Revolution Not Evolution

William Dawes is far less known than Paul Revere for warning Samuel Adams and John Hancock of British plans to march from Boston to seize patriot military stores at Concord on April 18, 1775.  Thus began the Revolution…  Communicators Anonymous is the William Dawes of the communications industry.

Tom Murphy posts, Beware the PR Moniker…”PR 2.0? I wonder how long before I get the cease and desist... bring it on.”  Ok, Tom, here I go…help me out...

Excerpts…“The danger of a term like PR 2.0 is manyfold…Secondly the moniker 2.0 implies that something is coming that replaces what went before (and by extension implies that what went before was not effective). This again is incorrect. What we're seeing is evolution not revolution. Tried and tested techniques such as face-to-face meetings, conference calls, e-mail, post and even the much maligned press release aren't going away. Traditional media relations, internal communications, investor relations etc. these continue to grow today. What we're seeing is the gradual addition of some new tools and techniques to our existing toolset... not a replacement. Show me the practitioner only using new tools and I'll show you an unhappy client... PR 2.0 represents a worrying growth in the echo chamber effect of the PR blog community. There's too much inward facing debate and not enough pragmatism. PR consists of a wide diversity of audiences, tools, geographies, cultures and languages. If we're serious about providing guidance on how new tools fit with our existing services then we need to be realistic. So let's stop looking to throw the baby out. Instead let's focus our energy on how people are changing how they find, use and share information.”

While tools may be evolving, a revolution in the communicator’s mindset must first occur.  We do not have time for a gradual change of a communication professional’s thinking.  Thinking is our problem!  However ironic this might be for our creative industry.  Part of the existing toolset is the mind and this needs an overhaul.  Techniques/tools are a symptom manifested from our thinking.  Scary concept.

Richard Edelman posts, Why Bother?  Interesting...why?  I am not convinced with Mr. Edelman's answer...a bit vague.  I agree with the dream, but what is the solution? Talk of transperency and better communication...where is the accountability?

Excerpts..."We need to continue to evolve our approach--to move away from message triangles, hyping press releases and controlling access to our clients. We can facilitate and participate in open conversations, providing a full set of facts (positive and negative) about products or companies.

We have to continue to confront misbehavior in PR such as pay for play in a public manner so that the business community and other stakeholders should know that we do not condone malpractice."

We need to have a revolution in our approach...

Revolution:

• Orbital motion about a point, especially as distinguished from axial rotation: the planetary revolution about the sun.
• A turning or rotational motion about an axis.
• A single complete cycle of such orbital or axial motion.
• The overthrow of one government and its replacement with another.
• A sudden or momentous change in a situation: the revolution in computer technology.
• Geology. A time of major crustal deformation, when folds and faults are formed.

Evolution: A gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form. See Synonyms at development.

• The process of developing.
• Gradual development.
• Biology.
  • Change in the genetic composition of a population during successive generations, as a result of natural selection acting on the genetic variation among individuals, and resulting in the development of new species.
  • The historical development of a related group of organisms; phylogeny.
• A movement that is part of a set of ordered movements.
• Mathematics. The extraction of a root of a quantity.