This week in PR (25 August)
It happened this week
- Georgina Procter: Football – the international language for men and women (22 August)
‘The Women’s world cup showed how football is the international language of the world for all genders, so maybe in the not-so-distant future, when trying to make conversation and struggling with a language barrier, I hope names like ‘Alex Greenwood, ‘Chloe Kelly’, ‘Marta’ and ‘Salma Paralluelo’, will be used when leaning on football to be the common ground.’
Crisis, risk and reputation: Lucy Letby
- Joseph Stephens: A crisis of trust? (22 August)
‘By shutting down investigations into her conduct and dismissing doctors’ concerns, senior staff are accused of putting the hospital’s reputation ahead of their duties of safeguarding and candour.’ - Dan Slee: LUCY LETBY: A horrific reminder that reputation management above all else can have consequences (20 August)
“Reputation management could be said to be the default response of any organisation that is challenged publicly. At present, the benefits of inappropriate and aggressive reputation management outweigh the meagre risks to an organisation of behaving in this way.”
Profession
- Ella Minty: Saudi Arabia – The Ultimate PR Challenge (20 August)
‘When working for controversial businesses or state actors, conventional approaches do not work; buying an English football club or sponsoring a F1 race mean nothing in terms of brand respect, admiration, and trust.’
Purpose, climate and ESG
SUSTAINABILITY COMMUNICATION DIPLOMA
Consulting, skills and careers
- John Harrington and Evie Barrett with Katie Gabriel and Joshua Vine-Lott: ‘Agencies are missing a trick’ – young PR stars on PRWeek podcast (23 August)
‘The first six months was challenging: I didn’t know I was cut out for corporate comms. But you gain stamina and learn to think on your feet. You do have to be very agile: I don’t think it’s an industry for coasting. You have to be learning.’
- Hayley Mace: PR advice: Don’t forget the basics in a bid to try something new (21 August)
‘In more than a decade in PR and media relations, and a career before that as a journalist, I’ve found that there are some fundamentals which have always helped me. I still regularly use these and encourage my team to do the same.’
- David Olajide: What Can Interns Teach Seasoned Professionals? (21 August)
‘The notion of age as a barrier dissolves when a collaborative mindset prevails. Bridging generational divides is a two-way street that yields benefits for all parties involved. For older professionals, it provides an opportunity to learn how to engage with younger colleagues, fostering an environment of shared brainstorming and creativity. Conversely, younger professionals gain insight into the experiences that have shaped their older counterparts, fostering mutual respect.’
- Maja Pawinska Sims: Headliners: Jim Donaldson (18 August)
‘I think this is going to be a period of immense change for the industry. Post-Covid hybrid working issues are coupled with the tsunami of AI’s arrival and then mixed with a fractious world of political and economic uncertainty… The smart practitioners will move quickly. Those who don’t will be left behind in low value, low impact work.’
Gender, diversity, health and wellbeing
- Honor Morel: How the ‘glass cliff’ and expectations of perfection are obstructing progress in female leadership (22 August)
‘A term coined by professors Michelle Ryan and Alex Haslam, the ‘glass cliff’ describes the tendency to appoint women to precarious leadership positions when the business is performing poorly or during a crisis.’
Politics, public affairs and public sphere
- Stuart Thomson: Interview with Paul Addison, Arup [podcast] (23 August)
‘I found it fascinating how business and politics come together. The past ten years has been such a dramatic period of change – the number of prime ministers we’ve had, big topics from Brexit to the pandemic. I don’t think many people understand public affairs and what it does.’
Brands, content, community and creativity
- Stella Bayles with Jelena Grozdanich: The power of music partnerships [podcast] (18 August)
‘Music supervisors are the ones responsible for the actual selection and licensing and placement of the music.’
Internal communication
Internal Communication Diploma
- Jenni Field: Why every leader needs a coach with Jo Twiselton (23 August)
‘What I’m seeing at the moment is the amount of change and uncertainty. It’s really difficult for leaders to have a space to step back: they’re expected to have all the answers. Yet they’re in the same position as the rest of us.’
- Mike Pounsford: Why listening matters – 9 reasons to listen to employees (23 August)
‘One of the interesting themes in our research is the connection between better listening within organisations and the ability of those organisations to navigate change and build resilience.’ - MHP Group: MHP Group appoints internal comms expert Naomi Goodman to lead new division (22 August)
‘Naomi Goodman joins MHP Group to oversee our new division as head of MHP change and employee engagement.’
Media, digital and technology
https://twitter.com/FarzanaBaduel/status/1694677000563118419
- William Thavenot: Tech policy insights 2023: August updates (22 August)
‘With legislatures winding down for the summer, it’s a good time to take stock of what has been a busy year so far for tech policy across Europe and globally. Evolving artificial intelligence (AI) policy has been a particularly fascinating example of global policy makers trying to keep pace with technological and societal changes.’
- Neville Hobson: Where do we go from X? (21 August)
‘Where should we go next to connect and engage with our friends that is trustworthy and where we’d feel safe? The reality is that there might not be a singular answer. Instead of one unified digital space where everyone congregates, the future could see a fragmented social web.’
Academic, education and training
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