"Nothing reveals a person's character so much as their voice." This quote from the British writer and Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli highlights the importance of emotional language, which is expressed mainly through the tone of voice.

In the Public Relations (PR) industry, we accept the 7-38-55 rule. These numbers stand for to the results obtained in the 1960s by psychologist Albert Mehrabian, a specialist in non-verbal communication: only 7% of the information comes from what is said, 38% from how it is said and 55% from what the body says.

The Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management is celebrating the first Global Trends & Transformation Month. The goal is to reflect about how global trends are transformating our profession.

As global observer thanks to my role in the board of the Global Alliance, I’m going to share with you just two big conclusions:

The first one should be obvious, but it is not: digitalization is affecting the PR profession in a deeper way than other activities and jobs. And perhaps we are not enough aware about that impact. Actually we spend a lot of time thinking and speaking about the effect of the new digital era on business models.

Ethical principles shouldn’t evaporate in the heat of battle.

But because there’s no Geneva Convention on practicing public relations in combat, many practitioners assume that different ethical precepts apply when they’re in battle with competitors or entrenched special interests.

"Ethics" is growing.

That is, "ethics" as a key aspect of conducting business in the evolving global society. Communicating that progress (and shortcomings) represents a great opportunity for public relations professionals who, by strategic function operate at the interface between an organization and its publics - as well the general public.

For more than a year now, the pandemic has been a universal reality, widely known, discussed and analysed every day on every continent. Thousands of deaths, hospitalizations, isolation, hunger, closed borders: we all bear the stigma of the first wave of the pandemic that rapidly spread throughout the world from the beginning of 2020. Far away at first, and then gradually coming closer and closer to us, the crisis became more real, more dangerous, more terrifying.

There is a direct relationship between ethics, reputation, and trust, and between these concepts and business excellence. In recent years, we have seen how ethics has emerged as a key factor in generating trust & reputation, accounting for more than 75% of reputational and trust capital, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer's annual results. According to the data collected, companies are considered ethical and competent, surpassing governments in terms of competition and approaching near NGOs in terms of ethics.

The discussion on ethics in public relations has never been more relevant than this time in history. PR professionals are now judged by their ethical conduct. Whether all of them subscribe to this is another discussion altogether.

Watching ethics month unfold I was reminded of the campaign slogan that runs ‘a dog is for life, not just for Christmas’. As it popped into my head, into my timeline popped pictures of a Russian dog pack, their fur turned blue, possibly contaminated by waste from a derelict industrial plant, underpinning my next thought that ‘ethics is for life - not just for February’.

It was the late 19th century, a time when the railroad operator was king in the US. In this laissez-faire environment, unaccountable to any government bodies at all, railroads could charge exorbitant fees to passengers, while often leaving them in perilous riding conditions. Nonetheless, operators prospered, regardless of their relationship with the passengers. The value of public opinion was inconsequential to railroads, or frankly, to most businesses and businessmen, during this time.

It is both a fact, and a paradox, that ethics remains so often hidden in plain sight. Yet, as the driver of culture within all organisations it, more than any amount of regulation, is the factor which most influences how we behave. Global Alliance’s focus on ethics as the underpinning of truth and trust is a significant initiative which draws attention to what is, in many other spheres of industry, too often ignored.

Ethics has never mattered more. And communicators need to think carefully about whether their messaging is both accurate and ethical.

The past twelve months has been the hardest I can remember as a communicator. And one of the big issues we’re all facing is on ethics. Given it’s ethics month for our profession (thank you for this initiative Global Alliance), I wanted to highlight the issues around ethics. We’re being pushed to get out news that’ll raise confidence in our organizations and industries, but the big downside is obviously sharing information that isn’t fully accurate. The consequence of this is a trust deficit, both in our brands as well as the response to the pandemic.

To many, “ethical PR” sounds as incongruous as ethical embezzlement. On one level that’s not too surprising. After all, research shows that most of the general public consider PR people “smart, friendly, liars.” In fact, “liar” is the most commonly used word to describe PR people.

Some say it’s because the craft is defined by its lowest common denominator. While barbers and hairdressers need to be licensed, literally anybody can hang out a shingle and claim to be practicing public relations. And if there are codes of conduct, they’re usually voluntary, with few if any enforcement mechanisms.

Did you ever wonder why it is said that to be in our field is to “practice” public relations, as one might practice law or medicine?

The reason is debated, often around the idea that the work we do is part of an evolving body of knowledge that requires constant practice to maintain proficiency. What I believe this misses is that, to practice implies there is no one defined way of doing it. Ours is a craft, not a trade. Consequently, judgement is crucial.

The Brazilian Association for Business Communication (Aberje) dedicated 2020 to Nonviolent Communication (NVC), an approach created by North American psychologist Marshall Rosenberg with the objective of improving the way in which human beings relate to one another. NVC is based on the principle that “all violence is the tragic expression of a need that is not being met” and that all human needs are universal. The goal of NVC is to develop empathy through listening and connecting with others, and to use communication to create trust and resolve conflicts. This new approach is being adopted in situations where people need to coexist, including companies. In order to better understand what it means to create nonviolent work environments, Aberje carried out an unprecedented study in Brazil.

The term “disruption” refers to the unexpected and simultaneous processes of interruption and irruption on the status quo. This word has gained significant popularity for describing many of the transformations taking place in the world. The global economic crisis of 2008, the rise of populist movements, polarization, the exponential development of social media, the widespread use of new technologies, artificial intelligence and the 5G revolution have created a global panorama of disruption.

The assault on truth and proliferation of disinformation in public discourse makes adherence to strong ethical standards even more important for strategic communication leaders in business, government and civil society. We have a responsibility to the public and to our institutions to ensure that our communication and, indeed, our very actions, adhere to a set of moral principles that the public can understand and accept as being in the best interest of society.

Ladies and gentlemen;
Colleagues;
Fellow public relations and communications professionals;

I dearly wish, that we were meeting in person, rather than me speaking to you through a camera lens from here in my home city of Dublin, Ireland.

Hello I’m Justin Green,

As President of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, I am very proud to represent over 300,000 practitioners and academics across 126 countries worldwide.

Today, Global Alliance is a global, diverse and multicultural organisation, representing professionals across religions, cultures, societies and races.

The rapid development of vaccines against SARS-CoV 2 signals an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. This ending may not be a happy one for people who have lost loved ones, although it is a relief for all and especially for an economy hit hard by the crisis, largely due to mobility restrictions. We will enter a new period in which optimism for the recovery (of the economy and our lifestyle) will coexist with the fear of a relapse, a mutation or a new virus.

Throughout history practitioners of Public Relations have skilfully met the requirements of communication engagement by using apt tools and techniques whilst traversing the challenges of technological and societal change. As practitioners, we know meeting organisational communication objectives is an important but difficult art, as stakeholder engagement is a complex science which substantiates the fundamental need for education. It’s the same with any profession.

One of IABC’s top priorities is ‘Advancing the Profession’, which includes partnerships with organizations that share our values and goals. With that in mind, I am pleased to share some good news that was announced during yesterday’s Virtual Global Town Hall.