Listen to your messages

Good messaging gets a lot of credit! A strong statement can hold attention for a certain amount of time. It can shape how a story gets told and re-told, buy time, even change a first impression, or a put a mark on the reputation. What it CANNOT do is replace the truth.

Words describe an organization's values, but they don't create them. That work happens in decision making, budgets, and what leadership is willing to do, especially when doing the right thing is, let’s say, inconvenient. If leadership isn't prepared to stand behind their words, past the statement, comms can't sustainably defend it, and that’s all that matters in this work.

And you can’t blame the writing (or the writer) when there was never anything solid behind the writing to begin with. Language can be refined endlessly. Narratives can be shaped and reshaped. None of it replaces the actions that are happening inside an organization, and eventually, those cracks start to show.

PR & Communication teams, remember this: no amount of messaging can make up for values that aren't being practiced.

The organizations that communicate well tend to describe, honestly, what is true. It's the job worth doing. Brands that persist are the ones that keep their promises. Any relationship is based on this. Statements that hold up are the ones built on something real, and it reflects what an organization can be accountable for, and that's the only kind of statement worth writing.