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The task of writing internal memos about layoffs or “restructuring” and similar crises that threaten livelihoods usually falls to PR and HR professionals. It’s a painful, difficult task, but it’s part of what they signed up to do.

It’s tempting, of course, but staying at home due to a severe storm isn’t an excuse to binge watch “True Detective” on HBO or curl up with some guilty pleasure. It’s pretty much a normal workday, but with a bit of a spin on what you get accomplished.

Should You Charge a Potential Client a Fee for a Proposal? What Do You Say to a Potential Client About Success-based PR Fees?

The 205 Edelman Trust Barometer shows that many people feel the pace of change in business is moving too fast. Conversely, nearly one-third of respondents believe the pace of change to be too slow. It’s a fine line that corporate communications navigate.

You’ve likely heard of the debut earlier this month of Facebook At Work (FB@Work), a new player in the expanding field of enterprise social networks (ESNs). Essentially Facebook for brands, companies and organizations, the tool’s most important impact for PR pros could be that it will spark new ideas about enhancing internal communications and employee relations.

You would think that the proliferation of social platforms and mobile devices would spell doom for email marketing/campaigns. Not so. Get reacquainted with an enduring PR tool—email.

Think about the characteristics people often attribute to great leaders: being visionary, intelligent, empathetic and passionate. But it is none of those. Rather, it’s intentional. The intentional leader uses purposeful decisions, language and actions to advance the organization and his/her individual aims.

PR pros can no longer assume their company or organization is immune to trauma. As a crisis communicator, when something horrible happen are you prepared for an immediate response? Do you have a recovery plan for your brand? A crisis plan that you test, and update annually?

Parody can help companies cut through the proverbial clutter and humanize their message. Using parody plays into social channels and can appeal to millennials, who were raised on irreverence and now are starting to enter the management ranks. Has the cold-sober approach to branding run its course?

A major complication arose when, on the eve of an important press announcement, a Chicago Sun-Times columnist reported incorrectly that Navy Pier would “sell naming rights” to redevelopment project which had been sponsored by a legacy gift.