Communications is personal. It’s a scientific discipline, a great and vast discipline with many sub-areas, or fields. But it is also a process that happens to everyone of us, every day, which makes it personal. And this could also be one of the reasons to why it is so hard.
I will talk from personal experience and perspective in this blog. But I will lean into the theories, science and research of the field, since I am a true believer of fact based knowledge. And I will of course leave references where in place.
I have worked in the communication field for some 20 years plus by now. In different companies and organizations. In different capacities. I have covered the generalist roles, and the specialists roles, such as PR-manager, Web Editor or Communication strategist. I have had managing positions, and advising positions.
But of course, my journey with communications started, as for all of us, a lot earlier than that.
For me, the magic of books was somehow a starting point. The amazement of being transferred into different worlds and times. The awe of the people who were capable of giving that treasured gift to others.
And this awe expanded into the fields of theater, of great public speakers and of journalists. Growing up, I knew I would work within the field of communication – somehow. By then, this was not an existing professional field. It was, as they say, still in the making.
One of my first encounters with PR was at the age of 16. Of course, I wouldn’t have recognized the term “PR” at that time. But a public relations action it was. The whole matter was around a central park in my hometown, and a couple of very old, statuesque trees in said park. And a Parks Department that was about cutting them down. In a few hours, once I heard about what was about to happen, I had rallied some 30 – 40 people, mostly from my own high school, but from a couple of others around. And yes, this was before cell phones and Snapchat, so the rallying was made very hands-on, by driving around in one of the older guy’s car. A few calls were made to different media institutions, and quite a crowd showed up in the park that winter’s day. I remember I was wearing my long, dark wool-coat and a classy green wool-hat, and I considered that very lucky, as I really looked representable. When the TV-reporters interviewed me, I was very straight forward (but I also used some difficult, grown-up words, such as “inadequate”, of which I only had a vague conception of the meaning). In the spur of the moment, when the reporters asked what I wanted to say to the chairman and mayor, we decided to march right up to the city hall and tell them. Luckily, the mayor was a kind man, and I guess it helped that he was a distant friend of my family, so he didn’t take my scolding too badly. But oh, what coverage we got on that action! And yes, we stopped the chopping of the trees.
This was in so many ways an easier time to communicate. And I was young, which meant I was treated more kindly than a grown-up professional would have been. But it was also an epiphany for me, to see that you may actually change things with the help of communication.
And this is my passion for the blog’s topic; how communication can make a change for the better. In small or large contexts. My passion has taken me through both high school and a master degree of communications. I did not always feel that passion, while struggling with textbooks by McQuail or Berger-Luckmann. But those studies also helped me understand the field on a deeper level, and how to put these proven theories into practice.
My career has been one of great learning. When I was fresh out of university, I was so sure of having all the right answers. And it was a good time, indeed. Trying new things, convincing older managers that we had to try it my way. But it didn’t take long to realize that my learning had not ended with my diploma. It had only just started. And as much as I do have a lot of experience to share within communications, this blog will also be a tribute to all of those great mentors I have had the privilege to encounter and walk alongside of. Some of them will be mentioned, some of them not. But they are all there. And they continue to show up in my life – old ones, and new ones. For this, I am sincerely grateful.
I will also give a short word about what inspired me to start this blog. To be totally honest, it wasn’t my idea. It was my husband’s. And I was nothing short of an advert to the whole concept. He wanted me to share the knowledge, reflections and experience that I normally share in smaller and enclosed groups, with a larger community. And he can be a very stubborn man. So I finally gave in, and here we are.
I’m still a bit scared. Can one really transfer that into a blog? But I have also started to grow excited. Because I talked to so many people in my years about those matters, that says that they have been truly helped by my advice. And this is what I want with my communication blog – for us to find each other, to share ideas and to help each other out.
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