully, it’s like the reason we suggested this once again is X, Y, and Z. And I have found sometimes that when those things happen and they’re like, okay, you’re back at the table and we’re paying closer attention because of what happened previously. And I hate that anybody gets [00:42:00] burned in those situations, but sometimes that’s a good opportunity to say, remember when And yeah, sometimes that helps.

Sue Heuman: I remember, uh, one of the times that I was invited to the, uh, the big table as a participant. Um, the CEO wanted me there. The other executives were not sure they were, it wasn’t personal. It was just they’d never had someone, uh, from a communication, leadership perspective sit at the big table. So I had to agree that I wouldn’t quote vote on anything because that was their purview and not mine.

However, after only a couple of meetings where I sort of heard what they were talking about, a new initiative or something, and I chimed in with some, you know, perspectives from either the audience or the employee perspective, um, and just said, you know, something you might wanna think about after the time they started to look to me every time they presented something to see if I had a reaction or a [00:43:00] perspective to bring from an audience.

So I think that if you can demonstrate your value that way, if who can reflect the thinking or the, uh, perspective of your audiences, that’s often something that leaders at the C-Suite don’t think about as they’re trying to mush through the, the mechanics of their proposal.

Mike Klein: I think if you can put actual data behind those, um, those instincts and those inclinations, then you’re doing something that they wouldn’t be able to or wouldn’t have the inclination to do.

I mean, you know, where I’ve been successful in organizations, it’s been a combination of responsiveness and meeting, you know, meeting their expectations, especially initially and proactivity, particularly in terms of bringing hard data to the table that says, you know, this is what people are thinking, this is what they’re saying.

This is the extent to which they’re aligned with where you are, et cetera. And not just numbers, [00:44:00] but also hard hitting quotes from actual people that can tend to have a positive impact or at least a decisive impact on some of the conversation.

Robin McCasland: We, Michael, we, yeah, we do that. On the reg, we have quarter, uh, quarterly dashboards that go in depth about things like town halls that have happened over the past quarter.

Other communication, the open-ended feedback. Um, we do monthly dashboards. That’s on internal external reputation management, all the things that that communications touches. Um, and we do our own surveys twice a year outside of what HR does to get that, not only have the employees answer questions, but that open-ended feedback is the best stuff and we always summarize that and that information is available for senior leaders and is shared with them and used to advise them on future communication opportunities and maybe what we can do better or maybe what we do more of.

Or maybe instances where it’s like now you shouldn’t communicate right now. Like we use it for all those things. And um, yeah, it’s been [00:45:00] effect took us a little while to get it up and running, but now it, in fact, that function is part of my team and I’m really proud of that group ’cause they turn on a very good product and we also get great data from the rest of our organization and it matters.

It makes a difference in how we interact with the leadership that we work with.

Russell Grossman: It does make a big difference. And having that discipline of knowing that every quarter you have promised your board, uh, a, a dashboard, know you have that discipline of making sure that you know how good you are, but also whether are, whether are deficiencies where you need to improve.

It’s not just a question. And you definitely, we don’t want to go just to your board with all the good stuff because otherwise I’ll ask, okay, this is the good stuff, but where’s the stuff that you haven’t given us? And so the, and I think that that giving, giving that warts and all approach, this is assuming that your team is, is good.

Of course, giving that watts and all approach also engenders trust by the board of the communications team. And that’s important as well.

Shel Holtz: I, I Russell [00:46:00] you, you talked at the beginning of this, uh, conversation about, uh, building the relationships in order to build trust with, uh, the leadership team, uh, and identifying who’s influential.

How do, how do you do that? How do you figure out who has the influence among the organization’s leaders for, um, you know, the, the, the, the tone of communication or, or, uh, you know, the issues that we’re going to address that?

Russell Grossman: Well, how do you do that? I think that’s a key skill of anybody that is, uh, leading communications, is to understand the people in the organization, uh, to understand what their history in the organization is, uh, to know what their preferences are, how they get on with their teams, what their teams say about them, uh, where their, where their past, uh, successes and failures, uh, in the business have been.

How their own peers regard them. Uh, when I was at the BBC, which I think is long enough, long enough ago, [00:47:00] 25 years to be able to talk about it now, uh, we, we ran an exercise called cryptonomics, uh, which we got a, an ex, an external organization, uh, coming in to find out how different parts of the BBC regarded each other.

Uh, the results were, were fascinating, uh, but having that kind of knowledge, I think is fundamental to be able to operate, uh, in an effective way as a communications leader. And it also, of course, informs, uh, how you, how you want to. Uh, conjure relations and influence with the right people in the organization.

What you don’t want to be doing, particularly as a senior leader, is spending a lot of time, uh, with people frankly, that have less influence. Uh, that’s not to criticize those people. They are probably very hard working people providing value in their organization. Uh, but the people that you want to be, you wanna be spending time with are those that provide, that have the influence in the organization.

Why? Because ultimately you are delivering value for the organization by [00:48:00] doing that.

Sue Heuman: You go ahead. Yes. Just, just gonna say, I think you can also check the body language, uh, around the board table. So the people with influence are the ones where when they speak, people sit up and pay attention. Uh, and so you want to try and understand sort of who’s who in the zoo there.

And it’s not always a hierarchical thing in terms of who has influence. Sometimes it’s the. The lawyer, the corporate lawyer at the table has the influence, or sometimes it’s the, um, chief financial officer. So just check body language and see who’s paying attention to who. And that will give you an insight as to who actually listens to their beliefs.

Yeah, I’ll, I’ll give you a

Robin McCasland: great example. I think a great example, um, when I worked for a major HR consulting firm, um, one of our clients was a global hotel company. They run hotels all over and they have low end hotels, high end hotels, all the things. Um, and they were trying to actually support their employees at all [00:49:00] levels who were not necessarily participating in the benefits available to them in the country, their medical opportunity, their, you know, other things that the, the company would offer.

And so we did a lot of listening. We looked at their surveys. We paid attention to behaviors that we saw and we were interacting with people. And what we figured out in this case was that some people at um. Lower levels of the organization, but that are absolutely critical of the organization. Like housekeepers in their hotels, trusted the head housekeeper.

They didn’t try to, their man. It wasn’t that the management had done anything janky. They just, they trusted the head housekeeper. And sometimes depending on the corner of the world they were in, um, language was an issue, but they always trusted that housekeeper. And so one of the things we did is we said, we need you.

We tapped them to help be the influencers for, look, these things are available to you. This doesn’t cost you anything. They just didn’t understand it and they didn’t know who to listen to, but that was who they listened to. And so we did that [00:50:00] and then they saw their enrollment go up, which you know, is an expense of the company, but that’s what they wanted.

They wanted to support these people, not have as much turnover, offer them all the things of good so that they could build their own careers there. And that’s, that’s how we did it. But it took some paying attention first to go. Who’s influential? It was head housekeepers. It wasn’t a management, it wasn’t senior leadership.

It wasn’t a corporate spokesperson. You gotta pay attention.

Shel Holtz: I wanna talk about the table for a minute. I telegraphed this earlier. Uh, we had an episode of Circle of Fellows some time ago. Uh, Jim Koski, uh, was one of the participants, and he mocked the table. Uh, he, he said, uh, where is this table E? Exactly how big is it? Uh, his view is that being at the table, uh, is not nearly as important as being the person that the leader wants to pick up the phone and call before the meeting at the table ever occurs.

Is, is this [00:51:00] something you would agree with and, and what do you need to do to become that kind of person?

Sue Heuman: You need to be a trusted advisor. You need to be the trusted advisor that the CEO goes to, presuming it’s the CEO who, who wants to speak to you, um, ahead of the meeting. And you need to be able to offer insights and perspectives that maybe they haven’t hadn’t thought of.

Um, and then if you do that, uh, then there’s a better chance that not only will you have, you know, the CEO’s ear prior to the meeting, the CEO will probably call on you during the meeting to offer your insights for the benefit of the group.

Russell Grossman: Jim Lucas Shefsky, uh, is amazing. I remember first coming across in Malcolm, precisely, I know when it was.

It was in Chicago in 2002, and I couldn’t believe that he managed to lead a whole session basically off the back of a business card. Uh, and I, he, I think he’s, I think he’s right. My, my, my, my, uh, conclusion. Uh. After many years practice [00:52:00] is that you don’t need to be at the table, but you do need to be round the table.

Uh, sometimes communications practitioners are most effective when they are in the room, but not part of the group because that allows us to hold a mirror to the group without actually having, uh, if you like, the, the leg in the group that prevents us. Doing something different. Um, and to the trusted advisor point, which sue’s absolutely right on.

You have to do your legwork in the organization, uh, in order to be a trusted advisor. It’s all the things that we’ve talked about today, and it’s knowing the business inside are, it’s understanding who the influences are. Uh, it’s understanding what the CEO is worried about, whether it’s the small things or the big things.

And it’s also being able to see round corners. It is having enough nows to be able to see things, if you like, from a distance that often the board can’t see because they’re right in the middle of the, might be a crisis rather in the middle of the situation. And if you’re a trusted advisor [00:53:00] sufficiently to be able to do what I describe as be the gr in the oyster without being the pin in the balloon, but also the gesture at the court of klia.

In other words, know when you can make a suggestion that is. A little bit radical, but not so radical that people decry it and say the things that nobody else wants you to, what nobody else wants to say.

Mike Klein: Well, I think there’s, I think there’s also another piece around not necessarily seeking your own seat at the table or seeking the CEOs.

You’re right away. Uh, sometimes you need to build up your standing within the organization by focusing on getting some allies around that table first. I mean, in an organization that’s got an operating board on an executive board, chances are there are at least one, probably two people to start with who have some demand for your services.

Whether it’s getting their agenda point up on [00:54:00] the, up on the priority list, or getting their profile up in the organization, having a couple of allies on at that table. Particularly if they’re not your boss is definitely going to help accelerate that process to being a trusted advisor. ’cause you’ve got a couple of people on that table who see you as one to begin with that’s potentially gonna soften the CEO up.

I mean, there’s a lot of focus on us having direct influence with the CEO, which is a great thing. But having direct influence with people who value your, um, your contribution initially can help you get that and maybe an easier focus when you start.

Shel Holtz: I think we have time for, for one more topic. Uh, and let’s look at those communication leaders who are maybe lower in the communication structure, managing a team within a communication function.[00:55:00]

What do they need to do to be able to move up that hierarchy if they aspire to? Run a communications function at the most senior level.

Sue Heuman: I think they need to demonstrate that they have the managerial skills, the leadership skills, to be part of the overall group who can look outside just the communication function and look at the entire business, um, and see how you can offer insights or, um, opportunities, training, coaching, whatever it may be.

Um, you know, to really sort of advance your, your ability to influence the organization.

Robin McCasland: And I think listening upfront is really important. So if you are new to an organization or you’re more recently out of school or whatever it might be, don’t come into any situation thinking you know the answer or trying to demonstrate you, you know the answer.

I think listening to people [00:56:00] first and understanding. Their pain points, where they’re coming from, what they perceive the issues to be, because you’ll learn a lot that you might not have picked up on otherwise. That helps a lot too, because people remember that and, and then when they see it acted upon in how you’re communicating or what you’re supporting as a communication professional, they’re more likely to go, she listened to me, he listened to me, and this is what I saw as a result.

Now you’re starting to gain more influence in people trusting you. So when you’re in that leadership role and you say stuff, people believe you, um, and are ready to go with you. I hate to say into battle, but they’re ready to go with you when you are working on something significant because you’ve already demonstrated that you’re paying attention to them and you care about what they care about

Russell Grossman: and to progress in that way.

I think you need three things, grit. Tenacity and resilience, uh, grit because you need to knuckle down and be prepared to do work and sometimes work quite hard, uh, [00:57:00] in order to achieve what, what it is that you’re trying to achieve. Tenacity, because, uh, you need to be, you need to hold on and you need to.

Continue with it, even though it feels that, uh, you know, it feels that it may at times be a lost cause. Often it isn’t. And resilience, because there are times when you will be knocked down, uh, verbally, uh, hopefully, uh, not physically. Uh, you will be knocked down in the organization and you need to have resilience to get up and recognize that.

Uh, saying that I often have is that six outta 10 is success because you, uh, recognize that you can come round for the other four. Um, if you attempt to achieve everything in one go, then sometimes, uh, you will exhaust yourself. You will drop out and it just won’t happen. So, grit, tenacity, and resilience.

Mike Klein: If I were to just add one thing, it would be to focus on asking good questions rather than coming up with great answers.

’cause [00:58:00] particularly if you’re more junior in your career, you have a lot more permission to ask questions. And if you ask questions that are noticeably good, people will notice the quality of the questions and they’ll notice your confidence in being willing to ask them. And that’s, you know, and pretty much any conclusion that you can come to in life.

You can always rephrase as a question, so if you don’t feel you have the permission to propose answers right out of the box, being able to ask good questions visibly is a good way to move up the lab.

Shel Holtz: I have always operated under the philosophy that my job is to make my boss look good. And, uh, I have found that works really well.

I continue to, uh, uh, abide by that. One other point I wanna make very quickly, uh, as we wind down, I think this was out of the UUSC Annenberg School survey. Um, I would wanna [00:59:00] verify that before I committed myself to, to that citation. But the study indicated, uh, that a rather large percentage, more than half of the communication, I think it was managers that were surveyed, uh, did not know what their company’s business plan was and had had not read it.

Um, and, and I just found that staggering. I don’t know how you can aspire to a leadership role when you don’t dunno what the path is. Your company is on. Uh, so, uh, yeah, that, that’s, uh, that is a song Back to that Understanding Management. Um, I, I wanna thank everybody for your time and your insights today.

This has been a terrific conversation. I do, uh, also wanna thank, uh, Anna Marie Willie for, uh, all of her, uh, hard work in coordinating these sessions every month. Uh, and she has assembled a great panel for August. Uh, this, uh, episode one 19 on Thursday, August [01:00:00] 21st, uh, at 4:00 PM Eastern Time. Uh, we bounce these times around to accommodate the time zones of our fellows.

Our topic, uh, in August is, uh, sustaining sustainability. How do we keep it front and center? Our organizations, uh, panelists in, in this episode will be, uh, ZOA artists, uh, out of Australia. Uh, Brent Carey, uh, from Canada, Bonnie Caver from the us and Martha Muzyka from Canada. So another, uh, international contingent.

Looking forward to that one. Uh, hope to see, uh, all of you who watch Live next month. Uh, thanks everybody. It’s been great.

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Episode 117 is the first-ever live webcast of the monthly IABC Circle of Fellows. IABC Fellows Shel Holtz and Brad Whitworth moderated the session, an interactive conversation with a panel of nearly a dozen Fellows from around the globe, including members of the 2025 Class of Fellows. The discussion was wide-ranging, covering topics including top communication challenges for the rest of the 20202s, AI, disinformation, and much more.

The Fellows panel – collectively representing hundreds of years of communication expertise – will also take questions from the audience, both in-person and online. Here’s your chance to pick the brains of some of the world’s brightest and most experienced communication leaders during this lively, informative, fun, and fast-paced webcast.

The Fellow is the highest honor IABC bestows on members who have had a significant impact not only on their organizations and IABC but also on the communication profession. Just over 100 IABC members have earned this designation since its inception in 1970.

About the panel:

In addition to eight Fellows in the audience who contributed answers to audience questions, three of the five new Fellows were on stage. They included…

Bonnie Caver, SCMP, is the Founder and CEO of Reputation Lighthouse, a global change management and reputation consultancy with offices in Denver, Colorado, and Austin, Texas. The firm, which is 20 years old, focuses on leading companies to create, accelerate, and protect their corporate value. She has achieved the highest professional certification for a communication professional, the Strategic Communication Management Professional (SCMP), a distinction at the ANSI/ISO level. She is also a certified strategic change management professional (Kellogg School of Management), a certified crisis manager (Institute of Crisis Management). She holds an advanced certification for reputation through the Reputation Institute (now the RepTrak Company). She is a past chair of the global executive board for the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). She currently serves on the board of directors for the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, where she leads the North American Regional Council and is the New Technology Responsibility/AI Director. Caver is the Vice Chair for the Global Communication Certification Council (GCCC) and leads the IABC Change Management Special Interest Group, which has more than 1,300 members. In addition, she is heavily involved in the global conversation around ethical and responsible AI implementation and led the Global Alliance’s efforts in creating Ethical and Responsible AI Guidelines for the global profession.

Laurie Dawkins, ABC, MC, SCMP, Fellow, is vice president of Communications & Engagement with the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), one of the largest public sector health-care organizations in western Canada. She leads a team of close to 50 communication professionals in delivering timely, strategic and meaningful internal and external communications, media relations, crisis communications and C-suite counsel to meet the needs of more than 29,000 employees and 5.5 million citizens who turn to PHSA for specialized health-care services provided by BC Children’s Hospital, BC Cancer, BC Emergency Health Services, the BC Centre for Disease Control, and more. Laurie has more than 25 years’ experience in the communications industry, and holds the professional designations of Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) and Strategic Communications Management Professional (SCMP). In 2017, she was delighted to be named a Master Communicator of Canada (MC) by the IABC-Canada. She has hands-on experience in partnering with First Nations and Indigenous leaders to co-create communication strategies that are foundational to PHSA’s organizational vision to “Boldly create an equitable, anti-racist and culturally safe health care system where everyone thrives.”

Mike Klein is the Editor-in-Chief of Strategic Magazine, Founder of #WeLeadComms, and a communication consultant specializing in internal and social communication based in Reykjavik, Iceland. A former US political consultant, Mike shifted direction toward internal communication while pursuing his MBA at London Business School. Since then, Mike has been one of the leading voices for empowering communication professionals, and advocating a focus on internal influence and social connection as drivers of communication, integration and performance. His 2011 book, From Lincoln to LinkedIn remains relevant as organizations recognize that personal credibility and connection are critical to communication success in a world where content volumes are increasing and instability flourishes. Raised in Chicago, Mike has lived and worked in seven different countries, and is also a Fellow of the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence and the Institute of Internal Communication.

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One of many career paths in the field of professional communication leads to colleges and universities: It is not uncommon for communication practitioners to move from the conference room to the classroom, where they help mold the next generation of communicators. All of the panelists participating in episode 116 of “Circle of Fellows” have chosen that path and will discuss the various dimensions of teaching — including making the transition from the business world to the hallowed halls of academia.

The session was recorded on Thursday, May 22, 2025, with John Clemons, Cindy Schmieg, Marck Schumann, and Jennifer Wah. Shel Holtz moderated.

About the panel:

John G. Clemons, ABC, APR, IABC Fellow, an independent communications consultant based in North Carolina, has held senior executive and consultant roles over the course of his career in corporate and organizational communications. He has special expertise in providing strategic counsel and support for top executives and corporate offices of Fortune 500 companies. John has served as chair of IABC and holds accreditations from both IABC and PRSA. John has worked with Walmart, Raytheon, and Marriott (among others). John has been an adjunct instructor for six years at the University of North Carolina Charlotte and Loyola University in New Orleans.

Cindy Schmieg is an award-winning strategic communicator. Her 30+ years of corporate, agency, and consulting experience focuses on making the communications function strategic within an organization. Cindy now teaches online in the Communications Master Degree program at Southern New Hampshire. She has served in many IABC leadership roles and is today a member of the IABC Audit/Risk Committee and Pacific Plains Region Silver Quill Award Committee, as well as assisting on the IABC Minnesota Annual Convergence Summit.

*Mark Schumann,* PCC, ABC, IABC Fellow, is a certified executive coach who teaches in the NYU Master’s program in executive coaching and organizational consulting. He is the co-author of Brand from the Inside and Brand for Talent. Mark has served as VP Culture for Sabre, Director of Graduate Communication Studies at the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College in New York City, and as a managing principal and global communication practice leader at Towers Perrin. He was IABC’s chair in 2009-2010 and won 17 Gold Quill awards.

Jennifer Wah, MC, ABC, has worked with clients to deliver ideas, plans, words and results since she founded her storytelling and communications firm, Forwords Communication Inc., in 1997. With more than two dozen awards for strategic communications, writing and consulting, Jennifer is recognized as a storyteller and strategist. She has worked in industries from healthcare and academia to financial services and the resource sector, and is passionate about the strategic use of storytelling to support business outcomes. Although she has delivered workshops and training throughout her career, Jennifer formally added teaching to her experience in 2013, first with Royal Roads University and more recently as an adjunct professor of business communications with the UBC Sauder School of Business, where she now works part-time to imprint crucial communication skills on the next generation of business leaders. When she is not working, Jennifer spends her time cooking, walking her dog Orion, or talking food, hockey, or music with her husband and two young adult children in North Vancouver, Canada.

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Misinformation and disinformation aren’t just problems for the news media—they’re also becoming critical concerns for corporate and organizational communicators. Whether it’s a viral post spreading false claims about your company, a deepfake video targeting a leader, a cloned voice trying to trick employees into transferring funds, or AI-generated content muddying the information landscape, today’s communicators must be equipped to navigate a world where truth competes with convincing fiction. In this live-streamed conversation, Fellows of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) explored how generative AI is accelerating the spread of false and misleading content—and what communication professionals can do to identify, counter, and prepare for it.

About the panel

Alice Brink is an internationally recognized communications consultant. Her firm, A Brink & Co., works with businesses and non-profits to clarify their messages and communicate them in ways that change people’s minds. Her clients have included Shell Oil Company, Sysco Foods, and Noble Energy. Before launching A Brink & Co. in Houston in 2004, Alice honed her craft in corporate settings (including The Coca-Cola Company, Conoco, and First Interstate Bank) and in one of Texas’ largest public relations firms, where she led the agency’s energy and financial practices. Alice has been active in IABC for over 30 years, including as chapter president, district director, and Gold Quill chair.

Sue Heuman, ABC, MC, IABC Fellow, based in Edmonton Canada, is an award-winning, accredited authority on organizational communications with more than 40 years of experience. Since co-founding Focus Communications in 2002, Sue has worked with clients to define, understand and achieve their communications objectives. Sue is a much sought-after executive advisor, focused on leading communication audits and strategies for clients in all three sectors. Much of her practice involves a strategic review of the communications function within an organization, analyzing channels and audiences. She creates strategic communication plans and provides expertise to enable their execution. Sue has been a member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) since 1984, which enables her to both stay current with, and contribute to, communications practices. In 2016, Sue received the prestigious Rae Hamlin Award from IABC in recognition of her work to promote Global Standards for communication. She was also named 2016 IABC Edmonton Chapter Communicator of the Year. In 2018, IABC named Sue a Master Communicator, the Association’s highest honor in Canada. Sue earned the IABC Fellow designation in 2022.

Juli Holloway is an Indigenous communications practitioner specializing in professional communication in Indigenous contexts. Throughout her career, Juli has been fortunate to work with First Nations and Indigenous organizations in British Columbia and across Canada to support transformative change for First Nation communities and people through strategic communications and community engagement.

Juli is the communications advisor at the Tulo Centre of Indigenous Economics. She leads communications, designs, and delivers a communications curriculum in university-accredited programs designed to advance Indigenous economic reconciliation. She is also an associate faculty member at Royal Roads University, where she teaches in the MA in Professional Communications program. In 2022, she earned the Outstanding Associate Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence in the MA Programs in 2022 for her innovative pedagogical methods. Juli is Haida and Kwakwaka’wakw and has been a guest on the traditional lands of the Secwépemc for 17 years. She belongs to the Skidegate Gidins, an eagle clan from the village of Skidegate on Haida Gwaii, and the Taylor (nee Nelson) family originating from Kingcome Inlet, home of one of the four tribes of the Musgamagw Dzawada̱ʼenux̱w.

George McGrath is founder and managing principal of McGrath Business Communications, which helps clients build winning corporate reputations, promote their products and services, and advance their views on key issues. George brings more than 25 years in PR and public affairs to his firm. Over the course of his career, he has held senior management positions at leading strategic communications and integrated marketing agencies including Hill and Knowlton, Carl Byoir & Associates, and Brouillard Communications.

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We are swimming in data. Are we using it as effectively as we could? Join four Fellows of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) for a lively discussion on leveraging data to enhance organizational communication. In this episode of Circle of Fellows, our panel will explore how communication professionals can use data to shape strategy, measure impact, tell better stories, and drive better decision-making across all communication disciplines. Whether you’re tracking audience engagement, demonstrating ROI, or using AI-driven analytics, understanding data is more critical than ever.

On Thursday, March 27, four Fellows of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) gathered to discuss data in communications.

About the panel

Adrian Cropley is the founder and director of the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence, a global training and development organization. For over thirty years, Adrian has worked with clients worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies, on major change communication initiatives, internal communication reviews and strategies, professional development programs, and executive leadership and coaching. He is a non-executive director on several boards and advises some of the top CEOs and executives globally.

Adrian is a past global chair of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), where he implemented the IABC Career Road Map, kick-started a global ISO certification for the profession, and developed the IABC Academy. Adrian pioneered the Melcrum Internal Communication Black Belt program in Asia Pacific and is a sought-after facilitator, speaker, and thought leader. He has been a keynote speaker and workshop leader on strategic and change communication at international conferences in Canada, the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, China, India, Hong Kong, Thailand, New Zealand, and Australia. He has received numerous awards, including IABC Gold Quill Awards for communication excellence, and his Agency received Boutique Agency of the Year 6 years running.

Adrian is the Chair of the Industry Advisory Committee for the RMIT School of Media and Communication and a Fellow of the IABC and RSA. In 2017, he was awarded the Medal of Order of Australia for his contribution to the field of communication.

Robin McCasland, IABC Fellow, SCMP lis Senior Director, Corporate Communications, for Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC). She leads the company’s communications team and the employee listening program, demonstrating to senior leaders how employee and executive communication add value to the business’s bottom line. Previously, Robin excelled in communication leadership roles for Texas Instruments, Dell, Tenet Healthcare, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe. She has also worked for large and boutique HR consulting firms, leading major communication initiatives for various well-known companies. Robin is a past IABC chairman and served in countless association leadership roles for more than 30 years. She was honored in 2023 and 2021 by Ragan/PR Daily as one of the Top Women Leaders in Communication. She’s also received IABC Southern Region and IABC Dallas Communicator of the Year honors. Robin is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and a Leadership Texas alumnus. Her own podcast, Torpid Liver (and other symptoms of poor communication), features guest speakers addressing timely topics to help communication professionals become more influential strategic advisors and leaders. She resides in Dallas, Texas, with her husband, Mitch, and their canine kids, Tank and Petunia.

Leticia Narváez, ABC, is CEO and Founding Partner of Narváez Group, a consulting firm focused on Strategic Communication, Employee Engagement, Corporate Reputation, Social Responsibility and Communication Training based in Mexico City. A 30 years experienced professional, she held management top level positions at Sanofi, Merck, American Express and Ford Motor Co. among others. She builds communication bridges with the utmost excellence standards. During her career path, she has been at the forefront of divestitures, mergers and acquisitions, diversity leadership, issues and crisis management, team and leadership development, strategic planning and senior executive consulting. She has been a speaker at international forums, is co-author of several books and manuals on business communications and has written a large number of articles on the subject. Leticia has a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and Public Relations from the Latinoamericana University, a Master Degree on Digital Communications from Cantabria University and a Postgraduate Diploma on Top Business Administration at the Panamerican Institute of Top Business Administration – IPADE-.

Angela Sinickas is the founder of Sinickas Communications, which has worked with companies, organizations, and governments in 32 countries on six continents. Her clients include 25% of the Forbes Top 100 largest global companies. Before starting her own consulting firm, she held positions from editor to vice president in for-profit and government organizations and worked as a senior consultant and practice leader at Hewitt and Mercer. She is the author of a manual, How to Measure Your Communication Programs (now in its third edition), and chapters in several books. Her 150+ articles in professional journals can be found on her website, www.sinicom.com. Her work has been recognized with 21 international-level Gold Quill Awards from IABC, plus her firm was named IABC Boutique Agency of the Year in 2015. She holds a BS degree in Journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MS in Leadership from Northeastern University.

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As the digital age continues to evolve, communicators face unprecedented challenges in maintaining ethical standards. Recent incidents, from a PR agency spreading false stories about a client’s rival through social media channels to a New York Times reporter’s alleged breach of privacy within a private WhatsApp group, the challenges to ethical behavior are mounting. Add to that the ethical implications of using artificial intelligence in content creation, with discussions focusing on the balance between innovation and ethical responsibility, and the need to define our ethical foundations couldn’t be clearer. Our panel fellows explored these timely issues, offering insights and guidance for communicators striving to navigate the complex ethical terrain of today’s communication environment.

About the panel:

Diane Gayeski is recognized as a thought leader in the practice and teaching of business communications. She is Professor of Strategic Communications at the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College and provides consulting in communications analysis and strategies through Gayeski Analytics. Diane was recently inducted as an IABC Fellow; she’s been active in IABC for more than 30 years as a featured speaker and think-tank leader at the international conference, the author of 3 editions of the IABC-published book, Managing the Communications Function, and the advisor to Ithaca College’s student chapter. She’s led more than 300 client engagements for clients, including the US Navy, Bank of Montreal, Fiat, Sony, Abbott Diagnostics, and Borg-Warner, focusing on assessing and building the capacities and new technologies for workplace communications and learning teams.

Todd “Tosh” Hattori — Leveraging 20+ years of leading in-house communication functions within a variety of organizations and industries, Tosh shifted his career focus toward helping organization leaders address business challenges by setting and implementing organizational excellence strategies. He is currently the continuous improvement lead for F5, Inc. where he leads Lean Six Sigma practitioners who collaborate with cross-functional teams to eliminate waste and establish consistencies that deliver exceptional employee and customer experiences; and organizational change management practitioners who help employees navigate shifts in organizational processes and practices to achieve functional and enterprise success. As a passionate advocate of his rich Japanese heritage, Tosh serves as the F5 Asian & Pacific Islander employee inclusion group co-chair, raising awareness of the rich and diverse Asian and Pacific Islander cultures, beliefs, and perspectives within the F5 workforce; and helping members and allies advance awareness and understanding within our communities to achieve support, safety, and success.

Jane Mitchell’s career began at the BBC in London on live TV programs. She moved on to producing award-winning films and videos for public and private sector organizations and developed groundbreaking employee engagement programs. Since 2006 when she formed her own consultancy, she now guides organizations, (some of which have experienced cultural trauma), with embedding values and ethics through understanding culture and leadership and their link to high-performing sustainable organizations. She has worked with Top 100 companies across the world, is a regular conference speaker and writer, and is a Director of two highly successful UK-based agencies. Jane has been a member of IABC since 2008 and has had the privilege of serving on local, regional, and International IABC Boards. She is currently Chair of the 2021 World Conference and was awarded the honor of IABC Fellow in March.

Caroline Sapriel is the founder and managing partner of CS&A International, a specialist risk, crisis and business continuity management firm. Focusing on helping multinational organizations build crisis resilience, she works with multinational clients across industry sectors globally. With 30 years’ experience in risk and crisis management, she is recognized as a leader in her profession and acknowledged for her ability to provide customized, results-driven counsel and training at the highest level. Caroline is an accomplished trainer, facilitator and coach in risk, issues and crisis management as well as in communication skills. A Fellow of the International Association of Business Communicators, Caroline is a regular speaker on risk and crisis management at international conferences. She has published articles and co-authored two books on crisis management as well as contributed the chapter on crisis communication to IABC’s handbook of Organizational Communication. She lectures on crisis management at the University of Antwerp and the University of Leuven in Belgium as well as the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. Caroline is fluent in French, English, Spanish, Hebrew and Mandarin. She holds a BA degree in Chinese Studies and a BSc degree in International Relations from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The post Circle of Fellows #113: Ethics in Communication appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

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2025 is sure to present a new set of challenges for communication professionals. Solving them will require creativity, innovation, and new thinking (which is not something AI can do!). This team of Fellows from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) explored breakthrough thinking in a January 16, 2025, live stream, sharing ideas on how the creative process works. Discover how to find sources of inspiration while setting boundaries and allowing time for breaks. They shared thoughts about tools to push your thinking in new and innovative directions without exhausting yourself. Now is the time to learn the tips and tricks to fueling creativity even in the toughest moments.

About the panel:

Although Zora Artis began her career outside the communications field, she has had an outsize impact on the profession since entering it more than 20 years ago to as an account director and then strategic planner with branding and integrated marcomms agencies. Since then, she has led her own brand and communications consultancy and served as CEO of a 20-person creative, digital, and strategic communication firm. In 2019, formed her current management consulting practice bringing together strategic alignment, brand, and communication expertise. She has received five Gold Quill awards. Her significant contributions to the profession and the body of knowledge include her original research with IABC colleague, Wayne Aspland, on strategic alignment, the role of communications and leadership – the first substantial research effort for the reconfigured IABC Foundation – and co-authoring a subsequent white paper, “The Road to Alignment,” supported by 27 senior communicators from five continents. Zora has also researched the correlation between strategic alignment and experiences and the impact on stakeholder value and brand. This has led her to develop her own proprietary Alignment Experience Framework. She has also examined gender equity, perceptions, and bias in organizations, and wrote a chapter on this topic for the Quadriga University e-reader, Women in PR. Since joining IABC a decade ago, she has impacted IABC as a volunteer, including roles as chair of the IABC Asia Pacific Region and IEB director; she currently serves as the chair of the 2022 World Conference Program Advisory Committee. A certified company director, as chair of the IABC Audit and Risk Committee she introduced proper risk oversight to the board’s processes. Zora has been honored with the 2021 and the 2015 IABC Chair’s Award for Leadership and was named IABC’s 2020 Regional Leader of the Year. She is also a Strategic Communication Management Professional, Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute, and Certified Practicing Marketer.

Diane Gayeski is recognized as a thought leader in the practice and teaching of business communications. She is Professor of Strategic Communications at the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College and provides consulting in communications analysis and strategies through Gayeski Analytics. Diane was recently inducted as an IABC Fellow; she’s been active in IABC for more than 30 years as a featured speaker and think-tank leader at the international conference, the author of 3 editions of the IABC-published book, Managing the Communications Function, and the advisor to Ithaca College’s student chapter. She’s led more than 300 client engagements for clients, including the US Navy, Bank of Montreal, Fiat, Sony, Abbott Diagnostics, and Borg-Warner, focusing on assessing and building the capacities and new technologies for workplace communications and learning teams.

Andrea Greenhous’s life’s purpose is to improve the world of work. For over 30 years, she has helped organizations improve the employee experience and build workplaces where people thrive. As founder and president of Vision2Voice, an internal communications agency, Andrea and her dedicated team help organizations adopt a strategic approach to employee communications to achieve results. Andrea has led initiatives and transformation projects for Fortune 500 technology companies, large government departments, and organizations as diverse as construction, biotech, finance, and higher education. This has led to a signature approach emphasizing harnessing employee voices and amplifying their insights and ideas.

Andrea is a storyteller, a PROSCI-certified change leader, and Dare to Lead trained based on the work and research of Brené Brown. She is also a certified Fearless Organization Practitioner. She uses the tools and processes developed by Amy C. Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, to build psychological safety in teams. Andrea has been named one of the top 10 influencers in internal communications and is a frequent guest blogger and speaker at industry events.

Martha Muzychka, ABC, MC, speaks, writes, listens, and helps others do the same to make change happen. Martha is a strategic, creative problem solver seeking challenging communications environments where we can make a difference. She helps her clients navigate competing priorities and embrace communication challenges. Martha offers strategic planning, facilitation, consultation services, writing and editing, qualitative research, and policy analysis. Her work has been recognized locally, nationally, and internationally with multiple awards.

The post Circle of Fellows #112: Sparking Creativity: Ideas for Breakthrough Thinking appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

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The communication function offers practitioners a rare opportunity. It is one of the few roles in any organization involved in every aspect of the business. In this Circle of Fellows panel, you will hear international perspectives on how the role of communication extends beyond the exchange of knowledge and information. The panel shares thoughts on how communication fosters organizational collaboration and can be viewed as a cornerstone for professional success. Learn how the fundamental principles of strategic communication excellence can apply across different business sectors, underscoring its value in any professional context, and how effective communication enhances teamwork and innovation, drives organizational growth, builds trust, inspires change, and helps achieve results. A communication role can position the communications professional to influence, impact, and potentially lead other business areas. (Did you know that the late Intel CEO Paul Otellini was a marketer before ascending to the company’s top job?).

About the panel

Neil Griffiths, ABC, Chart.PR, IABC Fellow, is the Global Head of Diversity, Equality & Inclusion at ERM, the world’s largest sustainability consultancy, where he is responsible for the global DE&I strategy and engagement plan. Neil’s background is varied, having spent the better part of 20 years in a series of external, brand, strategy, and internal communication roles before moving into DE&I. Neil has held leadership roles in several public, private, and non-profit organizations. In the volunteer space, Neil has held multiple leadership positions within the IABC and the Company of Communicators (CoC), one of the City of London’s modern Livery Companies. Volunteer highlights include being an inaugural Global Communications Certification Council member, Career Roadmap Committee member, Chair of the 2018 IABC World Conference (Montreal), Past Chair of IABC’s EMENA region, and, as of November 2020, Junior Warden of the CoC. Neil is a recipient of the IABC Regional Leader of the Year, Rae Hamlin, and IABC Chair’s Awards. In 2019, Neil was named IABC Fellow, the highest honor bestowed on an IABC member. With co-author Deborah Hinton, Neil has published two studies on the current and future state of the communication profession and advocates for channeling your best communication self regardless of where and how you work.

Russell Grossman, DipPR, ABC, FRSA, FCIPR, FCIM, IABC Fellow, has been a communications practitioner for nearly 40 years and a UK Senior Civil Servant since 2006. He’s the Director of Communications at the UK Rail Regulator, the Office of Rail and Road, and head of the Government Communication Service (GCS) internal communications profession. He’s a non-exec director of the “ Engage for Success ” movement to advance employee engagement and sponsor for both the GCS Fast Stream and GCS Talent. Russell and his long-suffering wife of 38 years are blessed with four children (one of whom also works within GCS) and five grandchildren.

Martha Muzychka, ABC, MC, speaks, writes, listens, and helps others do the same to make change happen. Martha is a strategic, creative problem solver seeking challenging communications environments where we can make a difference. She helps her clients navigate competing priorities and embrace communication challenges. Martha offers strategic planning, facilitation, consultation services, writing and editing, qualitative research, and policy analysis. Her work has been recognized locally, nationally, and internationally with multiple awards.

Jennifer Wah, ABC, SCMP, MC, IABC Fellow, has worked with clients to deliver ideas, plans, words, and results since she founded her storytelling and communications firm, Forwords Communication Inc., in 1997. Her agency has won over two dozen awards for excellence in strategic communications, writing, and consulting; Jennifer is recognized as a storyteller and strategist. She has worked in industries from healthcare to financial services to academia and is passionate about the opportunity for stories to inspire actions and reactions within organizations. After serving as faculty with Royal Roads University, Jennifer was named an Adjunct Professor at the UBC Sauder School of Business, where she teaches business communication to future business leaders. A lifelong IABC volunteer at all levels, Jennifer most recently served as past chair of the Ethics Committee and is looking forward to welcoming all to the World Conference in Vancouver in 2025.

Raw Transcript:

Hi everybody and welcome to episode number 111 of Circle of Fellows. This is a monthly panel discussion of fellows of the International Association of Business Communicators on topics of interest to those of you working in organizational communications, PR, marketing, that type of thing. And I am Shell Holtz.

I am Senior director of Communications at Web Corp. We’re a commercial builder in California, headquartered in San Francisco, and I’m coming from home today in Concord, California. I have a great panel with me today to discuss an extension of last month’s topic. Last month we talked about executive communication.

Today we’re going to talk about communication and leadership, which is adjacent but not directly connected to last month’s theme. And I’d like there are our panel to introduce themselves. We’ll go clockwise as I see you on the screen that puts you first. Russell. Hi [00:01:00] there. I’m Russell Grossman.

I’m director of Communications at the UK Rail Regulator, the Office of Berlin Road. And I’m also the head of profession for internal communications for the UK government. In the context of today’s discussion I’ve been in my current role for nine years on my particular executive committee. And previous to that, have sat on various boards and executive committees of organizations.

Thank you, Russell and Neil. Hi everybody, this is Neil Griffiths. I’m coming to you from Saff from Walden in the uk, which is just outside Cambridge for anybody that has any ge geographical knowledge of the uk. I am global and Europe, DEI director for Kearney, which is a global management consulting firm.

I’ve been with them for the past 18 months prior to that. Spent a long time also in professional services, in the sustainability space, working in a variety of roles, not just in, in diversity, equity and inclusion but also a long background in [00:02:00] communication roles. Looking forward to the discussion.

Me too. Jennifer, you’re up. Hi everyone. I’m here in North Vancouver, Canada which is just across the water from Vancouver Proper, where the World Conference will welcome professional communicators from all over the world. Next June. I’m super excited to see you all here. My agency is called FORWARDS Communication, and through that agency I do work in strategic storytelling consultation with organizations.

I’m also an adjunct professor at the UBC Solder School of Business, where I teach business communications. Really looking forward to today’s conversation and Martha. Thank you. She, I’m Martha Zeka. I’m based in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, the east coast of Canada. I also like Jennifer sole proprietorship and independent consultant.

I do a lot of work coaching nonprofits as well as corporations working in the private sector [00:03:00] and a fair bit of board experience also at the not-for-profit level. So fair bit of engagement in terms of communications. I’m also a part-time instructor with the Gardner Institute School of Business at Memorial University, where we do ongoing professional development for people in business.

So it’s been a great opportunity to share the communications message and promote communications excellence. Thank you. And just a note to those of you who are watching live with us today. You do have the opportunity to participate in this conversation. You’re on YouTube there’s a place where you can enter your question, your comment, your observation and we’ll pop it up onto the screen and make it part of the discussion and really hope that you’ll take advantage of that because it makes these conversations more interesting when we’re able to talk about the things that you tell us you’re interested in.

Just to kick things off, I as a, as an avid fan of artificial intelligence asked [00:04:00] one of the AI models for examples of CEOs who got their start in communications. And it gave me an interesting first list. Chris Foster, who’s the CEO of Omnicom James Wright global, CEO of Red Haas Richard Edelman, of course, CEO of Edelman.

Chris Ruby Media Group and Julianne Richter head of Ogilvy. And I said, okay I can easily see how one might ascend to the leadership of a PR or advertising agency from within the ranks of that organization. Are there people who are running organizations that are not communication focused, that got their starts in communication and the model said, oh, sure.

Misha Dunna is CEO of Space Hive, a community fundraising platform, spent 20 years in communications. John Fallon is the former CEO of Pearson Global Publishing and Education Company. He had previously served as their Chief communication [00:05:00] officer and Sue Clark, former CEO of Sab Miller Europe transitioned from a background I.

In corporate communications to leading the European division of that beverage company. And where I work at Webco, our manager of outreach, a wonderful person I just love working with. She does all of our workforce development things like that. She’s new to this role. She had been in public relations and communications for about 15 years before that.

So making the transition seems to not be uncommon. What is it in your view about working in communication? And by the way, I should mention that the one that I knew before that and listed in the promotion for this episode was Paul Delini who was the CEO of Intel, who was the chief marketing officer there and came from a background in, in marketing.

So what is it about the communication field that lends itself to [00:06:00] moving into. Leadership roles that are outside the realm of communication?

I’ll start by saying everything. And I speak to my students about communications skill. These are business school students, and I speak to them about communication skills being the superpower foundation that they need to succeed in business because really the elements of understanding your audience linking it to the ability to link to the business objectives and communicate that with with through the right channel, with the right tone, et cetera, are all the hallmarks of, of great leaders and and frankly the leaders I’ve admired most shall to your set of examples or not most, but some leaders I’ve really enjoyed working with have been ones ones who’ve had a background in communications because they see the value of that of that superpower really. My experience is that leaders get to [00:07:00] be leaders either of one of two things.

They’ve either crawled on top of everybody else, shot others in the back and done dastardly things behind the scenes in order to crawl to the top of the leadership, or they are simply good communicators themselves. I myself often challenge the idea that we call ourselves communicators. Were, in my view, practitioners in communication, but the true communicators in a business actually are the leaders.

And as Jennifer says it’s something which is absolute the, these skills are absolutely fundamental to being a leader. And so perhaps it’s surprising that more people from the communication profession actually don’t end up in leadership. And I’m sure that’s something we can explore in the next few minutes.

And I definitely would like to explore that because it’s always struck me working in communications that we’re one of the few functions that has a good solid overview of pretty much every function in the organization. We have our fingers in everything. Neil, you had mentioned that there are [00:08:00] skills in communication that equip people with the tools that they need to become a business leader.

What kind of skills did you have in mind? Yeah, very much aligned with what Jennifer and Russell have already talked about. I think there’s, there are a few others in the organization that really understand how the organization works than the communication professionals in that organization in order to get our job done.

We, we need that collaboration and we need to understand how decisions are made. We need to understand, where the seats of power are. We need to really be connected to the organization in a way that other functions I just don’t think are. But then if you think about the fundamentals of what makes communication great, Jennifer referenced a number of them already, but that solid understanding of your stakeholders their needs their preferences how you’re gonna get to your outcomes.

I, I think that is just such a fundamental [00:09:00] capability that you can transfer beyond just the communication process, right? And you can extend that into decision making. You can extend that into operations. You can extend that into all sorts of things that, that leaders really need to grapple with.

But it’s that. If you think of the communication excellence model that IBC is so great at you can see how so many of those elements really apply across. And I think it’s that ability to have the vision because great leaders have a vision and can motivate and mobilize to create that positive response, that forward action.

But it’s not just about building the relationships, it’s also about seeing where those relationships are possible and in communications. When we look at storytelling and building those elements that tell a good story, it’s the same thing I find with communications, taking the different elements and highlighting who’s going to be, taking action, [00:10:00] who’s going to be leading, who’s going to be bringing up from behind to make sure that everything is heading in the right direction? And to me it’s about the relationships, it’s about the listening component and the collaboration. But it’s being able to translate that vision into action.

It’s also having a good judgment. Particularly being able to judge from a variety of diverse and apparently unconnected elements. So one of the things that we know about communications is that ultimately it’s an art. People will argue, I think, correctly, that it’s an art based on science, but it is an art because it involves humans who don’t always behave in the same way twice.

And that ability to bring these disparate elements together to form if you like, the patterns in the mess is something that we probably do most days and don’t think about naturally in communications. But it’s something that a lead, a good leader is able to practice and to put into and to put into action.

To, to good effect. And, Russell, sometimes I [00:11:00] think that communication professionals and those of us who have don’t know if it’s the way if our brains are wired this way to start, or and I guess it’s different for every person, but I sometimes find that we are the people in the room who can see that lay of the land, who can see that the connective tissue.

And I’ve experienced that as a volunteer around an IABC and other tables and around fundraising tables and executive leadership tables and tables of engineers where I have no idea what dialect they’re speaking. But but there is an ability, because of my communications, training and background to see where the river is going to run through the valleys and, and rise up rise up through mountains, et cetera. And I don’t really know where that comes from other than an ability to always be looking for that connectedness. I think there’s a level of curiosity in our profession that you don’t get in many other professions. I won’t mention HR or financeer specifically who tend to follow process rather than pragmatism [00:12:00] sometimes.

But it’s also true that when we apply ourselves in that kind of situation you just described, er, we also become the conscience of the organization. We see things that maybe others do see, but nobody else wants to point out. What I often call being the grit in the oyster without being in the pin in the balloon, but also the joker at the court of Klia.

And sometimes around the board table, my, my experience is sometimes it’s better not to be at the board, but around the board table if you’re part of the board, sometimes you are compromised in being able to call things out that you may not be if you are sat around the board table and not actually part of the board.

Neil, you were talking a few times about decision making as one of the outcomes that we get from our experiences as communicators. Certainly at the leadership level, it’s all about making key decisions about the future direction, the company, things like that. Where in communications does that decision making skill come from, do you think?

It does. It’s about the stakeholder analysis piece. Again, I think for me but [00:13:00] also when we’re developing really great communications, they’re grounded in research, I think there is a lot of instinct but we’re also great at really fully understanding the issues from a variety of perspectives.

And I think that skill and that capability. Sets us up to make really informed decisions and seeing different sides of it. So I think that’s probably where I’d come at this from. I think it’s also the ability to play a decision forward. Think about what’s gonna happen next, what are the consequences on our stakeholder groups.

And I think a lot of the time, in my experience and it speaks a little bit to what Russell just said about being the conscience. It’s helping the room that you are in, or the people around that table really understand what is the impact and are we really going to do we really fully understand from all perspectives what impact we’re gonna have?

It could be as simple as, okay, if we make [00:14:00] this set of promotion decisions right now, do we fully understand the impact of those who aren’t gonna be on, those who aren’t gonna be promoted? In the same way as are we about to acquire a company, what impact does that have on our operating environment, our diversity aspirations, whatever it is.

I think we’re just great at really considering all aspects of of the decision. Because we’re good at stakeholders, we’re good at research and we’ve got our foundation in that. And just to build on that, Neil when you talk about stakeholders, I think that’s not just external stakeholders, but internal stakeholders as well.

Absolutely. The way that we are communications is able to again, see those partnerships internally and see the op and see the opportunities. I don’t go into any client organization without asking my client. Okay, where are the change people? Who are the HR people? Who are, because those are the people who are [00:15:00] the DEI people.

Those are the people who also I know are going to see a clear path through a different lens. But whose work is going to elevate mine and vice versa. When I even think about, a few years ago I got to work with a really brilliant change enablement professional who really embedded me.

And I haven’t done pro sci training, but really embedded me in the whole ad car model around change management. And when you think about those elements awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement, all of those, and I think the change management people would agree, really rely ultimately on, on communication skills to move audiences and partners toward those various states to take people through change and transition.

Arguably again, communication communicators and and our partners are the ones moving organizations and communities of various sorts through those, through all sorts of [00:16:00] transitions. I think it’s really important to recognize that communicators also operate with various lenses. And it can be the DEI lenses, as Neil has highlighted.

It can be the stakeholder lens. It can be the research lens. If you look at policy development, program development, evidence-based decision making, where you take in data you also have to factor in the human data that you collect. And that’s why I think in terms of applying those lenses so that we can make good decisions and support good decisions, being able to have access to, what Russell highlighted that sort of innate curiosity of how does this work and why are we doing this and who else should be involved? Is there a different way that we could be doing that allows us to be effective communicators because you’re just not standing on a street corner and broadcasting a message over and over again.

There’s a whole process of engagement and understanding that [00:17:00] has to be in place in order for action to result. Yeah. I also think it, it’s important that we come to this without an agenda beyond supporting the organization and its goals. And people have biases when they make proposals or wanna make decisions.

And with that big picture to be able to say, but wait a minute, have you considered the impact on this group of this decision? And in terms of that big picture, I am reminded of a story Charlene Lee tells of a company. This was in the early days of blogging where they had started a couple of blogs and one of them was having a significant impact on their customer support.

People were getting answers by going to the blog rather than calling the customer support center. But in one of their blogs, they inadvertently violated a securities and exchange commission rule and were fined in the millions of dollars. And the lawyers. Immediately jerked [00:18:00] their knees and said, we need to shut this down.

That cost us X million dollars. And it was Charlene who stepped in and said, how much money do you suspect you have saved with the blog in terms of people getting answers and not having to call the company? And they said as we put pencil to paper, we estimate that’s in the $20 million range. And she said, okay, so you’re $15 million in the black.

You’re gonna shut this down. Why? Now, I think leaders, when they’re in the throes of the emotions around a decision, stop thinking about things like cost benefit analysis. And that objectivity in that big picture helps us bring that back to the table. I think you’ve just mentioned ahead, just, and I agree with that.

I think you’ve just mentioned shell, one of the factors and skills that we haven’t mentioned yet that you do need if you’re gonna become a leader, and that is the ability to work and manipulate data. Because ultimately as somebody said it, I think it was Liam [00:19:00] Fitzpatrick. If you come with data you leave with respect.

And I think as communications practitioners sometimes we tend to waffle and talk about words and commas and grammar and stuff like that. But ultimately at the board table, it is the data that the finance person, and the CEO is really interested in and have. If you’re able to do that effectively, that’s when I think you become a true leader of the organization.

Completely agree with that. And I think we can probably unpack that a little bit more actually. But I just going back to the point that you were making, shell, I think, when you spend years and years being the person who has to communicate and find ways of engaging people with the decisions and the, the like it or love it that, the way that the organization is going, I think you do develop a skill of saying, okay, hang on.

So you are deciding this. How are we gonna explain that? How are we gonna rationalize that? And I think just that process of going, [00:20:00] doing that for years and years does impact how you then in the moment very quickly can see whether or not something is a good or a bad decision. And I, I think that there’s a lot to that.

It’s something that develops over a long time. But I think we’re really good at it. And, sorry, just to quickly build on what you were saying not just how are we gonna explain it or rationalize it, but how are the people hearing it going to feel? And here’s the data about what we know about, the generalized data about what we know to anticipate they’re going to feel, and therefore, how should we adjust our message accordingly so that we can move people through this change or this transition, or this impact of some kind or another?

We do have a comment. Brian Kilgore shares a good PR person will spend much more time with customers and clients than will other executives at similar levels in hr, it, manufacturing, or even r and d. And I think that’s an excellent point. I remember I, I worked for a pharmaceutical company for a few [00:21:00] years and once a quarter.

I went out with a sales rep as he made calls on doctor’s offices. And I, you have no idea how valuable it was to hear directly from the doctors about how their relationship with the company was. Any thoughts on this?

Oh, I agree. I, when I worked in a large organization and I was probably one of the few senior managers who ate lunch every day in the lunchroom, and it was just a really good way to get a read on what people were thinking because, you could sit there and participate and contribute, but most importantly you could listen and get a sense of, what were the things that people liked?

What were the things that were perhaps not going the way they thought they would, or where there might be some misunderstandings. And it gave a sense you could, get a pulse on the organization. And I think if we can create those channels and those opportunities to talk to people about what’s [00:22:00] happening, you get a sense of that reality of how the organization is operating right at the ground level.

Yeah, I think that applies to internal communications as well. I did work when I was consulting with a big NGO in Washington, and they had a leadership board that ate lunch in a private dining room and never mingled with the employees except one. One of them came down into the cafeteria, grabbed a tray, knew all the cashiers by name and picked a different table to sit at every day.

The research showed that there was one leader in this organization that employees trusted not a big stretch to guess who that might have been among that leadership team. He really built those relationships. Leads to another good question is, for both internal and external relationships, how does a communicator go about building those in order to facilitate good communication, good collaboration.

For me, I think it’s [00:23:00] understanding what it is that they need, right? It’s that whole point of understanding the business or the organization, how it works how things get done ultimately. And that way you also find out the, where the win-win really sits. So when you are in a particular situation as a communicator or as a leader the what’s in it for them as part of whatever it is that you’re working on.

I’ve got change in mind, but what, I guess whatever it is that that it is that you’re working on. Yeah very true. And I think of the, the kind of little bit overused, but still still meaningful Mr. Rogers line, look for the helpers. And I think communication professionals are often seen that way.

And again, to my point, when I go into a client’s organization, I look for those allied professionals those folks who work in in similar fields to communications where where their goal is to both understand the impact on a group [00:24:00] and and. Take people through whatever they need to, whether that’s a process, a change, a towards something different, et cetera.

And generally when, when you find people in an organization who are like-minded in that way, working toward similar goals in similar ways you start to create community and alliances that amplify what we do. It’s also about being curious about people. I think it’s something that, again, as communications practitioners, we probably do more naturally, but to be curious about people, their backgrounds, what was their, what were their previous employments?

Possibly what’s their family background? What’s their cultural background? What do you know about them that you can relate to in a way that you can strike up a conversation, that you can remember things about them, et cetera. And I think, we all go around with kind of virtual rolodexes on what we know about certain people in a good way in order to both strike up and or, and then cement relationships sometimes over, over many years.

We work in a [00:25:00] profession where often you come across people that you may have come first across, years ago, and then you meet them again, perhaps in a different guise but you still remember things about them. I think that’s quite important. It is about being seen. I remember I once worked had this amazing supervisor who’s a leader of an organization and who kept a stack of note cards by her telephone.

And whenever she saw something that somebody had done or that she noticed, something that they had said or contributed to, she would write them a note. And acknowledge that contribution and the power of being seen was tremendous. And people would say, wow, I, I didn’t think that she would notice that I had done that.

Or, I’ve been doing this for years and nobody has said boo and now this person comes along and says, thank you. Or That was a great piece of work or whatever. So being seen and creating those spaces where people can be [00:26:00] acknowledged for their contributions, I think is part of how you build those relationships and build a community where people feel supported.

And that then when they are being given information that then they have the tools to start, putting that vision into action. So to me, I think it’s a combination of that big picture, but also those little things that add to the operations, the smooth functioning of an organization, both internally as, as well as externally.

Okay, so it’s the time of year when we’re all going to holiday parties and getting together with friends. That kind of rush where people say oh, we have to get together before the holidays, before the end of the year. And I’m sure that you all have been in a situation where you come back, you leave a gathering like that, and you think the, you think about all the things you learned about the people that you were speaking with [00:27:00] about a challenge they might have about their kids, about what they might want for Christmas about their pet, an upcoming travel adventure and the, and personal things as well as professional things Again.

Challenges there, something that’s stressing them at work. And often I come, also come away from those gatherings thinking, huh, isn’t it interesting that not that many people asked me that about me? Not that I care to be asked. I’m, I, like Russell says I’m a curious person, so I want to know those other people’s stories.

But I think part of it, Martha, to what you’re talking about is that kind of idea of holding space, of giving people room to tell and share their story in ways that, that we then can perhaps see a more meaningful thread or moment. Whether that’s recognizing someone for a little. Tidbit of something that they didn’t you know, they, that they didn’t think anyone noticed, or whether it’s just remembering a little detail of of, again, a person’s [00:28:00] life or their a conversation that you’ve had.

Holding space for that in our own brains and our own professional practice has a profound impact on the people and the communities around us. There was some fascinating research that was reported by a number of outlets back in August. This was from an organization called the Observatory on Corporate Reputation, which was a new one on me.

But what they did was, they examined the fortune thousand companies and found that roles of chief communication officers that had an additional role tacked onto it. So it was chief communication and blank officer had risen 88% since 2019. And outnumbered the total number of chief communication officers who only did communication.

And they’ve ranked the additional roles that these officers have. [00:29:00] Chief Communication and Marketing officer chief Communication and HR Officer, chief Communication and Sustainability, ESG impact chief Communication and Corporate Affairs Officer, chief Communication and Brand Officer investor relations, public affairs, and DEI all being added onto the CCO title.

Is this a way that organizations are saving money by not having additional people sitting around the table? Or do they see communicators as uniquely positioned to take accountability for these additional roles? I. I think this works in both directions. It’s interesting in terms of what you said, that all those titles began chief communications, and and that does suggest that the chief communi the communications element was the principle, although most of the ones you listed actually were also, and another communications discipline with the exception of hr.

But what I’m seeing is that you’re seeing communications and strategy put [00:30:00] together, for example or communications and corporate operations, for example, or in one or two cases communications and one or two operations of the business. And to your question, I think it I think it, it, when I say it goes both ways, I think either you can see that the communications partner’s been squeezed out and someone else has done it, or the opposite.

And in the opposite case, that’s often been down to the quality and the assertiveness of the person that was in the communications role to say. And to demonstrate that they can do more than simply communications, because communications is a more generic business function than the organization expected.

But this is where I think it’s also important that communications practitioners who are capable don’t just sit in their box to be communications practitioners. And demonstrating that either at executive level, around the board table or elsewhere in the organization is a space that we should be operating if we feel we’ve got the capability.

I’ll stick with you there for a minute. Russell, at what point then [00:31:00] would a communicator stop thinking of themselves as a communication practitioner and sort of transition into perceiving themselves as a business leader? I think it’s when they’re sat round, the board table, executive committee, whatever you want to say, and they’re thinking, hang on a second I could do that job as well.

Or, there’s nothing particularly special about that particular role that doesn’t include a lot of generic elements of my skillset that I could apply that. And I think I’ll suggest to the CEO that next time, for example, there’s a vacancy in that particular area. Maybe he or she wants to combine the two roles together.

And I think that’s probably the point. It’s a, I think it’s also a point in a person’s career which is about their confidence as well as competence in the organization.

Other thoughts on that? Anyone? If you work in the not-for-profit sector, you often get roles that are. Layered upon each other. And the one I [00:32:00] see most frequently is communications and fundraising. You also have, communications and community relations. So there’s part of that is driven by budget considerations because they recognize the need for that role, but they may not necessarily have the budget for a separate person.

So the communications function absorbs that as a better fit than perhaps other areas. But I think where you see the transition from a communications officer to a communications director or director of communications and strategy comes with that strategic higher level analysis that allows you to start applying the things that you have seen and gathered in your initial years in the role within the communications function to apply to other components of the business operation.

Think shell, to your question about is it which came first with regards to the el the the use of that title [00:33:00] and what it means for organizations. I observed during Covid, as did many of us, that that organizations, there was a reckoning among organization, amongst organizations, a realization that communications was perhaps more essential than they even realized.

And I said at the time that kind of, it was this spotlight on communication professionals. Professionals. It was our time to shine, to show up to really profoundly make a difference within organizations. And I would sus my own hunch would be that what you’re describing or what that research showed is a bit of organizations needing to perhaps performatively indicate to their audiences that communications is a foundational element of their organizational structure.

Now, I think that was an earned bit of performative titling perhaps. But I think that could be part of it.

I think another. Discipline where communications [00:34:00] has developed some expertise recently I would say over the last maybe 35 years or so, is technology. To some extent we’ve always been engaged with technology at some level. I remember doing press checks with blue lines, so I understood printing technology.

I carried a little book from International Paper called Pocket Pal wherever I went. But digital technology has really become the foundation of most of the communication work that we do. So we’ve had to become expert in that. I was recently invited to speak at a gathering of all of the IT people who work for companies that are owned by my company’s parent company.

Flew to Long Island and talked to a room of about 60 people about how we’re doing AI at Web Corps. Seems that. This is something that we end up doing quite a bit, which is branching out of communication into other areas of expertise. How do we leverage [00:35:00] that? And also how do we make the case for the kind of investment in that will, serve the goals of the organization and the needs of the communication function.

I think knowing the history behind communications in some respects. I remember being at one of the IBC conferences in London and we were asked to put when we used different things or acquired different things and how we applied them and just seeing how technology influenced the work that we did.

Previously when I first started communications, we used to hand deliver our news releases and then we adopted the fax, and then we had fax lists, and then we adopted email and listservs. And in terms of how technology functions in the organization, communications professionals are among the early adopters who, because.

We can see the efficiencies that result, but also because we’re curious, could this make our work better? Could it be faster? How do we make our presentations [00:36:00] more engaging? How do we share information visually to reach people in a different way other than the printed word? How can we share information across multicultural communities and so on?

So I think for me, the role in communic technology in communications is really how we can do things that will allow us to have greater impact. And to me, that’s fundamentally the question of why we will do something is what will be the impact? Can we make it better? Can we make work easier? Can we have a greater reach?

Can we foster understanding and uptake so that we get the results that we want in terms of the vision and the action for our employees and for our customers and for our clients? I think that’s where I was gonna go as well. Martha, I impact was the word that, that came up for me. And shell, I think you were asking, how do we somewhat make the case, right?

For either adopting something or pursuing a certain path from a [00:37:00] tech perspective. Again, comes back to what Russell said earlier about data, right? If you can bring the data in the room, I think you make a much more compelling case. But that has to be focused on the kind of impact that you are gonna have for the organization, for the communication process that you are, that this technology is looking to facilitate.

Neil, I’m gonna, I’m gonna pick on you for a minute because of everybody on the panel right now, you’re the one who’s not working in a communication role. You work for the DEI function. How did you make that transition because you were in. A communication role. I was so I was at my last firm at the time.

And it was a setup where really diversity, equity, inclusion wasn’t anyone’s primary focus in the organization. We I don’t think we were alone in that. There are many organizations that were quite progressive on this, but certainly more I would say that we’re in the sit, same situation that we were.

So it was a little bit side of desk for [00:38:00] me. But we knew it mattered and we knew it was important. And there were a group of us, it was led initially by one of the partners and HR directors. But she assembled a small team really of people who were willing to support.

And essentially I was really the communication business partner, if you will, to really get DEI off the ground when that partner left the firm. I was asked to just keep things going and progressively took on more and more. It, I do think going into DEI from a communication background is a really it’s an easier transition, I think than for many for a number of reasons.

I think a lot of the things that we’ve talked about before I was able to advocate for the people in the organization, the groups that, that needed to be visible. And that, I was able to use the communication skills to, to really keep the story central to all of the work.

But I was also very used to. Asking for the [00:39:00] organization to pay attention to this. I’d spent years and years trying to make the case for great communication in an organization for whether that was internal or external. And really the, it feels a little bit distant now ’cause it feels like we, we have this seat at the table as communication professionals, but for a long time we didn’t.

And we were used to making that case. And so going into DEI, which was then also making its own case, I was very at ease with that. And I wasn’t discouraged by the fact that we were trying to push on the door. That wasn’t all the way open yet. And so that really stood me in good stead, I think to drive this work.

And as I said before, just really understanding where this fits in, fit into the business, how it advanced the the aims of the business and how it improved life overall for not just the underrepresented groups, but for everybody. ’cause ultimately, DEI work is about improving the whole organization.

I think coming from a comms background really set me up for that. I would imagine that moving to DEI from [00:40:00] communications is easier than, say, moving to accounts payable. I would argue the same. But that does lead to a question. Leaders need an overview of the entire organization, and there are parts where we probably dip our fingers a little less.

How important is it for us to understand the functions of those departments as we pursue more leadership roles? I think this goes back to what we were saying earlier about, I think it was Neil that said it, that you when you’re in communications, you have the role, you have the run of the whole organization.

And I think that means that you can use that to your advantage to go out and understand what all those different roles are. If you’re in an organization that’s a manufacturing organization, so what does the manufacturing pipeline look like? What do this, what do the customers look like? What do the suppliers look like?

If you if you’re in a different type of organization, say an accountancy firm or one of the one of the major consulting organizations. How does their business work? And in order to do that, go through every function, one of the things that we have a [00:41:00] license to do is basically to, to ask questions on the guise of it’s in communications, therefore I need to know about it.

But in doing so, of course, but yeah and showing an interest and also gaining, gaining the knowledge of that you are gaining the respect of the organization and therefore the credibility in order to achieve what you then want to achieve either in communications or in a wider leadership role.

If through the work that we do, we build. A great bank of trust with our stakeholders, both internal and external. It also builds trust in the communication function that, that produced that result. One of the challenges I’m dealing with this right now in my organization, is leadership visibility.

Trust is an important issue in the organization. It’s addressed very overtly at the leadership levels, and yet the leaders are not [00:42:00] ridiculously visible to the employee population. So I guess I’ll expand my question beyond my own challenge, both internal and external. How do we support visibility to build trust in leadership knowing that eventually that trust is gonna come back to us?

I think we lead by example there, right? And I certainly did this when, with the DEI role. I think because I guess naturally I felt the urge and also the the need to be very prominent and communicate on this topic. Therefore the whole organization then became very comfortable about having the necessary conversation.

It’s very specific to my example, but I guess just trying to illustrate that, if the communication function can set the tone and show what happens when you create the kind of communication that the organization is looking for and certainly needs from its leaders.

Then I think that just lays the ground for that. I guess the [00:43:00] challenge is when you’ve got a leader or a leadership team that either doesn’t see the value in communication or is scared of communication or for some reason is not engaging on that level because that’s a really hard, that’s a really hard sell.

But I think again you need to go back to the data. You need to show how this is going to transform the organization for the better. And I’m sure that my colleagues on the panel have got great examples of how they’ve worked with leaders in, in that way. I think this is one which brings together a lot of the things that we’ve spoken about in terms of understanding the business, in terms of having credibility yourself in terms of the ability to create relationships and the degree of counsel that you are able to affect with your senior leadership.

You don’t have to sit on the board for that, but you do need to have the trust and be a confident, principally to the CEO, but also, or the managing director or whatever, but also to others and to understand what their barrier is, what their blocker is in [00:44:00] becoming more visible. In some cases it may be that they are desperately shy.

In other cases it may be that they just don’t understand the value of visibility particularly if they’ve grown up in a different culture as the culture of the organization. But understanding where people’s confidence and competence. Come together in a way that you can make a difference as a coach and as a confidant and working on one by one.

So if you worked you wouldn’t take your most difficult case to start with. You take a case that was moderately difficult but one that you could overcome and then use that as an example to show, if Bogans over there is able to do it, maybe you’d be able to do it as well. But not to underestimate these things take a lot of time and a lot of resource and effort, but it is effort that we should be prepared to put in order to achieve that result.

And, Russell, I was thinking about that and Neil, when you mentioned about your trajectory and your career path, that this is a [00:45:00] long game in many cases, right? This is an investment both from a career perspective, but then also but then also in terms of our the trust that we build within organizations and within our communities that we can say help, let me help you understand your audience and and reach them better and have a better impact.

But when we show that as the IBC model calls us to do with evidence and with data as an outcome, not just an output when we show that over short, medium, and long term are the most. Have the most profound impact. Then we really begin to earn trust. Trust as professionals. I think it’s also true, Jennifer, that when we talk about that trust and earning it there’s an accessibility question.

And by accessibility I mean in terms of who has access to senior leadership and then who has access in terms [00:46:00] of the information that’s available at the front line. And I was struck at an IBC conference. There was a presenter who said, every time they would hear a leader say, people can come to me, my door’s always open.

He, said the flip side to that is that they have a door that can be closed and how that can send a signal that who controls the access. And clearly there are decisions that need to be made and things that need to happen and conversations and so on at different levels. But when we look at visibility and accessibility to share concerns or to share ideas and potential innovations how we build trust comes to the accessibility.

Do we make it possible for people to share what they know and also for them to listen to what people have to say? So I, when I think about the questions of trust, I do often think about that simple image of who has a door and who [00:47:00] doesn’t change. Communication is easier when you have, I. Trust as a foundation.

Change is also a discipline that thrusts a lot of communicators into leadership roles who may not have had one before. I think Covid was an example of that, particularly with internal communicators suddenly being relied on much more heavily by leadership than previously in a lot of instances.

How can we leverage change communication to build our own leadership chops and grease the wheels toward leading bigger parts of the organization?

I see us as two halves of a whole in many ways or parts to the circle. Change communication has just so many principles that are similar to what we practice in, in, in communications per se. And again, really change comes into into our measurable outcomes, right? What are, what [00:48:00] Im, what action or reaction are we looking for from any audience on any topic at any time?

And how do we know that we got there? And those are really the elements of change, communication, albeit phrased in different ways with many of the professionals I’ve worked with. But it’s a profound partnership and opportunity. And as you said, shell many I have many colleagues who’ve moved from communications into related fields, hr, coaching and change Included in that.

This is good. Although sometimes I’ve lost counter the number of times that somebody who didn’t have a job at the right time that wasn’t a communications practitioner ended up leading change and not really knowing what on earth they were doing. And it came apart across it. It was the necessity for me or somebody in my team or whatever to then step in and say, actually that’s not what you do.

And too many times I’ve just seen an assumption that anybody that doesn’t really [00:49:00] understand change can actually do change. And we have to be able to step in there when necessary and act. We have a couple of comments. Brian Kilgore says, get out of your cubicle and visit. Departments, stores, factories and suppliers could not agree more.

I get some of my best insights when I get out of the office and out onto a construction project site where the actual work is being done. But Miko has a question specifically for you, Russell. How might a Mid-Career Communicator Act is their communic their corporation’s conscience without harming their career progress?

They’re vulnerable, less secure, financially less able to rock the boat. I think you have to have the courage of your convictions, really. And I think this is just so important generally in communications. I think if you think that something needs doing, or something needs pointing out or is wrong, if you’re a mid-career communications practitioner and you’ve been doing what you should be doing for, for good, you should have a level of credibility that allows you to challenge.

I think if you are [00:50:00] not in a position where you feel at that stage in your career that you can challenge the organization to some degree, there’s probably something gone wrong. I think I, I feel quite strongly about this as you can see. And I think it’s something that we as practitioners have a a duty which we owe to our organizations.

Often when the organizations itself, the organization itself cannot see the need that we can see looking, if you like, from a more a more global perspective on the organization rather than those people who have got their head down in the organization all the time. Vocabulary that I’ve used before is that I wouldn’t be doing my job properly if I said yes to this or no to this.

It and I think Russell’s absolutely right it, it’s in the description of one’s contribution to the organization and reminding people that actually, yeah, this is part of what I do. I completely relate to the comment shared because I imagine that there are a number of people doing the work that we do [00:51:00] who have had to pause because of, they’ve weighed up the potential impact on them personally.

But I, as I, I’ve done it, I’ve, I was mid-career and I said no to something or doing something because it was not the right ethical thing to be doing. And I said, look I cannot be part of this. And ultimately the organization I was with at the time went in a different direction.

And it’s on all of us in our profession to do that. Otherwise we, I think we can all understand the impact of that collectively. One, one of the thing I would say is that at the time I mean I’ve been an IBC member a very long time. But there I was able to also lean on the code of ethics and say, actually, I’ve made a commitment to a code of professional practice.

Not necessarily everybody’s gonna need that to lean on, but I found that very helpful to be able to say, look I’m a professional. I have a code. This does, this is not consistent with that code. I’m glad you mentioned that Neil, because [00:52:00] it also comes back to organizational values.

And so interestingly in that list of job descriptions, shell that you provided communications and ethics officer didn’t seem to be part of the job title in top ranking. If it exists. Another way for organizations, I think, because you can have multiple people with multiple codes of practice, hospital health based organizations as an example.

But if you can go to your code of ethics and you can go to the organization values and say, if we do this, how are we living up to our values as an organization? How are we maintaining or keeping or upholding our promise to our stakeholders, customers, clients, our employees? To me that’s a fundamental question that we need to look at.

And that is all the time we have. We are at the top of the hour. I just have a couple seconds to let everyone know. That episode one 12 of Circle of Fellows is scheduled for 4:00 PM Eastern on Thursday, January 16th. We’ll be [00:53:00] talking about sparking creativity. Our coordinator of these events Anna Willie is working on assembling that panel, but so far Zoa Artis and Andrea Greenhouse will be joining me for that one.

So I hope to see everybody there. Thank you so much to the panel today. This has been great, and we’ll see you all next month.

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Few communication disciplines are as challenging as executive communication. These professionals ensure that organizational leaders communicate effectively, whether making a speech or delivering testimony to a governmental body. In the November 2024 installment of Circle of Fellows, our panel explored executive communication challenges like rebuilding institutional trust in an era of widespread credibility loss, working closely with executives whose time is limited, and helping executives communicate effectively during a crisis. Learn how seasoned communicators navigate these complexities while avoiding communication failures that can escalate into PR disasters. Our panel of Fellows shared proven strategies for ensuring consistent communication among all members of an executive team, helping executives communicate the “why” behind decisions, and making good apologies when needed.

About the panel:

Alice Brink is an internationally recognized communications consultant. Her firm, A Brink & Co., works with businesses and non-profits to clarify their messages and communicate them in ways that change people’s minds. Her clients have included Shell Oil Company, Sysco Foods, and Noble Energy. Before launching A Brink & Co. in Houston in 2004, Alice honed her craft in corporate settings (including The Coca-Cola Company, Conoco, and First Interstate Bank) and in one of Texas’ largest public relations firms, where she led the agency’s energy and financial practices. Alice has been active in IABC for over 30 years, including as chapter president, district director, and Gold Quill chair. She is the vice-chair of the IABC Academy.

Juli Holloway is an Indigenous communications practitioner specializing in professional communication in Indigenous contexts. Throughout her career, Juli has been fortunate to work with First Nations and Indigenous organizations in British Columbia and across Canada to support transformative change for First Nation communities and people through strategic communications and community engagement.

Juli is the communications advisor at the Tulo Centre of Indigenous Economics. She leads communications, designs, and delivers a communications curriculum in university-accredited programs designed to advance Indigenous economic reconciliation. She is also an associate faculty member at Royal Roads University, where she teaches in the MA in Professional Communications program. In 2022, she earned the Outstanding Associate Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence in the MA Programs in 2022 for her innovative pedagogical methods. Juli is Haida and Kwakwaka’wakw and has been a guest on the traditional lands of the Secwépemc for 17 years. She belongs to the Skidegate Gidins, an eagle clan from the village of Skidegate on Haida Gwaii, and the Taylor (nee Nelson) family originating from Kingcome Inlet, home of one of the four tribes of the Musgamagw Dzawada̱ʼenux̱w.

Mary Ann McCauley is an independent consultant with extensive experience in nonprofits as staff, on boards, and as a consultant. Strategic planning for nonprofit organizations is her focus. Mary Ann takes a practical approach that results in achievable goals. Her experience includes working closely with executive directors, their staffs, and boards to help their organizations communicate and operate more effectively as a result of working on their business plans.

Bish Mukherjeeis an advisor in marketing, media, public relations, and branding with over 40 years in the profession. He is the president of Misha Network. He did award-winning work for the Reserve Bank, BSES, Colgate-Palmolive, and Alstom. He has organized corporate events for the Queen of England, the British Prime Minister, and the French President. Bish has anchored a fortnightly TV show on Bombay TV. He was featured on Australia’s “Sixty Minutes.” Bish has taught advertising and PR. He is an executive board member of the Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce and is a PRCI Hall of Fame inductee; he also serves on the board of advisors of the Public Relations Council of India, from which he received a lifetime achievement award in 2019. Bish served on the editorial board for the house magazine of the Reserve Bank of India., and sub-edited several volumes of the NSW Compensation Court Reports and the Dust Diseases Tribunal in Australia. He has been conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award and Hall of Fame recognition from the Public Relations Council of India. In IABC, Bish was president of IABC India, and he started seven international chapters as director of the Asia Pacific region.

The post Circle of Fellows #110: Executive Communication appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

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Change management is among the most critical of communication skills. As organizations face unprecedented challenges and opportunities, the ability to navigate and implement change effectively can mean the difference between an organization thriving or struggling to survive. The pace of change has been accelerating dramatically, driven by technological advancements, shifting market dynamics, and global events. This has highlighted the crucial role that effective communication plays in successful change management. Skilled communicators are essential in articulating the vision for change, addressing concerns, fostering engagement, and maintaining momentum throughout the transformation process.

Brad Whitworth moderated the panel, which featuredZora Artis, Priya Bates, Todd Hattori, and Cindy Schmieg.

About the panel

Zora Artis is a leading Alignment, Brand, and Communication Strategist. She works with executive and senior leaders to unlock the value in their people, brands, and organizations through alignment with purpose, promise and strategies, and effective communication. She has over three decades of experience in business, brand, marketing, communication, and advertising, working with government, private, and non-profit sectors. This includes roles as Group Account Director, Strategy Director, and CEO of integrated marcomms and advertising firms. She now runs her own management consulting practice, bringing together strategic alignment, capability training, and brand and communications expertise. Zora holds a Master’s in Marketing and Commerce and is a trained facilitator in alignment, design thinking, and business model generation.

Priya Bates is a senior communication executive who provides strategic internal communication counsel in order to ensure leaders, managers, and employees understand the strategy, believe in the vision, act in accordance with the values, and contribute to business results. She is president of Inner Strength Communications in Toronto and previously served as senior director of Internal Communications at Loblaw Companies Limited.

Todd “Tosh” Hattori — Leveraging 20+ years of leading in-house communication functions within a variety of organizations and industries, Tosh shifted his career focus toward helping organization leaders address business challenges by setting and implementing organizational excellence strategies. He is currently the continuous improvement lead for F5, Inc. where he leads Lean Six Sigma practitioners who collaborate with cross-functional teams to eliminate waste and establish consistencies that deliver exceptional employee and customer experiences; and organizational change management practitioners who help employees navigate shifts in organizational processes and practices to achieve functional and enterprise success. As a passionate advocate of his rich Japanese heritage, Tosh serves as the F5 Asian & Pacific Islander employee inclusion group co-chair, raising awareness of the rich and diverse Asian and Pacific Islander cultures, beliefs, and perspectives within the F5 workforce; and helping members and allies advance awareness and understanding within our communities to achieve support, safety, and success.

Cindy Schmieg is an award-winning strategic communicator. Her 30+ years of corporate, agency, and consulting experience focuses on making the communications function strategic within an organization. Cindy now teaches online in the Communications Master Degree program at Southern New Hampshire. She has served in many IABC leadership roles and is today a member of the IABC Audit/Risk Committee and Pacific Plains Region Silver Quill Award Committee, as well as assisting on the IABC Minnesota Annual Convergence Summit.

Brad Whitworth, ABC, SCMP, IABC Fellow, is a pre-eminent thought leader, lecturer, and author in organizational communication. He is a senior executive communications leader at Pacific Gas & Electric. During his career, he has led global internal and executive communication programs at HP, Cisco, Hitachi, PeopleSoft, AAA, and MicroFocus. He holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and undergraduate degrees in journalism and speech from the University of Missouri. Brad lives in California, a wine country, and grows Pinot Noir on his property. A former broadcaster, Brad has made more than 300 presentations to executives, communicators, and university classes worldwide. Brad is a past board chair of the International Association of Business Communicators and a Fellow of the association. He is one of the authors of The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication and the new IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer. He chaired the Global Communication Certification Counsel in 2021.

The post Circle of Fellows #109: Managing Change appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

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The pressure’s on — deadlines, stakeholders, and the ever-present need to deliver. According to data, half of PR, marketing, and comms professionals reported experiencing severe stress, anxiety, or burnout multiple times each year. Two in five PR professionals feel pressure and/or anxiety from their job every day. And 60 percent of PR professionals have experienced mental ill-health, while 89 percent have struggled with mental well-being.

In episode 108 of the “Circle of Fellows,” the September panel will dive deep into mental wellness in the communication profession. Join us as a panel of seasoned IABC Fellows shares their insights and strategies for navigating the unique challenges of our profession. Discover how to cultivate resilience, manage stress, and lead with compassion, not only for your teams but also for yourself. Whether you’re an aspiring communicator or a seasoned pro, this conversation is essential for anyone seeking to thrive in the dynamic world of organizational communication.

Brad Whitworthmoderated the panel, joined by Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, Andrea Greenhous, Ginger Homan, and Mark Schumann.

About the panel:

Dr. Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, accredited by both IABC and PRSA. She is Managing Director of Business DNA, based in South Africa, which provides strategic research and consulting, including communication audits, customer service, and women’s leadership topics. She is licensed in Adobe Connect and WebEx, using these to conduct virtual professional learning and education sessions. and other focused research and training in communication skills. Her career has also included a 15-year stint as a research manager for the National Productivity Institute.

Andrea Greenhous’s life’s purpose is to improve the world of work. For over 30 years, she has helped organizations improve the employee experience and build workplaces where people thrive. As founder and president of Vision2Voice, an internal communications agency, Andrea and her dedicated team help organizations adopt a strategic approach to employee communications to achieve results. Andrea has led initiatives and transformation projects for Fortune 500 technology companies, large government departments, and organizations as diverse as construction, biotech, finance, and higher education. This has led to a signature approach emphasizing harnessing employee voices and amplifying their insights and ideas.

Andrea is a storyteller, a PROSCI-certified change leader, and Dare to Lead trained based on the work and research of Brené Brown. She is also a certified Fearless Organization Practitioner. She uses the tools and processes developed by Amy C. Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, to build psychological safety in teams. Andrea has been named one of the top 10 influencers in internal communications and is a frequent guest blogger and speaker at industry events.

Ginger Homan, ABC, SCMP, IABC Fellow, counsels senior leaders seeking to bring out the best in their people and brands. Her award-winning communication model for driving transformation has been used to change behaviors, align cultures, and build thriving communities worldwide. Her work with senior communication professionals has enabled them to align their department goals with business goals, achieve measurable results, and expand their influence. Founder of Zia Communication, she is a seasoned speaker, coach, and workshop facilitator. Her clients include Walmart, the Walmart Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, T.D. Williamson, CITGO Petroleum, Phillips Seminary, and MOSAIC. IABC, PRSA, and SMPS have honored Ginger’s work on the local, regional, and international levels. A past chair of IABC, her volunteer work has been honored with three IABC International Chair’s Awards for leadership, and she is a recipient of the Leadership Tulsa Paragon Award for work in her local community.

*Mark Schumann,* PCC, ABC, IABC Fellow, is a certified executive coach who teaches in the NYU Master’s program in executive coaching and organizational consulting. He is the co-author of Brand from the Inside and Brand for Talent. Mark has served as VP Culture for Sabre, Director of Graduate Communication Studies at the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College in New York City, and as a managing principal and global communication practice leader at Towers Perrin. He was IABC’s chair in 2009-2010 and won 17 Gold Quill awards.

Brad Whitworth, ABC, SCMP, IABC Fellow, is a pre-eminent thought leader, lecturer, and author in organizational communication. He has led global internal and executive communication programs at HP, Cisco, Hitachi, PeopleSoft, AAA, and MicroFocus. He holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and undergraduate degrees in journalism and speech from the University of Missouri. Brad lives in California, a wine country, and he grows Pinot Noir on his property. A former broadcaster, Brad has made more than 300 presentations to executives, communicators, and university classes worldwide. Brad is a past board chairman of the International Association of Business Communicators and a Fellow of the association. He is one of the authors of The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication and the new IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer. He chaired the Global Communication Certification Counsel in 2021.

The post Circle of Fellows #108: Thriving in the Spotlight — Mental Wellness for Communication Leaders appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

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The headline reads that Google’s Olympics ad went viral for all the wrong reasons and is fueling the growing concerns about using generative AI apps in people’s personal and work lives. Gartner’s Peer Insights offers Generative AI Apps Reviews and Ratings to guide your foray into foreign territory. And, Capgemini’s Harnessing the Value of Generative AI, 2nd edition report details where Generative AI is adding value to organizations throughout the world. So, what are strategic communication professionals doing with generative AI? How does it add value to the communication function? Most importantly, what are communication professionals learning about generative AI? Learn from this outstanding panel of International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Fellows.

About the panel:

Adrian Cropley is the founder and director of the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence, a global training and development organization. For over thirty years, Adrian has worked with clients worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies, on major change communication initiatives, internal communication reviews and strategies, professional development programs, and executive leadership and coaching. He is a non-executive director on several boards and advises some of the top CEOs and executives globally.

Adrian is a past global chair of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), where he implemented the IABC Career Road Map, kick-started a global ISO certification for the profession, and developed the IABC Academy. Adrian pioneered the Melcrum Internal Communication Black Belt program in Asia Pacific and is a sought-after facilitator, speaker, and thought leader. He has been a keynote speaker and workshop leader on strategic and change communication at international conferences in Canada, the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, China, India, Hong Kong, Thailand, New Zealand, and Australia. He has received numerous awards, including IABC Gold Quill Awards for communication excellence, and his Agency received Boutique Agency of the Year 6 years running.

Adrian is the Chair of the Industry Advisory Committee for the RMIT School of Media and Communication and a Fellow of the IABC and RSA. In 2017, he was awarded the Medal of Order of Australia for his contribution to the field of communication.

Sue Heuman, ABC, MC, IABC Fellow, based in Edmonton, Canada, is an award-winning, accredited authority on organizational communications with over 40 years of experience. Since co-founding Focus Communications in 2002, Sue has worked with clients to define, understand, and achieve their communications objectives. Sue is a much sought-after executive advisor focused on leading communication audits and strategies for clients in all three sectors. Much of her practice involves a strategic review of the communications function within an organization, analyzing channels and audiences. She creates strategic communication plans and provides expertise to enable their execution. Sue has been a member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) since 1984, which enables her to both stay current with and contribute to, communications practices. In 2016, Sue received the prestigious Rae Hamlin Award from IABC in recognition of her work to promote Global Standards for communication. She was also named the 2016 IABC Edmonton Chapter Communicator of the Year. In 2018, IABC named Sue a Master Communicator, the Association’s highest honor in Canada. Sue earned the IABC Fellow designation in 2022. She is the past chair of IABC’s largest region, Canada West.

Mary Hills focuses on strategic change consulting, marketing and communication management, and graduate and professional continuing education instructional design as the winning combination of strategies to ensure business sustainability. She holds professional distinctions as an ABC, Six Sigma, and, most recently, online instructional design certification. She was instrumental in guiding the development of the Global Standard for the Communication Profession. Her work in industry professional development sparked 25 years ago when as a corporate vice-president, she sought input from human resources to build a communication function and found little guidance. With an educational background in finance, marketing, and organizational communication and structure, she currently works with tech clients and graduate students at Loyola University Chicago in using strategic communication to build trusted relationships in the marketplace.

Robin McCasland, IABC Fellow, SCMP lis Senior Director, Corporate Communications, for Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC). She leads the company’s communications team and the employee listening program, demonstrating to senior leaders how employee and executive communication add value to the business’s bottom line. Previously, Robin excelled in communication leadership roles for Texas Instruments, Dell, Tenet Healthcare, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe. She has also worked for large and boutique HR consulting firms, leading major communication initiatives for various well-known companies. Robin is a past IABC chairman and served in countless association leadership roles for more than 30 years. She was honored in 2023 and 2021 by Ragan/PR Daily as one of the Top Women Leaders in Communication. She’s also received IABC Southern Region and IABC Dallas Communicator of the Year honors. Robin is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and a Leadership Texas alumnus. Her own podcast, Torpid Liver (and other symptoms of poor communication), features guest speakers addressing timely topics to help communication professionals become more influential strategic advisors and leaders. She resides in Dallas, Texas, with her husband, Mitch, and their canine kids, Tank and Petunia.

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An international panel of IABC Fellows shared thoughts on how to structure and lead effective organizational teams in today’s global landscape. The panel explored various team structures that lead to positive outcomes aligned with business goals. The panel also shared insights on fostering a space where diverse voices are shared with respect and acceptance while addressing the challenges of leading communication teams.

About the panel:

Diane Gayeski is recognized as a thought leader in the practice and teaching of business communications. She is Professor of Strategic Communications at the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College and provides consulting in communications analysis and strategies through Gayeski Analytics. Diane was recently inducted as an IABC Fellow; she’s been active in IABC for more than 30 years as a featured speaker and think-tank leader at the international conference, the author of 3 editions of the IABC-published book, Managing the Communications Function, and the advisor to Ithaca College’s student chapter. She’s led more than 300 client engagements for clients, including the US Navy, Bank of Montreal, Fiat, Sony, Abbott Diagnostics, and Borg-Warner, focusing on assessing and building the capacities and new technologies for workplace communications and learning teams.

Russell Grossman, DipPR, ABC, FRSA, FCIPR, FCIM, IABC Fellow, has been a communications practitioner for nearly 40 years and a UK Senior Civil Servant since 2006. He’s currently Director of Communications at UK Rail Regulator, the Office of Rail and Road, and also head of the Government Communication Service (GCS) internal communications profession. He’s a non-exec director of the “ Engage for Success ” movement for the advancement of employee engagement and sponsor for both the GCS Fast Stream and GCS Talent. Russell and his long-suffering wife of 39 years are blessed with four children (one of whom also works within GCS) and five grandchildren. Russell and his long-suffering wife of 38 years are blessed with four children (one of whom also works within GCS) and five grandchildren.

In a career spanning roles as a Colonel in the Army, a Ph.D. in Organizational Communication (Fulbright Fellow) and Professor in a business school, a communication consultant, teacher, and trainer, Rajeev Kumar is an author and recognized speaker with a significant profile regionally, across many cultures and languages. Rajeev has a strong commitment to the profession and IABC, demonstrated through local, regional and international leadership roles. Rajeev’s work and references reinforce his commitment to the IABC values and he is a brand ambassador for the association in all aspects of his professional life. His co-authored book, “Outlast – How ESG can Benefit your Business” has been recently launched by Harper Collins.

Leticia Narváez, ABC, is CEO and Founding Partner of Narváez Group, a consulting firm focused on Strategic Communication, Employee Engagement, Corporate Reputation, Social Responsibility and Communication Training based in Mexico City. A 30 years experienced professional, she held management top level positions at Sanofi, Merck, American Express and Ford Motor Co. among others. She builds communication bridges with the utmost excellence standards. During her career path, she has been at the forefront of divestitures, mergers and acquisitions, diversity leadership, issues and crisis management, team and leadership development, strategic planning and senior executive consulting. She has been a speaker at international forums, is co-author of several books and manuals on business communications and has written a large number of articles on the subject. Leticia has a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and Public Relations from the Latinoamericana University, a Master Degree on Digital Communications from Cantabria University and a Postgraduate Diploma on Top Business Administration at the Panamerican Institute of Top Business Administration – IPADE-.

The post Circle of Fellows #106: Structuring and Leading a Communications Team appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

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Three IABC members comprise the 2024 class of IABC Fellows. In this special Circle of Fellows episode, you’ll meet Andrea Greenhous, Juli Holloway, and Theomary Karamanis as they discuss their career paths and views on the day’s pressing communication issues.

About the panel:

Andrea Greenhous’s life’s purpose is to improve the world of work. For over 30 years, she has helped organizations improve the employee experience and build workplaces where people thrive. As founder and president of Vision2Voice, an internal communications agency, Andrea and her dedicated team help organizations adopt a strategic approach to employee communications to achieve results. Andrea has led initiatives and transformation projects for Fortune 500 technology companies, large government departments, and organizations as diverse as construction, biotech, finance, and higher education. This has led to a signature approach emphasizing harnessing employee voices and amplifying their insights and ideas.

Andrea is a storyteller, a PROSCI-certified change leader, and Dare to Lead trained based on the work and research of Brené Brown. She is also a certified Fearless Organization Practitioner. She uses the tools and processes developed by Amy C. Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, to build psychological safety in teams. Andrea has been named a top 10 influencer in internal communications and is a frequent guest blogger and speaker at industry events.

Juli Holloway is an Indigenous communications practitioner specializing in professional communication in Indigenous contexts. Throughout her career, Juli has been fortunate to work with First Nations and Indigenous organizations in British Columbia and across Canada to support transformative change for First Nation communities and people through strategic communications and community engagement.

Juli is the communications advisor at the Tulo Centre of Indigenous Economics. She leads communications, designs, and delivers a communications curriculum in university-accredited programs designed to advance Indigenous economic reconciliation. She is also an associate faculty member at Royal Roads University, where she teaches in the MA in Professional Communications program. In 2022, she earned the Outstanding Associate Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence in the MA Programs in 2022 for her innovative pedagogical methods. Juli is Haida and Kwakwaka’wakw and has been a guest on the traditional lands of the Secwépemc for 17 years. She belongs to the Skidegate Gidins, an eagle clan from the village of Skidegate on Haida Gwaii, and the Taylor (nee Nelson) family originating from Kingcome Inlet, home of one of the four tribes of the Musgamagw Dzawada̱ʼenux̱w.

Dr. Theomary Karamanis is a multiple award-winning communication professor and consultant with 25 years of global experience. She is currently a full-time Senior Lecturer of Management Communication at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business and regularly delivers executive education programs in leadership communication, crisis communication, and strategic communication. She has held several professional leadership positions, including Chair of the GCCC (Global Communication Certification Council), chair of the IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) Academy, and Chair of the IABC Awards committee.

Her academic background includes a PhD in communication studies, a Master of Arts in mass communication, and a post-graduate certificate in telecommunications –all from Northwestern University, as well as a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Athens University of Economics and Business. She also holds professional certifications as a Strategic Communication Management Professional (SCMP), online facilitator, and executive program instructor. She has received 40 professional communication awards, including 12 Platinum MarCom awards, 7 Gold Quill awards, 4 Silver Quill awards, and a Comm Prix award. In 2020 she received the Award for Excellence in Communication Consulting by APCC (Association of Professional Communication Consultants) and ABC (Association for Business Communication). She is the author of several books and academic papers on communication, and she also regularly delivers presentations at international conferences and other business forums.

The post Circle of Fellows #105: Meet the 2024 Class of IABC Fellows appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

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The need to promote ethical behavior in communications has never been greater as the volumes of misinformation and disinformation continue to rise with the growing use of AI fueling the speed with which unethical behavior intensifies. Marketers debate whether using AI in marketing is ethical in the first place, and when it is used, and whether and when it needs to be disclosed. And all the ethical dilemmas communicators faced before AI remain as challenging as ever.

Four International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Fellows discussed ethics in today’s communication environment in the latest Circle of Fellows episode, moderated by Brad Whitworth.

About the panel:

Todd “Tosh” Hattori — Leveraging 20+ years of leading in-house communication functions within a variety of organizations and industries, Tosh shifted his career focus toward helping organization leaders address business challenges by setting and implementing organizational excellence strategies. He is currently the continuous improvement lead for F5 Networks where he applies Lean Six Sigma methods to collaborate with cross-functional teams to eliminate waste and establish consistencies that deliver exceptional employee and customer experiences. Tosh also serves on the volunteer board of directors for the Technology Access Foundation, a national model / leader in providing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education to students of color; and improving diversity, upward mobility, and retention of teachers-of-color in Washington.

George McGrath is founder and managing principal of McGrath Business Communications, which helps clients build winning corporate reputations, promote their products and services, and advance their views on key issues. George brings more than 25 years in PR and public affairs to his firm. Over the course of his career, he has held senior management positions at leading strategic communications and integrated marketing agencies including Hill and Knowlton, Carl Byoir & Associates, and Brouillard Communications.

Jane Mitchell’s career began at the BBC in London on live TV programs. She moved on to producing award-winning films and videos for public and private sector organizations and developed groundbreaking employee engagement programs. Since 2006 when she formed her own consultancy, she now guides organizations, (some of which have experienced cultural trauma), with embedding values and ethics through understanding culture and leadership and their link to high-performing sustainable organizations. She has worked with Top 100 companies across the world, is a regular conference speaker and writer, and is a Director of two highly successful UK-based agencies. Jane has been a member of IABC since 2008 and has had the privilege of serving on local, regional, and International IABC Boards. She is currently Chair of the 2021 World Conference and was awarded the honor of IABC Fellow in March.

Jennifer Wah, MC, ABC, has worked with clients to deliver ideas, plans, words and results since she founded her storytelling and communications firm, Forwords Communication Inc., in 1997. The company operates as a strategic alliance of hand-picked professionals; all renowned for work in their areas of specialization. This approach means the right team is assembled for each project; no more, no less. With more than two dozen awards for strategic communications, writing and consulting, Jennifer is recognized as a storyteller and strategist. She has worked in industries from healthcare to financial services to academia, and is passionate about the opportunity for stories to inspire actions and reactions within organizations.In 2013, Jennifer was named Associate Faculty of Royal Roads University, and in this capacity, continues to teach, coach and mentor others with an interest in business communication.

Brad Whitworth, ABC, SCMP, IABC Fellow, is a pre-eminent thought leader, lecturer, and author in organizational communication. He is a senior executive communications leader at Pacific Gas & Electric. During his career, he has led global internal and executive communication programs at HP, Cisco, Hitachi, PeopleSoft, AAA, and MicroFocus. He holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and undergraduate degrees in journalism and speech from the University of Missouri. Brad lives in California, a wine country, and grows Pinot Noir on his property. A former broadcaster, Brad has made more than 300 presentations to executives, communicators, and university classes worldwide. Brad is a past board chair of the International Association of Business Communicators and a Fellow of the association. He is one of the authors of The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication and the new IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer. He chaired the Global Communication Certification Counsel in 2021.

The post Circle of Fellows #104: Communication Ethics appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

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The need to promote ethical behavior in communications has never been greater as the volumes of misinformation and disinformation continue to rise with the growing use of AI fueling the speed with which unethical behavior intensifies. Marketers debate whether using AI in marketing is ethical in the first place, and when it is used, and whether and when it needs to be disclosed. And all the ethical dilemmas communicators faced before AI remain as challenging as ever.

Four International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Fellows discussed ethics in today’s communication environment in the latest Circle of Fellows episode, moderated by Brad Whitworth.

About the panel:

Todd “Tosh” Hattori — Leveraging 20+ years of leading in-house communication functions within a variety of organizations and industries, Tosh shifted his career focus toward helping organization leaders address business challenges by setting and implementing organizational excellence strategies. He is currently the continuous improvement lead for F5 Networks where he applies Lean Six Sigma methods to collaborate with cross-functional teams to eliminate waste and establish consistencies that deliver exceptional employee and customer experiences. Tosh also serves on the volunteer board of directors for the Technology Access Foundation, a national model / leader in providing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education to students of color; and improving diversity, upward mobility, and retention of teachers-of-color in Washington.

George McGrath is founder and managing principal of McGrath Business Communications, which helps clients build winning corporate reputations, promote their products and services, and advance their views on key issues. George brings more than 25 years in PR and public affairs to his firm. Over the course of his career, he has held senior management positions at leading strategic communications and integrated marketing agencies including Hill and Knowlton, Carl Byoir & Associates, and Brouillard Communications.

Jane Mitchell’s career began at the BBC in London on live TV programs. She moved on to producing award-winning films and videos for public and private sector organizations and developed groundbreaking employee engagement programs. Since 2006 when she formed her own consultancy, she now guides organizations, (some of which have experienced cultural trauma), with embedding values and ethics through understanding culture and leadership and their link to high-performing sustainable organizations. She has worked with Top 100 companies across the world, is a regular conference speaker and writer, and is a Director of two highly successful UK-based agencies. Jane has been a member of IABC since 2008 and has had the privilege of serving on local, regional, and International IABC Boards. She is currently Chair of the 2021 World Conference and was awarded the honor of IABC Fellow in March.

Jennifer Wah, MC, ABC, has worked with clients to deliver ideas, plans, words and results since she founded her storytelling and communications firm, Forwords Communication Inc., in 1997. The company operates as a strategic alliance of hand-picked professionals; all renowned for work in their areas of specialization. This approach means the right team is assembled for each project; no more, no less. With more than two dozen awards for strategic communications, writing and consulting, Jennifer is recognized as a storyteller and strategist. She has worked in industries from healthcare to financial services to academia, and is passionate about the opportunity for stories to inspire actions and reactions within organizations.In 2013, Jennifer was named Associate Faculty of Royal Roads University, and in this capacity, continues to teach, coach and mentor others with an interest in business communication.

Brad Whitworth, ABC, SCMP, IABC Fellow, is a pre-eminent thought leader, lecturer, and author in organizational communication. He is a senior executive communications leader at Pacific Gas & Electric. During his career, he has led global internal and executive communication programs at HP, Cisco, Hitachi, PeopleSoft, AAA, and MicroFocus. He holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and undergraduate degrees in journalism and speech from the University of Missouri. Brad lives in California, a wine country, and grows Pinot Noir on his property. A former broadcaster, Brad has made more than 300 presentations to executives, communicators, and university classes worldwide. Brad is a past board chair of the International Association of Business Communicators and a Fellow of the association. He is one of the authors of The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication and the new IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer. He chaired the Global Communication Certification Counsel in 2021.

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Four distinguished IABC Fellows discussed the myriad benefits of earning the Communication Management Professional (CMP) or Strategic Communication Management Professional (SCMP) certification offered through the Global Communication Certification Council (GCCC). The panel shed light on how becoming a CMP or SCMP not only elevates your credibility but also significantly enhances your strategic communication skills. Whether you’re looking to advance in your career, expand your network, or stay ahead in the ever-evolving field of corporate communication, this conversation is tailor-made for you.

Our panelists shared insights into the certification journey— from preparation to examination and beyond. They will also share personal anecdotes and professional advice on leveraging this certification to its fullest potential for individual career growth and organizational success.

About the panel

Zora Artis is a leading Alignment, Brand, and Communication Strategist. She works with executive and senior leaders to unlock the value in their people, brands, and organizations through alignment with purpose, promise and strategies, and effective communication. She has over three decades of experience in business, brand, marketing, communication, and advertising, working with government, private, and non-profit sectors. This includes roles as Group Account Director, Strategy Director, and CEO of integrated marcomms and advertising firms. She now runs her own management consulting practice, bringing together strategic alignment, capability training, and brand and communications expertise. Zora holds a Master’s in Marketing and Commerce and is a trained facilitator in alignment, design thinking, and business model generation.

Ginger Homan, ABC, SCMP, IABC Fellow, counsels senior leaders seeking to bring out the best in their people and their brands. Her award-winning communication model for driving transformation has been used to change behaviors, align cultures, and build thriving communities worldwide. Her work with senior communication professionals has enabled them to align their department goals with business goals, achieve measurable results, and expand their influence. Founder of Zia Communication, she is a seasoned speaker, coach, and workshop facilitator. Her clients include Walmart, the Walmart Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, T.D. Williamson, CITGO Petroleum, Phillips Seminary, and MOSAIC. Ginger’s work has been honored by IABC, PRSA, and SMPS on the local, regional, and international levels. A past chair of IABC, her volunteer work has been honored with three IABC International Chair’s Awards for leadership, and she is a recipient of the Leadership Tulsa Paragon Award for work in her local community.

Cindy Schmieg is an award-winning strategic communicator. Her 30+ years of corporate, agency, and consulting experience focuses on making the communications function strategic within an organization. Cindy now teaches online in the Communications Master Degree program at Southern New Hampshire. She has served in many IABC leadership roles and is today a member of the IABC Audit/Risk Committee and Pacific Plains Region Silver Quill Award Committee, as well as assisting on the IABC Minnesota Annual Convergence Summit.

Brad Whitworth, ABC, SCMP, IABC Fellow, is a pre-eminent thought leader, lecturer, and author in organizational communication. He is a senior executive communications leader at Pacific Gas & Electric. During his career, he has led global internal and executive communication programs at HP, Cisco, Hitachi, PeopleSoft, AAA, and MicroFocus. He holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and undergraduate degrees in journalism and speech from the University of Missouri. Brad lives in California, a wine country, and grows Pinot Noir on his property. A former broadcaster, Brad has made more than 300 presentations to executives, communicators, and university classes worldwide. Brad is a past board chair of the International Association of Business Communicators and a Fellow of the association. He is one of the authors of The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication and the new IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer. He chaired the Global Communication Certification Counsel in 2021.

The post Circle of Fellows #103: IS IT WORTH THE TIME AND EFFORT TO GET A PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION CERTIFICATION? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

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Maintain a flexible approach to professional growth by joining IABC Fellows as they explore key topics essential for communication professionals at any career stage. Delve into important areas like the IABC Global Standard, Career Self-Assessment, and the IABC Proficiency Matrix. Learn from experts about negotiating salary, bonuses, and job titles when considering a new role, collaborating with recruiters, and effectively showcasing your skills in interviews and resumes. Discover strategies to enhance your expertise through library resources, partnerships, lectures, and university engagement opportunities. Focus on aligning personal values with career decisions, setting clear goals, utilizing support systems for knowledge expansion, embracing change, prioritizing certification, and committing to continuous learning.

About the panel:

Diane Gayeski is recognized as a thought leader in the practice and teaching of business communications. She is Professor of Strategic Communications at the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College and provides consulting in communications analysis and strategies through Gayeski Analytics. Diane was recently inducted as an IABC Fellow; she’s been active in IABC for more than 30 years as a featured speaker and think-tank leader at the international conference, the author of 3 editions of the IABC-published book, Managing the Communications Function, and the advisor to Ithaca College’s student chapter. She’s led more than 300 client engagements for clients, including the US Navy, Bank of Montreal, Fiat, Sony, Abbott Diagnostics, and Borg-Warner, focusing on assessing and building the capacities and new technologies for workplace communications and learning teams.

Mary Hills focuses on strategic change consulting, marketing and communication management, and graduate and professional continuing education instructional design as the winning combination of strategies to ensure business sustainability. She holds professional distinctions as an ABC, six sigma, and most recently, online instructional design certification. She was instrumental in guiding the development of the Global Standard for the Communication Profession. Her work in industry professional development sparked 25 years ago when as a corporate vice-president, she sought input from human resources to build a communication function and found little guidance. With an educational background in finance, marketing, and organizational communication and structure, she currently works with tech clients and graduate students at Loyola University Chicago in using strategic communication to build trusted relationships in the marketplace.

Dr. Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, accredited by both IABC and PRSA. She is Managing Director of Business DNA, based in South Africa, which provides strategic research and consulting, including communication audits, customer service, and women’s leadership topics. She is licensed in Adobe Connect and WebEx, using these to conduct virtual professional learning and education sessions. and other focused research and training in communication skills. Her career has also included a 15-year stint as a research manager for the National Productivity Institute.

Angela Sinickas is the founder of Sinickas Communications, which has worked with companies, organizations, and governments in 32 countries on six continents. Her clients include 25% of the Forbes Top 100 largest global companies. Before starting her own consulting firm, she held positions from editor to vice president in for-profit and government organizations and worked as a senior consultant and practice leader at Hewitt and Mercer. She is the author of a manual, How to Measure Your Communication Programs (now in its third edition), and chapters in several books. Her 150+ articles in professional journals can be found on her website, www.sinicom.com. Her work has been recognized with 21 international-level Gold Quill Awards from IABC, plus her firm was named IABC Boutique Agency of the Year in 2015. She holds a BS degree in Journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MS in Leadership from Northeastern University.

The post Circle of Fellows #102: Research, Plan, and Manage Your Communication Career appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

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In the 100th episode of “Circle of Fellows,” Brad Whitworth and Shel Holtz presented short video and narrative contributions from many Fellows of the International Association of Business Communicators, each of whom will present their best advice, most meaningful insight, useful observation, significant memory, or whatever they felt like sharing. The program of short Fellows contributions wraps up in episode 101 with more ideas, suggestions, recommendations, and guidance for communicators from this group of skilled and experienced professionals.

About your moderators:

Brad Whitworth, ABC, SCMP, IABC Fellow, is a pre-eminent thought leader, lecturer, and author in organizational communication. He has led global internal and executive communication programs at HP, Cisco, Hitachi, PeopleSoft, AAA, and MicroFocus. He holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and undergraduate degrees in journalism and speech from the University of Missouri. Brad lives in California wine country and is growing Pinot Noir on his property. A former broadcaster, Brad has made more than 300 presentations to executives, communicators, and university classes around the world. Brad is a past board chairman of the International Association of Business Communicators and a Fellow of the association. He is one of the authors of The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication and the new IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer. He chaired the Global Communication Certification Counsel in 2021.

Shel Holtz, SCMP, ABC, IABC Fellow, is senior director of communication at Webcor, a California commercial general contractor and builder headquartered in San Francisco. Shel joined Webcor after 21 years as an independent consultant helping large organizations weave new technologies into their communication strategies and tactics. He also consulted on internal communications, crisis communication, leadership communication, and more. Before starting Holtz Communication + Technology in 1996, Shel had led communication departments at two Fortune 500 companies and spent five years working for human resources consulting firms. The author or co-author of six communication-themed books, Shel and his co-host, Neville Hobson, have presented the “For Immediate Release” podcast since January 2005, making it the first and longest-running communication-focused podcast.

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It’s hard to believe, but this is the 100th “Circle of Fellows.” To celebrate, we opted to try something new. (Don’t worry, we’ll return to our panel discussion format in March.) We asked our Fellows to contribute their best insights and/or advice in a short video or as text. We got more than we could fit in a single episode! The first batch are in this 100th episode, with the rest set for debut in episode 101, scheduled for February 15 at noon ET.

Sharing their thoughts in this episode are Priya Bates, Lee Hornick, Jennifer Wah, Martha Muzychka, Dave Orman, Mary Ann McCauley, Rajeev Kumar, Brenda Siler, Barbara Gibson, Stephanie Griffiths, Alice Brink, Ned Lundquist, Neil Griffiths, Suzanne Salvo, Ian Hawkins, Jim Lukaszewski, John Finney, Cindy Schmieg, Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, Zora Artis, Mark Schumann, Robin McCasland, Les Potter, and Barbara Puffer. It’s a remarkable collection of learning from some of the best organizational communicators in the world.

About your moderators:

Brad Whitworth, ABC, SCMP, IABC Fellow, is a pre-eminent thought leader, lecturer, and author in organizational communication. He has led global internal and executive communication programs at HP, Cisco, Hitachi, PeopleSoft, AAA, and MicroFocus. He holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and undergraduate degrees in journalism and speech from the University of Missouri. Brad lives in California wine country and is growing Pinot Noir on his property. A former broadcaster, Brad has made more than 300 presentations to executives, communicators, and university classes around the world. Brad is a past board chairman of the International Association of Business Communicators and a Fellow of the association. He is one of the authors of The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication and the new IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer. He chaired the Global Communication Certification Counsel in 2021.

Shel Holtz, SCMP, ABC, IABC Fellow, is senior director of communication at Webcor, a California commercial general contractor and builder headquartered in San Francisco. Shel joined Webcor after 21 years as an independent consultant helping large organizations weave new technologies into their communication strategies and tactics. He also consulted on internal communications, crisis communication, leadership communication, and more. Before starting Holtz Communication + Technology in 1996, Shel had led communication departments at two Fortune 500 companies and spent five years working for human resources consulting firms. The author or co-author of six communication-themed books, Shel and his co-host, Neville Hobson, have presented the “For Immediate Release” podcast since January 2005, making it the first and longest-running communication-focused podcast.

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The past year has been — to put it mildly — consequential. If nothing else, the rise of Generative Artificial Intelligence has dramatically altered the communication landscape. But AI isn’t the only issue that faced communicators in 2023. From remote and hybrid work communication and the evolution of social media (as Twitter flails and younger demographic groups move away from the big dominant networks) to attacks on corporate DEI initiatives and rising levels of misinformation and disinformation, it has been a busy year! Moderator Shel Holtz, SCMP, joined four IABC Fellows for a look back on these issues and trends and how they will shape communication practices in the years ahead.

About the panel

Zora Artis is a leading Alignment, Brand, and Communication Strategist. She works with executive and senior leaders to unlock the value in their people, brands, and organizations through alignment with purpose, promise and strategies, and effective communication. She has over three decades of experience in business, brand, marketing, communication, and advertising, working with government, private, and non-profit sectors. This includes roles as Group Account Director, Strategy Director, and CEO of integrated marcomms and advertising firms. She now runs her own management consulting practice bringing together strategic alignment, capability training, and brand and communications expertise. Zora holds a Master’s in Marketing and Commerce and is a trained facilitator in alignment, design thinking, and business model generation.

An IABC Fellow and a Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute, Zora is also a certified company director, strategic communication management professional, and certified practicing marketer. Since joining IABC over a decade ago, Zora has served as Chair of the Asia Pacific Region, Audit and Risk Committee, 2022 World Conference PAC, and as an IEB director and local chapter president. She was honored in 2021 and 2015 with the IABC Chair’s Award for Leadership and named 2020 Regional Leader of the Year. She is an awards judge for the IABC Gold Quill Awards, the IAP2 Core Value Awards, the Australian Marketing Institute Awards, and the global Cannes Lions Awards for Effectiveness.

*John G. Clemons*, M.S., ABC, SCMP, APR, IABC Fellow, an award-winning, independent communications consultant based in North Carolina, has held senior executive and consultant roles over the course of his career in corporate and organizational communications. He has special expertise in providing strategic counsel and support for top executives and corporate offices of Fortune 500 companies. John has served as Interim Executive Director and Chair of IABC and holds both IABC and PRSA accreditations. John has worked with Walmart, Raytheon, and Marriott (among others). He is also an adjunct professor of PR and communications at the University of North Carolina Charlotte and Loyola University in New Orleans.

Adrian Cropley is the founder and director of the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence, a global training and development organization. With a career spanning over 30 years, Adrian has worked with clients worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies, on major change communication initiatives, internal communication reviews and strategies, professional development programs, and executive leadership and coaching. He is a non-executive director on several boards and advises some of the top CEOs and executives globally.

Adrian is a past global chair of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) where he implemented the IABC Career Road Map, kick-started a global ISO certification for the profession, and developed the IABC Academy. Adrian pioneered the Melcrum Internal Communication Black Belt program in Asia Pacific and is a sought-after facilitator, speaker, and thought leader. He has been a keynote speaker and workshop leader on strategic and change communication at international conferences in Canada, the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, China, India, Hong Kong, Thailand, New Zealand, and Australia. He has received numerous awards including IABC Gold Quill Awards for communication excellence, and his Agency received Boutique Agency of the Year 6 years running.

Adrian is the Chair of the Industry Advisory Committee for the RMIT School of Media and Communication and a Fellow of both the IABC and RSA. In 2017 he was awarded the Medal to Order of Australia for his contribution to the field of communication.

Edward “Ned” Lundquist is a retired U.S. Navy captain with 33 years of professional public affairs and strategic communications experience. He is a principal science writer at MCR Federal in McLean, Virginia, supporting government clients; and has his own company, Echo Bridge LLC, which provides outreach and advocacy support to commercial clients. He served on active duty for 24 years in the U.S. Navy as a surface warfare officer and public affairs specialist. Captain Lundquist was a Pentagon spokesman with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, Director of the Fleet Home Town News Center, and director of public affairs and corporate communications for the Navy Exchange Service Command. His last tour of duty was commanding the 450 men and women of the Naval Media Center. He is an accredited business communicator and award-winning communicator who served as president of IABC/Hampton Roads and IABC/Washington, director of U.S. District 3, and chair of the International Accreditation Council. He was named an IABC Fellow in 2016. Captain Lundquist is a member of the executive committee of the Surface Navy Association and chair of the SNA communications committee. He writes for numerous naval, maritime, and defense publications and chairs and presents at communications, naval, and maritime security conferences worldwide.

The post Circle of Fellows #99: A Look Back at 2023 in Communications appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

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With the holiday season upon us, it is appropriate to talk about a gift communicators can give: the gift of communication. For several years, the day before the IABC World Conference begins, communicators spend a day with local nonprofits from the host city, providing their advice and recommendations to organizations that don’t have the resources to employ or contract strategic communication counsel. The practice has spread to regions and chapters and beyond. In this live stream, four Fellows of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) discussed this practice and other ways it can be applied.

About the panel:

Ginger Homan, ABC, SCMP, IABC Fellow, provides expertise in transformation. She has worked with corporations and foundations to bring out the best in their people and their brands, as well as with professional communicators on how to focus on work that matters and build their influence. Recognized with multiple awards for communication excellence and leadership, she is a former IABC International Chair and a three-time recipient of the IABC International Chair Award for leadership. For her local community work, she received the Leadership Tulsa Paragon Award. When not absorbed in her latest writing project, Ginger can be found reflecting in remote spots, preaching the value of certification or playing on the floor with her grandkids. Connect with Ginger on LinkedIn or via her website.

Robin McCasland, IABC Fellow, SCMP lis Senior Director, Corporate Communications, for Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC). She leads the company’s communications team and the employee listening program, demonstrating to senior leaders how employee and executive communication add value to the business bottom line. Previously, Robin excelled in communication leadership roles for Texas Instruments, Dell, Tenet Healthcare, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe. She has also worked for large and boutique HR consulting firms, leading major communication initiatives for a variety of well-known companies. Robin is a past IABC chairman and served in countless association leadership roles for more than 30 years. She was honored this year and also in 2021 by Ragan/PR Daily as one of the Top Women Leaders in Communication. She’s also received IABC Southern Region and IABC Dallas Communicator of the Year honors. Robin is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and a Leadership Texas alumnus. Her own podcast, Torpid Liver (and other symptoms of poor communication), features guest speakers addressing timely topics to help communication professionals become more influential strategic advisors and leaders . She resides in Dallas, Texas with her husband, Mitch, and their canine kids, Tank and Petunia.

Mary Ann McCauley is committed to ensuring people communicate more effectively about their organizations’ products and services. With a specialty practice in crisis management, Mary Ann addresses sensitive issues with timeliness, dignity, and minimal backlash. “Managing communication during a crisis requires common sense folded into a structured process,” she says.

Barbara Puffer, MA, ABC, IABC Fellow, is the author of the Business Communications Ethics chapter of IABC’s new book, IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication. While first setting out as a journalist, Barbara quickly changed her path to the corporate side. Her communications management career spans 47 years, including work in banking, insurance, and telecommunications organizations. She has consulted as Puffer Public Relations Strategies for more than 20 years and previously was Corporate Communications Manager at Barnes Group for 13 years. While consulting, she was also associate professor of communication studies at UMUC University of Maryland University College (now called UM Global Campus) for 13 years, where communications ethics was integrated throughout the curriculum. In IABC, she has served as chairperson of the Ethics Committee and Research Foundation, among other leadership positions. Tiptoeing into retirement now, her communications management career spanned 50 years.

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In an increasingly interconnected world, the role of effective communication has never been more critical to organizational success. This month’s panel of IABC Fellows will delve into the nuances of Global Diversity Awareness. For organizational communicators, understanding and embracing the diverse tapestry of cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives is pivotal. The discussion will shed light on the challenges and opportunities presented by global diversity, offering insights on how to craft messages and engage in dialogues that resonate universally, build inclusive communication strategies, and foster a culture of understanding and respect in a dynamic global environment.

The panel met at noon ET on Thursday, October 19.

About the panel

Priya Bates is a senior communication executive who provides strategic internal communication counsel in order to ensure leaders, managers, and employees understand the strategy, believe in the vision, act in accordance with the values, and contribute to business results. She is president of Inner Strength Communications in Toronto and previously served as senior director of Internal Communications at Loblaw Companies Limited.

Neil Griffiths, a renowned communication professional and advocate for diversity, equality, and inclusion, joined Kearney as Global DEI Director after an impressive tenure as the Global Head of Diversity, Equality & Inclusion at ERM, the world’s largest sustainability consultancy. With a diverse background spanning over two decades in DEI, external and internal communication, brand strategy, and organizational communication, Neil brings a wealth of expertise to his role in transforming cultures. Neil’s commitment to his profession extends beyond his professional endeavors. He has held multiple leadership positions within esteemed organizations such as the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and the Company of Communicators (CoC), a prominent Livery Company in the City of London. Notably, he led two task forces on diversity, equality, and inclusion within the communication field. His volunteer work also includes serving as a member of the Global Communications Certification Council and contributing to the IABC Career Roadmap Committee. Neil’s dedication has earned him accolades, including the IABC Regional Leader of the Year, Rae Hamlin, and IABC Chair’s Awards. In recognition of his outstanding contributions, he was honored with the prestigious title of IABC Fellow in 2019. To learn more about Neil and his accomplishments, you can visit his LinkedIn profile.

In a career spanning roles as a Colonel in the Army, a Ph.D. in Organizational Communication (Fulbright Fellow) and Professor in a business school, a communication consultant, teacher, and trainer, Rajeev Kumar is an author and recognized speaker with a significant profile regionally, across many cultures and languages. Rajeev has a strong commitment to the profession and IABC, demonstrated through local, regional and international leadership roles. Rajeev’s work and references reinforce his commitment to the IABC values and he is a brand ambassador for the association in all aspects of his professional life. His co-authored book, “Outlast – How ESG can Benefit your Business” has been recently launched by Harper Collins.

Leticia Narváez, ABC, is CEO and Founding Partner of Narváez Group, a consulting firm focused on Strategic Communication, Employee Engagement, Corporate Reputation, Social Responsibility and Communication Training based in Mexico City. A 30 years experienced professional, she held management top level positions at Sanofi, Merck, American Express and Ford Motor Co. among others. She builds communication bridges with the utmost excellence standards. During her career path, she has been at the forefront of divestitures, mergers and acquisitions, diversity leadership, issues and crisis management, team and leadership development, strategic planning and senior executive consulting. She has been a speaker at international forums, is co-author of several books and manuals on business communications and has written a large number of articles on the subject. Leticia has a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and Public Relations from the Latinoamericana University, a Master Degree on Digital Communications from Cantabria University and a Postgraduate Diploma on Top Business Administration at the Panamerican Institute of Top Business Administration – IPADE-.

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This month’s panel of IABC Fellows explored the intersection of leadership and communication and how those at the top can leverage their communication skills to drive business success. The panelists shared their insights on communicating vision, values, and purpose; creating alignment around the business plan; motivating teams; and more.

About the panel

Diane Gayeski is recognized as a thought leader in the practice and teaching of business communications. She is Professor of Strategic Communications at the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College and provides consulting in communications analysis and strategies through Gayeski Analytics. Diane was recently inducted as an IABC Fellow; she’s been active in IABC for more than 30 years as a featured speaker and think-tank leader at the international conference, the author of 3 editions of the IABC-published book, Managing the Communications Function, and the advisor to Ithaca College’s student chapter. She’s led more than 300 client engagements for clients, including the US Navy, Bank of Montreal, Fiat, Sony, Abbott Diagnostics, and Borg-Warner, focusing on assessing and building the capacities and new technologies for workplace communications and learning teams.

Jane Mitchell’s career began at the BBC in London on live TV programs. She moved on to producing award-winning films and videos for public and private sector organizations and developed groundbreaking employee engagement programs. Since 2006 when she formed her own consultancy, she now guides organizations, (some of which have experienced cultural trauma), with embedding values and ethics through understanding culture and leadership and their link to high-performing sustainable organizations. She has worked with Top 100 companies across the world, is a regular conference speaker and writer, and is a Director of two highly successful UK-based agencies. Jane has been a member of IABC since 2008 and has had the privilege of serving on local, regional, and International IABC Boards. She is currently Chair of the 2021 World Conference and was awarded the honor of IABC Fellow in March.

*Mark Schumann,* PCC, ABC, IABC Fellow is a certified executive coach who teaches in the NYU Master’s program in executive coaching and organizational consulting. He is the co-author of Brand from the Inside and Brand for Talent. Mark has served as VP Culture for Sabre, Director of Graduate Communication Studies at the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College in New York City, and as a managing principal and global communication practice leader at Towers Perrin. He was IABC’s chair in 2009-2010 and is the winner of 17 Gold Quill awards.

Brad Whitworth, ABC, SCMP, IABC Fellow, is a pre-eminent thought leader, lecturer, and author in organizational communication. He has led global internal and executive communication programs at HP, Cisco, Hitachi, PeopleSoft, AAA, and MicroFocus. He holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and undergraduate degrees in journalism and speech from the University of Missouri. Brad lives in California wine country and is growing Pinot Noir on his property. A former broadcaster, Brad has made more than 300 presentations to executives, communicators, and university classes around the world. Brad is a past board chairman of the International Association of Business Communicators and a Fellow of the association. He is one of the authors of The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication and the new IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer. He chaired the Global Communication Certification Counsel in 2021.

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The goal of communication in any organization is for the recipient to think, feel, or do something. Most often, the outcome we seek is a behavior: We want the recipient to do more of what they’re already doing, do something differently, or do something new. Conveying information alone will rarely inspire someone to action. That requires communicators to add creativity to the mix. In this Circle of Fellows episode, four IABC Fellows explore the application of creativity to business outcomes, including the various approaches one might take, the differences between influencing employees and other stakeholders, and convincing leadership that creativity is an appropriate business communication technique.
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In this modern era where AI is changing the dynamics of every industry, questions inevitably arise about its efficacy and implications. Will AI replace communicators? Is it ethical to use AI with or without disclosure? Besides writing, how can communicators best use AI? What risks should we be aware of? What role can we play in helping introduce AI throughout our organizations to ensure it is used to its best advantage?

An international panel of IABC Fellows got together on June 20 to discuss AI, exploring the risks and benefits, offering guidance to communications professionals seeking to navigate this new landscape. The panel explored the exciting and rapidly evolving intersection of AI and communication, examining how artificial intelligence can shoulder much of the mundane load, freeing up communicators to focus on creative, strategic, and value-added work. The panel also delved into optimal ways for professionals to harness the power of AI in their communication strategies while helping the rest of the organization adopt AI to its greatest potential.
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IABC's Fellows welcomed members of the 2023 class during the World Conference in Toronto. Now, you will have the chance to meet these two dynamic communicators in a special episode of Circle of Fellows. Join host Shel Holtz, SCMP, ABC, and Neil Griffiths, chair of this year's Fellows Committee, for a conversation about our new Fellows' careers and their views on a wide-ranging array of communication-related topics. As always, you will be able to participate in the conversation by asking questions and sharing observations using YouTube's live chat feature. If you aren't able to join us for the live stream, you will be able to watch the video replay or listen to the audio podcast.

The conversation begins at noon EDT on Thursday, June 22.
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Wellness has risen from an afterthought in companies to a prominent issue. Businesses increasingly recognize the impact of physical and mental health in the workplace. An opportunity loss of $20 million for every 10,000 workers can be attributed to low well-being and its negative impact on performance. This amounts to a staggering global cost of up to $322 billion in employee turnover and diminished productivity as a result of burnout caused by low well-being. On the other hand, effective wellness programs leave employees seven times as likely to strongly agree that they have meaningful connections or a best friend at work, a key indicator of engagement. Mental wellness is also getting more attention as companies see the consequences of depression, stress, anxiety, and other symptoms in the workplace. Only 57 percent of employees who report moderate depression and 40 percent of those who report severe depression receive treatment to control depression symptoms. Even when programs are available, employees don’t avail themselves of them. Only about 3.5 percent of employees across the U.S. have taken advantage of an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to which they have access.

Clearly, there is plenty in the wellness space for internal communicators to address, both in terms of raising awareness and moving the culture among employees as well as counseling leaders on the actions they should take through their own messages and the degree of support they offer for wellness programs.

On Thursday, May 18, four IABC Fellows gathered to discuss workplace wellness.

Panel

Jane Mitchell’s career began at the BBC in London on live TV programs. She moved on to producing award-winning films and videos for public and private sector organizations and developed groundbreaking employee engagement programs. Since 2006 when she formed her own consultancy, she now guides organizations, (some of which have experienced cultural trauma), with embedding values and ethics through understanding culture and leadership and their link to high-performing sustainable organizations. She has worked with Top 100 companies across the world, is a regular conference speaker and writer, and is a Director of two highly successful UK-based agencies. Jane has been a member of IABC since 2008 and has had the privilege of serving on local, regional, and International IABC Boards.

Leticia Narváez, ABC, is CEO and Founding Partner of Narváez Group, a consulting firm focused on Strategic Communication, Employee Engagement, Corporate Reputation, Social Responsibility and Communication Training based in Mexico City. A 30 years experienced professional, she held management top level positions at Sanofi, Merck, American Express and Ford Motor Co. among others. She builds communication bridges with the utmost excellence standards. During her career path, she has been at the forefront of divestitures, mergers and acquisitions, diversity leadership, issues and crisis management, team and leadership development, strategic planning and senior executive consulting. She has been a speaker at international forums, is co-author of several books and manuals on business communications and has written a large number of articles on the subject. Leticia has a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and Public Relations from the Latinoamericana University, a Master Degree on Digital Communications from Cantabria University and a Postgraduate Diploma on Top Business Administration at the Panamerican Institute of Top Business Administration – IPADE-.

Angela Sinickas is the founder of Sinickas Communications, which has worked with companies, organizations, and governments in 32 countries on six continents. Her clients include 25% of the Forbes Top 100 largest global companies. Before starting her own consulting firm, she held positions from editor to vice president in for-profit and government organizations and worked as a senior consultant and practice leader at Hewitt and Mercer. She is the author of a manual, How to Measure Your Communication Programs (now in its third edition), and chapters in several books. Her 150+ articles in professional journals can be found on her website, www.sinicom.com. Her work has been recognized with 21 international-level Gold Quill Awards from IABC, plus her firm was named IABC Boutique Agency of the Year in 2015. She holds a BS degree in Journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MS in Leadership from Northeastern University.

Stacy L. Wilson, ABC helps clients get more ROI from their technology investment; specifically leveraging technology for collaboration and communication. She focuses on the people and process sides of intranets and digital workplace, including strategy, governance, usability, content, and adoption. She works for global, Fortune 1000 clients, particularly those with a lot of employees who don’t sit in front of computers; for example, industries such as mining, oil & gas, healthcare, utilities, manufacturing, etc. She is an international speaker and enthusiast of bluegrass music, hiking, food, and whiskey.

The post Circle of Fellows #92: Communicating Wellness in the Workplace appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

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There has been no shortage of crises in the business world in recent months. From the failure of FTX and Silicon Valley Bank to the Norfolk Southern train derailment and fans revolting against Ticketmaster, there is more than enough fodder for a robust discussion about how companies can prepare for crises while establishing their reputations and communicate effectively when a crisis strikes.

The recording of the April 20, 2023, live stream features a great hour-long conversation on various dimensions of crisis communication, from issues identification and the role of CEOs during a crisis to social media and disinformation challenges.

Note, the next Circle of Fellows is set for noon ET on Thursday, May 18, with a look at Employee Well-Being and the Role of Communications. Details will be posted at the beginning of May.

About the Panel

Alice Brink is an internationally recognized communications consultant. Her firm, A Brink & Co., works with businesses and non-profits to clarify their messages and communicate them in ways that change people’s minds. Her clients have included Shell Oil Company, Sysco Foods, and Noble Energy. Prior to launching A Brink & Co. in Houston in 2004, Alice honed her craft both in corporate settings (including The Coca-Cola Company, Conoco, and First Interstate Bank) and in one of Texas’ largest public relations firms, where she led the agency’s energy and financial practices. Alice has been active in IABC for more than 30 years, including serving as chapter president, district director, and Gold Quill chair. She is the vice-chair of the IABC Academy.

John G. Clemons, ABC, APR, IABC Fellow, an independent communications consultant based in North Carolina, has held senior executive and consultant roles over the course of his career in corporate and organizational communications. He has special expertise in providing strategic counsel and support for top executives and corporate offices of Fortune 500 companies. John has served as chair of IABC and holds accreditations from both IABC and PRSA. John has worked with Walmart, Raytheon, and Marriott (among others).

George McGrath is founder and managing principal of McGrath Business Communications, which helps clients build winning corporate reputations, promote their products and services, and advance their views on key issues. George brings more than 25 years in PR and public affairs to his firm. Over the course of his career, he has held senior management positions at leading strategic communications and integrated marketing agencies including Hill and Knowlton, Carl Byoir & Associates, and Brouillard Communications.

Caroline Sapriel, a member of the 2021 class of Fellows participating in her first Circle, is a seasoned international crisis resilience professional with over 25 years experience in risk, crisis, and business continuity management; she has extensive expertise in crisis communication. Caroline is an accomplished coach, trainer and facilitator in my field and is acknowledged industry wide for her ability to provide customized, results-driven counsel at the highest level of organizations across industry sectors globally.

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Everybody hates change, right? You hear that all the time; it’s why organizational change is so hard. The fact is, people love change. They willingly and enthusiastically make changes all the time. They change their fashions, their hair styles, their cars, their homes, their vacation spots, their furniture, their spouses…

If change is hard in organizations, it’s not because people just don’t like change. If there is resistance to change, you have to know why. Even if resistance is not a major issue, managing change is still a complex challenge for communicators, who play multiple roles during a change initiative, creating alignment so employees and leaders are on the same page about where we are, where we’re going, why we’re going there, how we’ll get there, and so on. And that doesn’t even account for dealing with the ongoing, day-to-day change that is a fact of life in any business. (As they say, change is the only constant in life.)

On Thursday, March 16, 2023, four Fellows of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) discussed a wide variety of communication-related change issues.

About the Panel

Zora Artis is a leading Alignment, Brand and Communication Strategist. She works with executive and senior leaders to unlock the value in their people, brands, and organizations through alignment with purpose, promise and strategies, and effective communication. She has over three decades of experience in business, brand, marketing, communication, and advertising, working with government, private and non-profit sectors. This includes roles as Group Account Director, Strategy Director, and CEO of integrated marcomms and advertising firms. She now runs her own management consulting practice bringing together strategic alignment, capability training, and brand and communications expertise. Zora holds a Master’s in Marketing and Commerce and is a trained facilitator in alignment, design thinking, and business model generation.

An IABC Fellow and a Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute, Zora is also a certified company director, strategic communication management professional, and certified practising marketer. Since joining IABC more than a decade ago, Zora has served as Chair of the Asia Pacific Region, Audit and Risk Committee, 2022 World Conference PAC, and as an IEB director and local chapter president. She was honoured in 2021 and 2015 with the IABC Chair’s Award for Leadership and named 2020 Regional Leader of the Year. She is an awards judge for the IABC Gold Quill Awards, IAP2 Core Value Awards, the Australian Marketing Institute Awards, and the global Cannes Lions Awards for Effectiveness.

Diane Gayeski is recognized as a thought leader in the practice and teaching of business communications. She is Professor of Strategic Communications at the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College and provides consulting in communications analysis and strategies through Gayeski Analytics. Diane was recently inducted as an IABC Fellow; she’s been active in IABC for more than 30 years as a featured speaker and think-tank leader at the international conference, the author of 3 editions of the IABC-published book, Managing the Communications Function, and the advisor to Ithaca College’s student chapter. She’s led more than 300 client engagements for clients, including the US Navy, Bank of Montreal, Fiat, Sony, Abbott Diagnostics, and Borg-Warner, focusing on assessing and building the capacities and new technologies for workplace communications and learning teams.

Mary Hills, MA, IABC Fellow, ABC, Six Sigma, serves as a Professional/Scholar in Residence in Loyola University Chicago’s MS Global Strategic Communication program and as Professional and Organizational Development Faculty for the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence. Mary’s career includes service and leadership in large corporations such as First Wisconsin National Bank – Milwaukee, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Whiteco Advertising, NiSource and Northern Trust. Most recently, she was Business Principle of HeimannHills Marketing Group, Chicago and Phoenix. Utilizing her expertise in business management and communication, she published, in 2020, the Business of Business for Communication Professionals on-demand course to upskill communication professionals as they pursue communication management positions. Mary holds a B.S./Business – Finance & Marketing from Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI and an M.A. Communication – Organizational & Structure from Purdue University, W. Lafayette, IN. Her industry leadership and work in marketing and strategic communication has been recognized with the IABC Southern Region Hall of Fame Recipient (2022), IABC Rae Hamlin Award (2021), Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce – Fellow (2018), IABC Fellow (2016), IABC Chicago Karen Utterback Award (2015) and IABC Chairman’s Award (2012).

Martha Muzychka, ABC, MC, speaks, writes, listens, and helps others do the same to make change happen. Martha is a strategic, creative problem solver seeking challenging communications environments where we can make a difference. She helps her clients navigate competing priorities and embrace communications challenges. Martha offers strategic planning, facilitation, and consultation services as well as writing and editing, qualitative research, and policy analysis. Her work has been recognized locally, nationally, and internationally with multiple awards.

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As communication professionals grow in their careers, they’re expected to provide strategic counsel to company executives about communication and its impact on business. This week’s hot topic might be new legal regulations; next week, it could be stakeholder relations. No matter the issue, IABC’s Code of Ethics serves as a roadmap for communication professionals, guiding them to make consistent, responsible, ethical, and legal choices. Join this international panel of IABC Fellows as they share their insights and advice from decades of experience as strategic communication leaders and counselors. A panel of IABC Fellows addressed these issues in a frank conversation on February 16. The video replay is available below; the podcast is available here.

About the Panel

Dr. Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, accredited by both IABC and PRSA. She is Managing Director of Business DNA, based in South Africa, which provides strategic research and consulting, including communication audits, customer service, and women’s leadership topics. She is licensed in Adobe Connect and WebEx, using these to conduct virtual professional learning and education sessions. and other focused research and training in communication skills. Her career has also included a 15-year stint as a research manager for the National Productivity Institute.

Todd “Tosh” Hattori — Leveraging 20+ years of leading in-house communication functions within a variety of organizations and industries, Tosh shifted his career focus toward helping organization leaders address business challenges by setting and implementing organizational excellence strategies. He is currently the continuous improvement lead for F5 Networks where he applies Lean Six Sigma methods to collaborate with cross-functional teams to eliminate waste and establish consistencies that deliver exceptional employee and customer experiences. Tosh also serves on the volunteer board of directors for the Technology Access Foundation, a national model / leader in providing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education to students of color; and improving diversity, upward mobility, and retention of teachers-of-color in Washington.

Mary Ann McCauley is committed to ensuring people communicate more effectively about their organizations’ products and services. With a specialty practice in crisis management, Mary Ann addresses sensitive issues with timeliness, dignity, and minimal backlash. “Managing communication during a crisis requires common sense folded into a structured process,” she says.

Ritzi Ronquillo is a multi-awarded communication leader in corporate, community, and associations in the Philippines and abroad. Ritzi is an Accredited Public Relations (APR) Professional and a Fellow of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), the highest honor bestowed upon an IABC member with significant impact on their organization, on IABC, and on the communication profession at large. She brings four decades of experience in communication and PR to her assignments. She is a broadcast communication graduate of UP.A university entrance scholar and scholar of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas/Broadcast Media Council (KBP/BMC).

Jennifer Wah, MC, ABC, has worked with clients to deliver ideas, plans, words and results since she founded her storytelling and communications firm, Forwords Communication Inc., in 1997. The company operates as a strategic alliance of hand-picked professionals; all renowned for work in their areas of specialization. This approach means the right team is assembled for each project; no more, no less. With more than two dozen awards for strategic communications, writing and consulting, Jennifer is recognized as a storyteller and strategist. She has worked in industries from healthcare to financial services to academia, and is passionate about the opportunity for stories to inspire actions and reactions within organizations.In 2013, Jennifer was named Associate Faculty of Royal Roads University, and in this capacity, continues to teach, coach and mentor others with an interest in business communication.

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According to the Global Communication Certification Council, “Professional certifications through GCCC® give you the opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise and provide evidence of your outstanding abilities. Becoming certified engages you in the process of life-long learning that elevates your career and provides a structure for keeping your skills fresh and applicable.”

On January 19, four IABC Fellows joined moderator Shel Holtz, SCMP, and four IABC Fellows for a conversation about certification. The discussion ranged from why certification matters and what the CMP and SCMP certifications represent to how to prepare and how to maintain certification after earning it.

About the panel

Priya Bates is a senior communication executive who provides strategic internal communication counsel in order to ensure leaders, managers, and employees understand the strategy, believe in the vision, act in accordance with the values, and contribute to business results. She is president of Inner Strength Communications in Toronto and previously served as senior director of Internal Communications at Loblaw Companies.

An accredited business communicator, and past global chair of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), Adrian Cropley is widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost experts and consultants in strategic communication. With a career spanning over 30 years, Adrian has worked with clients all over the world, including Fortune 500 companies, on major change communication initiatives, internal communication reviews and strategies, professional development programs, and executive leadership and coaching. He has been a keynote speaker and workshop leader on strategic and change communication at international conferences in Canada, the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, China, India, Hong Kong, Thailand, New Zealand, and Australia. He has received a number of awards including international Gold Quill awards for communication excellence. Adrian is a member of the Program Advisory Committee for the RMIT School of Media and Communication, is currently chairing the IABC’s Big Ideas Taskforce, and in 2020 was named a Fellow of the IABC.

Robin McCasland, IABC Fellow, SCMP leads her employer’s content creation and delivery teams. She also leads the employee listening program, demonstrating to senior leaders how employee and executive communication add value to the business bottom line. Previously, Robin excelled in communication leadership roles for Texas Instruments, Dell, Tenet Healthcare, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe. She has also worked for large and boutique HR consulting firms, leading major communication initiatives for a variety of well-known companies. Robin is a past IABC chairman and served in countless association leadership roles for nearly 30 years. She was honored in 2021 by Ragan/PR Daily as one of the Top Women Leaders in Communication. She’s also received IABC Southern Region and IABC Dallas Communicator of the Year honors. Robin is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and a Leadership Texas alumnus. Her own podcast, Torpid Liver (and other symptoms of poor communication), features guest speakers and addresses timely topics to help others become better and more influential communication professionals. She resides in Dallas, Texas with her husband, Mitch, and their canine kids, Tank and Petunia.

Brad Whitworth, ABC, SCMP, IABC Fellow, is a pre-eminent thought leader, lecturer, and author in organizational communication. He has led global internal and executive communication programs at HP, Cisco, Hitachi, PeopleSoft, AAA, and MicroFocus. He holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and undergraduate degrees in journalism and speech from the University of Missouri. Brad lives in California wine country and is growing Pinot Noir on his property. A former broadcaster, Brad has made more than 300 presentations to executives, communicators, and university classes around the world. Brad is a past board chairman of the International Association of Business Communicators and a Fellow of the association. He is one of the authors of The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication and the new IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer. He chaired the Global Communication Certification Counsel in 2021.

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Four IABC Fellows looked back on 2022, which was a consequential year for communicators, in this final Circle of Fellows of the year. The evolution of COVID-19 from pandemic to endemic led companies to bring employees back to the office, creating a need to communicate the new hybrid work reality (or, in some cases, why employers were insisting everyone come back full-time while others retained a remote work arrangement). “Quiet Quitting” became a topic of discussion as dissatisfied employees dialed back the effort they gave to the organizations. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion remained an important topic. And there was no shortage of crises to occupy communicators’ time. The episode was live-streamed on December 15.

About the panel

Diane Gayeski is recognized as a thought leader in the practice and teaching of business communications. She is Professor of Strategic Communications at the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College and provides consulting in communications analysis and strategies through Gayeski Analytics. Diane was recently inducted as an IABC Fellow; she’s been active in IABC for more than 30 years as a featured speaker and think-tank leader at the international conference, the author of 3 editions of the IABC-published book, Managing the Communications Function, and the advisor to Ithaca College’s student chapter. She’s led more than 300 client engagements for clients, including the US Navy, Bank of Montreal, Fiat, Sony, Abbott Diagnostics, and Borg-Warner, focusing on assessing and building the capacities and new technologies for workplace communications and learning teams.

In a career spanning roles as a Colonel in the Army, a Ph.D. in Organizational Communication (Fulbright Fellow) and Professor in a business school, a communication consultant, teacher, and trainer, Rajeev Kumar is an author and recognized speaker with a significant profile regionally, across many cultures and languages. Rajeev has a strong commitment to the profession and IABC, demonstrated through local, regional and international leadership roles. Rajeev’s work and references reinforce his commitment to the IABC values and he is a brand ambassador for the association in all aspects of his professional life. His co-authored book, “Outlast – How ESG can Benefit your Business” has been recently launched by Harper Collins.

Angela Sinickas is the founder of Sinickas Communications, which has worked with companies, organizations, and governments in 32 countries on six continents. Her clients include 25% of the Forbes Top 100 largest global companies. Before starting her own consulting firm, she held positions from editor to vice president in for-profit and government organizations and worked as a senior consultant and practice leader at Hewitt and Mercer. She is the author of a manual, How to Measure Your Communication Programs (now in its third edition), and chapters in several books. Her 150+ articles in professional journals can be found on her website,www.sinicom.com. Her work has been recognized with 21 international-level Gold Quill Awards from IABC, plus her firm was named IABC Boutique Agency of the Year in 2015. She holds a BS degree in Journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MS in Leadership from Northeastern University.

Jennifer Wah, MC, ABC, has worked with clients to deliver ideas, plans, words and results since she founded her storytelling and communications firm, Forwords Communication Inc., in 1997. The company operates as a strategic alliance of hand-picked professionals; all renowned for work in their areas of specialization. This approach means the right team is assembled for each project; no more, no less. With more than two dozen awards for strategic communications, writing and consulting, Jennifer is recognized as a storyteller and strategist. She has worked in industries from healthcare to financial services to academia, and is passionate about the opportunity for stories to inspire actions and reactions within organizations.In 2013, Jennifer was named Associate Faculty of Royal Roads University, and in this capacity, continues to teach, coach and mentor others with an interest in business communication.

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Is your trademark your company’s brand? Your logo? Or is your brand what your customers say about you when you’re not in the room? What’s a brand promise and how do you develop one that everyone can buy into? How do you build the brand internally so every employee projects it externally? What’s the communicator’s role in protecting the brand? And what do you do when your company fails to live up to it?
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You have gained experience as a communicator in an organization. Now, you want to establish a consulting practice. You have questions. Do you focus on a niche or will you be a generalist? Will you remain independent or hire staff? How do you build your business? What should you charge? Four IABC Fellows with decades of experience as communication consultants shared their insights and experience in episode 85 of “Circle of Fellows,” IABC’s monthly broadcast/panel discussion.
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In July, four IABC Fellows gathered to discuss what communication is…and isn’t. That conversation will continue at noon EDT on Thursday, August 18.

Too often, communicators are called upon to engage in activities some might consider communication. It may even qualify as communication under some definitions. But in the business world, simply distributing a routine notice is far from communication. It may be messaging, but even that is questionable if nobody reads it. Conversely, modifying a company process that is sending the wrong message to employees may not strike an executive as a means of communication — but it is.

The August episode of "Circle of Fellows" features three additional Fellows -- and one returning from the July show -- continuing the discussion.
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Ask leaders what “communication” is and you are likely to hear a wide range of answers, especially when it comes to the role of a company communication function. Some of those answers may be accurate, others not so much. Too often, leaders see communication as a one-way messaging function, for example. In the first of this two-part discussion, four IABC Fellows explored exactly what communication is…and isn’t. The conversation took place on Thursday, July 21. (The second installment, with another quartet of IABC Fellows, is set for August 18.)
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In this special episode of “Circle of Fellows,” meet the three IABC leaders who have been named Fellows for 2022 (and who will be formally inducted during the IABC World Conference in New York later this month). This conversation with Zora Artis, Sue Heuman, and Robin McCasland included their professional journeys and their core philosophies and beliefs about organizational communication. The conversation was moderated by Shel Holtz.
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With today’s online discussions, forums, and social media platforms, communication professionals easily delve into what key stakeholders know-feel-do about something now. This enables comms pros to develop more efficient and effective plans to transform what stakeholders’ know-feel-do to achieve organizational goal(s) and objectives.

Four IABC Fellows dove into research and measurement in the next Circle of Fellows, a monthly live broadcast featuring IABC Fellows in conversation about a timely communication topic.
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As part of the IABC Career Roadmap, the business leader path is essential to our profession and its role within society. The business leader plays a critical role in shaping an organization's future by adopting the Global Standard for the profession while building and maintaining a well-structured, competent, and trusted organizational communication function.

In this Circle of Fellows, our panel of top international communication advisors explores executive communication and leadership, its importance in organizations, and how we as communication professionals build the relationships and competence of executives. They will discuss how to add business value while expanding communication competencies and coaching the people who drive today's organizations.
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“Strategic” communication is differentiated from other communication by one simple concept: It is “the communication principles, strategies, and initiatives used to further an organization’s goals,” according to one communication-focused website. (It’s not a bad definition, though it fails to mention “measurable,” which is a critical element of strategic communication.)

The target of an organization’s strategic communication efforts is the organization’s stakeholders, those individuals, groups, or organizations directly involved with — or indirectly affected by — the organization and its work. This includes employees, people who live in the communities where the company operates, investors, the financial community, partners, vendors, suppliers, government at all levels, and more.

Communication — strategic or not — is multi-directional. (Crafting communication collateral and distributing it to an audience is not communication. It’s messaging.) As a result, effective strategic communication almost always is designed to produce engagement with the stakeholders for whom the communication has been crafted.

How to do this effectively was the focus of the March episode of IABC’s Circle of Fellows.
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The pandemic has made us look more closely at human and corporate values and the capacity that good values, morality, and ethics can provide to overcome any crisis. ESG has firmly entered the vocabulary of investors, managers, and other stakeholders as it helps assess the risks and resilience of enterprises. The corporate world faces multi-dimensional challenges and all stakeholders are focusing intently on their Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance.

Businesses can be rewarded in many ways when they act in a responsible manner. Through committed ESG performance, businesses can gain legitimacy; a stellar reputation; government support; strong brand equity; increased investment from socially responsible investors; attract socially conscious consumers; entice talent and gain employee trust and loyalty. In this evolving business context, we look at what role communication needs to play.

Four IABC Fellows discussed a variety of issues and challenges related to ESG communication in a panel discussion recorded on February 17, 2022.
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How leaders view the communication function depends entirely on whether communication produces results that matter to them. Delivering that value doesn’t just happen. In the first Circle of Fellows broadcast of 2022, four IABC Fellows explored the various dimensions of communicating for results that matter, from knowing what’s keeping leaders awake at night, the elements of the business and strategic plans, establishing the means of assessing the results of the communication, and how to share those results with leaders.
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As the new year begins, before you set your resolutions in stone, ask yourself, “How healthy is the culture of the organization where I work or the clients I serve?”

And, with what you learn, consider new resolutions to make a place to work a more welcoming environment for the contributions people want to make and the ideas they want to share.

IABC Fellows Alice Brink, Martha Muzychka, Lety Narvaez, and Mark Schumann took a close look at how to diagnose, develop, and deliver a culture that resonates with what matters to people, and what’s needed by organizations, where every voice is welcomed and heard. Shel Holtz moderated this discussion.
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As the world struggles with what’s next for the workplace in the wake of the global pandemic, take time to consider your career path as a communication professional. Neil Griffiths, Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, Mary Hills, and Brad Whitworth contributed their thoughts and experience to a Circle of Fellows focused on career assessment and planning, IABC’s Global Standard, strengths, professional development, certification, and more.
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Trust in media and business is not high, according to the latest Edelman Trust Barometer, and public relations practitioners are usually stereotyped as unethical hacks attempting to clean up the image of a person or organization that has done something bad. Yet every communication organization — IABC included — has a code of ethics that... Continue Reading →

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There are dramatic changes afoot among employee populations. The biggest of these are pandemic-related, including hybrid workforces and employees required to adjust to new at-work realities, including continued social distancing and other measures designed to blunt the spread of viruses. In addition, employees are leaving their jobs in record numbers, part of the “great resignation,”... Continue Reading →

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During the recent IABC World Conference, Brad Whitworth and Mark Schumann led a highly rated interactive session that examined how we use time to positively impact worlds we hope to change, lives we want to touch, and differences we need to make. Brad and Mark reprised much of that session — joined by Alice Brink and Jane Mitchell — as the five of us discussed what we are doing with our time.

Here’s how Brad and Mark describe the conversation: “We fill our days fighting the realities of time. Maybe it’s time to stop the clock, take time to reflect, and recommit to what we contribute to make ours a better world.”
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Crisis communication begins long before an organization experiences a crisis. Planning to communicate in a crisis involves considerable preparation, running the gamut from ensuring contact lists are up to date to establishing an organizational culture that is prepared to swing into action when things go south.

Organizations that prepare are able to identify most issues before they become crises. But every organization will experience a crisis when decisions must be made quickly and communicated deftly and frequently across multiple channels. Missteps can exacerbate the situation but a strategic approach to a crisis can help the organization recover quickly with its reputation untarnished (or, at least, ready to be rehabilitated quickly).

Four crisis-tested IABC Fellows gathered on Thursday, July 15 for a conversation about crisis communication and leadership. The conversation, moderated by IABC Fellow Shel Holtz, covered the preparation and execution of crisis communication, including a look at the leadership role communicators can play.
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What does it take to ensure success, both personally and professionally, as an organizational communicator? On June 17, five IABC Fellows gathered for a live-streamed discussion that explored some surprising elements of success.
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Internal communicators have been partnering with Human Resources for years. In larger companies, HR even has communicators of its own to handle messaging about people-related matters. Changes in the workplace have led to substantial changes in HR’s role, many of which are potential flashpoints, which now add external communicators to the mix. Consider the recent news about Basecamp, in which a decision by the company’s leaders to ban political discussion from internal forums led one-third of the company’s employees to quit.

In this episode of Circle of Fellows, four IABC Fellows discussed the relationship between communications and HR in an environment in which purpose and values drive employment decisions, employees expect companies to take a stand on issues that matter to them, and employee activism is on the rise.
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Return on Investment (ROI) is a term that is tossed around loosely in some circles. Strictly speaking, ROI is expressed as a percentage determined by dividing the return (or benefit) of a monetary investment by the cost of the investment. That’s not what most communicators measure, yet the industry frequently refers to the ROI of communication. Is that a number that applies to communication? Can communication contribute to an organization’s overall ROI? What are valid alternatives to ROI that company leaders will appreciate when communicators share them?

Four IABC Fellows gathered at noon ET on Thursday, April 15, 2021, to discuss these and other questions.
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Corporate Social Responsibility has never been hotter. With younger workers insisting on working for purposeful organizations, a surge of interest in investment funds that focus on sustainable companies, and organizations embracing comprehensive ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) initiatives, communicators have their hands full. From reporting ESG results (annual ESG reports jam-packed with data are becoming commonplace) to pitching companies’ CSR commitments, challenges abound. Simply checking off CSR boxes (donation made: check) no longer cuts it.

Four IABC Fellows gathered on March 19, 2021, to discuss the state of CSR and the role communicators play in helping companies get it right and engage stakeholders appropriately.
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What does it take to be successful as an independent communication consultant? How do you transition from your current corporate role, with all the support and resources that come with it, to working on your own? How do you drum up business, manage multiple clients, and handle all the administrivia (like contracts, invoicing, accounting, and travel booking) that go along with going solo? How do you handle demanding clients?
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By any standard, 2020 was a challenging year for everyone around the globe. Communicators were among those who had to cope with the personal impact of the year’s events while simultaneously coordinating communication to their organizations’ or clients’ diverse audiences — both regular, ongoing communication and crisis-related communication.

On Thursday, January 21, a truly global panel of four IABC Fellows convened to review the year in communication. (Panelists are from Australia, The Philippines, and Canada.)
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The corporate environment comprises the various aspects of work that affect employees' productivity, including when, where, and how they work. According to Indeed.com, "A work environment is the setting, social features, and physical conditions in which you perform your job. These elements can impact feelings of wellbeing, workplace relationships, collaboration, efficiency, and employee health."

Elements of a corporate culture include the physical environment, the company culture, and working conditions. Business analysts have made attempts to categorize different types of corporate environments, like "artistic" (promoting innovation and experimentation, as well as personal expression), "enterprising" (emphasizing guidance of employees toward goals), and "conventional" (built on specificity, predictability, and organization).
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For a while, the wave of new technologies offered communicators obvious opportunities to incorporate these new tools into their communication strategies. The introduction of Twitter and Instagram, the rise of mobile use, chatbots, and other technologies that were grounded in communication were introduced at a dizzying pace.

Many of today’s new crop of technologies have less obvious communication applicability. That doesn’t mean communicators should ignore them. From Artificial Intelligence to Blockchain, from live streaming to machine co-creativity, there are technologies gaining steam that can have a significant impact on the effectiveness of both internal and external communication.
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Four IABC Fellows discuss how to effectively communicate workplace safety.
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In his book, “The Great Game of Business,” Jack Stack introduced the business world to open-book management. The Great Game of Business website points out, “Open-book management at its most effective far outperforms a definition as simple as “sharing financial information with employees”. Open-book isn’t just about opening your financials to your company, it’s about responsibility, ownership, results, and growth, all of these things can come together to drive the needle forward in your organization. With proper training and knowledge, all levels of your business start to act and engage just like the owner, or leadership.”

Clearly, communication is a vital dimension of open-book management. Episode 61 of "Circle of Fellows" featured four IABC Fellows looking at the communicator’s role, including introducing the concept to leadership. Panelists included moderator/Fellow Brad Whitworth and IABC Fellows Jim Shaffer, Tosh Hattori, and Amanda Hamilton-Attwell. Of special note, Jim has worked closely with Jack Stack, founder of open-book management and CEO of SRC Holdings. He escorts clients to SRC Holdings so they can see first-hand how to implement open-book management.
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Episode 43 of Circle of Fellows — back in March 2019 — addressed the communicator’s role in supporting their companies’ diversity and inclusion (D&I) efforts. The topic has undergone a dramatic transformation since then and, notably, since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Suddenly, companies that had merely checked the D&I box are revisiting their commitments and introducing more meaningful policies and practices, in addition to taking direct action.

IABC revisited the topic in the August episode of Circle of Fellows. Five IABC Fellows — Priya Bates, Neil Griffiths, Todd Hattori, Rajeev Kumar, and Brenda Siler — joined moderator Shel Holtz for an updated conversation about the communicator’s role in evaluating and promoting D&I; including best practices in language and visual representation.
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What does it take to launch a communications consulting practice? What should communicators who have never been entrepreneurs know about going solo? Should they bring aboard partners? Staff? Most importantly, how do they become trusted advisers, delivering value, and helping clients drive business results?

Four Fellows from the International Association of Business Communicators gathered on July 16 for a live streaming conversation about entrepreneurship and how to be a successful consultant.
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Internal communication engages your employees and helps ensure they focus their efforts on activities that produce business results. External communication engages your stakeholders and customers, builds your reputation, and sets expectations. When both are clicking, employees are connected to the marketplace and customers interact with employees. Four IABC Fellows discussed the blurring of the lines between internal and external communications on Thursday, June 18, 2020.
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You cannot discuss internal communications these days without someone asking about the blurring of the line between internal and external. When done well, there has never been a clear boundary between internal and external, since they are designed to achieve common objectives. When strategized to work together, along with all facets of external communication, this is known as “integrated communication,” a system that coordinates and harmonizes messages from various senders and to various audiences. It is composed of rules (including policies, procedures, and formats) and tools (including distribution channels, styles, and timelines).

How to make this work was the subject of an hour-long conversation on May 21, 2020,with four IABC Fellows: Priya Bates, Diane Gayeski, Angela Sinickas, and Stacy Wilson.
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Organizations with high-performance leadership are better equipped to develop, maintain, and retain individuals, teams, business units, and the whole organization’s culture. These organizations are also in a better position to manage change. The characteristics of high-performing leadership range from leaders’ behaviors and beliefs to what they say and when they choose to act. The role of communication in leading change and creating a high-performance leadership environment will be the focus of the next Circle of Fellows conversation.

Participating in episode 56 were be Priya Bates, Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, Ned Lundquist, and Stacy Wilson.
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Bosses: True Stories of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a candid and provocative new book in which communication and leadership expert Roger D’Aprix (also an IABC Fellow) asserts that many leaders are ignoring the proper selection, training, development, and ongoing support of the mid-level bosses they entrust to manage company talent.

Roger joined four IABC Fellows and moderator Shel Holtz on March 19 for a conversation about bosses, their communication role, and how organizational communicators can help improve the culture of management in their organizations.

In addition to Roger and Shel, Fellows participating in this conversation included Bish Mukherjee, Jim Shaffer, Angela Sinickas, and Stacy Wilson.
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Communications — internal and external — are cost centers. Other cost centers, like Human Resources, have transformed themselves from bureaucratic necessary expenses to vital business partners whose work directly affects business performance. Communications can (and does) have a direct effect on business when managed and measured strategically, but far too many communication functions still focus on message outputs than on improving productivity or other business elements that matter to the company’s leadership.

In episode 54 of Circle of Fellows, four IABC Fellows discussed how communicators can make this transition from a cost center to vital business partner. Shel Holtz moderated the panel that included Priya Bates, Neil Griffiths, Ned Lundquist, and Jim Shaffer.
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A lot of organizations talk a good game about transparency but when push comes to shove, they can still seem secretive and opaque. Clearly, transparency doesn’t mean making every scrap of information available. Share your employees’ health records and you’ll be subject to penalties under HIPAA (in the U.S.). Reveal plans for product launches and... Continue Reading →

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For many communicators, work is all about the craft of producing articles, posts, videos, and other content. Moving into the leadership ranks, however, requires more than great tactical skills and, in fact, more than great strategic planning capabilities. Senior-level communicators regularly advise and coach the company’s executives (and others) on how to communicate effectively, both in general and about specific issues. In episode 52 of the “Circle of Fellows” broadcast, four IABC Fellows discussed how to acquire coaching skills and apply them with company leaders. IABC Fellows participating in the discussion included Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, Jim Lukaszewski, Jim Shaffer, and Angela Sinickas.
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The news is full of cyber-attacks on organizations large and small, exposing sensitive customer and other information, forcing companies to pay ransoms to retrieve locked data, and creating public relations nightmares. In episode 51 of IABC’s Circle of Fellows broadcast, five IABC Fellows discussed the PR and internal communication aspects of cyber-attacks, including…

• The steps to prepare for a data breach
• Understanding your IT leaders and keeping the lines of communication open and clear
• Educating your employees about cybersecurity: What they need to know and do
• Recovering trust following a cyberattack: the road to reputational recovery.

IABC Fellows participating in the discussion, moderated by Shel Holtz, included Priya Bates, John Deveney, Martha Muzychka, and Sheri Rosen.
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Communicators who lack specific expertise and/or resources inside the organization often turn to external consultants to help with everything from strategic planning to project execution. That relationship can be amazing, delivering exceptional results. It can also be a minefield, causing sleepless nights, unsatisfying results, and even diminished trust in the communicator from company leadership.

In episode 50 of Circle of Fellows, four IABC Fellows discussed the consultant/client relationship, including…

• How to hire and manage an array of consultants in a gig economy
• How to build and maintain a corporate client base as an independent consultant
• Top five ways for consultants to build loyalty with their clients, and keep them coming back

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With dramatic, unpredictable change as a constant in business and technology, how can communication professionals help build resilient organizations and increase the resilience of employees in enterprise transformations? On episode 49 of Circle of Fellows, four IABC Fellows discussed the role of communication in facilitating change
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The media landscape in which communicators operate is in constant flux. The various kinds of changes the environment goes through can be tumultuous, making it challenging for communicators to maintain alignment between their strategies and the channels and platforms available. Three IABC Fellows -- John Deveney, Brad Whitworth, and Stacy Wilson -- discussed these challenges as they relate to both internal and external communication on episode 48 of Circle of Fellows, the monthly panel discussion from IABC.
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With so much data available, it can be difficult to determine what information is actually useful to track to measure the success of your communication activities.  What and how to measure in order to best inform your work and demonstrate communication impact is the next topic for discussion on Circle of Fellows. Episode #47 of the broadcast will explore measurement for both internal and external communication activities.

IABC Fellows Neil Griffiths, Jim Shaffer, Angela Sinickas, and Stacy Wilson participated in a panel discussion moderated by Shel Holtz that explored various dimensions of metrics in communication, from measuring communication effectiveness to sharing information derived from data.
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According to a study conducted by MIT Sloan Management Review and The Boston Consulting Group, three-quarters of executives believe that artificial intelligence (AI) will enable their companies to move into new businesses, and roughly 85% believe AI will allow their companies to obtain or sustain a competitive advantage. At noon ET on Thursday, June 20, a panel of Fellows from the International Association of Business Communicators will look at how AI is maturing and what it means to your company and communication practice. Four IABC Fellows -- Roger D’Aprix, Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, Mary Hills, and Ned Lundquist -- gathered for a conversation about the issues facing communicators as AI continues to evolve.
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In May’s Circle of Fellows panel, four IABC Fellows explore the steps organizations need to take to mitigate the risk of reputational crises and address the challenges of consumer activism in highly politicized environments by listening to your customers, understanding their concerns and shaping communication to build trust, clarify and dispel myths.
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On April 18, four IABC Fellows gathered to discuss the evolution of communication from support service to value contributor in episode 44 of the “Circle of Fellows” program.
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Diverse, inclusive workplaces are essential to business success. But how does a company achieve authentic representation without resorting to stereotypes? Four IABC Fellows -- Priya Bates, Todd Hattori, Jim Shaffer, and Brad Whitworth -- joined host Shel Holtz for a conversation about the role in promoting diversity and inclusion for a discussion about how to evaluate diversity and inclusiveness and hear about best practices in language and visual representation.
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In a recent Weber Shandwick study, among executives who reported working in companies with world-class reputations, 63% favored companies taking a public stance on social or political issues. On Circle of Fellows’ February episode, four IABC Fellows explored how to coach leaders on when and how to take a stand on political/social issues, the pitfalls of CEO activism, and how to maintain a productive, inclusive tone that seeks consensus and solutions.
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FIR guest host Brad Whitworth moderated a panel discussion with four IABC Fellows: Alice Brink, John Deveney, Jim Lukaszewski, and Brenda Siler. who explored the role of a free press in supporting a free economy:  How communicators can support their business's efforts to support a free press and the value a free press brings to organizations (such as providing transparency and delivering information on which companies can reliably base decisions). Other topics related to media relations are also on the agenda, including why companies should respond when news organizations come calling, the important role of earned media, and whether press releases still matter.
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Showing how communication benefits your organization depends on measuring what matters most—and how to turn what you learn into actionable results. Join four Fellows of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) for a real-time conversation about what technology exists to help you measure your programs, package and present the results, and produce more complex analyses to present to leadership.  We’ll also explore non-technology means of measurement and other approaches to demonstrating that your communication efforts are paying off. The panel, moderated by FIR host Shel Holtz, featured Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, Mary Hills, Jim Shaffer, and Angela Sinickas discussing measurement, beer, and other means of proving communication's worth to the powers that be.
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How do you build a strong brand? And what role can communicators — from the PR function to internal communications — play a pivotal role? On November 15, four IABC Fellows will discuss how positioning varies, why strong brands are necessary today, and new trends in branding, including how to make employees a part of your brand team. The November Circle of Fellows panel tackling this issue included Priya Bates, George McGrath, Cindy Schmieg, and Mark Schumann.
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How do you know if you’re using the best structural model for communication? Can hybrid models co-exist successfully? Four IABC Fellows explored the latest thinking on department structures, including how to work with agencies and freelancers (on goal-setting, budgeting, etc.). The panel will also look at whether departments should be consolidated or employ an agency model (with staff embedded in parts of the organization), as well as whether all communications departments should be grouped together, and where they should report. The panel, moderated by IABC Fellow Brad Whitworth, featured Mary Ann McCauley, George McGrath, Barbara Puffer, and Jennifer Wah.
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Disciplines and functions are converging within organizations—and that can lead to more efficient, successful companies. But to blend functions easily, communication professionals will need to collaborate with other disciplines and departments, including through cross-functional training. It is equally important that communication leaders cast a more disciplined eye on the competencies of their staffs while exploring new models for the structure of communications within their organizations. Four IABC Fellows met on a Google Hangout on Air on Thursday, September 20, to discuss the blending and reshaping of internal and external communication -- as well as marketing and corporate communications -- in this hour-long conversation that included questions from communicators watching the panel in real time.
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The challenges and complexities of communicating increase with the size and scope of the employee population. It’s one thing to communicate when all your employees are in one city or state. When employees span the country, it gets harder, with the expectations and perceptions of employees in Ohio (for example) not necessarily aligning with those... Continue Reading →

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On July 19, four IABC Fellows convened for a live online conversation about the communicator’s role in creating a memorable Customer Experience (CX). The panel includes Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, George McGrath, and Jim Shaffer. FIR podcast host Shel Holtz (also a Fellow) served as moderator.
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Does advancing to the ranks of senior management really require you to win the battle for a coveted “seat at the table?” To make the transition to a top leadership position requires a change in behavior to advance your career and the role of communication. The June installment of “Circle of Fellows” will examine the communicator as facilitator in the boardroom, as a leader of innovation, and a unifier and ground-breaker in transformative collaboration. On Thursday, June 21, four IABC Fellows participated in a live online conversation about leadership skill-building for communicators. FIR host Shel Holtz (also a Fellow) moderated the panel that included James Lukaszewski, Mary Ann McCauley, and Barbara Puffer.
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On Thursday, May 17, four IABC Fellows participated in a live online conversation about the emerging role of CEOs as the new global community leaders. The topic was also IABC’s editorial theme for May: “CEOs and other leaders are increasingly looked to weigh in on social and political issues. But how do you determine when your leaders should take a stand? We’ll examine key indicators for when leaders should make statements and review research about this trend.” The panel included James Lukaszewski, Ned Lundquist, and Leticia Narvaez. FIR podcast host Shel Holtz moderated.
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n Thursday, April 18, four Fellows of the International Association of Business Communicators gathered for a live online conversation about the competencies that will be required for communicators in the years ahead — both the tactics and tools used to communicate and the business acumen required to understand the problems leaders need solved that allow us to devise solutions that move the business forward.
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On Thursday, March 15, FIR host Shel Holtz moderated a panel with four of his Fellows colleagues -- Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, Kellie Garrett, March Schumann, and Jim Shaffer -- to discuss the role communications can play in building and sustaining a strong corporate culture. Watch the video replay here or listen to the podcast. (Subscribe to the podcast and you'll never miss an episode!)
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Trust in media is at an all-time low, as is global trust in the United States (while global trust in China is soaring). Meanwhile, peers — who have been a top credible source for several years — are waning as people once again turn to subject matter experts, technical experts, and CEOs, all of whom have been trailing in prior years’ Trust Barometers, the annual survey released every January by Edelman. Where trust is in decline, communication professionals can help turn the tide. Where it is rising, communicators can help maintain that growth. On February 15, four IABC Fellows (and moderator Shel Holtz) discussed the issue and various approaches communicators can take to helping their organizations or clients rebuild trust.
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Technology’s role in communications continues to grow, requiring communicators to not only factor it into their strategic planning but to stay one step ahead in order to be prepared for dramatic changes. In 2018, the changes will be as great as we’ve seen in a single year. Consider the exploding impact on communication of AI, chatbots, voice tech/voice search, and augmented reality. Add the fact that blockchain is barreling toward us it’s hard to deny that technology is poised to cause upheaval in the channels we use and the strategies we employ to communicate. On January 18, four IABC Fellows convened to discuss these and other technologies, their impact on communications, and the challenges communicators will face in adopting them.
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In the age of social media and the 24-hour news cycle, company reputations are constantly at risk. On episode 28 of “Circle of Fellows,” recorded on December 21,  four IABC Fellows explored the challenges of managing reputation in social media, the crucial role employees play as reputation ambassadors and the financial value of proactive reputation and risk management. FIR host Shel Holtz moderated the panel featuring Lee Hornick, George McGrath, Barbara Puffer, and Cindy Schmieg. Watch the video replay here or listen to the podcast. (Subscribe to the podcast and you'll never miss an episode!)
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The trend toward the convergence of public relations and marketing is hard to ignore. Two separate studies — one from Nasdaq Corporate Solutions and the other from the USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations — both demonstrate that this convergence is more than just a casual observation.  On Thursday, November 16, IABC Fellow Brad Whitworth moderated a panel with four of his Fellows colleagues — Priya Bates, Kellie Garrett, Tamara Gillis, and Jim Shaffer — to discuss the convergence trend and what it means for the practices of public relations, corporate communications, and employee communications.
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October's Circle of Fellows panel -- an hour-long conversation among a group of IABC Fellows -- explored the role of communications in change, how to prepare a workforce for change, how communicators can support leaders and employees undergoing the change process, and the changing nature of change itself in the modern workplace.
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September's Circle of Fellows panel -- an hour-long conversation among a group of IABC Fellows -- explored alternatives and approaches for advancing careers in communications across multiple generations. Brad Whitworth moderated a panel that included Tamara Gillis, Mary Ann McCauley, Mark Schumann, and Brenda Siler.
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August's Circle of Fellows panel -- an hour-long conversation among a group of IABC Fellows -- tackled the issue of communications and social responsibility.
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One of the most comment ambitions expressed by communicators is to get that coveted "seat at the table." The fact is, you don't need a seat at any table (wherever the table may be) to become a trusted strategic adviser to company leader. In this month's Circle of Fellows podcast, four IABC Fellows discuss what it means to be an adviser and what it takes to earn the level of trust that has leaders calling you before they make a decision or problems arise, quoting you when you're not in the room, and counting on you to help them achieve results and solutions that matter to them.
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In this hourlong conversation, four IABC Fellows -- Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, Ned Lundquist, Brenda Siler, and Angela Sinickas -- explore the upfront research required to engage diverse audiences, what we can learn from the experiences of others, practical on-the-ground advice, and how to address a miscommunication that threatens the company's relationships with customers, suppliers, partners, and other stakeholders.
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In this month's Circle of Fellows episode, FIR host Shel Holtz joins four of his IABC Fellow colleagues -- Mary Hills, George McGrath, Angela Sinickas, and Brad Whitworth -- to discuss the various ways communicators can build measurement into their communication plans and prepare to measure, including identifying the right metrics and measurement tools.
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In this month’s Circle of Fellows episode, FIR host Shel Holtz joins four of his IABC Fellow colleagues — James Lukaszewski, Barbara Puffer, Jim Shaffer, and Jennifer Wah — to explore why storytelling beats a rational explanation any time, how to tease stories out of other people, why leaders need to tell stories, which models make sense, how to spread stories through an organization, and a variety of other storytelling-related topics.
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In this month's Circle of Fellows episode, FIR host Shel Holtz joins four of his IABC Fellow colleagues -- Priya Bates, Kellie Garrett, John Clemons, and Sheri Rosen -- to explore the evolving role of employee communications.
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A lot of communication from organizations seems pointless at best and, in the worst cases, chaotic. In some cases, even brilliant individual communications fail to “move the needle” — that is, they don’t produce a behavior or action that supports a business goal or strategy. That’s the idea behind “strategic” communication: It is planned to meet... Continue Reading →

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One of the most-discussed topics among marketers and communicators is social media measurement. (Did you know there’s a Conclave on Social Media Measurement Standards?) Everyone knows measuring the effectiveness of social media efforts is key. But how do you identify which metrics are meaningful in evaluating social media campaigns? Far too many communicators measure impressions (which aren’t all that impressive). Engagement means different things to different people. Measurement thought leader Katie Paine argues we will soon stop talking about “social” and conduct our measurement efforts based on the PESO model (Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned).
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With Generation Z just starting to enter the workforce, companies now employ workers representing six distinct generations (as defined by the Pew Research Center). A few members of the Greatest Generation, born before 1928, are still working, as are a considerable number of the Silent Generation (born between 1928 and 1945). Baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) are still prevalent and retiring at lower numbers than historical trends indicate. GenX (born between 1965 and 1980) are still very much in the workplace, while Millennials (born between 1981 and 1997) represent the largest number of employees in America today. Each of these generations has been defined with different values, different expectations, and different generational experiences that influence their world views. In this episode of Circle of Fellows, four Fellows of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) discuss the role communicators can play in addressing generations and how the demographic fits among other employee breakouts.
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Most communication associations have codes of ethics by which they expect their members to abide. New communication models have ethics and character at their heart. So exactly what can a communicator do to guide ethical behavior in the organization? How do communicators fulfill that mission when they don't have leadership's ear or trust? These are issues addressed on the latest Circle of Fellows featuring three IABC Fellows.
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Four IABC Fellows -- Alice Brink, Christopher Bunting, Mary Ann McCauley, and Brad Whitworth -- join moderator Shel Holtz (also a Fellow) for a conversation about how social media has changed the practice of public relations.
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Three IABC Fellows are joined by FIR host Shel Holtz (also a Fellow) for a conversation about content marketing.
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Three IABC Fellows — Priya Bates, Jim Shaffer, and Angela Sinickas — join host (and Fellow) Shel Holtz to discuss the role communications can (and does) play in building employee engagement. The panel addressed audience questions submitted via Twitter using the hashtag #COF12. Links to resources mentioned in this episode: 69% of supervisors are uncomfortable... Continue Reading →

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Three IABC Fellows -- Jim Lukaszewski, Ned Lundquist, and George McGrath -- join host (and Fellow) Shel Holtz to discuss the "social CEO" and the trend of CEOs and their companies taking positions on social issues that could polarize their employees, customers, and other stakeholders. What role do communicators play?
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Four IABC Fellows — including Priya Bates and Alice Brink from the 2016 class of Fellows, along with Sheri Rosen and Mark Schumann — engaged in a wide-ranging discussion on the habits top communication leaders practice to stay relevant, manage their careers, and become trusted and valued advisers to other leaders.
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Join four IABC Fellows -- including two from the 2016 class of Fellows -- for a wide-ranging discussion on the habits top communication leaders practice to stay relevant, manage their careers, and become trusted and valued advisers to other leaders. You'll be able to pose questions to the panel in real time or watch the broadcast later as a YouTube video. The live session is set for Wednesday, June 29, at noon EDT. Come back to this page to view the video.
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Communicators tend to be inclined toward creativity. We are writers, videographers, and artists, after all. But a corporation can sometimes suck the creativity out of a person. How can communicators bring creativity and innovation to their work in an organization? What approaches work? And how can they convince senior leadership that it produces genuine results when we break out of the mundane reporting we see from so many companies? In this episode of Circle of Fellows, host Shel Holtz joins four IABC Fellows -- Pixie Emslie (from South Africa), Leticia Narvaez (from Mexico), and John Gerstner and Mark Schumann (from the US) for a deep dive into creativity and innovation in the world of organizational communications.
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It's a rare company that isn't working to create a great customer experience (CX), which is "the product of an interaction between an organization and a customer over the duration of their relationship" (according to Wikipedia). In this episode of Circle of Fellows, IABC Fellows George McGrath, Jim Shaffer, and Brad Whitworth join moderator (and Fellow) Shel Holtz for a discussion about the various ways organizational communicators can support their companies' CX efforts.
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What is the role of public relations and other organizational communication functions in a company's or client's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts? In this episode of Circle of Fellows, John Deveney, Tamara Gills, Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, and Mary Ann McCauley join host Shel Holtz to tackle the issues, ranging from helping leadership understand the importance of a genuine CSR effort to addressing CSR-related crises.
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On Tuesday, March 22, four IABC Fellows will talk about Corporate Social Responsibility on the seventh episode of the live broadcast, Circle of Fellows. You will be able to watch in real time and ask questions of John Deveney (owner and president of Deveney Communications), Tamara Gillis (professor and department chair, Elizabethtown College), Amanda Hamilton-Atwell (Managing Director, Business DNA), and Mary Ann McCauley (principal and founder, Catalyst Communications).
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Organizations frequently find themselves needing to communicate difficult messages. Consider layoffs, never a positive message but easy to make worse than they need to be. (Consider the message delivered by a Carrier Corp. executive informing employees at an Indianapolis plant that their facility would be closing and their 1,400 jobs relocating to Mexico.) And sometimes companies inflict damage on themselves, deciding to communicate messages that audiences won't take well, even though leaders are enthusiastic. (Many companies have gone down that road with the announcement of a Shareholder Value Enhancement initiative.) In this month's Circle of Fellows, four IABC Fellows tackle the issue of difficult messages, covering strategy and tactics.
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You're called into the office of your CEO. "We're launching a new initiative," he tells you, and then outlines just what that initiative is all about. As he talks enthusiastically, your blood runs cold. You know, as certainly as you know how to punctuate the possessive "its," that there is no good way to tell this story without it going sideways. On episode 6 of Circle of Fellows, four IABC Fellows and moderator Shel Holtz (also a Fellow) will explore the various ways to handle the situation, from convincing leadership the initiative is a bad idea to delivering the message as effectively as possible.
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Call them the "shuns:" communicators are routinely offered opportunities for certification, accreditation, and education (including everything from advanced degrees to continuing education credits). Which should you consider? What value can they add to your job and career? Four IABC Fellows explore the "shuns" and discuss IABC's new certification program.
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Communicators are routinely bombarded with opportunities to earn accreditation and certification from a variety of organizations, and to get additional (or continuing) education from universities, companies, associations, and consultants. Some communicators flock to these opportunities; others dismiss them.

Join a panel of IABC Fellows at noon EST on Thursday, January 28 for a freewheeling discussion on the value (or lack thereof) of the "shuns" -- accreditation, certification, and education. The panel -- moderated by FIR host Shel Holtz -- will feature Barbara Puffer, Mark Schumann, Jennifer Wah, and Brad Whitworth.
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Circle of Fellows is produced late each month, and given the holidays are upon us, we have decided to suspend the show until the new year. Because it is produced initially as a live broadcast with Q&A from the audience, we figure it makes sense to hold off until there's no competition from turkey, family, egg nog, latkes, and the like. We're looking forward to resuming the conversation among IABC Fellows in January.
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Crisis communications is as relevant and important a comms topic today as it ever has been. While the fundamentals of crisis communications remain unchanged from the pre-Internet days, the tactics have undergone dramatic upheaval thanks to digital and social media. In this hour-long discussion, four IABC Fellows with deep experience in crisis communications join host Shel Holtz (also an IABC Fellow) to discuss these changes, along with other crisis topics, such as the role of investor relations in crisis communications.
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There is no shortage of crises to fuel the discussion when four IABC Fellows join FIR Podcast Network host Shel Holtz (also a Fellow) on the next episode of Circle of Fellows. Volkswagen's self-inflicted crisis will certainly be on the table, as will other crises du jour. The panel will address age-old crisis wisdom along with the new realities of the digital age. Mark your calendars so you can watch the conversation live on a Google+ Hangout on Air, where for the first time on a Circle of Fellows broadcast you will be able to ask questions. The broadcast is set for noon Eastern on Friday, October 23. You'll be able to watch right here in this post (at the bottom of the page) or on the FIR Podcast Network's YouTube channel. Don't worry if you can't make it to the broadcast. The session will be available aftewards as a YouTube video and as a Circle of Fellows audio podcast.
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Four IABC Fellows with extensive backgrounds in internal communication leadership join host Shel Holtz for an hourlong discussion about the need for a discrete employee comms function in today's interconnected world in which employees have access to everything the company communicates. The panel also looks at the evolving role of internal communications in supporting change, the adoption of new technologies, and communicating to define internal audiences (ranging from demographics -- like Millennials and boomers -- to executives and supervisors).
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Some voices have been calling for the elimination of Internal Communications as a discrete organizational function, given the fact that -- thanks to digital media -- employees have access to all the same information their employers are sharing with other stakeholder audiences. On the September edition of Circle of Fellows, four of IABC's thought leaders will tackle the question of whether an employee communication function is still valid and, if it is, how its role has changed since the days when the department's output was focused mainly on publications for employees.
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September's panel of IABC Fellows explored Return on Investment (ROI) and measurement, critical elements of communication that are frequently overlooked, shrugged off, or implemented poorly. Panelists include Leticia Narvaez, Angela Sinickas, Jim Shaffer, and Jennifer Wah.
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The second episode of the Circle of Fellows podcast will be broadcast live at noon EDT on August 27. Join four IABC Fellows and moderator Shel Holtz of the FIR Podcast Network for an illuminating hour about how to demonstrate your value to your company or client leadership.
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The inaugural episode of Circle of Fellows -- a monthly panel featuring a selection of IABC Fellows taking a deep dive into a single timely communication topic-- looks at the value communicators bring to an organization, whether that value has risen or fallen in recent years, and what communicators can do to improve their value in the eyes of organizational leaders.
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