Disconnect, Divisions and the Urgent Need for Diligence in Commmunication

That Solo Life Episode 258: Disconnect, Divisions and the Urgent Need for Diligence in Communication


Michelle Kane [00:18.257]-[00:31.913]: Thank you for joining us for another episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves. People like me, Michelle Kane with Voice Matters, and my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hi, Karen. How are you today?

Karen Swim, APR [00:31.913]-[00:35.477]: I am doing great, Michelle. How are you? I'm doing well.

Michelle Kane [00:36.275]-[00:42.583]: Doing well, we're hitting that mid-summer stride, whatever that is. It's certainly been a strange season.

Karen Swim, APR [00:42.583]-[00:51.334]: I know the month of July really seems to be going so quickly that I can feel summer slipping away.

Michelle Kane [00:52.174]-[01:15.590]: Agree. Agree. It's strange. After the fourth, it's been just kind of warp speed. I don't know about you, but a lot of my touch points, you know, on the client side, there's vacations. There's just the, I think the acquiescing maybe to the slower pace and sort of taking advantage of that. So the days have been interesting to say the least.

Karen Swim, APR [01:15.590]-[01:41.811]: I haven't seen that slower pace and I think that's throwing me off as well. It seems. to be that no one is on vacation, which is interesting. And I find myself, oh, please, you'll have to remind me of this when winter actually comes, but I have found myself at points longing for the cooler temperatures of winter and the slower pace that winter naturally brings.

Michelle Kane [01:41.811]-[02:08.224]: That's true. That is true. Yeah. I mean, we've both been in the midst, I mean, let's face it, probably the entire country has been in the midst of a raging heat wave. I don't know about you, it doesn't matter how much I hydrate or how much time I spend inside, the heat just makes me stupid. I'll forget the one thing, no matter what it is, or just not have the mental acuity that I normally would.

Karen Swim, APR [02:13.877]-[03:24.448]: Though this is not the subject of our podcast today, I was reading some scientific data where scientists have been studying the impact of heat on our bodies, and they have come to realize that it is far more damaging than they believed in the past and that it does, in fact, impact your brain. And so they did the study with university students and they saw that the impact of heat lowered their test scores. So they said, you know, if you're having this happen throughout the semester, then that could lead to, you know, grades that are lower than they would be with cooler temperatures. So something, you know, so you're, you're right. You're absolutely right. What you are thinking, you're right on target because science has proven it, that heat does affect our brains. So all of you out there, because, you know, as Michelle mentioned here in not only the United States, but across the globe, we've had these extreme heat seasons. And so if you're feeling a little off, it's not just you. It is scientifically proven that heat affects your brain.

Michelle Kane [03:24.448]-[04:16.838]: See, it is making me stupid. Thank you very much. Just like proper temperatures matter, what we want to talk about today is that words matter. And, of course, that's a prevailing tenet of being a comms pro is your words matter. We choose them carefully. We craft them. We make sure all of our messaging is beneficial and useful and, you know, doing our clients well, you know, ideally for the greater good. We always like to have that as well, but it's just, you know, this ongoing season of interesting times. And I think just as PR pros, we want to talk about the ethics of, not that we have control over this, of course we don't, but we can certainly play a part in championing the ethics of good, truthful, careful communication.

Karen Swim, APR [04:17.573]-[04:58.268]: Absolutely. You know, in recent times, it has just, again, for me, been a reminder that not only do our words have power, but it also reminds me, you know, as communicators, we often joke about, you know, clients sometimes thinking that we're therapists and we do sort of have to play the role of a therapist, a lawyer, many other roles, but it's quite true because there is that psychology of words as well. And using words that will incite the positive rather than negative actions.

Michelle Kane [04:58.268]-[06:05.162]: Agree, agree. And it's, you know, some may say, oh, that's so uptight. What do you mean? Well, It matters. I'm sorry. I'm never going to back down from that. It really does. When we craft copy, when we craft messaging, no, we're not trying to be overtly manipulative, but we are certainly trying to you know, guide people to receive whatever message we are creating in a way that will, you know, sometimes, let's say if it's sales, it's to make them buy a product. If it's about a company or a client, it's to make them feel a certain positive way. So, I mean, it's not that the act of that is disingenuous, but It matters what you say and how you say it. I don't, you know, without delving into our current psyche, it just seems that we're losing that quite rapidly. And it's really, it's disheartening, it's discouraging, but it also makes me want to work even harder to make sure that doesn't fully happen.

Karen Swim, APR [06:06.890]-[08:07.107]: Agreed. You know, it's because with words, you have the ability with, you know, great messaging to inspire community around a brand, around a cause, around, you know, and we're seeing this play out in the political realm. And if there's one thing that we can learn from political communications is how words really ripple. They have this ripple effect and how they really can touch people in both negative ways and in positive ways. And it, again, should remind us as communicators of that power, but also the responsibility that comes with that power. Yes, 100%. Yeah. And in an era when There is a lack of trust in institutions, in the media. We're even seeing, I just read a story in Fortune about the Great Detachment where there is further, you know, people are detached, which goes directly in my mind to trust. Like you're not, you're not being inspired. You're not feeling inspired by your job. And so this article was about managers as well as employees. You're not feeling inspired. So you're detached and you're kind of just there. And when you trust. your employer, your institutions, organizations, you, words can be really used to inspire you to action, to positive action, to be excited about it, to be an advocate, to be enthusiastic. And we're, we do see that from politics. You know, it's one thing to watch how they do their messaging and the word choices that they use, and then how they're, they become you know, words that are recognizable to their audiences, to the community that they are inspiring around this, but there's responsibility with that.

Michelle Kane [08:07.550]-[08:27.624]: Yeah, yeah, there is. And I think there's something to be said about that detachment that leaves someone ripe for persuasion, one way or the other. And therein comes the responsibility part of it, of what will be the fruit of that, right? And we need to really take that seriously.

Karen Swim, APR [08:29.436]-[10:54.582]: Oh, that's such a great point. You're absolutely right. When you are detached and, you know, it's funny, one of my favorite words is ennui. And it was mentioned in this fortune story. So in this era of ennui, you are 100% right. I think as human beings, we want to be inspired, right? We want to be connected. And it may be, it's sort of an interesting thing. And I'm not a historian, but It's an interesting thing that long before these recent elections in our country, scientists were studying the erosion of communities and attachments. So they were seeing that people were becoming more isolated. So this has been going on for decades. Well, when you have that isolation and you have that disconnect or detachment, these ideas that have been planted by the political landscape that gives people a sense of belonging have probably had a much greater impact than they did in past years and past decades when we really were more connected to one another. And that's an interesting thing. I'm sure there's books and studies on that. That's an interesting thing as a communicator to understand as well is that you have people that are so disconnected. You know, people still work remotely. And even when you're in an office, you're not always in the office at the same time as other people. We're not. And even when we're around people and in a group, We're not really communicating to one another. We're not really connected. And it means that we have this culture that is really ripe for extremism in every way. And I'm not relegating this to politics only. It means that there are extreme reactions to things. Disagreements are no longer a disagreement. It is, you know, you disagree and then you cancel, like you evict that organization completely from your life and there's no forgiveness, there's no mercy, there's no nuance anymore, which makes our jobs a little more complex than they have been in the past.

Michelle Kane [10:54.582]-[12:16.046]: A little, because let's face it too, alongside that, We've lost great unifying events. I mean, we've got the Olympics coming up, so hopefully that will be one. But with the onset of social media and online communities, sure, yeah, this is great. We can do this. We can do that. But it has done so much to isolate us. either literally isolate us as human beings, but also into these little groups, these little sections. And the algorithms aren't helping that. Of course, these social channels, they want to make money. They are going to milk that for all they can. And from an economic perspective, I get it. It's not so great for our society. But hey, who cares, right? We as comms pros, we have so Many barriers may not be the right word, but we have so many hurdles in front of us. It's almost like, gosh, I almost feel like, you know, when you're a police officer going through your obstacle course, you know, the bank robber comes out from behind. Oh, bad guy!" You know, it's, it's just, it's a lot. It's a lot. And to get through that noise and to even get through to the people you're trying to reach has, it's never been more challenging.

Karen Swim, APR [12:16.046]-[14:24.176]: I completely agree. And I can understand why, you know, people in our profession, this has always been a very stressful profession. But I understand why people are pivoting from it. And we used to have support from outside of our communities that believed in these same values and principles, but it feels like every institution is working against what we're really trying to achieve. However, you know, to inject some optimism into this discussion, I think understanding the environment and understanding where people are in, in this day and time, and all of the things that are creating where we are, you know, it's, it's the work landscape, it's the political landscape, it's, it's all of those things, helps us to really double down on our mission as communicators and to be that voice for positive action, to, to be the change in the world that everyone needs to see and to recommit ourselves to ethical communications. You know, another thing that it's, it's, it's unfortunate to me that equity and inclusion gets this bad name as though committing to being inclusive is somehow coddling people or when it comes to hiring that you're hiring lesser than when equity inclusion is actually a higher level of communication. And it takes a lot more skill to use messaging that doesn't exclude groups of people. That's much harder than having messaging that is exclusionary. And, and so I, you know, it's, it is, it's tough. I, I feel for us, but in many, many ways, there has never been a more exciting time to be in this profession. and to be able to at least affect change in our little corners of the world.

Michelle Kane [14:24.176]-[15:19.094]: Yeah. Yes, please. We play a role. We do. We really do. I mean, there may be days where you may feel minimized, but you are not. I don't want to say this sounding so elitist, but I mean, we understand how a certain turn of phrase is crafted for a reason. We are the first ones to see through that. And I am heartened just by People's comments that I'm reading out there, I get a sense that a lot of people are just tired. They're tired of being gaslit. They're tired of negativity. We just want to live our lives and be told the truth and do good positive things and try to make each other's lives better, which thank goodness that we still want. I think that is at our core as people. We want that. And I'm grateful that as comms pros, we have that responsibility to help make that happen. So it is exciting.

Karen Swim, APR [15:19.094]-[16:45.215]: I agree. And it doesn't matter whether, you know, no matter what you do in your area of communication, you know, whether you are working for a company that produces widgets, or you are working for a political organization, it really doesn't matter. Your job does matter. And you are in a business that you should feel really proud of being in. And you should feel the weight of that responsibility. But also, you know, what a beautiful gift to be able to understand the power of words and to really know how to reach people. And, you know, in our off time and in our personal time, I honestly encourage you to limit your social media time. Don't death scroll or doom scroll because that can start to weigh on you and impact your job and your mental health. So make sure to nourish yourself with activities that are going to keep you positive and keep you filled. You know, make sure that you pursue things that give you joy that are outside of your profession. Because more than ever, it's really important that we tend to ourselves and make sure that we're doing things that keep us excited and enthusiastic and optimistic. Because, you know, when we put on that work hat, the job is rough.

Michelle Kane [16:45.822]-[17:39.930]: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And it's good that we have the community of each other, you know, and I'll point out whether it's the community at Solo PR Pro, or your local chapters of organizations, your local PRSA chapters. I know here in Philly, we've also got PPRA. find your people and support each other because we get what we go through. We would love to hear from you, quite frankly. Tell us your war stories. Hit us up. Visit soloprpro.com and send us what's happening with you because we'd love to talk about it. That's really one of the reasons why we're here. If you found value in this episode, please share it around, share it with your fellow comms pros. We would so appreciate that as well. Follow us around on our social channels. Until next time, thanks for listening to That Solo Life.