Work Life

In this continuing series about lessons in career and life, a senior communicator at a relatively unknown but major aluminum company explains why he left a very good position at a much larger firm. It was the best career move he’s made, he says.

To end Black History Month, we offer the story of Inez Kaiser, the first black woman to own a PR firm in the US. Kaiser was a polymath. A teacher, an activist, a cook book author and an entrepreneur, Kaiser accomplished all this at a time when African-Americans struggled for basic civil rights.

There’s plenty to learn about PR in college programs. On the other hand, there are few better teachers than actually practicing PR on the job. Four years out of college, our author argues that managing expectations is a key area that PR classes failed to cover. Here’s what she’s learned attending the college of hard knocks.

Inspired by Glassdoor’s Top CEOs of 2019 list, we decided to review the top CEOs at the largest PR agencies across the world. Utilizing the PRovoke 2019 Agency Rankings, as well as Glassdoor’s CEO and employee approval ratings, we found a dynamic list of communications leaders, working with some of the world’s top projects and talent.

Moving from being a brand communicator at Pfizer to an agency executive prompted Dean Mastrojohn to think about team building. He offers three lessons he learned from his years on the client side. The veteran communicator is using these lessons as he builds an integrated media team as part of his agency position.

In this regular series with the Institute of Public Relations, veteran communicators relate lessons learned early in their careers that continue to help them. This installment features Shirley Powell, SVP, Cox Automotive, who received a great education from her first boss. One of his toughest lessons remains with Powell to this day.

In a far-ranging interview, new PRSA chair T. Garland Stansell discusses the need for PR pros to be courageous enough to accept and shape change, his goals for the 30,000-member organization and the challenges of communications measurement.

Plenty of PR pros have made predictions for the year ahead. We go farther. As we embark into a new decade of opportunities, what will PR look like in 2030? A trio of brave PR prognosticators looks 10 years hence. In spite of huge technological change, at least one PR pro sees relationships maintaining their importance in 2030.

After leaving the Philadelphia Tribune, Joseph Varney Baker worked as a PR consultant for the Pennsylvania Railroad. This led him to found a PR firm in NY, Joseph V. Baker and Associates, in 1934.

Nearly every day a story appears in the media that relates to PR and communications. Reading them can provide a tuition-free education in PR, argues veteran PR pro Arthur Solomon. This article concludes his two-part series that reviews instructive headlines from 2019.