Writing Boots

On communication, professional and otherwise.

What if we stopped trying to reinvent IABC, and just started making it a better version of what it has always been?

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Unluckily, it is difficult for a certain type of mind to grasp the concept of insolubility. Thousands of poor dolts keep on trying to square the circle; other thousands keep pegging away at perpetual motion. … The fact is that some of the things that men and women have desired most ardently for thousands of years are not nearer realization to-day than they were in the time of Rameses, and that there is not the slightest reason for believing that they will lose their coyness on any near to-morrow. … Let us take a look, say, at the so-called drink problem, a small subdivision of the larger problem of saving men from their inherent and incurable hoggishness …. —H.L. Mencken, writing in the 1920s

And so I had to laugh at the beginning of an interview published yesterday by the communication industry's premier podcasters, Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson. They spoke with Chris Sorek, the new paid president of the International Association of Business Communicators.

Before they asked him about his big schemes for solving ancient problems at IABC—as I also did last month—Holtz and Hobson got Sorek talking about his last job at a nonprofit in England, called Drinkaware. The mission was to get Brits to drink less. "Under Chris' leadership the charity's website now attracts nearly three million unique visitors a year, the logo is featured on over 5 billlion products and Drinkaware campaigns have started to show 'green shoots' of behavior change," said Drinkaware chairman Derek Lewis in a release announcing Sorek's departure.

You know Mencken would love that term, "green shoots."

In the course of the Holtz and Hobson interview, Sorek identified a number of persistent problems that he hopes to attack:

• The "ABC" accreditation designation: The association needs to make sure it "is objective, is professional, is defensible," Sorek says. This, more than 15 years after the accredited communicator Dan Danbom quipped that the only effect his "ABC" has had is people squinting at his name tag at conferences and calling him, "Mr. Abick." Come on, folks: How is accreditation ever going to mean any more than it does now? It is what it is: credible to the gullible, suspect to the cynical, and a total nonentity to everyone in between. But if it gives the cowardly lion courage, who's gonna complain, or investigate the rigor of the secret test? Not me.

• The Gold Quill Awards. "It should be seen as being the best of the best" in communication awards programs, Sorkek says—and not just by communicators, but by top leaders in business and government. My response? Ibid.

• Communiation World—since 1970, the blandest and most useless magazine ever published on any subject. (I admit, I've missed a few issues: At the World Conference last month, I had a super embarrassing meeting the "new" editor at the World Conference in Chicago. "Wow, when did you take over?" I asked. "Six years ago," she said.) Sorek says that what this publication needs is a focus, on the half dozen issues that members really care about. No, what it needs is an editor who does not work in the hushed IABC headquarters in San Francisco, and who is charged with generating compelling columns, surprising stories and lively conversations about communication. (IABC once had a magazine like that—Reporting, it was called, and it was done by a freelancer named Larry Ragan, out of Chicago, until he quit to start Ragan Communications, in 1969. Sorek ought to look at those back issues, and draw some inspiration.)

Sorek strikes me as a good, smart, in-touch guy, who I believe will make IABC more rational and efficient and user-friendly. "Watch this space," he told Holtz and Hobson. "We're going through a review of what we're doing as an organization … of what we're offering in terms of IT and IT support—basically our digital presence and how we deliver that for members." He told them to check back after the first of the year, and I'll bet he'll have done some stuff by then.

Also to his credit, Sorek doesn't appear to believe for one minute, as some members allow themselves to do, that IABC will ever become a ballsy political "advocacy" organization on behalf of Communication Goodness. Neither does he seem to go in for the fantastical notion that IABC could ever issue revokable, CPA-like "licences" to communicators, a idea that Holtz periodically fondles.

But Sorek did allow his lips to form words to the effect that IABC needs to help communicators get taken seriously in the C-suite.

I'll keep an equally vigilant eye on that, and the flow of ale England.

IABC: Same as it ever was—but maybe ready to “get shit done”

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It's been a few years since I last attended an IABC World Conference. Ragan used to send me to cover the show, but I don't work for them anymore, and now they don't send anybody—even the few blocks from their heaquarters in Chicago, where the conference wraps up today.

That's a mistake, I think, because just as every sport needs a culminating annual event, so does a profession. And if the corporate communication biz has a World Series, that would be the IABC World Conference.

I've covered the World Conference many times, but not since … geez, 2007, was it? I wondered if maybe I'd lost touch with the soul of the event, and of the 15,000-member association that puts it on. In the hallways and sessions, I realized I hadn't missed a thing. But later, in an interview with IABC's new top brass, I got the sense that maybe I shouldn't wait another five years to return.

You look great!

Business is great!

My clients are amazing!

That sort of b.s. is as expected at annual conferences as at high school reunions. But the lying should stop when the sessions start.

Alas: The opening keynote Sunday was an utterly content-free motivational speaker named Kevin Caroll, who shared the spit-shined story of his hard upbringing and his subsequent unlikely rise to become … a motivational speaker traveling the country with a trunk full of red rubber balls. If he could only reach one person in IABC's audience of 1,300-plus with his message of—what was that darned message again?—then it would all be worth it, he said. So, still alive is the IABC tradition of using members' money to pay for speakers to condescend to members by telling them not too convincingly that they have the power to change the world through the use of red rubber balls and stuff. And of course Caroll got a big ovation here, just as he probably will next week, at the National Convention of Industrial Battery Salesmen.

Other signs that plus ça change, plus IABC la meme chose: Sprinkled liberally among useful breakout sessions, dull or sheister-ish conference presenters giving purposely foggy presentations to passive and credulous audiences. In one full day at the conference, I attended two sessions, both from "IABC All-Star Presenters" that were so clearly without value that I fruitlessly searched the eyes of fellow attendees for signs of life.

In another session, a friend of mine caused a stir when he questioned a the consultant/speaker's unsupported claim that mobile apps would be "pivotal" in creating employee engagement in organizations. My friend reported that he was fairly shouted down—not by the consultant, but by the crowd, who resented any tarnishing of The Next Shiny Thing.

I spoke at this conference, too—did my Speechwriting Jam Session—and there were tense moments as I waited for a "Conference Orientation" session to end, so I could get my projector set up. I paced around the speaker ready-room speculating loudly about what sort of adult fetus could require training in order to attend a fucking business conference. Finally I forced my way into the conference room, but then had to wait until the "instructor" finished singing an apparently original song, sung to the tune of "Jingle Bells."

Yes, "Mingle Well."

What the hell?

But before I fully gave over to the idea that IABC, like Trix cereal, is for kids, I had a sitdown interview with incoming volunteer chairman Kerby Meyers, and brand-new paid executive director Chris Sorek. These guys gave me hope that IABC's culture could change to become a bit more rigorous, more open to critical thinking and more nourising to people who already know how to mingle.

Sorek has deep and long experience as both a communicator and a business guy, and he brings the smarm-free bearing of a fellow who hasn't worked in an association all his life.

Meyers, compared to many of his over-polite predecessors, is a goateed assassin. He and the board have directed Sorek to review all IABC events, programs, products and services to see if they still make sense financially. Even IABC institutions, like Communication World? "I think it's fair to review the value of a print vehicle in 2012 and beyond," Meyers said, though he hastened to add that a change to CW might amount to no more than making it into a printable PDF.

Meyers and Sorek hinted at changes to Gold Quill judging, which they acknowledge hasn't been up to snuff in recent years. They're considering improvements to the ABC accreditation program, perhaps beginning to require accredited members to do continuing education in order to maintain their IABC status (like, by attending local chapter meetings, which often ache for senior members). And they're even thinking about creating a separate accreditation designation for senior communicators.

There's actually a 25-page strategic plan organized under three pillars—Content, Career and Business—but Meyers knows nobody's listening to that jazz—not even veterans like Wilma Mathews and Mary Ann McCauley, who he said listened to his plans and said, "We've heard all this before."

"We gotta get shit done," Meyers told me—not once but three times, prompting Sorek and Meyers to joke about creating buttons for the next conference that read, GSD.

Meyers and Sorek: Will they add some GSD to IABC? I guess we'll see.

IABC leaders, you want me on that wall

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Perhaps you heard that the longtime paid executive director of the International Association of Business Communicators announced her retirement last May.

But did you know that when Julie Freeman left office Dec. 31, the association had still not hired anyone to replace her? So they brought in John Clemons, a longtime IABC volunteer and association booster, who was coincidentally leaving his community relations job at Raytheon, to act as interim president.

He'll commute from his home in Virginia to manage the San Francisco staff until a new executive can be found.

What's taking so long to find an executive director? How was it that Clemons happened to be available at the precise moment Freeman flew the coop? Why was it necessary (and wasn't it expensive?) to bring in an IABC member (with a communication skill set) as opposed to appointing a senior staffer (with association management experience)?

These were the obvious questions that occurred to me when I learned of this whole thing—on Facebook, where Clemons' IABC chums congratulated him on the role.

I also felt a pang of guilt, because since I've been at Vital Speeches these last few years, I haven't paid much attention to IABC. Before that, I'd covered the association for most of two decades for The Ragan Report, and I was usually the only journalist who did. The annual press conference at an IABC International Conference usually consisted the outgoing volunteer chairman, the incoming volunteer chairman, Julie Freeman and me. I'd covered the association in fat times and in lean times—like the time, right before Freeman came on board, when IABC was on the verge of collapsing due to some utterly imbecilic management moves made possible in part by a lack of outside scrutiny.

And now to learn on Facebook that IABC can't seem to replace Freeman and have appointed John Clemons in her stead …

So I sent a quick note to Clemons, who said he didn't know anything about the search for a permanent executive director, because he's not on the search committee. I asked him why he was leaving Raytheon, and he replied: "I can tell you that I left Raytheon on Jan. 2."

Candidly, John has never been terribly candid. So I shrugged, and wrote to Freeman.

When I didn't hear back from her, I asked another IABC stalwart, a woman I've known for two decades, who usually tells it like it is. She told me that IABC had actually found an executive director who the board had liked, but that the candidate's husband had gotten a better job and she'd spit the bit. So they had to go back to square one.

No big deal—stuff that had apparently been shared in one form or another with IABC members—but she asked that I keep her comments off the record, and referred me to IABC's current volunteer chairman, the Australian communication consultant Adrian Cropley.

I know Adrian, having met him on a trip to Melbourne a few years ago. But I know Shel Holtz better. And since he and his pal Neville Hobson had done a long interview with Clemons on their FIR podcast that didn't ask any questions surrounding the circumstances of IABC's current leadership situation, I sent him a needling note: I asked him if he's concerned, now that Ragan doesn't bother covering IABC, that nobody is watching things at his professional association. And I suggested that maybe he ought to "remember your journalistic roots" and ask questions and not let interview subjects "spout the moldy old platitudes and non-answers."

I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised when Holtz essentially told me to get my own damn podcast.

As he and I exchanged concilliatory e-mails—we're longtime friends and our relationship has been characterized by chippy debate—I finally wrote to chairman Cropley.

By this time, I was getting agitated.

Adrian, I wandered into this with an honest question about this ungainly moment in IABC’s governance—and with a little embarrassment from having not paid enough attention to the association for awhile. (I also worry that no trade reporter is really covering the association the way we used to at Ragan.)

And the response I’m getting ranges from nervous to tight-lipped to hostile—and these are my friends!

Talk me down, Adrian. Tell me what’s going on, and let me get back to my blissful ignorance.

Cropley wrote back to me with a few pleasantries, and then:

Agree you should have come to me first. I don’t know why you feel you have had nervous or tight-lipped responses. …

For your peace of mind, let me share where we are at point in the process – and this is all very open information. IABC selected a wonderful candidate in our first round, and the candidate was very excited about the opportunity. However, circumstances changed rather quickly in the candidate’s personal life. Namely, the candidate’s spouse was also offered a new opportunity, and they were trying to make decisions in the best interest of their family. In the end, our candidate felt that the best decision for her family  was stay put with spouse and not to uproot their children in a move to San Francisco. So, she reluctantly declined the offer.

So, we started the search again. And as you know, senior level searches do take time. We are balancing the desire to move quickly with the goal of finding the best person to lead IABC in this next phase of the association’s development. With John as the interim leader, we have the time to do this right.

While the process is open, we respect the confidentiality of the candidates. Just like any other job search. All of the candidates we interviewed, including the finalist, wouldn’t want their current employers to know that they’ve been looking elsewhere. 

The board has responsibility for voting on the finalist for executive director. Of course, they want to meet the candidates and interview them in-person before they take a vote. Our board is truly international, and they only meet in person three times a year. The search committee is bringing the most qualified candidates before the board when they meet in person in February. 

As for John Clemons and his employment with Raytheon that is completely John's business. John is a former chair and highly respected among IABC members. When the need for an interim leader became clear, John was available and willing to support IABC in this capacity. The board has the utmost confidence in John to lead the staff until a permanent new executive director is hired. 

I appreciate your interest in IABC and trust that my note addresses your concerns.

Regards,

Adrian

I wrote back with some follow-up questions. The obvious questions, only one of which he had even begun to answer. And then—it was a Saturday, and on weekends one doesn't feel quite as professional as one feels during the week—I sent a follow-up e-mail with the subject line, "One more thing."

You’re answering the questions “For your peace of mind?” Adrian, I’m not some cranky IABC member who habitually comes to you with far-out conspiracy theories. I’m a journalist who has covered IABC for two decades, who has focused his attention on other things, was surprised to find out that IABC has no permanent chairman. So I asked the people I knew. And I got ducked, dodged and kicked. And then I went to the chairman, and he condescended to me with this “peace of mind” business, and then contradicted his condescension by saying, “I appreciate your interest in IABC.”

Also, and this is just a question of manners: It’s not good form to end letter to a journalist, or anyone else you respect, by saying, “trust that my note addresses your concerns.” Instead you say, “Let me know if you have more questions.”

Thanks,

David

I know. I am an asshole. Recognizing this too, Cropley moved for a phone call. Which we had, yesterday. And of course on the phone, I was much less of an asshole. Cropley was nicer, too.

Cropley explained that the candidate turn-down happened in November and he immediately began casting around for possible interim executive directors. Paid senior staffers were among those considered, but every staffer was deemed too busy to take on the added role, and to "back-fill" their jobs would be impractical.

(Though neither party will say how) somehow Cropley ascertained that John Clemons was soon going to be leaving Raytheon (though neither party will say why he left Raytheon). Whatevs: Clemons was seen as a friendly IABC vet who would nurture the staff through the transition. And actually, Cropley says, the delay was a blessing in disguise, as "it allowed staff to let go" of Freeman before getting a new permanent boss.

Despite the fact that Clemons is indeed commuting to IABC's San Francisco headquarters from his home in Virginia, the arrangement isn't costing IABC any more than it would have cost to keep Freeman on, Cropley says. He's not making the trip every week, and he's only working three days a week in any case.

Meanwhile, the search committee has selected candidates for the executive director job and the board meets again in February to consider this crop. Assuming someone gets the nod, Cropley's hoping the new chief can start in March.

So from what I can tell, it's all good—just as everybody told me all along.

"To be honest no one really cares and apart from you no one has really shown any interest," Cropley wrote me before our call; on the phone, he told me that he hadn't immediately understood that I was grilling him as a journalist. And I told him that I thought this whole awkward mini-fiasco occurred precisely because no one has shown any interest over the last couple of years. An organization that expects a nosy journalist to ask impertinent questions at awkward moments is more ready to answer such questions.

Cropley agreed, and he and I both looked forward to my covering the IABC International Conference here in Chicago in June (I'm speaking there too). And, depending on the time, resources and platform I have (Writing Boots don't pay my travel expenses), we agreed it would be good if I—or someone, anyway—covered IABC business more regularly in the future.

Adrian and I reckon that'll be better for everyone.

Don't you agree?