Cut Through!

People are REALLY ANGRY because Gemma Collins appeared in a social media clip for the Department for Education. "Bizarre”, “tone-deaf”, “sickening” and “ridiculous”, said the critics.
Communications teams spend a great deal of time asking what they should say. They spend much less time asking who should say it.
So what does this row reveal about the importance of the messenger? Is it worth working with content creators? And if so, how can you avoid a backlash?


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If you’re not measuring communications, you don’t know it’s working. Yet our profession has an evaluation problem: we’re counting the wrong things for the wrong reasons.
So what does good communications evaluation look like?


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Why would giving a train passenger a quiz question make them more likely to accept an excess fare? And what can that teach us about how to communicate bad news more effectively?
Procedural justice is the ideas that the process - how decisions are made and how people are treated - is more important to public trust than the actual outcome.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonbaugh.substack.com

What can a traditional Chinese painting, an Austrian psychologist, and a Roman Emperor teach communications leaders about how to manage personal resilience?
Recognising you have more power to choose your response to events than you might think can be a powerful and liberating insight that boosts personal resilience and performance.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonbaugh.substack.com

Leaders generally want to communicate inside-to-out. They begin with the messages they want to tell people. Then wonder why nobody seems especially interested.
A narrative is different. It is a carefully structured argument rooted in what your audience cares about. It helps people understand you and the world differently.
Here's how to build one.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonbaugh.substack.com