Multiple Paths

As long as I have been part of the public relations world - closing in on a half century - I confess that I continue to struggle with it. This is because puiblic relations seems to have a dual purpose in which the two are diametrically opposed. On the one hand, there is the purpose that public relations at its best is designed to build and maintain bridges, establish a "mutual harmony," to quote Edward Bernays, between multiple entities.Personally, I have always gravitated toward this purpose. The other primary purpose is more competitive. It sees P.R. as the successful effort of one entity to generate greater support than other entities. Of the two, more public relations practitioners follow what I label the competitive purpose rather than the harmonious one. Is it possible for professional communicators to function well by traveling these two paths that run counter to each other? Would not it be easier for all of us if the Public Relations Society of America, for example, ruled that for now on public relations has one purpose. Those professionals who adhere to that purpose may keep their PR label. Those who do not are going to have be called something else. There is part of me that wishes that would happen because it would make this social science and practice so much easier to teach, explain, practice, and discuss. But a bigger part of me realizes that will not happen simply because it is unrealistic. Public relations is about communication, an act that is as fundamental to life as breathing. All of us every day travel multiple paths. Those paths do not always coincide, nor are they always in harmony. Today, for instance, I plan to do things with my wife. I also plan to do things that do not involve her as they are more for me. (This blog entry is a quick example.) Does that make me any less of a husband or communicator? I think not. It also points to the reality that the dual purposes of public relations are not all that off-base after all. Like life itself, it just means it is complex.