Mixing Board

After talking to Lisa Poulson for a few minutes, it's readily apparent that she has a fluency about the communications function that both elevates the craft and breaks it down in the most simple and direct ways. There are many great quotes from Lisa in this Studio Session with Sean Garrett. Here's one: "I also think ambiguity about the role of communications opens up new opportunities. What we know as communicators can be applied to any communication. I was working with someone at a large, matrixed, bureaucratic organization. He had an email from someone who, if he handled her the wrong way, could have launched a campaign to destroy either the initiative he was working on or his reputation. He was so stressed that he couldn’t begin to draft a response to her. We spent two hours going through every single pro or possible outcome, every single audience that might see his email if it were forwarded, all of the different possibilities. We basically did a classic crisis communications analysis of the situation. I used all the tools I used to use as a PR person. After all of that thinking and analysis, we wrote a three-sentence email, which took us less than 15 minutes to write. He got the response he wanted in seven minutes. I was still sitting with him when she replied. That's an example of – every communication matters. Applying the principles that we have built and know instinctively, to every communication, is part of what will get us, the instinctual and professional communicators, through the ambiguity in our industry." https://lnkd.in/gzTuuzSH

Can’t beat getting together in person.

Mixing Board is proud to present Season 3 of the Just Checking In podcast by community members Keyana Corliss and Rebecca Buckman. The pod has always been a favorite and indicative of the ample opportunity to bring new comms-focused content to folks into such things.

Lachlan Andrews got himself an intern role at Canva in 2019 as the second comms person at a company of 400 people. In the blink of the eye, he's now leading a team of 10 for a $40 billion dollar global company. There's a lot of details in between those two moments, and Lachlan gives a very generous amount of insights and perspectives on how Canva has evolved its comms function and made it a competitive advantage -- both internally and externally. On internal comms: "We met with a lot of different internal communications leaders and heard about their different models and structures. We took some of the best bits from those conversations, but at the same time, we really wanted to build it in a way that felt unique. Our mission as an internal communications team is to set a new standard for the function that is distinctly Canva, and that’s been a huge part of how we’ve spent our time post-pandemic. These days, we think about internal communications in two ways: the first is empowering and upskilling everyone to be great communicators, and the second is scaling fun, engaging and effective company-wide communication." https://lnkd.in/gy7Asjqv

Amanda Rabideau is a go-to marketing expert for emerging B2B startups. The path to getting there wasn't a straight line. In this Studio Session with Sean Garrett, Amanda shares lessons on becoming a fractional CMO and running ARCH Collective, Inc. What she says to people considering consulting: "Why are you going into it? Are you willing to look at these people like clients and realize that even though you are an expert, you're in a service-based business. If you haven't had any client management experience, that could get tricky. One thing I say to people is if you're going into this because you just want to be doing X, like you love putting together amazing digital campaigns. You may be doing that for 40% of your time, but if you're running a business, you're also doing accounting, recruiting, all of these different things that come with managing a business." https://lnkd.in/gP4NKCvh

Last week, Jennifer Levine announced that she is now the Vice President, PR and Communications for the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and Mandy Gutmann became the Vice President, Communications and External Affairs for the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). One cool thing about having 375 smart and connected Mixing Board members with dynamic careers bouncing off ideas and opportunities with each other, is that you begin to see trends. And, one recent and welcomed trend has been a jump in activity around women's sports. Jennifer and Mandy announcing these roles in the same week feels like excellent momentum. ✊

From Mixing Board founder Sean Garrett: "Twenty years ago, comms people were all generally doing some variation of the same thing," Garrett said. "Now, five people with the same title could have five different experiences and priorities. ... Unfortunately for those buying or hiring the work, in the absence of clarity, they tend to tilt toward the lowest common denominator of the function's purpose."

Curious about our little Mixing Board speakeasy?

Michael Scharff leads communications for PA Consulting based in the UK. In this Studio Session, Michael goes deep in explaining how PA makes content strategy their core marketing and communications effort, and he provides details on how the organization keeps 4000 consultants based around the globe aligned. Michael also talks about his early career experiences in Africa and they still shape him today. "In everything that I do, I never forget to go down, and try to get the story. There's always somebody with something behind every decision. You realize that you might be working on a high-level piece of strategy work, but remember that there are real consequences for that work. I was on the receiving end of that when I was in Uganda. I saw the grants that were being issued by USAID – the good and the bad. "Now that I have a relatively senior role, I never forget that everything has human consequences. And the power of words, the power of a message to sway and to influence decision makers at a very senior level. I always remember the impact that has on the most junior people in your company. It’s a great honor and privilege to do the work that I do." https://lnkd.in/d8VUr_aR

Cath Anderson took the initiative to survey comms leaders about about sizes of comms teams, where they sit within corporate structures and planned staffing fluctuations. And she generously compiled and shared the results. The report is a super informative and helpful read.