Age delivers experience, one of the strongest influences on competency and excellence that exists, with PR being no exception. Whether it involves any form of writing, managing a crisis, developing strategy, integrating public relations into broader business and marketing activity, managing teams and working with colleagues, or simply having developed a humility that comes from the realisation that everyone makes mistakes – it’s what you learn from them and how you deal with them that matters most – age=maturity=PR/business ROI.

Power is an underlying theme of all public relations, yet it’s a topic rarely raised in its professional practice. In contemporary society organisations – especially corporates – hold more power than governments. Organisations hold the information, they hold the budget and they have the influence. What a hefty responsibility lies on their shoulders, then, to use all this power responsibly and not purely for their own benefit.

Hopefully my leadership role in kids sport over the past couple of years has helped them have fun, improve their skills and enflame their passion for their chosen sport. But as much as I have, arguably, contributed to their learning, they have taught me some very clear lessons I apply in my PR/marketing role, including humility, enjoy the journey to the goal (don’t wait for the ‘destination’) and the need to continually enhance skills.

Work-life balance is a vexed issue in any professional field and PR is no different. But it does have its idiosyncrasies. And those of us who work in the discipline do have our choices – in-house (corporate, government and NFP), agency and independent sole operators all have pros and cons. But with about 80 odd per cent of PR professionals being women, I wonder if work-life balance is one of the reasons there are so many of them in PR?

You know what, I don’t think so!

Drawing an ethical or moral line in the sand for which organisations it is appropriate for me, as a public relations professional, to work with or for has long been something I have agonised over. I have refused to work with tobacco and gambling organisations in the past, yet have been comfortable working with a nuclear reactor and high-greenhouse gas emitting companies. Is there a line that PR should not cross…tobacco, gambling, petrol…name your ‘poison’?

The practice of public relations is an inherently feminine activity. This doesn’t mean that it has to be undertaken by women or that guys who practice PR are men-in-frocks (that’s another post!), but it does mean that many of the qualities of an excellent PR pro are feminine rather than masculine. I wonder, does it also mean that women are better at PR than men?

Reputation Renegades is a free e-Book. It addresses many issues, but chief amongst them is the fallacy that corporations have control of their reputation. This reality has been emphasised in recent times by the influence of web-based communities. The e-Book espouses internal lobbying to change the recalcitrants’ perspectives, humanise this communication and tackle the issue of trust.

Whilst ex-journalists are not qualified and do not have the relevant experience to suddenly become the head of the organisational public relations function, they also have the potential to be great PR function heads, for a number of very valid reasons.

When answering the question, ‘why ex-journalists should not be ‘parachuted’ into the head of the organisational public relations function’, most responses were mainly defensive and could not tear themselves away from an obsession with media relations.

Ex-journalists are not qualified and do not have the relevant experience to be ‘parachuted’ into the head of the organisational public relations function. When this occurs, “it is a disaster waiting to happen”.