They were two great questions. Unfortunately, at the time, I only had one good answer.
It was almost a decade ago, and I was traveling with one of my newest team members to an exhibit hall. Instead of the usual small talk, she was determined to make good use of the time, and decided to pick my brain about how to succeed in corporate communications. As a recent graduate of GE's Communications Leadership Development Program (CLDP), she was, and still is, one of the best and brightest talents in the function. She was looking to get even better.
Her first question was an easy one: “If you had to pick one thing a communicator needs to succeed, what would it be?”
I’m sure my colleagues across the world of communications will have a range of answers but, for me, the slam-dunk answer is self-confidence. I’m not certain if other functions experience this, but in the world of communications, everybody, and by that I mean EVERY BODY – from the janitor to the CEO -- thinks they can do your job. Even worse, they’ll sometimes try to do it!
Over my career I’ve had senior officers enter my office with their own sketched-out version of websites they created “over their lunch hour.” I’ve had engineers e-mail me with what they described as “exciting and compelling” ideas for television ads. I’ve even had executive leaders tell me they could probably do my job if they only had the time.
Easily my favorite meeting was when a highly placed leader told me he could write ads as well as anyone in the company, but he could never find the 15 minutes he’d need to get it done. We were 10 minutes into our scheduled one-hour meeting and I slid my pad across his desk and agreed to surrender the rest of my meeting time to give him that extra time. After three minutes and two lines of copy that he quickly crossed out, he smiled, slid my pad back to me and said, “Point taken.”
The point of all of these stories is not that what I was given was bad (even though most of it was). It’s that communicators live in a world where their skills will sometimes be unappreciated and under-valued. It’s almost never personal, but it requires self-confidence and a good sense of humor (or restraint) to manage through it. The best course of action is to politely listen, take in the ideas, and get on with your day. Thankfully, there will even be occasions where the input I’ve described will spark an approach you’ve never considered. As a communicator, you have to be willing to keep an open mind to all ideas – but have the confidence that you’ll make the right choices to pass or play.
As I noted, my colleague’s first question was easy. The second one – not so much. She asked, “What are three to four things you know now that you wished you knew when you started your communications career?”
Back then, I had trouble answering that question. But nearly a decade later, I’ve come up with the four things I wish I knew when I began my career:
Never stop learning. I’ve worked with and met a number of communications professionals who decided many years ago that they knew all they would ever need to know about working and succeeding in corporate communications. They were wrong. There will always be a new skill to learn or a new tool to use. Take advantage! It’s also essential to keep learning about the business you support. You’ll never service a jet engine personally, but it helps to have some basic understanding of a jet engine if you hope to market it.
Keep building your network. Communicators, no matter what our business, face many of the same challenges. Marketing communications, crisis communications, investor communications, internal communications and other areas have best practices that can be shared easily. In addition to sharing best practices, your network can be an invaluable resource in helping you find talent or even a new role. Most great jobs are never posted, but a broad and connected network of communications and business professionals can help you find them.
Stand your ground…or walk away. Speaking of a new job, there may come a time when, especially as a leader, you’ll have to make a decision to stay or go. The dynamics of a business can change quickly and a number of factors, usually driven by a change in leadership, can quickly change a business’ communications landscape. Even worse, some leaders have the impression that the communications function is a dumping ground for people who have failed in other roles. The end game is that communications teams are sometimes asked to add people who lack the skills to adequately do their job. I’ve seen organizations, too, that give parts of what the communications normally does (i.e. employee communications) to an entirely new function. It happens. Your decision is to decide if you can live with it or not. My view is that when a communications function begin to lose pieces of what they have historically done it becomes a “death by a thousand cuts.” Eventually, the organization does not survive.
Take chances. The beauty of trying new things in communications is that many of them cost very little. If you try some social media campaigns or take a shot at some different ways to promote or drive customer interest at trade shows, it can usually be scaled in a way that will tell you if it’s a go or no go. If it works – do more. If it fails – you’re really not out much. Try something else. Take advantage of this unique element of communications as much as you can. Most other functions in business would kill for this luxury.
Over my career I’ve been fortunate to work for and with some of the best business leaders and communications talent in the world. I’ve also experienced success and failure and learned from both. As I look back on the question I was asked almost ten years ago (the one that I JUST answered!), I suspect the four things I wish I knew then are common to many of my peers.
I’m also sure there are some other great lessons out there. I’d love to hear them!
It was almost a decade ago, and I was traveling with one of my newest team members to an exhibit hall. Instead of the usual small talk, she was determined to make good use of the time, and decided to pick my brain about how to succeed in corporate communications. As a recent graduate of GE's Communications Leadership Development Program (CLDP), she was, and still is, one of the best and brightest talents in the function. She was looking to get even better.
Her first question was an easy one: “If you had to pick one thing a communicator needs to succeed, what would it be?”
I’m sure my colleagues across the world of communications will have a range of answers but, for me, the slam-dunk answer is self-confidence. I’m not certain if other functions experience this, but in the world of communications, everybody, and by that I mean EVERY BODY – from the janitor to the CEO -- thinks they can do your job. Even worse, they’ll sometimes try to do it!
Over my career I’ve had senior officers enter my office with their own sketched-out version of websites they created “over their lunch hour.” I’ve had engineers e-mail me with what they described as “exciting and compelling” ideas for television ads. I’ve even had executive leaders tell me they could probably do my job if they only had the time.
Easily my favorite meeting was when a highly placed leader told me he could write ads as well as anyone in the company, but he could never find the 15 minutes he’d need to get it done. We were 10 minutes into our scheduled one-hour meeting and I slid my pad across his desk and agreed to surrender the rest of my meeting time to give him that extra time. After three minutes and two lines of copy that he quickly crossed out, he smiled, slid my pad back to me and said, “Point taken.”
The point of all of these stories is not that what I was given was bad (even though most of it was). It’s that communicators live in a world where their skills will sometimes be unappreciated and under-valued. It’s almost never personal, but it requires self-confidence and a good sense of humor (or restraint) to manage through it. The best course of action is to politely listen, take in the ideas, and get on with your day. Thankfully, there will even be occasions where the input I’ve described will spark an approach you’ve never considered. As a communicator, you have to be willing to keep an open mind to all ideas – but have the confidence that you’ll make the right choices to pass or play.
As I noted, my colleague’s first question was easy. The second one – not so much. She asked, “What are three to four things you know now that you wished you knew when you started your communications career?”
Back then, I had trouble answering that question. But nearly a decade later, I’ve come up with the four things I wish I knew when I began my career:
Never stop learning. I’ve worked with and met a number of communications professionals who decided many years ago that they knew all they would ever need to know about working and succeeding in corporate communications. They were wrong. There will always be a new skill to learn or a new tool to use. Take advantage! It’s also essential to keep learning about the business you support. You’ll never service a jet engine personally, but it helps to have some basic understanding of a jet engine if you hope to market it.
Keep building your network. Communicators, no matter what our business, face many of the same challenges. Marketing communications, crisis communications, investor communications, internal communications and other areas have best practices that can be shared easily. In addition to sharing best practices, your network can be an invaluable resource in helping you find talent or even a new role. Most great jobs are never posted, but a broad and connected network of communications and business professionals can help you find them.
Stand your ground…or walk away. Speaking of a new job, there may come a time when, especially as a leader, you’ll have to make a decision to stay or go. The dynamics of a business can change quickly and a number of factors, usually driven by a change in leadership, can quickly change a business’ communications landscape. Even worse, some leaders have the impression that the communications function is a dumping ground for people who have failed in other roles. The end game is that communications teams are sometimes asked to add people who lack the skills to adequately do their job. I’ve seen organizations, too, that give parts of what the communications normally does (i.e. employee communications) to an entirely new function. It happens. Your decision is to decide if you can live with it or not. My view is that when a communications function begin to lose pieces of what they have historically done it becomes a “death by a thousand cuts.” Eventually, the organization does not survive.
Take chances. The beauty of trying new things in communications is that many of them cost very little. If you try some social media campaigns or take a shot at some different ways to promote or drive customer interest at trade shows, it can usually be scaled in a way that will tell you if it’s a go or no go. If it works – do more. If it fails – you’re really not out much. Try something else. Take advantage of this unique element of communications as much as you can. Most other functions in business would kill for this luxury.
Over my career I’ve been fortunate to work for and with some of the best business leaders and communications talent in the world. I’ve also experienced success and failure and learned from both. As I look back on the question I was asked almost ten years ago (the one that I JUST answered!), I suspect the four things I wish I knew then are common to many of my peers.
I’m also sure there are some other great lessons out there. I’d love to hear them!
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