View from (One of) the Trenches: For PR, Empathy is Imperative

At times, it seems that there has been no respite from the fallout of COVID19. Since mid-March, a downward global spiral in health, the economy, politics, and other realms has necessitated impromptu, innovative, and sometimes radical approaches to crisis communication. For some PR professionals, these challenges have spurred increased messaging via social media and virtual apps as alternatives to face-to-face meetings. Others have doubled down on research to assess the needs and concerns of clients and stakeholders. These are all practical and necessary ways to address the malaise and anxiety that understandably pervade a world where no one really knows when COVID19 will cease to be a threat and how life will proceed when it does.

Public relations professionals are justifiably pragmatic and seek ROI for their clients. At the same time, they need to focus on strategies that perhaps yield less tangible but often equally or more effective long-term relationship outcomes. Most savvy people know that PR transcends a “show me the money” mentality. That said, in the current environment, which is so volatile in so many ways, perhaps PR practitioners and their professional organizations should prioritize empathy as a COVID and post-COVID imperative.

Relatively few bloggers and PR pros have written about empathy’s importance as a way forward for businesses. This professional suggests that empathy should be the MO for PR and an underlying operative principle. It’s germane to salient issues: the blatant lack of diversity across most industries, insensitivity to racial and other societal disparities exacerbated during COVID19, the current economic fallout, and first and foremost, the horrific loss of life and long-term disabilities experienced worldwide.

Is it possible to measure empathy? Is there or will there be a biological monitoring tool or an algorithm for AI that can work this magic? Perhaps-- but at least for the present, the focus should be on acting with empathy.

In the trenches of higher education at the very large, urban public university where I teach, students of color and other minorities have disproportionately suffered. The majority were economically disadvantaged even before COVID19. Their losses on every front since March have been heart-wrenching: loved ones, employment, family income. As a result, they may well forfeit future educational opportunities, which could raise them out of poverty. No one can hear such stories without being moved. Surely, there are equally moving stories elsewhere that should elicit a proactive empathetic response to others’ hardships--hardships that could just as well been ours.

No one, not even those at the top of government and the medical community, really knows how the COVID19 dilemma is going to play out or a surefire solution to bring life back to “normal,” whatever that is. Nevertheless, empathy, and the attentive listening and sensitivity that make empathy possible, should be front of mind and a guiding principle for professionals at all stages of the PR process.

Little if anything about COVID19 is in our control, but what we do have in our control is our ability to identify those individuals and institutions that can be aided by our proactive empathy. Such an emphasis should be inherent in PR programs as it will build goodwill and lead to positive, long-term relationships.