PR Straight Talk

There are great things happening in this country and throughout the world all the time.  There are people doing great things everywhere.  Yet many great happenings, and great people, so often get missed – by the media, and by PR.

There was a time when Mother Teresa was helping the impoverished in the slums of Calcutta before anyone knew who she was.  There was a time when Jackson Pollock scraped for nickels and dimes to survive before his art was recognized as genius (Vincent Van Gogh wasn’t even recognized in his lifetime). 

Muhammad Yunus, a businessman from Bangladesh who thought the poor could be empowered and lifted out of poverty through tiny business loans called “microcredit” wasn’t recognized for his revolutionary strategy and activities for years.  Last year he received the Nobel Peace Prize.

These are people who ultimately became acknowledged, and famous.   Mother Teresa, whose vision to serve the poor was utterly pure, was also astute.  She was a great networker.   I once worked on an account called Americares.  It is a humanitarian organization that expedites the shipment of foods and medicines via jumbo jet to crisis spots in developing countries. 

Once, when I was in the office of its founder, a wonderful man by the name of  Bob McCauley, a successful Connecticut businessman, the phone rang.  “Yes Mother, I understand, no problem.  I’ll take care of it right away.”  It was Mother Teresa calling for a shipment of food and medicine.  Mother knew who to call, and how to get action.  That was one of her gifts, though perhaps not widely known.  And the impact of her deeds, combined with her networking and the eventual notice of the media catapulted her, but not overnight, into “stardom.”

Jackson Pollock wasn’t recognized until Life Magazine published a multi-page spread on his revolutionary-in-art drip paintings. 

Muhammad Yunus, aside from his gifts as an entrepreneur and a humanitarian, was also adept at making connections with the media.  In time, those connections helped achieve the recognition he deserved.

Yet there are thousands, perhaps millions, of remarkable, even great men and women in the world today who are less well known, or not known at all.

Great people, people with great ideas and visions, or people doing great things, are often not consumed about getting into the spotlight – or even necessarily becoming known as the great people they are at all.  Perhaps that is one of the earmarks of their greatness.

I currently represent a man who I am coming to sense is great.  His name is Anthony Abeson, the master acting coach who is regarded by some as the greatest living teacher of acting of his generation.  Anthony  is one of the few living master teachers of acting who studied with all the greats:  Lee Strasberg, Harold Clurman, Jerzy Grotowski, Peter Brook and Stella Adler.  Former students like Jennifer Aniston, who said about him, “…for any actor to just have a moment with Anthony or a class with him, or by luck, have his words to read and reread, one will be twice or three times the actor for it.”  Esai Morales said, “With Anthony Abeson, it’s not just about being good at what you do, but connecting with greatness.  He shepherds you to reach deep down and find things that might surprise and startle you.  For me?  Anthony Abeson is an endless well of inspiration.” 

Yet when I was first introduced to Anthony, I realized I had not heard of him.  Of course I had heard about those of his students who became famous – but not about Anthony.

I soon realized the reason for this anonymity:  Anthony cares more about the craft of acting, about cultivating talent when he finds it, about his students as “runways for the human spirit,” as he puts it – than his own reputation or notoriety.  His motivation is so pure that he will take on an economically disadvantaged student pro bono, if he can spot the talent.  Talent to Anthony is the precious jewel of his craft, truly something God-given, and he understands it can appear anywhere, through anyone of any circumstance. 

I hope to help Anthony become better known – first, because his greatness is innate and real; second because his values and beliefs are worth relaying to a wider audience.  People deserve to know and understand this humble yet incredibly inspirational and talented man. 

Too often, however, “PR” misses greatness.  Our profession is so often driven by dollars that we by-pass the truly great stories about great people or happenings. 

Too often, the media misses out too.  The “Catch 22” is that so often the media doesn’t take note of a story until it appears on the media radar screen.  And who would it be that can bring that story to that screen?  The PR practitioner.  Perhaps someone on the PR side with an eye for exceptionality. 

Thankfully, there are those on the media side who’ve been caught by exceptionality too - call it the “enlightenment bug” – people like Oprah or Bill Moyers.  But very often, it takes someone who acts as a conduit to the media to get the “bug” first. 

As for those who hire us to communicate their stories – about their products, services or ideas – hopefully we will refrain from taking on their stories unless we perceive there is genuine value to the public interest.  Too often, however, stories are manipulated to look good, but as one probes more deeply, they are simply vapid and lacking meaning. 

Let’s have less of that, and more stories of great evolutionary and revolutionary products and services; or of great people with great vision doing great things in the world.