Unnatural

Let me tell you how difficult effective public relations is. It is unnatural. It goes against the human grain. The act of trying to establish sustained cooperation between various publics is not all that different than trying to comb your hair in a windstorm. It does not work. This is not to say people do not get along or are not capable of cooperating for extended periods of time. They certainly do. After all, a little over half of all marriages in the U.S. remain intact. But this is not to say there is not tension in those relationships or that folks do not butt heads despite the fact they actually like each other.

People are motivated by self interest. In order to get them to cooperate or, at the very least, make the effort, what is in it for them must be spelled out. Whether it is eating certain foods, taking on certains tasks or joining forces with others, such behavior happens as a result of people seeing there is benefit in it for them. Thus, public relations is not so much the act of creating partnerships or some type of harmonious adjustments between various groups, it represents a sustained effort to motivate individuals to recognize how cooperating with others is in their best interest. Publics, then, are conglomerates of individuals striving to address their own needs or interests.

People, in essence, want to do their own thing. Even though all of us may fundamentally be social creatures, we are social in ways we define, in ways in which we are most comfortable. Being with others is what we do to meet our own need for acceptance. Behaving the same as others is also motivated by meeting our own interests. This means public relations is more about communicating with individuals than it is publics. The more individuals a public relations practitioner can touch, the more successful it is. It is all about helping individuals see why joining with others is of benefit to them.