From our newsletter: Living in a state of polycrisis
By Jennifer Cloer
Every Wednesday around 2 pm, I treat myself to an afternoon coffee at Dutch Bros (if you know, you know) and drive just over an hour to settle in and finish my day at the University of Oregon’s Portland campus. I’ve found the perfect corner cubby in their library on the second floor of one of the main buildings. Around 5:30 pm, I make my way to my classroom where I assemble the tables in a full circle and where from 6-9 pm I meet with graduate students to talk about crisis communications.
Winter term started in January and will wrap up in just three short weeks, and I’m already reflecting on how much I’ve learned from the weekly discussions. There’s so much about it I love, mostly the students, and there’s a lot that has struck me and that I’m applying to Story Changes Culture’s work.
First, we’re living and working in a constant state of polycrisis, overlapping, connected, or cascading crises, that change the way we communicate and tell stories. I’ve known this through practice, but by diving deeply into it with the students, I’m putting more intention around how I approach every story and every communications strategy. I think when we acknowledge the reality of constant, connected crises, we can build empathy for our collective state of being and use communications as a tool to bring people together.
Jennifer Cloer
I’ve also been reminded that the basic principles of good communications haven’t changed: Communicate what you know and what you don’t know early and often, be transparent, and be ready. This might sound simple but case study after case study proves that companies are rarely prepared and too often deprioritize transparency under pressure.
Lastly, PR and communications are more strategic and necessary than ever. I had my doubts when ChatGPT hit the scene and could write press releases and FAQs in seconds. But earned media, the articles that result from crafting and pitching compelling stories to reporters and nurturing those relationships for the long-run, is more important than ever. AI chatbots prioritize and cite earned media far more than self-published content with some research estimating that 95 percent of links cited by AI are media coverage deemed unpaid. This is one of the primary reasons why Gartner is predicting PR budgets will double in the next 1-2 years.
We’re living in a constant state of crisis. We’re looking to AI to sift through the enormous amount of information online and serve up responses in seconds, no matter how questionable the content. Trust has eroded, some say to the worst levels on record.
Who will make meaning from this new and constant state of chaos? Leaders who embody trust and transparency and know how to harness today’s technologies with communications fundamentals.
