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From the President: Jackie Ghosen
2010... Off and Running
 As incoming president of the Buffalo/Niagara Chapter of PRSA, I am so honored to be serving the chapter in this role.
Business guru Peter Drucker said, “Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things.”
One of those “right things” has been on my mind for some time. Coming to PR from the business side, I am sometimes surprised to hear our profession and our professionals disparaged by others. One of my PRSA colleagues said, “It’s like we need PR for PR.” Well apparently we are not the only people to have noticed this. Here are a few questions from PRSA National: When someone asks, “What do you do for a living?” can you explain it clearly and concisely? Are you frustrated by references that equate public relations to publicity? Do you correct those who refer to our craft as “spin,” our professionals as “flacks,” and our currency as misrepresentation and disinformation? PRSA National has begun the process of changing some entrenched attitudes and perceptions. They hope to foster more accurate and better-informed perceptions of the value and role of public relations in the diverse organizations we serve. They are calling this industry advocacy campaign: “The Business Case for Public Relations.”
One important goal this year is to bring the tools that PRSA National is developing for this campaign to the chapter level. In many ways, it’s much more that just PR for our profession. It means becoming the best practitioners that we can be, contributing not only to the organizations that employ us, but also to the industry and our profession. You’ll be hearing more about this soon.
Another goal is to continue the efforts of Beth Donovan and our chapter’s accreditation team in demonstrating the value of becoming accredited in public relations and improving the accreditation process. We also hope to identify some of our senior practitioners as candidates for the PRSA College of Fellows. These efforts, while having merit on their own, will go a long way toward the Business Case for Public Relations.
A third goal for us as a chapter is to really embrace our efforts with social media and use this medium to get a great conversation going. Our new E-Communications Committee is ready to embrace this challenge. Yes, Twitter might be gone in 5 years, and Facebook may look entirely different than it does now, but regardless of what the “buckets” of social media look like in the future, the “conversation” that fills those buckets is here to stay and we need to be a part of that conversation.
We have much to be proud of as a chapter: robust membership despite a challenging economy, dynamic programs and professional development and outstanding networking opportunities. I look forward to working with all of you in 2010 as we take our chapter, and ourselves, to the next level. Feel free to contact me with your suggestions and ideas at ghosen@buffalo.edu.
Sincerely,
Jackie Ghosen, APR
Wall Street Journal Reporter Ron Alsop Speaks to PRSA
by Tony Astran
 Ron Alsop, a reporter and editor with the Wall Street Journal, spoke to members of the PRSA Buffalo Niagara Chapter during a visit to the UB School of Management on Thursday, January 28.
Alsop is the author of The 18 Immutable Laws of Corporate Reputation and The Trophy Kids Grow Up. Accordingly, his presentation to a crowd of about 75 professionals from PRSA and UB was a two-part discussion on corporate reputation and the Millennial Generation.
Segueing between the two topics, Alsop said 75 percent of “Millennials” rated corporate reputation as “highly important” when choosing an employer, and another 20 percent rated it as “fairly important.” Alsop defined Millennials as those born between 1980 and 2001, and characterized most as being technologically-savvy and civic-minded. They want meaningful jobs, but their leadership skills are hindered by “helicopter parents.”
“The ultimate irony is that the managers who often complain about these ‘entitled kids’ are the ones who raised them,” Alsop said. “Work–life balance will be very important to these professionals when they start to become managers. As for now, authenticity is key when it comes to communicating with Millennials.”
Click here to read more about Alsop’s visit, and visit Ron’s Web site to learn more about his books.
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