Responsible Communication - Trust and Truth
Our Profession’s Future Together
President’s Address January 2024
Colleagues, friends, and peers in the public relations and communications profession—thank you for taking a few moments from your schedule to watch this short video message.
I greatly appreciate the opportunity to speak to you as we begin a new year.
This time of the year provides us with a good opportunity to reflect on how far we have come and where we want to go together next.
We are all acutely aware that—to borrow the Chinese proverb—we are living in interesting times. Interesting and, for far too many people around the world, desperately difficult times with countless lives being lost in conflicts, to hunger, and to avoidable illness, and due to the climate emergency.
Across these overlapping crises, misinformation and disinformation are rife—posing an ever larger threat to trust and to democracy itself. In our profession and many others, we also see the onward march of generative Artificial Intelligence—something that I will return to shortly.
Through all of this turbulence, professional leaders like you are continuing to do extraordinary work in communications—work that shone through during the global pandemic when rapidly sharing trusted information was seldom more vital.
Working under pressure and in the face of a difficult big picture is nothing new in PR and communications. Given the current pressures, I urge you to take time out and pay attention to your own health and well-being. There can be a very thin line between hard work and burnout, so perhaps make it your New Year’s resolution to mind yourself as well as those around you. Your clients or the organization you work for will be a lot better off with you in good health.
I mentioned Gen AI a moment ago, and I know that some junior colleagues in the early stages of their careers can perceive this as a looming threat that could drive out some of the repetitive tasks that previous generations might have done at the start of their careers to build their experience. At whatever career stage you are at, I encourage all of you to invest time in considering how you can put Artificial Intelligence to work for you.
How can it make you an even better professional—one who is freed up from low-value tasks to focus where your strengths are? How can you become the crucial human interface with this powerful technology? It’s not going away, so how do you make sure it’s an opportunity rather than a threat?
The details of these conversations will differ depending on your role, but please do have them rather than hoping AI is a passing fad. We may well overestimate its short-term impact on our profession and society, but we will also probably underestimate its longer-term impact.
If I could leave you with one other piece of food for thought, it would be to consider how you are going to increase your professional presence in 2024. By this, I mean how will you ensure that your contribution is valued at the decision-making table in your organization? How will you make sure that you have advocates and sponsors who will speak for you, and mentors and guides who will speak and listen to you? How will you ensure that your image and profile match your performance so that your light shines and your great work isn’t hidden from view?
In considering these and all the other questions that matter, please always know that you are part of an important and growing profession. Also, leverage the Global Alliance resources on our website and try to attend as many of our free events during the year. We are here for you, and we are all stronger together.
It only remains for me to thank you for your continued support for Global Alliance and to send you my very best wishes for 2024. Let’s hope it’s a better year for our world, and please continue to play your part to promote positive responses to global challenges.
Thank you,
Prof. Justin Green, Hon. Life Fellow APRA, Hon. Life Fellow PRSK, Life Fellow PRII, Hon. Life Fellow ABERJE, Hon. Life Fellow ASEAN, Hon. Life Fellow PRGC, Hon. Life Fellow EIC, Hon. Life Fellow SCCECRL, Hon. Life Fellow APCE, Hon. Life Fellow PIC, Hon. Life Fellow TPRA, Hon. Life Fellow FERPI, Hon. Life Fellow ARPPR, Hon. Life Fellow PERHUMAS, Hon. Life Fellow IPRM, Hon. Life Fellow VNPR, Hon. Life Fellow PRSP, Hon. Life Fellow ZIPRC, Hon. Excellence PF&SCoRe, Hon. Excellence MPR, Hon. Life Fellow BPRA.
President & CEO, Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management