Category: Uncategorized

Wood and Stone

~ penningink ~ 1 Comment

A poem, psalm, for Easter

A wooden cross standing beside a rocky entrance to a cave, with a large stone rolled to the side and a warm glow emanating from inside the cave during sunset.
You came in the flesh
A spirit become man

To the world you created
That rejected you

The world worshipped gods
Made of wood and stone

You came to show your infinite might
A power of patient love

You could have remained God
But you became man

They spilled your blood
And broke your bone

They tried to kill you on a cross of wood
To hide you in a tomb of stone

On Good Friday you defeated the wood
On Easter you conquered the stone

Your victory is ours
Our souls are free

Our lives will worship you
In spirit and in truth

Knowing you became blood and bone
To defeat the wood and stone

Penning Ink to reboot and rebrand

~ penningink ~ Leave a comment

I have not done much blogging recently. The last blog post I wrote on Penning Ink was way last May. There are reasons for that.

One, I was busy writing other things. As an academic I have always maintained a healthy research and publication agenda. These have been mostly academic journal articles and conference presentations. I could easily keep up regular blogging while doing that.

But in the past year and a half I had opportunities to take on larger publication projects. In addition to three journal articles that involved teams, which can be time consuming, I wrote a book and two book chapters. The book was something I proposed and wrote during a fall sabbatical in 2024. It was published last spring. My most recent blog post was about the publication of that book.

Meanwhile, my journal articles caught the attention of peer scholars working on books, and two of them reached out to me to invite me to write a chapter in books they were editing. So last year I submitted those, one having to do with measuring organizational reputation and another about public relations history. Both of these were submitted late last year and should be published in 2026.

Another life situation also slowed down my writing. Both of my elderly parents simultaneously started having significant health issues. There were trips to the hospital for various problems. The long story short is that my family had to make a sudden decision to move them from their independent senior living situation into a facility where they get the care they will now need. Anyone who has had to help their parents in this fashion knows the time demand for everything from physically moving to handling medical and legal paperwork. 

So now that my academic writing projects are complete and my parents are safely moved, I looked at the dawn of a new year and decided to reboot and rebrand for 2026. As a result, another blog I wrote for years called PierPoints blog will no longer have new posts. Instead, I am merging it with this PenningInk blog. PierPoints has always been the place where I posted my newspaper column  and other posts that were a variety of social commentaries. Penning Ink was where I wrote about public relations and communications. 

Penning Ink has long been the name of my freelance business, which has been about freelance journalism, to public relations consulting, and now is the imprint for my independent book publishing and my blog. You can find my professional and non-fiction books there, and soon I hope to add Christian fiction.

Going forward, the Penning Ink blog will have a broader focus on writing, communications, general commentary and Christian themes. 

If you have been a subscriber to Penning Ink, thank you. I hope you’ll continue to read what I have to offer, and I promise to offer more in the new year. 

Book Connects Theory to Strategic Practice for Public Relations Professionals and Students

~ penningink ~ Leave a comment

The result of more than a year of work, my new book “Public Relations Theory in Practice: Strategic Applications for Professionals” will be published June 2, 2025. It is available now for pre-order at Amazon (in both paperback or Kindle versions) or the Business Expert Press publisher’s website.

I had worked as a public relations professional before transitioning into a career as a full-time professor. I learned quickly that theory and practice are not disconnected as some assume, but are realistically connected. In my 25 years as an academic I worked to connect academic concepts with everyday practice both in class and when speaking to professionals.

I grew weary over time of the expression “that sounds good in theory, but here in the REAL world….” The fact is, professionals’ experiences are the subject of research, which in turn develops theory. If practice informs theory, it only makes sense that theory would inform practice.

The key benefit to a robust understanding of theory can be summed up in one word: strategy. Public relations professionals speak often of the need to be strategic, a common part of a PR campaign plan is the articulation of strategy. Well, theory is fuel for strategy.

As I note in the book’s introduction, today’s public relations professionals need to account to management and clients for whether they have caused stakeholders to make meaningful changes in their attitudes and behaviors that match organizational objectives. This requires strategy based on established theory that is well-reasoned and tested, not just informed guesses and clever tactics based on individual perspective.

The book is divided into six parts, beginning with a simple explanation of what theories really are, how they are derived, different types of theories, and why they are practical and not mere abstractions. The following parts explain communication theory generally (interpersonal, small group, and organizational), mass media, persuasion, ethics, and theories specific to public relations practice. Each part ends with a series of summative strategic statements that professionals can apply to daily practice.

In keeping with the theme of connecting academics to professional practice, I am grateful to have received testimonials from a respected academic and professional:

“In Public Relations Theory in Practice, Penning does an excellent job providing an overview of the major theories applicable to public relations in easy-to-understand language I am impressed with the breadth of theories that are addressed. The book would be a valuable resource for an undergraduate theory course or as a resource for graduate students when they are seeking theories for a specific study. It would also be a good resource for practitioners preparing for the accreditation exam (APR).”

Marlene S. Neill, PhD,APR, Fellow PRSA 

Professor & Graduate Program Director

Senior Research Fellow, Arthur W. Page Center

Baylor University Department of Journalism, Public Relations & New Media

Public Relations Theory in Practice bridges the gap between academic theory and real-world application, equipping professionals with the knowledge to move beyond instinct and guesswork. Penning delves into communication, media, and persuasion and ethical theories, demonstrating how they can be strategically applied to every aspect of public relations. From understanding audiences to evaluating results, you’ll learn to craft campaigns with a theoretical foundation, ensuring effectiveness and achieving organizational goals. This book is a valuable source of insight and guidance for communicators at all levels.”

Eliot Mizrachi, VP, Strategy and Content, Arthur W. Page Society

Whether you are a public relations professional, student or professor, I hope you’ll find the book interesting and useful.

The case for CCOs and PR pros to have seats on corporate boards advances

~ penningink ~ Leave a comment

It is a cliche among PR professionals that they need to have a “seat at the table.” By “table” we usually mean the conference table around which the management team sits. The top PR person or Chief Communication Officer (CCO) should be leading and making organizational decisions alongside their counterparts in marketing, finance, operations and others.

I have been interested in this “seat” being even better than the management table: the corporate board. I have recently published my own research on this, and now there is a report from a global consulting firm showing that CCOs are finally starting to be seen as having more value than outbound communication.   

 The research I recently published,  “PR capacity on corporate boards: claiming the CSR and ESG responsibility?” is online now and will be published soon in the Journal of Communication Management. 

The premise for my research is that if corporations, and their boards, have shown more concern for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and ESG (environment, social, governance) metrics, then PR professionals or CCOs who focus on these things should be invited to give perspective and leadership on these subjects at the board level.

I looked at 25 companies on a list that ranked them high on ESG and CSR—the Fortune Modern Board 25—to see if they had board members with education or job titles in PR or communications. When I found few, I also looked to see if PR and communications pros were on the senior management team and advised the board or produced ESG, CSR, sustainability or diversity reports. Here I also found little management of these areas by PR and communication professionals. What I did find as a trend is more staff with degrees and titles specifically  in sustainability or diversity who manage these issues, potentially with collaboration of the CCO.

My sample was purposefully limited to companies who were ranked high on DEI, CSR, and ESG. So it is limited. So I was happy to read a report from global consulting firm Korn Ferry called “Chief Communications Officers: A New Face on the Board.”  

Korn Ferry looked not at specific issues like ESG but more broadly at reputation management. They found that more boards are leaning on CCOs to navigate business and cultural transformation, opening the path to the corporate boards that has been closed.

With corporate reputation accounting for as much as  25% of a company’s market value, more CCOs have risen to be trusted advisors to CEOs. Now these CCOs are advising and in some cases invited to join corporate boards.

The five areas where CCOs are being asked to advise boards include: talent development, change management, social impact, geopolitics, and risk management. All of these subjects come up in my undergraduate PR courses and my graduate course in communications management. Related terms like internal/employee relations, crisis communications, community relations and other terms associated with public relations and communication would indicate that this is the profession that is well suited to steer companies from the top—the board.

It’s early, but I am happy about this trend. I like a key quote from the KornFerry report that emphasizes that people in communications careers think differently than those in legal, finance or risk management. Exactly, and the different thinking is about balancing value for multiple stakeholders and ensuring transparent and two-way communication.

I and other educators and professionals in PR have been saying these for years. It’s heartening to see that some companies, all the way up to their boards, are hearing it now.

Academic year ends with scholarly hat trick

~ penningink ~ Leave a comment

It’s final exam week, and along with the excitement of seeing students finish projects and exams and head off to summer activities or graduation and career, I’m excited for my own accomplishments this year.

It doesn’t always work out this way, but this year I had a scholarly hat trick–three journal publications in one year.

The first was “A case for the plausibility of public relations licensing: The carrot of privileged communication.” This article in Public Relations Review started at the International Public Relations Research Conference (IPRRC) in Orlando in 2022 when Tyler Page of the University of Connecticut asked to talk to me after I presented some research on PR accreditation and other career milestones. He had this related idea for a paper. We brought on another scholar, Luke Caprizzo of the University of Missouri, to work on this together. We presented our paper at IPRRC the following year and it was published in December of 2023.

Essentially, we argue that accreditation is optional and has not really worked as intended after licensure of PR practice failed. We propose a limited form of licensure, and those who choose to obtain it would be granted the right of privileged communication. in the same form as attorney-client privilege. That would mean PR professionals offering counsel to CEOs would claim that conversation is privileged and not subject to subpoena. This would provide CEOs more confidence in PR counsel and allow more candor, and in the process elevate the profession and serve society better.

The second paper I published this year is a long-term effort and was the one in earlier form Tyler Page heard me present. “Perceptions of formal career achievements in public relations by students, professionals and employers: The certificate, accreditation and College of Fellows” was also published in Public Relations Review earlier this month. We surveyed PR students, professionals and employers who hire PR professionals on awareness and perceptions of these career achievements listed in the title. My partners in this project were two former members of the Universal Accreditation Board (UAB)–John Forde of Mississippi State University and Sharee Broussard who works for Mobile County, Alabama. We looked at it through the lens of Social Cognitive Career Theory, and found in general that motivations to pursue the Certificate, Accreditation in Public Relations (APR), or membership in the College of Fellows is less about value expectancy or extrinsic reward, and more a personal and intrinsic perceived value for those who pursue it. We also found a good number with little appreciated value for these career designations.

The final paper I did solo and is based on a question I had: if PR professionals and scholars spend so much time discussing ESG, CSR, and DEI, and so many corporations are concerned with these things at the board level, are their people on boards with PR experience and education? I looked at the 25 companies on a list that ranked the top companies for these things–The Fortune Modern 25 Corporate Boards–and found in fact little PR capacity on these boards. Instead, many companies now have people with backgrounds, degrees and job titles specifically in things like sustainability and diversity, and PR people work with them in supportive or collaborative capacity. In the paper “PR capacity on corporate boards: Claiming the CSR and ESG responsibility?” published in the Journal of Communication Management, I discuss the implications for the future for PR at the management level.

So with the final buzzer on this academic year about to sound, I am savoring my scholarly hat trick. After teaching a spring class I will stay on the sidelines and enjoy a fall sabbatical to write a book with the working title “Public Relations Theory in Practice: Strategic Applications for Professionals.” The publisher is asking for a manuscript in early 2025. I’ll be sure to share that when it is available.