Be The Change.
This article is part of Finding the Words, a newsletter that delivers practical insights on the day’s issues.
At the tail end of my college career, just as I was preparing to enter the full-time working world and questioning a few paths before me, a university Trustee pulled me aside after a student event. He knew that I was uncertain about the future. I had one obvious path ahead of me, but I wasn’t sure it was "my path.”
His words, as he gave me a good pat on the shoulder: “You’ll figure it out.”
That was it? No great wisdom about which path to take or how to navigate the decisions before me? Nope, not a thing. And yet there was great wisdom in his words. It would just take me some time to understand them.
Over the years that followed, not everything fell into place as I hoped. Challenges followed, and I started questioning my path. In those most difficult moments, I would hear the same refrain from people I admired: “You’ll figure it out.” Sometimes a bit more would be added: “Just work through it" or “Fight through the challenge.” As my consulting business started to grow at a faster pace, the refrain grew, too: “Do what the client tells you, no matter what.” “It’s OK to bend your values if you’re delivering for the client,” followed by, “You’ll figure it out.”
I understood the sentiment of what was being communicated, but most of these mantras didn’t fit me. I didn’t want to run my business as usual, but I didn't know what a different model looked like. One thing was sure: I wanted my time and contributions to be purposeful. I wanted my work to matter. And I didn’t always know how to “figure it out.”
So, as I looked to chart my course, I returned to one of my early influencers, Dr. Andrea Giampetro-Meyer, a Loyola professor who introduced me to an intriguing concept back in college called corporate social responsibility (CSR).
That framework and her teaching gave me a glide path to see and more intentionally question how to “be the change.” She gave me the frame I needed to examine, explore, and consider a different path in my communications work: a path that could use communications as my tool and an opportunity to use that tool in service of social change.
Over the formative years of my career, as I was trying to “figure it out,” there was no playbook for the kind of communications practice I was forming. But there were many influencers like Dr. Giampetro-Meyer—Don Foley, Natalie Burke, and Mauricio Miller among them—who helped me build on this CSR frame I had learned years earlier.
As I leaned into my path, it felt necessary to draw as many insights as possible from across leaders and sectors to inform a point of view and to help me “figure out” how to make communications work better, particularly inside high-potential organizations. I started taking note of the most impactful social change communicators and paid attention to what those communicators had in common.
Finally, the Trustee’s words clicked into place.
Next week, I will publish my second book, MORE THAN WORDS: COMMUNICATIONS PRACTICES OF COURAGEOUS LEADERS. This was the book I wish I had in recent years and—I hope—the book you find you need now. With lessons and insights from some of the brightest minds in social impact communications and tools to help you practically apply these lessons to your work, MORE THAN WORDS will meet you where you are in your quest to become a more authentic, inclusive, and connected communicator. Most importantly, MORE THAN WORDS is your invitation to join an emerging community of practice and become your own positive and powerful agent of change.
Whether you are working through difficult transitions or considering how to connect across divides, this book will help you build an approach that is clear, caring, and courageous. This is not just a book for communicators. I think you’ll find that this book is for all those searching for answers and who could use a trusted friend—and a framework— to help figure it out.
Bottom line: The challenges you’re trying to “figure out” may be opportunities to chart a new or different course forward. Stay true to who you are and what you believe in, and the path you’re meant to take will open to you.
Ready for a sneak peek at the new book? Download a free first chapter and join us this Friday for a special virtual conversation on MORE THAN WORDS, hosted in partnership with Georgetown University’s Center for Social Impact Communications.
This post is part of the Finding The Words column, a series published every Wednesday that delivers a dose of communication insights direct to your inbox. If you like what you read, we hope you’ll subscribe to ensure you receive this each week.
