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Over the weekend, I was catching up on my DVR and instead of just enjoying and vegging out to the shows, one gave me one of those Wow moments. It wasn’t wow as in this was the best thing that I ever saw, but rather a conversation that could also hold its weight in a real world situation.
Last week’s episode of NCIS: Los Angeles opened up with Sam Hanna (L.L. Cool J) and G (Chris O’Donnell) arguing on whether it was better to be a natural or trained operator. The debate was comical and heated over which was better for an agent who often would go under cover.
While the pair never came to a steadfast answer, both sides had their positives and could easily be applied to the communications industry. If you were to look around at the folks you work with, I’m sure that there are some folks that you could say are natural communicators and those that were trained. Both have their good points but at the same time both have their detractors.
The natural, who can work the crowd, may be magical with clients and the media, but be awful working in a team setting or getting their thoughts out to bosses clearly. The taught communicator, may have pitching via email and internal communications down to a science, however taking them outside of the scenarios they learned could have them turtle up.
These are just examples of some potential pros and cons, to an extent every communications team and firms are sure to have a mix of both that compliment each other. However, which one is more effective in practice?
Looking in the mirror, you’d have to question which discipline or bucket that you fell under. For me the slate is pretty much there to see. I only took one communications class through all of college, but have been working in the PR industry in some capacity since the fall of 2001 and would categorize myself in the mold of Roy Hobbs.
Talking to people has always come easy, but much like the detractors listed above, there are some in my game. Granted you can work on them a lot, but some of them stem from the lack of that formal training so it takes extra time to fine tune. But does that make me a better communicator than someone who poured over books studying the craft and getting a degree in PR?
Which category would you place yourself in?
While I could be selfish and say that one of the two methods is better than the other, I would say to leave the argument to each individual company and what they are looking for. If it was my company, I’d lean towards the…let me know what you think.
Great post Jeff. I think this goes back to good ol’ saying of “I’m a real people person.” Personally I think I’d like to have a mixture of both if I owned or ran a company.
Sure, you may not have had many PR classes but your training was from your experience. Perhaps not perfect textbook training, but you’re definitely trained. I will say though that I think it’s harder to teach someone how to be comfortable if thrown in a room with hundreds of people and they don’t know a single individual.
For me, even though I did get a degree in PR, I’d say that I’m not fine tuned. I’d say I’m more of the communicator, comfortable in a setting where I don’t know anyone.
Great post Jeff. I think this goes back to good ol’ saying of “I’m a real people person.” Personally I think I’d like to have a mixture of both if I owned or ran a company.
Sure, you may not have had many PR classes but your training was from your experience. Perhaps not perfect textbook training, but you’re definitely trained. I will say though that I think it’s harder to teach someone how to be comfortable if thrown in a room with hundreds of people and they don’t know a single individual.
For me, even though I did get a degree in PR, I’d say that I’m not fine tuned. I’d say I’m more of the communicator, comfortable in a setting where I don’t know anyone.
Nice piece Jeff, you brought up an idea I’ve never really thought about before. Ideally, in a non-billable perfect world, you would have one natural communicator and one book communicator on a project, for a 1-2 punch.
Just an observation, but it seems that the ‘natural’ communicators, the Brian Solis’, Peter Shankman’s and Gary V’s of the world seem to hit the grand slams.
Nice piece Jeff, you brought up an idea I’ve never really thought about before. Ideally, in a non-billable perfect world, you would have one natural communicator and one book communicator on a project, for a 1-2 punch.
Just an observation, but it seems that the ‘natural’ communicators, the Brian Solis’, Peter Shankman’s and Gary V’s of the world seem to hit the grand slams.
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Thanks @stina6001,
Its funny what TV will get you thinking about. I agree that my experiences have molded and trained me, I still fly by the seat of my pants at times. The funny thing is that at the end of the day, I may be comfortable in the large setting with many folks that I don’t know, I actually prefer the more intimate and personal conversations with colleagues and media folks.
Thanks @stina6001,
Its funny what TV will get you thinking about. I agree that my experiences have molded and trained me, I still fly by the seat of my pants at times. The funny thing is that at the end of the day, I may be comfortable in the large setting with many folks that I don’t know, I actually prefer the more intimate and personal conversations with colleagues and media folks.
Thanks @EvilPRGuy. That tandem would probably work best. I like the analogy at the end of your comment. Perhaps the reason is that folks in that mold are more likely to take the chance and in the occasion that it fails talk their way out of it.
Look at Brogan’s walking through a fiasco with the $500 Kmart gift card
Thanks @EvilPRGuy. That tandem would probably work best. I like the analogy at the end of your comment. Perhaps the reason is that folks in that mold are more likely to take the chance and in the occasion that it fails talk their way out of it.
Look at Brogan’s walking through a fiasco with the $500 Kmart gift card