Father Knows Less

Passing the torch to a new generation…

In reading Garrison Keillor's Fathers Day column today my mind wandered to my own feelings about fatherhood and getting older.

One of the really great things about getting older (and there are not nearly as many as popular songs and aging pundits would like you to believe…) is coming to realizations that your kids might just have something in how they’ve chosen to approach their lives… that maybe, just maybe, your way has some flaws or at least is passé, and may not be appropriate for others just because they carry your DNA. And when your kids are no longer kids, chronologically at least, but adults pursuing their own version of life, liberty and happiness, this realization can be even more apparent. But alas, when your offspring choose by design or circumstance to follow into your profession then the admission that it might just be time to pass the torch to a new generation is all the more personal.

Sharing a profession with a new generation is a touchy thing. Sharing a profession with a new generation that shares your name has its own sensitivities… and rewards. Family gatherings and telephone conversations often wander to business discussions and comparisons of technology, strategy, and even pitching techniques… and always the media. However over time one fact becomes undeniable, things have changed and usually for the better. Technology is driving this evolution across the board…it’s forever altered the media landscape, it’s revolutionized the how and the speed in which we communicate, and it’s heightened expectations from all quarters.

Sure, even us aging PR types can adapt…heck, didn’t we move easily from typewriters to computers… from dial phones to cell phones…from daily newspapers to hourly online updates? Of course, but is there a point where we still want to as badly as before? A point where we look back with pride of our accomplishments and forward with equal pride over what is yet to be from our namesakes. It doesn’t take long to realize that the new generation might just be more inclined if not necessarily better equipped to take on these challenges. They are our best and brightest… time to let them risk it all as we did…fail as some of us did…and succeed as some of us did.

There is one thing that has not changed with technology. Public Relations is still not rocket science in its complexity nor curing cancer in its human importance. There are those in this profession that would love to have you believe otherwise because of their own internalized need for self-importance. These same people that strive to find euphemisms for publicist are the ones that insist that without initials and acronyms attached to their names, they will be considered less than “professional” …hogwash (a nice, very old fashioned word.)

So one bit of sage advice I’d like to pass on as a father, to both mine and others that follow in PR… do so with integrity, but with a sense of perspective and humor.