The Communicator As Hunter

Since our beginning days, mankind has been a hunter. This, of course, was born out of necessity. For if the human race were to survive, then this being had to go and find, track down and hunt what it needed to sustain itself. Food, shelter, and clothing topped the grocery list. As one generation has followed the next, these fundamentals have remained the same. And so, too, has mankind. The human being remains a hunter in search of those necessities identified as what makes their life more comfortable, safe and durable. Further, even though we as a species have gotten much more proficient and even creative at hunting, we will never stop hunting for as long as we exist.

This brings me to a specialized kind of hunter called the communicator. In many ways, that which communicators seek contributes as much to the survival of mankind as do those that search for the original basics of food, shelter and clothing. Those elements, of course, speak to our physical needs. But communicators, by seeking out effective ways to be heard, to connect with others and gain a sense of belonging, contribute to the psychological well being of our species. Each day represents a new challenge to the communicator as hunter. As people change, as new information emerges, and as new circumstances pop up, the formidable task of identifying ways to help people of different backgrounds and perspective maintain some type of connection remains the foremost challenge of the communicator as hunter.

Let's take someone who is scheduled to give a speech to a local community organization. As a communicator for the duration of their talk, this person must hunt down information and thoughts to help them give a coherent and, they hope, well received speech. The information they seek may range from background details about their host group to current issues affecting the group to biographical tidbits that may be of interest to the group. Finding this data may not be easy but instead takes patience, good planning, a familiarity with the terrain in which they are working, and insight into recognizing what data is worth keeping and what should be discarded. These are exactly the same challenges facing other hunters that use rifles, bows and arrows, and fishing poles as their primary tools. Solid experience makes any hunter - even the communicators - effective or successful on a regular basis.

Contending With Truth Deniers

These are tough times for truth tellers. It seems far too many people nowadays refuse to let facts stand in the way of their positions on various issues. Two examples revolve around President Obama: his birthplace and his religion. There are so-called "birthers" who insist Obama was not born in the United States despite concrete evidence to the contrary; and then there are those who happen to be more in the news lately, who insist he is Muslim when in fact he is not. What's the deal? What is it about certain people who simply refuse to be deterred when facts are dropped in their lap that refute their initial claims? Why do they continue to insist black is white, up is down and, in this case, the President was born somewhere he wasn't or follows a religion that he doesn't?

Hard evidence is non-negotiable. As the late U.S. Senate Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, "People are entitled to their own opinions but not to their own set of facts." Nevertheless, this twisted phenomenon seems to be the case in this disturbingly polarized country of ours. It is one thing to argue over matters of policy or decisions that leaders make, but to argue over established facts goes beyond rationality. What's a person to do? More to the point, what is a communicator to do? What strategies can and should a communicator follow to contend with publics that seem to be driven by and dwell in their own alternate realities? These are tough questions that do not reflect well on the times in which we live.

While I do not have a surefire response, I do have a couple of suggestions. Firstly, communicators should not give up on the facts or discard them in any messaging they do attempt simply because the facts are being ignored by particular publics. Secondly, communicators should not give into any pressure to shade or alter what is true. One strategy communicators might consider is how they package facts they wish to share with hard-headed publics. For instance, some people process information more completely when it is communicated in writing, while others when it is presented in a more visual format. Another strategy revolves around emotional appeals. While there is nothing wrong with this, communicators must proceed here with caution because this particular strategy, while oft-used, is easily abused. Sadly, there are unethical communicators who devise emotional strategies at the expense of truthful information to generate support. (The run-up to the Iraq war is an example of this.) But combing emotional appeals with hard facts is a powerful combination that can help turn around even the most stubborn of people. The challenge for communicators is to be creative, be persistent, be ethical, and remember that no one message or set of messages guarantees one hundred percent support or agreement. There are those so driven by their own bias and ideology that they will simply not ever let the facts stand in the way of their own narrative.

Calling James Thurber

All roads lead to James Thurber. Though this satirist, writer, humorist, poet, story teller and illustrator has been gone for almost fifty years now, his off-kilter take on mankind and life rings as true today as it did throughout a good portion of the twentieth century. Thurber possessed an admirable ability to view the silliness and arrogance of mankind and then encapsulate it into clever poems, cartoons and fables that gave audiences both a chuckle and uncompromising insight into our imperfections and propensity to take ourselves far too seriously. Thurber had an unmatchable knack for reminding mankind in clever fashion that it was getting far too big for its britches. It is too bad he is not around today to keep doing it.

One of the very best tributes any communicator can receive is when his or her work stands the test of time. This is certainly as true of Thurber as it is of most anyone who made their mark over the past century. One of my favorite quotes from this native of Columbus, Ohio, illustrates this truism nicely: "All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from and to and why." One only has to take a hard look at the various political and social factions in our country today - and this includes far too many segments of the media - to see the applicability of this observation. What is it "we the people" want these days? Freedom? Control over the lives of others? Less government? More government? Lock-step loyalty? Tolerance? Competence? Fluff? I, for one, am not totally sure any longer. As Thurber observed, there are far too many loud voices that seem much more interested in being heard than hearing.

Here is another favorite Thurber quote of mine that seems equally appropriate to the times in which we live: "Man has gone long enough, or even too long, without being man enough to face the simple truth that the trouble with man is man." Bullseye. I will be the first to admit it is not always easy to take a hard look at ourselves in the mirror. We see imperfections, weaknesses, warts and limitations. Who wants to see that especially when they belong to us? At the same, if we really do want to better our individual lives as well as society, then that hard look is an essential first step. Many of the problems we face today are not just the fault of "the other guy." Our finger prints are there, too. Perhaps Thurber's greatest gift to us, then, was his ability to recognize that and then communicate it with uncompromising humor.

Self Interest

It is hard getting people to see beyond their own noses; by that I mean look past their own interests. Make no mistake, this is as true of me as it is any one. Believe me, I make no claim of having a monopoly on being magnanimous. But that aside, from a communications standpoint this reality represents a difficult challenge. We all pretty much approach each day with the idea of doing what is best for us and our immediate lives, feeds our interests, and gives us the most pleasure or satisfaction. There is, of course, nothing wrong with that. At the same time, however, this raises the level of challenge for communicators who work to persuade various publics to take certain actions or support various positions they might not otherwise take or feel. How do you do that, particularly if you are committed to doing your work in an ethical, values-driven manner?

The bottom line is it is tough. But one significant way to crack this particular nut is to develop a thorough understanding of those with whom you are trying to connect. What are their interests? What are their concerns? What are their dreams? What are their primary sources of information? Answers to these and other similar questions can provide the communicator with an opportunity to better connect with others. It can also improve the communicator's chances to gaining the influence on behalf of his or her client that is being sought.

While people are not oblivious to what is going on around them or what is or is not happening to others, they view these matters through their own lenses and from their own perspectives with the fundamental question: "How does this affect me?" It is the communicator's primary challenge to try and answer that question. If successful, then any one of us will be much more open to taking a particular action or lending our support to a cause or point of view. This is the public relations professional's ultimate and ever-present challenge.

The High Price of Opinions

The great thing about opinions is that they do not have to be based on fact. Working with a metaphorical bowl, all one has to do is pour in some cups of bias, sprinkle it with cherry picked information, put in a couple of teaspoons full of preference, and then drop in a pinch or two of judgment and you have that one thing so many of us love to express at a moment's notice: our opinion. Another great thing about opinions is that we do not even have to know all that much about the particular subject or persons about which or whom we are expressing our opinion. Throw up a topic up in the air or the name of a public figure or celebrity, for instance, and often we are the fastest draw in the old west when it comes to bursting forth with our opinion. They are fun. They give us a sense of importance or superiority. They do not require all that much thought. And they make us feel good. In terms of cheap fun, is there anything better than opinions?

Ironically, while opinions are cheap, they can be and often are quite costly. For instance, have you ever been around someone who is constantly negative? Most everything they say speaks to the negative side of something or someone. "This is not going to work;" "We're never going to get this done;" and "Nobody knows what they are doing" are just some of the expressions that spew out of their mouths as constantly as beer flows at a fraternity keg party. The cost of opinions of this nature is high because they are often unfounded, unwanted, hurtful and, to those within regular earshot, either demoralizing, annoying or both. While I am not saying we should stop expressing negative opinions about anything, I do believe we as a so-called free people need to be more sensitive to their potential high cost.

On a national level, I look at the news every day and try to stay on top of much of the reporting and commentary that goes on the major networks and cable programs, and I find myself more and more concerned at the deep hurt people of all persuasions are doing to our nation simply through those cheap and easy thrills called "opinions." More and more the opinions those bringing us the news and those in the news express strike me as doing more harm than good to our nation and to the psyche of its citizenry. It is no wonder so many people seem angry, confused, angry, and disillusioned. When they are constantly being hit over the head with thoughtless commentary in the form of verbal attacks and negative opinions, then it is no wonder so many feel as negatively as they do. As far as this concerns me, more and more I find myself putting less and less stock in the opinions of others. It is a much-abused form of communication that in many ways have overstayed its welcome. For all who communicate - and this covers everyone - it is time to set a new seat at the table for facts.

First Dumb, Then Smart

Not long ago I watched a portion of a cable nature show pertaining to sharks. Two researchers were standing waist deep in the ocean surrounded by about a dozen bull sharks. The bull sharks are commonly known for being among the most aggressive and irritable of this species. Thus, for me at least, having a dozen or so of them brushing up against my legs without any protection on my part is not my idea of a good time or a particularly smart thing to do. But these researchers were doing this as part of an experiment to test whether people and sharks can co-exist so long as nothing is done to provoke or threaten these deadly creatures. Unfortunately, even though the two men were standing very still and making a point of not behaving in any kind of threatening manner, one of them ended having a good portion of his left leg bitten off.

Looking back at this, it is very easy to label what these two men attempted to do as being dumb and completely foolish. In retrospect, they were lucky to get out of the water with their lives. Upon further reflection, however, I was and am struck by how often many of us, in an effort to produce an acceptable product, articulate a specific message or connect with others, make initial efforts that do not succeed before we finally get it right and come even close to generating the results we had hoped for. Sometimes our initial efforts do not succeed because they are just plain dumb. Take me, for instance. Many years ago as an undergraduate student majoring in journalism and working for the student newspaper, I had the brilliant idea of doing an expose' on the local police department by getting myself arrested, spending a night in jail, and then writing a story about how awful inmates are treated. I told my faculty adviser about my master plan and, without pulling any punches, he proceeded to tell me that my idea was anything but brilliant. Luckily, he also gave me a number of suggestions as to other ways I might approach this story that would not be so damaging to me. In my case, I was fortunate enough to bounce my initial idea off someone before actually launching my plan. I cannot help but wonder if the two researchers did enough of that before they decided to put themselves at such great risk with those bull sharks.

Communication is often a trial and error undertaking. Good research is one way of helping keep our efforts on track before we unwittingly do ourselves and our potential connections harm. Focus groups and test-marketing efforts are examples of this kind of research. Also, before launching any kind of outreach, gaining a thorough understanding of what has been done before, what worked and what did not also is enormous help. We all do and say dumb things from time to time. The trick is to incorporate research into your initial thinking to help keep to an absolute minimum doing something so dumb that you end up losing a leg or getting a criminal record. Good research is also a great way to ensure that while what and how you communicate may not always be smart, at least it won't be dumb and cannot be improved upon with more efforts.

Contending With Choices

The one topic more than any other that has been touched on - directly and indirectly - by writers of non-fiction and fiction since that first moment when some creative soul first carved an image into the side of a cave is the complexity of human beings. Let's face it: we have been trying to figure ourselves out since our beginning days. One fundamental characteristic about us as living beings that has come to fascinate me is the fact we come equipped with so many opposites. We have the ability to destroy as well as the power to build. We have the power to lie as well as the power to tell the truth. We have the power to include as well as the power to exclude. We have the power to be silly as well as the power to be serious. We have the power to live lives of solitude as well as the power to be active members of groups and communities.

The result of these and so many other built-in opposites is that we are constantly faced with the challenge or dilemma of having to make choices. Should we be polite or rude? Should I send an email or make a phone call? Should I twitter or blog? And, if that was not enough, often times the choices themselves come with their own set of choices. For instance, if we make a decision to tell the truth about something, then we must decide how best to do that. If I am the owner of a small business and I need to lay off some of my employees, what is the best way to tell them? Should I do it in the form of a memo? A staff meeting? Individually? These choices, particularly depending upon the specific circumstances, can be difficult.

Following the key ingredients of effective and ethical communication can help ease the challenge of deciding which choice or choices to make. One of the key points in the Public Relations Society of America's code of ethics serves as an excellent guide: do not participate in any communication effort designed to mislead or deceive. That, coupled with such fundamental elements of research as identifying your audience, gaining a sense of how they prefer to communicate and the forms of communication to which they are most receptive, and the issues with which they are most concerned or interested, then those seemingly insurmountable choices tend to lose their sting. Granted, practicing good communication techniques will not necessarily make dealing with choices any easier or even decrease the number you face in your life, but it does provide you with a reliable set of tools from which to draw.

Public Relations Campaigns

There are fundamental steps to any public relations campaign that should not be ignored. These range from gaining a sense of what has been done in the past to devising specific ways to measure the success of the campaign itself. In between there should be devising budgets and time lines, identifying targeted publics, and coming up with strategies based on what has worked in the past. Good campaigns are well thought out, well planned and research-driven. They should not be efforts that are thrown together or carried out on the basis of someone's hunch or intuition. Unfortunately, in the "do-it-now" profit-driven world in which we live, it is not unusual for practitioners who are given an assignment to promote something to simply identify several attention-grabbing strategies, implement them, generate an audience and call it a public relations campaign. This is short-sighted and does little to foster a long term connection between various entities or publics.

Ideally, public relations campaigns, much like public relations itself, should be devised with long-term implications in mind. Public relations, in essence, is a long-term run and not simply a 100-yard dash. Thus, the bottom-line of any campaign, even if it is designed to promote a particular product or event, revolves around the establishment and maintenance of relationships. Yes, the public relations practitioner needs to focus on the here-and-now in terms of what should be done to deal with current challenges; but that same person also needs to concern him or herself with what happens after those challenges are addressed. How can the initial connection with be sustained? How can it be enhanced? Is there opportunity for future campaigns? These are other similar questions are important to consider and should be part of a campaign's evaluation step.

As it is with other professions, public relations professionals often work under tight conditions in which they lack the luxury of lots of time in which to plan, execute and assess. More often than not, they face short turnaround times in which clients expect tangible actions and results. While working fast is an occupational hazard for many professional communicators, it should not be an excuse for short-changing a public relations campaign. After all, establishing ties that bind is too important for cutting corners.

Preparing for "the Boo Moment"

Have you ever been in a silent room and have someone walk up behind you and say "boo!"? Perhaps you have even done that to someone else. I plead guilty on both accounts. A crisis often seems to appear in the same way: unexpected, unannounced and often times unwanted. Things seem to be going along smoothly when suddenly they are either in disarray or on the verge of being upended. It can be unsettling and disruptive, particularly if you are unprepared. This, of course, is not to be confused with being surprised. We may be surprised at holding a winning lottery ticket in our hands, for instance, but we knew there was a possibility of having the matching numbers the moment we purchased that ticket.

Despite conventional wisdom, interestingly, the arrival of a crisis is usually not as unexpected as it may seem. Evaluation after the fact often reveals definitive indicators that led to what I call "the boo moment" when we are caught off guard. One example is the terrible tragedy at Virginia Tech in 2007. Obviously, the shooting rampage of Seung-Hui Cho the morning of April 16 was a total surprise. After the fact, however, investigators uncovered disturbing facts about Cho that fellow students and others had noticed and that suggested this young man was a walking time bomb. Going back a bit further to September 11, 2001, investigations and research have revealed there were even strong indicators that such a crisis was not the surprise we first thought it to be. Most tragically, in both cases, those in the best positions to do so failed to act on the information before them.

One important role of communication is be the process by which dots are connected between what is and what can be; between what is and what might happen; and between what is and what can be done about it. I understand that many organizations, including the federal government, have professionals in-place that already so this sort of thing. This, of course, is good. But what is not good is when what they communicate to their superiors is ineffective or goes ignored because it is not communicated in a manner that generates the appropriate degree of attention. This remains an ongoing challenge, particularly when those in charge do not always uphold their part in the communication process by being active listeners. As we now know, such was the case in the months leading up to 9/11. Thus, the vital role that communication can and should play as a cautionary or preparatory act needs to be properly acknowledged.