Two-year old Lessons From London
I took a group of students to London in May 2005, for a two-week tour of communication agencies, firms, and government officials. It was fantastic. I wrote this article for our Alumni newsletter, but it never made the cut. As so many of our readers are recent graduates, I thought I’d edit and share what I learned. I still feel, two years later, that it’s apropos. - Luke
“Look Right.” Two simple life-saving words are painted on nearly every crosswalk throughout London. As Americans cross the street, our first instinct is to look left first – since that’s the side from which our traffic comes first. In England they drive on the left side of the road.
So what?
So it means if you want to make it across the street without incident, you need to look right first.
I spent two weeks in England, leading a group of students on a PR tour of businesses across London. Our mission was to meet with journalists, CEOs, and professionals covering all aspects of the art and practice of relating to people.
“Look Right.” It seems like that could be a PR practitioner’s motto, too. PR strategically monitors and alters the environment for the benefit of the organization. But in order to effectively enact our strategies, we have to be able to see properly…or look right.
How do we find out what’s going on? How does one environmental alteration affect one’s company? How do we get people to listen? The people we met with had answers. The following is a compilation of intellectual gems I gathered from these professionals.