As you may have noticed, my blog focuses on purpose. One aspect that I wanted to explore more is how public relations professionals use it in their everyday lives, so I decided to reach out an industry leader. I sent Rob Flaherty, Ketchum CEO, a short list of questions and his answers led to this fantastic blog post. My sincere thanks to him for his time and insight.
Q: What would you say is Ketchum's overall purpose as a company? A: For the past several years we have stated our mission and purpose in this way: We deliver break-through creativity that produces campaign-leading ideas that deliver results for our clients. And we state our vision in this way: We seek to be the most valued agency partner in the world. But when you think about what we do on a deeper level and where we can have the most impact in the world around us, it’s in building bridges in a divided world. I think we are at our best when our people feel they are making a positive contribution to society and business by building bridges – whether in a purely positive context, like between a brand and its consumers or a healthcare company and patients. Or it’s in a more challenging context, like between a company and angry activists or a company and its labor union. There are so many divisions in the world today, and as PR professionals we are in the position to build these bridges. Q: How does Ketchum incorporate purpose into the work that they do for their clients? A: You will see our brand promise "break through" all over Ketchum. We are always striving to make a difference through the incredible creativity of our people. We are also always trying to help our clients to do the right thing, to behave in a way that is sustainable and in the long-term interest of all of their stakeholders. We also incorporate purpose through our award-winning employee-led corporate responsibility program, KSR or Ketchum Social Responsibility. In 2016 we raised $27,000 for pro-bono partner Room to Read, extending a literacy program to hundreds of children across Africa and Asia. And in September we celebrated our ninth-annual KSR month with more than 1,000 employees across more than 30 offices in 15 countries supporting 50-plus local projects. Q: What is the company culture like at Ketchum? A: Ketchum’s culture is an optimistic, can-do culture in which our colleagues bring a lot of passion to every challenge...passion to bring the best creativity, passion to do what's never been done before, passion to win. It's a culture in which our colleagues expect everyone to work hard but they also expect to be treated with respect. If a person is too aggressive or too tough on the people around them – a win at any cost attitude – they won't last long at Ketchum. Q: What kind of impact do you think this culture makes on the company's work? A: The greatest impact – and it delivers enormous value to our clients and to each other – is that we attract and retain some of the best talent in the business. In 2016, 45,000 people applied to work at Ketchum. From that impressive pool, we hired approximately 620 people globally, with more than 350 in North America. The acceptance ratio suggests the quality of the people we are able to hire into Ketchum. And it's this incredible talent that drives great work for some of the world’s biggest brands. Q: As a global company, how does Ketchum keep its purpose and culture consistent? A: As they say, it's a journey not a destination. Here are a few of the many ways we work to create and maintain a global culture and provide borderless quality to our clients:
Q: How do you use your role as CEO to make Ketchum a better environment? A: I do my best to lead by example: treat people with respect, reward them based on the value they bring, and bring my own creativity into the workplace. I also try to consistently communicate where we are going and recognize the extraordinary accomplishments of our people. Q: What do you feel is the most important quality for a worker in your company to have? A: It's a three-way tie between a positive can-do attitude, a strong work ethic and resourcefulness. A positive attitude means you're eager to dive in to an ambitious project and you control your destiny on any project small or large. A strong work ethic means you expect and want to work hard (that doesn't mean life-crushing hard, but hard within reason). And resourceful means that you may not know how to do something at the beginning, but you’ll figure it out with help from others. ABOUT ME: My name is Hannah and I love all things public relations. I am a student at Penn State studying public relations with minors in psychology and entrepreneurship, and I am also a pole vaulter for the track team. What I love the most about public relations is that we need it in all areas of the world. I hope to work in a firm or large company after graduation (May 2018) as I know that I can bring creativity, motivation and a go-getter attitude wherever I end up.
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Strong synonyms for purpose:
When looking at a company, an invention or even a person, I often ask myself, what is its purpose? With companies, sometimes it is obvious which ones have a strong purpose because they share that purpose with their audience through their mission statement and services/products. I often think of companies such as TOMS when I think of companies with purpose. TOMS mission is posted all over their brand for everyone to see. It says, "With every product you purchase, TOMS will help a person in need. One for One." Some companies, however, value purpose within their company, but do not voice it to their customers and audience. In my opinion, this is just the first step. It is vital to have a purpose within your company because that is what brings every individual together to form a tribe with a common goal. So if that is where your company stands, then you are off to a great start, but you could take things to the next level. My question is, why not lay that purpose on your audience so that they can help you achieve your goal while becoming a loyal to your brand? This is where pubic relations comes in. It is our job as public relations professionals to take a company's purpose and spread it around so that their audience hears them loud and clear. Basically, start a movement within and beyond a company. Have a goal, and get everyone to rally around that goal in order to achieve the unthinkable. Message: Have a purpose, give it some wings and let it fly. Plant a seed for all types of relationships and watch them grow, You may be able to have a lone purpose yourself, but it takes a tribe to allow that purpose to blossom. ABOUT ME: My name is Hannah and I love all things public relations. I am a student at Penn State studying public relations with minors in psychology and entrepreneurship, and I am also a pole vaulter for the track team. What I love the most about public relations is that we need it in all areas of the world. I hope to work in a firm or large company after graduation (May 2018) as I know that I can bring creativity, motivation and a go-getter attitude wherever I end up. It was about this time last year when I accepted my first summer internship. As a Pennsylvania native, I was taking a leap of faith when I committed to spending the summer in San Diego, Calif., a place I had never been. However, I knew that I needed to take this first step in gaining experience in my desired career, and I was willing to do whatever it took in order to put myself in a good position for the upcoming years. When making my decision on whether or not to go out west for this opportunity, I weighed the pros and cons that would accompany this position. They were: Pros
It is clear to see that the pros outweighed the cons tremendously. However, without the help of my supportive parents and being granted some money from Penn State, I would have never been able to take on this experience. I found such value and purpose in the pros, which is what made me decide to say yes and head out west. Each pro had a purpose that laid part of a foundation for me. Overall, the experience would allow me to move from being a student to being a doer, and it would enable me to take the first step in practicing and experiencing my future profession. So I did it. I went to San Diego, interned at Luxuria Public Relations, learned about social media strategy, got my first taste of pitching to the media, interacted with clients for the first time, experienced how campaigns unfold and just scratched the surface of what I was going to be doing for the rest of my life. In my free time, I adventured, hiked, discovered my love for yoga, ventured up the coast a bit and ate lots of authentic food (yum!). Message: All in all, I went for it. I have a goal for myself to be the best public relations professional that I can be, and in order to accomplish that goal, I had to take the first step. That stands true to every goal that anyone will set. In order to reach that goal, we must take the first step, and we must take it with purpose. No matter what you do, do it with purpose. Do it with the intention of reaching your goal and going beyond that goal. If we aren't pursing our goals with purpose and we are just walking through the motions, what is the point? ABOUT ME: My name is Hannah and I love all things public relations. I am a student at Penn State studying public relations with minors in psychology and entrepreneurship, and I am also a pole vaulter for the track team. What I love the most about public relations is that we need it in all areas of the world. I hope to work in a firm or large company after graduation (May 2018) as I know that I can bring creativity, motivation and a go-getter attitude wherever I end up. |
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September 2017
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