I remember well the interview for my second D.C.-based job. My prospective boss was an intimidating bear of a man who wasted little time on meaningless small talk. When I proceeded to answer his, “Tell me what you do at your current job” question, he started holding up fingers on both of his hands. My mind scrambled to process his action. (“Am I talking too much? Taking too long time to answer? Why is he holding up his fingers?”) When I stopped talking, he paused, looked at his hands and then me, and said, “You just described SEVEN full-time people on my staff.”
That interaction, I think, describes most of my professional experience. I have served as the communications director for a range of national nonprofit organizations. Rarely, if ever, did I say, “No” to anything asked of me. In doing so, I learned a lot about how to become the most effective communications strategist for my employers, and for the past eight years, my clients. I’ve written talking points, releases, speeches, blog posts, newsletters, case studies, articles, and reports. I’ve pitched reporters, trained spokespeople for media interviews, live tweeted, and created customized social media content.
Bottom line: I’ve pretty much done every task expected of a communications professional.
This broad base of experience has served me well across my 20-year career in communications, but recently I asked myself, “What do I enjoy doing most? What is my strongest communications skill? How can I be most effective for my clients?”
For me, it all comes back to writing the stories that target audiences want to read. Funny how life always seems to bring you full circle. I chose journalism as my educational path, and now storytelling is what I love to do most and what I easily rank as my strongest communications skill. (See my portfolio for examples of recent storytelling projects I’ve created for clients.)
Every organization, every leader has an important story to tell. Let’s talk and decide what content and communications platforms best serve your strategic storytelling needs.
Barbara Knisely Michelman
P.S. That bear of a boss who didn’t mince words? I’m grateful to have worked for him. He taught me a lot about effective storytelling and editing. For example, I’ll never say your decision was a “step in the right direction.”