Bored? Try Re-Inventing Yourself

Public Relations Quarterly, 2008 by Budd, John

Editor's note: The writer, an inveterate foe of conventional wisdom and the status quo, authored "How To Turn Your PR Job Into a Career: The DaVinci Factor... from which this hypothetical interview was drawn. Behind his iconoclastic opinions lie 16 professional and personal awards (incl. 8 Silver; 1 Gold PRSA Anvils). His upcoming book ("Too Many Geese; Too Few Swans") traces PR's history, its present and suggests its future.)

Guy comes up to me at a book launch upstairs at "21." Nice looking; about 26, neat (except for the Nike's and no tie). We chat about this and that. I ask him what he's been doing lately.

Oh, I'm pushing a new snack that's curled up like a spoon so you can scoop up relishes and stuff like that, he says.

Not too exciting is it, I say.

Nah, but it keeps me out of the rain and the money's good, he says.

I look at his card which he offers me like a tip. It's neat looking, embossed, I think. Great title, Assistant vice president, Global Interlocutor. Wow! Tell me, I ask, what's a global Interlocutor, for heaven's sake.

I midwife communications between headquarters and our units abroad, sort of create a dialogue, so to speak.

You're putting me on.

Well, actually I'm trying to wean the Chinese away from fortune cookies and rice wafers.

C'mon be serious.

Okay. Actually that brand business is something I give the staff to do. I plot strategies to get visibility for the company in markets where the potential justifies the investment.

What' ya mean?

Well, first I've got to find a local PR agency that knows how to get into the local media; then I've got to meet with them in places like Beijing or Tokyo - do you know the Tokyo press club has to authorize a press conference...and ja know how expensive it is to get from the airport to the city in Tokyo? I could rent a chauffered limousine for a week here.

Sounds like you've got it made at the agency.

Can't complain but it's really boring.

Huh, I say, boring, being a world traveller?

Yeah, but there has to be more to PR than this...we rattle on about being agents of change... the only change I've experienced in five years is in the name of the client and the products...the rest is simply connecting the same old dots.

Whose fault is that? Has anyone stopped you from doing ti a different way?

Not in so many words but...

Why don't you try?

Guess I could - or should But I've got no time to think...it's those damnable meetings that eat up my day.

Want a tip on how to finesse them?

Sure.

First, be sure to tell the boss that if ever you should miss a meeting it's because you are doing something more important to him. Show up at the meeting and when it gets painfully obvious that's it's going to be a waste of your time, find a spot to say something provocative. It gets into the minutes and it's your proof that you were there. Then, your secretary, by pre-arrangement, comes in and hands you a note. You excuse yourself. Voila! You're sprung.

Say, you're pretty clever. You make it sound like a game.

Isn't it?

Look, what it all boils down to is relationships. Basically you know what to do, know when to do it and how to do it. The trick comes in persuading someone who doesn't want to do it - to do it.

Interesting.

Tell me, what do you read?

Read, who has time? Basically the Times, Wall Street Journal and the Daily News, when I'm not glued to the computer screen.

Ever read the Financial Times, the Economist, Foreign Affairs, Strategy Business, the Wilson Quarterly...?

Nope, why should I?

Only because it gives you ideas and thoughts to help you get into the CEO's head...how about books, have you read Gary Hamel's "The Future of Management"? No. What'll it do for me? Hamel's a recognized - by bosses, probably yours, too - as a qualified pundit. He claims management is obsolete and gives a stream of provocative three-liners that you can use to start a dialogue with your CEO, or your client's CEO. It's all part of getting into their mind by talking and writing about things they're interested in. Yeah, yeah, I know he wants market share but secretly or subliminly he'd like to be on the cutting edge or at least be able to impress his peers at the Club with his deep knowledge.

How do you schedule your thinking time?

Come again, schedule thinking?

Sounds crazy, I know, but you must find a way to push back from the desk and do nothing but think. Maybe you take yourself to lunch and simply think...what have I done this week that helps me grow...am I buried in minutia, administrative stuff...why did I do that?...could I have done it differently better...if I can get the CEO alone for 15 minutes, what'll we talk about...how can I arouse him(her)...damn, damn!!

Friend of mine, longtime president of Coca-Cola; was its spiritual soul; re-elected to the board at 77, once advised me to write out my personal objectives in January and every so often check on myself to see how I was meeting them (sort of the thing to do at your own luncheon). It doesn't work if you cheat on yourself...but if you are genuinely serious about making your job a career, this'll help enormously.