[This is part of The Work That Matters, a Plain Speaking Communications series spotlighting nonprofits doing exceptional work and the communications challenges that come with it.] I’ve loved horses my entire life, and I’ve always been drawn to resilience, in animals and in people. Both can surprise you when given the right conditions to try … Read More
Integrated Campaigns Don’t Fall Apart. Workflows Do
Imagine a campaign with a clear strategy, solid creative, and a team that knows what they’re doing. Yet, it still falls apart. Deadlines slip. Channels go out of sync. The launch happens, but nobody would call it integrated. The messaging was never the problem—the workflow was. And this happens more than most organizations want to … Read More
Somewhere Over the Vague: What “User Journey” Actually Means
I’ve been fine-tuning this website and poking at my metrics. The site is still finding its audience, and the numbers reflect that, but one question keeps coming up: what is a user journey, actually? At one job, my department director dropped the phrase constantly. The more they said it, the more obvious it became that … Read More
I Dream of Wolves
[This is the first post in The Work That Matters, a Plain Speaking Communications series spotlighting nonprofits doing exceptional work, and the communications challenges that come with it.] I often dream of wolves. They appear to me as protectors and companions, never threatening, always present, which made sense. Since childhood, wolves have held their fascination. … Read More
Think You Have a Communications Strategy? Think Again.
Most organizations don’t have a communications problem. They have a strategy problem, and those are very different things. It usually starts small. A tactic gets added because a competitor is doing it, or because someone in leadership asked about it. Then another. Over time, the communications function becomes a collection of inherited habits with no … Read More





