The Perfect Public Relations Personality Type
This is something I’ve been wanting to blog about for a while now and after reading Matthew Watson’s post on the increasing range of skills that PR professionals are to display (I’m also going to keep the post to about 498 words!), talking to people who operate in different segments of communications and reading up on the public relations legends I’m going to put together some sort of argument for the idea of the archetypal PR professional.
The only way that I’ll avoid a barrage of criticism is by declaring this: the following is my opinion on what I feel you must have to be successful in public relations, not because I am (yet) but because I’ve spoken to a lot of people, read a few books and seen what sort of people are making a difference in the sphere.
I was talking with a few friends yesterday and we developed (over drinks, of course) something we called ‘engine theory’. In its most basal form ‘engine theory’ breaks down to this: each person has four key strengths (imagine a heart with its four chambers) that determine what they’re good at and where their talents could be used best. We went over a few examples (footballers, musicians, plumbers etc) and generally found that the theory fits with most situations (there are obviously going to be a few it doesn’t quite fit with – we found fishermen to be quite difficult).
So I think that the following are necessary for a glittering career in public relations;
- Analytical to the point of obsession
- Negative – you need to find the worst case scenario immediately
- Confident – this sounds ridiculous but I’ve met quite a few people who shy away from conversations with new people, something that you cannot do in PR.
- Creative – how else would you be able to plan a publicity stunt for a small toy train shop?
So when you combine all of these qualities, you create the ultimate PR professional? No? Suggestions?