Some Father's Day PR Wisdom

In the week before Father’s Day, I thought I’d theme some of my social media posts in the spirit of the holiday, using the moniker: “PR tip your dad would have said.”  Here they are:

• If you can’t look people in the eye, you don’t deserve their trust.
• An apology means nothing without a solution.
• Show respect by not cursing, demand respect by not tolerating it. 
• The best reputations are built when no one is looking.

The tips are pretty self-explanatory. Dads are funny in their common lack of subtlety. 

While I can’t quite attribute the actual phrasing to my dad, and I certainly can’t take credit for the concepts, the focus here is simply to showcase some common wisdom we get from our dads in one way or another, and then attempt to translate that into a PR application.

As simply stated as they may be, they represent some of the fundamentals of effective PR.

When my kids were young, someone gave me a small book of tips on raising boys called Father to Son: Life Lessons on Raising a Boy.  I really enjoyed this over the years for any number of reasons. Here are a few gems, some with PR relevance, from the book:

• “Show him how to eat an Oreo.  This is a skill that will serve him his entire life.”
• "Ask him what he did today. Listen.”
• “Display his artwork in your office. Even that weird ashtray thing.”
• “Let him hang out with you. Remember, he has a need to be around you, to learn what being a man is all about.”
• “Give him responsibility.”
• “Don’t let the TV be a babysitter.”
• “Don’t let him quit out of frustration. He won’t learn anything.”
• “Make him carry his own athletic bag.”
• “Celebrate after every game.”
• “Remember, if you can’t talk to your son about God, you’ve never really talked to him.”
• “Teach him to give anonymously.”
• “Teach him nothing is free.”
• “Let him fail.”
• “Teach him the only way to conquer fear is to walk through it.”
• “Teach him the secret to solving even the most complicated problems is to just begin.”
• “Buy him deodorant and the whole house will smell better.”
• “Teach him the world will judge him by his actions, not by his intentions.”
• “Teach him to treasure his friends.”
• “Teach him that appearances do matter.”
• “Tell him never to give up.”