Seeing the good in (PR) people

Here come two feel-good stories for you on this good-feeling holiday week.

I write here often about attributes that I believe are more prevalent among PR people than among business people in general. Not saying all PR people are these things, just that PR people are more likely to be these things than average.

More likely to be people-pleasers. More likely to say “sorry” a lot. More likely to have an instinct to be “responsive” when they should stay focused on deep creative work.

You know what else PR people are more likely to do than average? Be exceptionally kind and generous.

Not saying people in other aspects of business are villains, not by any means. And I’m not saying there aren’t a few royal prima donna PR people here and there.

But most of the time, you and your fellow PR pros are just plain good people. Two great examples came out of the Best Pitch of the Year competition I run through my Inner Circle program.

One of the members had a huge media win this past summer. It was a story that was really important to her company, and to her personally, and I was so happy for her that it finally came to fruition. It was super-positive and positioned her product in a great light.

So I noticed when the deadline was approaching that she hadn’t submitted it for consideration in the competition. I even reached out and encouraged her to enter (there’s no fee). She was kind enough to reply and explain that it didn’t feel right to her.

You see, the story was about a family that had gone through a tragic loss and how her company’s product was helping them recover. This sensitive PR person told me that the family had become friends of hers, and the focus should stay on them, not on her.  Of course, I honored her wish.

Here’s the other example. After I announced the winners last week, I reached out to them to get some details so I could send them their prize money. One of them explained that she was just going to donate it the non-profit where she works anyway. So I made the donation in her name.

She had worked hard and applied expertise she’s developed over many years and earned her organization and her cause great coverage. She was a deserving winner of that prize money. But instead of getting a new outfit or a fancy dinner, she chose to double down and put it back into the cause.

Thank you, Jane and Anne, for reminding me how much goodness is out there. And thanks to all the good PR people out there like you, who so diligently shine the spotlight on others, but tend to slip into the background if it ever gets close to shining on you.