THE SEE-SAW PR PRINCIPLE!

(THE WILL SMITH ‘FOCUS‘ EFFECT THEORY OF PR)

By Anthony Olabode Ayodele (Chart.PR)

The Will Smith Focus Effect Theory of PR States where there is an influx/excess availability of a particular type of labour the same will overcrowd at the bottom - become less valuable (with regards to remuneration) - pushing the rarer but more sought for kind of labour up to higher paying positions, in the group or industry.

This might sound preposterous but please hear me out!

While I was preparing for my CIPR Chartered PR Assessment I was pondering over the pre-assessment question of why PR is dominated by white professionals.

The top paying slots in PR are dominated by the White Male Prototype (as United States based Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech University, Nneka Logan, Ph.D puts it! Just to add, Professor Logan was very helpful in my preparation towards attaining Chartered Status by making relevant excerpts on the subject of her paper - and eventually, the entire Research Paper - available to me on request. I am most appreciative of her support.)

I also sought to examine how to enhance diversity in PR, by reducing slightly the overall white dominance in the profession to reflect the diverse nature of the community PR serves, where this is an issue!

On another hand, I was ruminating over another sore issue in PR; also reflected in the pre-assessment questions - how to bring about pay parity between men and women in the profession! 

Why would women dominate PR (70%) but men get paid most (￡5,784 more in favour of men after regression analysis, removing external factors such as seniority and time spent in PR) is another question I pondered over!

As I usually do while studying I was also thinking of how to apply all I learnt to enhance and improve my PR Business Start-up - Ideas Concepts and Products (ICP Media).

It dawned on me that ever since I had thought of employing staff to grow the Start-up I had never considered starting off with men!

It had always had to be starting with a few, young, eagle-eyed, 'fair looking' females!

So why does the Alpha male prefer to work with female subordinates in PR I asked myself? I reckoned it was for the same reason women crowded the bottom of PR!

Then it dawned on me; men leaders have a synergy with female subordinates! Women subordinates are usually more supportive and less competitive/combative than male counterparts towards one another and are more committed to making their male bosses look good.

Looking good is crucial here!

It is more or less like the male Lion or the male Cock (Hen, rather) kind of thing. where the male challenges any other alpha male (or male for that matter) that lurks near or ventures into the periphery of what he considers his territory, and seeks to drive them off.

This, of course, probably could explain why men earn more than women in PR!

The women would feel they owe their male benefactors (who enhance their employment through a preference to work with them) a duty to see they get to the top by providing support and making them look good!

So how can women get to the top paying slots I reasoned? It appears like there's a see-saw here, where the women - all crowded and seated at one end - outweigh the men - the Alpha white male - at the other; seeing the latter raised to the top where the big paying positions are.

Here, 'white' does not necessarily refer to the white race but self-defined 'white' as it relates to professionalism!

Those, who know, know...!

Likewise, prior to when I processed all of this mentally, while thinking of a good example of the PR framing theory, I remembered the movie Will Smith had starred in - Focus, which seeks to frame the belief that black men gel greatly with white women - wait for it - intimately!

Dwelling more on this particular line of thought for a moment I was startled!

Ah ha, I thought, there's the answer!

'White' women need to have a set of beneficiaries they promote and enhance to flood the bottom rungs of the ladder of PR - rather than staying put there - in a similar fashion.

The latter beneficiaries, in turn, will facilitate the ascension of these women to the top!

I concluded that black men are best suited in this regard!

According to CIPR State of the Profession, there are only 2% blacks in PR in the UK.

Black men are equally tenacious; they form a great synergy with white women bosses (for the same reason why white bosses prefer white subordinate females, I reckoned) and, are hardworking/determined to excel.

If white women would positively frame and train up black men into PR on these terms, black men would crowd the bottom of PR and raise their white women beneficiaries to the top, as they in turn hope and seek to rise.

Hence, my point (or the hypothesis I am putting across here with the hope of arriving at a theory) is where there is an influx/excess availability of a particular type of labour the same will overcrowd at the bottom - become less valuable (with regards to remuneration) pushing the labour that made the former available up to rarer, higher paying positions, in the group or industry.

I agree it all sounds rather crazy and the 'Will Smith' Focus Effect Theory I have sub-titled it could raise a few eyebrows!

It may also elicit a lot of opposition from white male domineering folks in PR?

However, for the same reason women dominate the bottom and white men the top regarding the high paying slots, if put to test, it might just as well work!

I am not too sure whether I am ready to present or mention it as it is. Especially during my Chartered PR assessment (if the subject comes up for the mention) which is in just a few days.

And although I am billed to attend the CIPR organised Panel Debate: Closing PR’s Gender Pay Gap (billed for 5th September 2017, featuring past CIPR President, Sarah Pinch and Young Communicator of the Year 2015 Valentina Kristensen, alongside Janice Guy from Jungle Green Market Research and John Brown from Hotwire PR) I am not sure I'll be pushing/suggesting it there yet as well!

Well, not quite yet...!

So long for now on the probable new theory!

Attached is a pictorial representation of the principle.

By Anthony Olabode Ayodele Chart.PR (this article was penned and first published in June 2017).