A communications peer working in the financial sector recently confided to her pal that she had had it and wanted out. The reason? Being a communications manager in a transnational financial institution, every innovation, strategy, intervention or activity she has suggested to her fellow managers has been met with unified resistance. Everybody around the management table is an pseudo-expert in communications; they each know a better way of writing, saying, connecting to their target audience better, faster, cheaper and sexier than the in-house expert!
That to me sounds like the story of every PR practitioner working in any organization outside a media, advertising/PR Agency, religious or terrorist organization! Communicating is not that easy after all-otherwise can someone explain to me all these failed organizations, gaffe-prone CEOs, politicians, scientists, etc. Who will explain to me why half the world has earned such horrible reputations? Why are so many individuals and organizations spending millions to undo negative images?
It’s a fact that the PR trade in Kenya is looked down upon. Lately a new demeaning trend has emerged where public organizations are seeking to recruit a corporate & regulatory affairs manager with a purely legal background? Legal experts are the anti-thesis of PR experts. You cannot ask a legal advisor in an organization to double up as the image and reputation advisor helping the organization navigate a myriad of stakeholders with varying needs! A lawyer’s orientation is to sue, to threaten and to use the existing law to defend the organization.
Who will stand up for the profession?
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