At the recent Counselors Academy excomm meeting, I had the pleasure to take part in an intimate roundtable discussion with Karen Dillon, editor of the Harvard Business Review. Karen was smart (as you’d imagine), open, candid and offered some thought-provoking comments I wanted to share.
She said this is a time when many organizations are looking to reinvent their business model in order to continue to thrive and asking: who is the distruptive innovator?
That struck a chord I believe is important to us in the agency world as we look inward at our own firms and outward at our clients. From a PR perspective, it gives us a chance to sit at the ‘grownups’ table. We must offer highly considered strategic counsel, advise on communicating change and offer insights that strengthen relationships with the communities we’re trying to reach.
Here are a few things she told us the magazine is thinking about:
- Leadership and strategy – how do you connect a big idea to practice? This is the number one area of interest for readers.
- Post-recession behaviour as well as stories on failure and resilience. Honest accounts where we can learn from other people’s risks and mistakes.
- Social media – what do we know versus what we think (and what we do)?
- New paths to the C-suite – and here we’re not just talking about the CEO, but what skills people need to master the other functions.
- Collaboration – business people need to understand the new rules and enable their organizations to collaborate on a big level. This means ceding control, which is easier said than done.
- Look for more repurposing of content – it will start showing up on multiple platforms.
- At HBR, they discuss ideas and then decide what the best vehicle might be – whether it’s a feature, blog post or maybe a tweet.
- You can’t be precious about format; what’s important are ideas.
- There’s so much white noise out there for people to deal with. The curatorial role is more important than ever.
- PR has the opportunity to develop a trusted voice and be a filter for people. In doing so we may become a real competitor to media.
- She can envision a time in the near future where a PR strategy will not have a media relations component. Perhaps that will become our reinvention.
- Ultimately, it’s quality of story that counts.
I’d like to thank J.R. Hipple, our illustrious president first hired Karen as an intern and treated her so well that many years later they reconnected and she was happy to take the time out of her schedule to travel from Boston to New York to talk to us.
Now that’s a relationship!
Thanks for the thorough recap, Martin. I was particularly struck by Karen’s emphasis on the growing importance and scrutiny of “leadership judgment,” which involves character and integrity and not just profits.
Thanks J.R. That’s a great point. In so many ways, we become our decisions. You mentioned the ‘ethical perimeter’ and that’s more relevant than ever; understanding who we are and where we stand.
She provided such good information and was so open to conversation and feedback.
Thanks for your thoughts Corey and Abbie. It sure was an insightful session!
Martin,
I bet that was a very interesting meeting! Thanks for sharing. I’m a huge fan of the HBR.
Take Care.