There are tyrants among us, who profess to know a thing or two about public relations.
They laugh at activities curated from those in the trenches.
Here’s the thing though: if you purport to being an expert in the field of public relations, then you should- and maybe this is a wild take– know one f— thing about the subject matter you’re speaking to.
They say that those who can’t do, teach. Perhaps. But what if that resident expert, brought in from a public relations setting, is tasked with revitalizing processes for a common bottleneck item. They may know the key terms surrounding the inefficiency, but are they able to actually take those concepts and apply them into a strategized and concerted effort?
In layman’s terms, this is the equivalent to a coach telling players on a basketball team to score more points, with no game plan to actually make the hopes into a reality. How will you counter their defence? How will you contain their top players? What if you have talent battling injuries?
Is it possible for a domain expert to make
a difference? It certainly is.
However, the person in question here- our domain expert– should have at least a rudimentary understanding of both the micro and the macro of the industry, the process, the task at hand… whatever it is that you’re bringing them into the fold to oversee and to advise on. They need to be the eyes and ears, and have a pulse on the very components that drive business.
Public relations is for the renaissance men or women of our world. I do not proclaim to know a lot, but I do know a little about a lot.
And if I have no idea about a subject, I obsess over learning about it— or I won’t get involved. Smart people, find smarter people to help them. I’ll get up to speed with the subject matter, and bring on those who I feel can add value to a synergized outcome.
When someone scoffs at those who live and breathe a specific product, service, industry, idea… whatever it is, it makes me irate. You can’t expect that no one else will have more expertise in one facet, and then feel a need to belittle them because of it. We should be utilizing their wealth of knowledge to make ourselves better. That’s how the world works.
After it’s all said and done, if you can’t accept savants in your field and work with them, as associates or adversaries who can motivate you to improve, then you need to do one thing: give up.
Competition is healthy, and fierce competition breeds excellence. And wealth of knowledge and skill should be celebrated and acknowledged. We shouldn’t scrutinize others for being the domain experts we purport to bring.
We don’t know everything. Our networks should be complemented with people of assorted backgrounds, who can strengthen our access to knowledge.
By @MarkPavelich CEO The Mark Consulting & Marketing
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