PR Can Happen Where You Least Expect It
This week I came across an editorial piece in the WSJ by Robert J. Stevens, CEO of Lockheed Martin. In case you didn’t know, America has lost its place as the one engineering giant in the world. China and India have stepped up as very close equals. In China, 50 percent of its undergrad degrees are engineering, compared to only 15 percent in America.
In light of this, Stevens makes a call to young students to pursue their degrees in science and math, the core studies of engineering, instead of the Liberal Arts (what PR sometimes falls under). He thinks students should be taught early-on of the fun careers that can be had in the two subjects and thinks the industry should do a better job on showcasing these careers to kids. He also says that we shouldn’t back down from the challenge that China presents, but that we should summon the “can-do” spirit of America to meet it head-on. At the end of the piece, Stevens says we need a reshaping of attitudes about engineering, and competition from China. Now wait a minute…did he just suggest the need for an PR/image building campaign for math and science? I think he did!