At yesterday's Communications Week "PRx" event in New York, Barri Rafferty, CEO of Ketchum North America, said that women need to stop saying "I'm sorry" if they want to become chief executives. The phrase "I'm sorry" is used too freely by women, according to Rafferty. It's usually a thoughtless preamble to a statement or mere entrance into a room, and is a signifier of a lack of confidence and feeling of unworthiness.
"Have swagger," Rafferty said. "Don't be sorry—shine and be strong."
I couldn't help being reminded of her advice to women when I read today's article in the New York Times about the Council of Public Relations Firms' "soul-searching."
The Times reported that the council, which is holding its annual conference on Oct. 23, adopted an informal name, the PR Council, and that in discussions of the rebranding the council had considered eliminating "PR" entirely.
The article points out that although social media and content marketing have expanded the role that PR plays in brand communications, PR—in particular, PR agencies—“has also been under scrutiny recently for a string of flubs and foul-ups." The council was seeking a new moniker that would encompass PR's past, present and future, but drop-kicking the term "PR" into the waste bin would have betrayed PR's own lack of confidence and sense of unworthiness.
For generations, PR practitioners could only look on with envy and perhaps disgust at the budgets thrown at ad agencies and marketers, but the evolution of technology has been on their side, whether they realize it or not. The Council of Public Relations Firms–make that the "PR Council"—recognized that truth in the end.
—Steve Goldstein
Twitter: @SGoldsteinAI