Communication is Power

“Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.” – Robert Frost

In school, we were always taught the golden rule: “if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say it at all.”

As a kid, yes this is a good standard to live by to hold back anger from the kid who stole your favorite colored crayon. On the flip side, as we get older, constructive criticism is so important.

Throughout my life, I have had many relationships fail due to the lack of communication. Using effective communication is important. When two people aren’t able to communicate in an effective manner, either no work is going to get done or there is going to be no progress.

When I say communication, I mean effective communication. Like Robert Frost said, there are so many people who have nothing to say, but keep saying it anyway.

In the public relations profession, communication is power. Communication between the clients, journalist, editors, readers, and everyone within the community, is so vital.

In the beginning of Public Relations, we had a system of asymmetric communication in which we were not receiving feedback from the audience. Now, we have evolved to a symmetric system in which we listen to what our audience has to say. This has come around to being the most effective form of communication among practitioners and their audience.

If you never speak up about something, how do you know it wouldn’t change the world?

If you don’t share your heart and your mind, how do you know that whatever you’re thinking wouldn’t work or sway someone else?

You never know if you don’t communicate.