As a PR professional and entrepreneur I have lots of competitors. The multi-nationals, mid-sized independents, small boutiques and the one (wo) man bands.

There is no shortage of PR talent. But what separates the “I love people” and “I can organize a great party” people from those with knowledge, experience, resources, and stability?

In Toronto we’re fortunate to be home to the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms, twenty-five and climbing leading PR consultancies who represent thought leadership, ethical business practices, and solid credentials. CCPRF firms meet eligibility criteria in terms of minimum number of employees and billings, but the greatest scrutiny comes with being vetted by your peers (and competitors). You can bet these agency heads and decision makers have a great memory when it comes to playing fair.  Ironically, while one would think that we’d be a secretive, paranoid bunch there is plenty of chatting going on about issues of common interest and some sharing too. In short, being in the room and not a fly on the wall has made me appreciative of my colleagues and their values in generating and conducting business in an ever challenging environment.

———————————————————————————

Carol Levine (@Carol_levine) is co-founder and Managing founder of energi PR, digital, communications, an award-winning independently owned Canadian PR consultancy established in 1990 with offices in Toronto and Montreal. energi PR is the Canadian affiliate of the Public Relations Global Network, providing expertise in consumer and healthcare public relations to national and multinational brands. Carol is the immediate past Chair of the Canadian Council of Public Relations firms and is a 2013 Inductee in the Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame as well as a Fellow of the Canadian Public Relations Society.

If the tragedy of the train derailment in Lac Megantic wasn’t so horrific, it could be a laughable PR case study about what not to emulate. To the Chairman of Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway, let me give you some advice, on the house.

Preparation: There is hardly a business that is immune from the risk of exposure whether it is an accident, fire or scandal. If you had a crisis communications plan, it didn’t work, but most likely you didn’t have one. You were grossly unprepared and it shows. Like death and taxes, the only certainty is that the unexpected will happen. Be prepared for it.

Get out ahead of the news:  Almost everyone knows that ordinary citizens and the media get to the story immediately – MM&A needed to get out in front of it. Instead, you waited to be chased.  All that you needed to say immediately upon learning of the tragedy was “Our thoughts and prayers are for the victims, their families and the residents of the town. We are by their side.” Follow that by saying you would set up a schedule for regular briefings.

Take a cue from NASA Public Affairs with regard to the Space Shuttle Columbia –

“When things are going well, tell the media everything they want to know.  When things are going wrong, tell them even more.”                                                                 

Presence: It took five days for you to show up at Lac Megantic. From what I’ve read you said you could accomplish more being in Chicago where you could deal with insurance, the media etc. Are you kidding?! Do you not have other senior members of your team competent to deal with such things? You are the public face of the company and needed to rush to the scene and share in the communal pain; call the mayor and show yourself as human. Your actions and statements made you seem distant and uncaring and now you have positioned yourself as the enemy. Good luck rebuilding in that community.

Don’t speculate: You don’t know what you don’t know – so say so. Don’t make it up as you go along.  Engaging in a blame game, whether it’s your employee or the fire department, before all the facts are in is unwise. When asked about accountability you could have said simply, “We are cooperating with all of the regulatory bodies and municipal, provincial and federal authorities. Like everyone involved, we are waiting for the information to unfold as the investigation continues. Right now our primary concern is for the families and the residents of Lac Megantic.” Instead you use words like “obligation”, “probably”, and “the information gets better every day”. Your statements are confusing and show lack of coordination.

Speaking to the media – According to a news report you told TVA that you hope “(you) won’t get shot” when you finally visit Lac Megantic. That’s like Nixon saying “I am not a Crook” or Bill Clinton saying “I did not have sexual relations with that woman…” Why didn’t you issue a statement at the news conference where you could have at least articulated what you wanted to say, before being hammered by questions? The answers you gave satisfied no one.

Doing business in Quebec – Given that the Caisse de Depot de placement reportedly owns 13% of MM&A, and, that you operated in Quebec I have to wonder why the French language communications were described as clumsily translated and why there is nothing in French on your website, including the message on the French version that it’s in the works?

Being online – When I visited the MM&A website I saw that the last news release was dated July 7^th, and that there was no message of sympathy – in fact nothing to suggest that it was anything other than business as usual for your company. It would have been so simple to have you prepare a video statement on the site or better still, uploaded to YouTube.

At the end of the day the spectre of a communications and public relations critique is of little consolation to the victims, families, townspeople and emergency service personnel in the quiet hamlet of Lac Megantic, Quebec. However make no mistake, that it will likely never be business as usual in this locality for MM&A. If not for the safety factors alone, but for the sheer heartless and defensive way this was corporately managed.

Don’t take my word for it – just look at Michael McCain and Maple Leaf Foods to find out how to do it right.

————————————————————————————————–

Carol Levine (@Carol_levine) is co-founder and Managing founder of energi PR, digital, communications, an award-winning independently owned Canadian PR consultancy established in 1990 with offices in Toronto and Montreal. energi PR is the Canadian affiliate of the Public Relations Global Network, providing expertise in consumer and healthcare public relations to national and multinational brands. Carol is the immediate past Chair of the Canadian Council of Public Relations firms and is a 2013 Inductee in the Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame as well as a Fellow of the Canadian Public Relations Society.

So starts a chapter in Sheryl Sandberg’s best seller Lean In, a brilliant book about “women, work and the will to lead”. If it isn’t already obvious, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s COO, is my new hero. But she is not my mentor. She covers the subject of mentorship and describes the differences between women and men when it comes to finding or, better still, feeling the need to have a mentor. In her view when someone finds the right mentor it is obvious, but that running after or forcing the connection hardly ever works.

My own opinions of mentorship are formed from personal experiences as a PR professional. When I started out many years ago I had a mentor and once I was established in my career, I also had the opportunity to be one.  In both cases I was never asked to assume the role, nor did I need the affirmation that I needed one. Yet today in the field of public relations, largely a female-dominated industry, there are formalized programs to link mentors and mentees. But, does this make sense and add value to either party?

After reading Sheryl’s book I would argue she makes a strong point against “mentor matchmaking” and goes on to say that we may be conditioning young women to become too dependent on others.  She paints the picture of Sleeping Beauty where little girls are told that if they just wait for Prince Charming’s kiss they will live happily ever after.  According to this viewpoint, once the right mentor comes along, he (or she) will make everything happen.

The relationship between a mentor and mentee is not like Sleeping Beauty and her prince

My first boss was a crusty TV network newsman who started out as a CP cub reporter and was lured to head communications for a large community service organization. I was a PR newbie who was ready to work hard, stay late and listen. I credit him with teaching me how to write, work with the media and most of all, how to deal with people firmly, fairly and with integrity. He challenged me every day and to this day I consider him my one and only mentor. But it is worth noting that it was something that was never asked OR answered. It is, and always will be, about something that happens naturally.

I recently learned that I was selected for induction into the 2013 Canadian Healthcare Hall of Fame (CHMHF). The ceremony will take place at a luncheon on April 10^th as part of the 11^th annual National Pharmaceutical Congress organized by The Chronicle Companies, publishers of The Chronicle of Healthcare Marketing, and more. The Congress is attended by pharmaceutical marketers and is a thought-provoking event for Canadian industry leaders to present and share new ideas and innovations.

There is not much more a PR professional can ask for than recognition in a room of potential clients. After a considerably long, exciting, challenging and colourful career with its fair share of 15 minutes of fame one becomes an expert at managing expectations, yet I was tremendously humbled by this honour which teeters outside the public relations world. I look forward to seeing my name and mug shot among the presidents of pharma companies including the big multinationals (some clients included!); distinguished physicians who have championed marketing and communications; the heads of the industry`s regulatory groups and last year’s inductee young Aaron Maresky and his mother Mandy who created Aaron`s Apple, an inspiring fundraising initiative. Fewer than 100 inductees are currently in the CHMHF so it stands to reason that I was quite chuffed to be included in this year`s group of inductees.

But it has been pointed out to me on more than one occasion that “it’s not all about me,” and in fact it isn’t. Along with being recognized by the CHMHF I learned that I will be the first public relations professional
to be so honoured.

I’ve made it a point of stressing not only the value of public relations in pharmaceutical and health-related marketing, but also how it differs from advertising and other marketing disciplines. Historically, advertising occupied a lonely, but happy, place in pharma marketing with other marketing disciplines trying to garner a piece of the pie. But as healthcare PR specialists demonstrated the power of earned media (ask yourself how Viagra was launched) as well as the role of PR in reputation management, corporate social responsibility, disease promotion, patient education and advocacy,  not to mention the introduction of new medications and innovative therapies, the value of this discipline has become increasingly recognized.

—————————————————————————–

Carol Levine (@Carol_levine) is co-founder and Managing founder of energi PR, digital, communications, an award-winning independently owned Canadian PR consultancy established in 1990 with offices in Toronto and Montreal. energi PR is the Canadian affiliate of the Public Relations Global Network, providing expertise in consumer and healthcare public relations to national and multinational brands. Carol is the immediate past Chair of the Canadian Council of Public Relations firms and is a 2013 Inductee in the Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame as well as a Fellow of the Canadian Public Relations Society.

Recently two members of the energi PR team, Lauren Wasley and Jon MacIndoe, attended the CCPRF PR Boot Camp. We were chatting about some of the key takeaways from the day and one thing that stood out  was Dr. Karyn Gordon’s discussion on the high levels of anxiety among Generation Y. Anxiety can have a huge impact on the career of a young PR professional and with PR often being chosen as one of the most stressful career choices, I thought it a relevant topic to discuss today.

If decades as an owner of a PR consulting business has taught me anything, it’s that managing the inevitable stress of multiple bosses (our clients) and deliverables (work product) is a learned skill. The problem is that you won’t find it on the curricula of any PR certificate that I’m aware of. My observations are that young practitioners come from a place where the notion of failure not only doesn’t exist, it can’t be tolerated. Blame us baby boomers for coddling our children, protecting them from physical harm of course, but also insulating them from harsh words or actions that might have a negative effect on their self-esteem and confidence. We have created a workforce of Alpha personalities that simply don’t fail. Or, at least, even the notion of failure is destructive.

The result has placed an enormous amount of pressure on promising young professionals who find it nearly impossible to accept even constructive feedback. This is not only their problem, but ours – the employers. I think that along with the academic foundation and professional development that is provided, we’d do well to:

• Assure this generation that mistakes happen (just don’t make the same one twice)
• That not every campaign or mandate will be an award-winning success (just ensure that you’ve worked diligently, been passionate about what you take on and do your absolute best)
• That you can’t take on the entire burden of blame(remember that you are part of the team and should be able to ask for help)

In our frenetic business we may need to work quickly and make decisions without the luxury of time. We also know that we are fully accountable for the decisions we make. Still, it would serve us well if we demonstrated greater sensitivity, as well as took action to help our folks develop their capacity for prioritization, time management and simply for coping with the ups and downs of work (and life).

Something to think about,

Carol Levine

APR, Fellow CPRS, Managing Partner, energi PR

————————————————————————————————

Carol Levine (@Carol_levine) is co-founder and Managing founder of energi PR, digital, communications, an award-winning independently owned Canadian PR consultancy established in 1990 with offices in Toronto and Montreal. energi PR is the Canadian affiliate of the Public Relations Global Network, providing expertise in consumer and healthcare public relations to national and multinational brands. Carol is the immediate past Chair of the Canadian Council of Public Relations firms and is a 2013 Inductee in the Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame as well as a Fellow of the Canadian Public Relations Society.

The Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms recently named Carol Levine as its new Chair. Carol who succeeds  Joe Thornley, Chairman and CEO of Thornley Fallis Communications & 76 Design is Co-Founder and Partner of Communications MECA, a national agency specializing in consumer and healthcare public relations.

Carol is a veteran PR practitioner whose career spans forty years, primarily as an agency owner. Communications MECA was a founding member of the CCPRF.

“The CCPRF is a relatively young organization that has quickly become an important voice for the public relations industry in Canada. Considering the braintrust of our members, as well as the growing recognition of PR as a valuable and distinct marketing discipline, I am confident that the CCPRF will continue to have a significant impact in shaping the future of public relations,” said Carol Levine.

The CCPRF is a national organization comprised of 23 member firms representing the majority of Canada’s leading public relations consulting firms. Founded in 2005, the Council is dedicated to promoting the role of public relations in business strategy and organizational performance. Governed by common principles, the goal of the CCPRF is to promote the professionalism and development of public relations consulting and provide leaderhip in areas that influence industry growth.

The CCPRF also aims to advance the business of public relations by building its value as a strategic business tool, by helping member firms manage successful and profitable businesses, by promoting the benefits of a career in public relations and by providing professional development.