The Fork in Your Road

Diane Schwartz, CEO, Ragan Communications  

Communicators, you are at the proverbial fork in the road. The last few years have demonstrated to the C-Suite that your role as a communicator is essential to your organization’s ability to inform, help and enhance – to inform stakeholders, help employees and enhance reputation. You are not just part of the transformation of the workplace, you are working up the blueprints and ensuring the foundation is sound.  

There’s a reason we chose “Transformation” as the theme of this year’s Communications Week. As a society we are undergoing a transformation – and it is profound and confounding for us all. As a profession, communications is at a transformative moment. This is not a time to self-congratulate and rest on laurels. It is a time to accelerate and raise expectations.  Whether it’s crafting your company’s DE&I and ESG strategies, playing a more active role in recruiting and retaining talent, rethinking and enhancing your relationship with the media, using your storytelling chops to drive revenue or mitigating organizational risk by seeing around the corners, you and your team are now in a position of strength.  

Our editorial team at Ragan and PR Daily report every day on your successes, how you’ve solved for the challenges and how you’ve proven your worth. In my 20+ years in this industry, the pace of acceleration has never been so fast and furious. Let’s face it: Your role is as bumpy as the road that has led us here. You’re still struggling for resources and not always invited into the board room, even the Zoom board meetings. Are your impactful storytelling and strategic initiatives hiding in plain sight? 

Of the two forks in this road, one is the familiar: that of settling for a small slice of the budget, hanging out in the middle of the org chart and oftentimes feeling like an order-taker. The other fork is the more exciting path, where you ride this momentum and rewrite the future of communications.  

Of the two paths in front of you, the transformational one is paved with more resistance. The rewards are higher, and you’re stronger than ever. 

Leading up to the Nov. 15-19 Communications Week and the Nov 16 Future of Communications Conference , I implore you to think about what you want communications to look like 10 years from now. What will you be doing and what will your role entail? Will you and your team be part of the change you want to see? Will you be more influential inside your organization? Or, during this decisive moment, did you choose the other road?  

Let’s use our expertise in community relations to bring communicators together to define our future. 

To the Future,

Diane Schwartz

CEO, Ragan Communications