Ethan McCarty

Check out this latest piece I wrote for the Institute for Public Relations on the new AI Action Plan released last week. It discusses how #AI and #PR practice will be impacted in the coming years.

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I’ve always believed that good insights find their audience - whether that’s on paper, a podcast, a blog, or a LinkedIn post. This thoughtful piece by Lucy Britner is a great reminder that there are so many ways to keep sharing ideas and leading conversations in foodservice and hospitality. The key for brands is to show up, stay curious, and keep contributing. #ThoughtLeadership #B2BMarketing #DigitalShift 

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The pace of change isn't slowing down in 2026, and how leaders frame constant change matters. In this Forbes Communications Council piece on skills shaping the next generation of internal comms leaders, I shared why adaptability and framing change as an opportunity are essential for building trust and momentum. Read all the skills here: https://lnkd.in/gX7fJHG5 #Forbes #Actian #ChangeManagement #StrategicCommunications #MarketingLeadership

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Eleanor Hawkins' latest Axios Communicators newsletter (link 👇) stopped me in my tracks this morning. 🛑 She covers a new BCG report finding that 88% of comms leaders aren't prepared to lead AI transformation for their own function. And only 8% who have found efficiencies are reinvesting those savings into building new team capabilities. Our comms team at Yahoo has been on this journey for more than two years. While AI is part of everyone's role on our team, we're now looking to hire an AI-specific lead within comms to help codify what we've learned. And we still have so much to figure out. 🪄 But perfection was never the point. There's no perfect moment to start, only the cost of waiting too long. ⏳ As Gab Ferree said in the piece: the gap between talk and action is where competitive advantage is being built right now. https://lnkd.in/grmNeimM 📣 Sarah S. 📣 Erin Miller 📣 Brenden Lee 📣 Olivia Zibaitis

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CEOs need to understand Communications about as well as they do other critical functions (HR, Finance, etc.). And they need to defer to their expert Communications leaders on the things that they don't understand, same as they do with the CFO, CHRO, etc. I'm focused on advancing Communications as business advisors, not order takers. That assumes that the Communicators are business leaders first, communicators second. If the CEO hires well for that leader role and treats it appropriately, they'll get what they pay for ... a Communications Business Advisor who is a critical part of the team that protects and advances the brand and business goals. Communications Business Advisors™ over order-takers, all day, every day.

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I know AI is a touchy subject in the world of journalism. but this playbook is the type of resource journalists and PR pros should be reading, not resisting. It provides a thoughtful, practical roadmap to integrate AI responsibly and creatively. Great work, Jackie Reau !

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Reputation is often treated as a communications outcome. This piece in PRovoke Media reframes it well. It places reputation inside organizational design, where ownership, structure, and coordination actually sit. But the question does not fully resolve there. Design can define roles, budgets, and handoffs across functions. What it cannot fully control is how the organization is interpreted. That is where reputation forms. Not in messaging, or even in structure, but in whether meaning holds across decisions, behavior, and time. Over time, that consistency is what stakeholders respond to. It is what earns the benefit of doubt when it matters. Because reputation is not what an organization says. It is what survives interpretation across moments that test it. Structure enables reputation. Meaning sustains it.

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I am thrilled that Equal Access Public Media will be offering training to news outlets and journalism organizations. There's many accessibility trainings out there, but none that are journalism-centered — until now. We built this specifically to focus on all the unique needs of the news industry. And I can't think of anyone I'd rather do these trainings with than Emilia Ruzicka and Britne Jenke, CPACC, CPTD, SPHR.

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Policy work is where real change happens. I love working with the organizations doing it. A quick post on what the best think tank websites get right.

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Every year our team comes back from IPRRC with an armload of amazing PR studies, in-depth research focused on the effect media + comms has on the world. We sponsor an award, and this year's winner found that in disaster relief corporate good-doing punches above its weight. I wouldn't be flashy about it, but when you help substantively people will remember forever. As a reporter I saw Rockstar Energy provide an entire truck of water and their drinks when a supplier failed to deliver water for an event with 2,000 participants. It was enough to keep the event from being shut down on a disastrously hot day in Orleans (Ottawa). There wasn't a bill back to the local event organizers. I wrote about it, there wasn't Instagram back then. They just did the right thing.

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As reorgs continue to reshape reporting lines and cross-functional workflows, a disproportionate number of comms leaders suddenly find themselves operating in matrixed environments. That uncertainty is exactly why I built our #RaganTraining newest course, “Communicating Smarter Across Any Org Structure”. It’s designed to demystify how different structures actually function in practice, and help you navigate them more strategically. Check out my latest on Ragan Communications and PR Daily in the comments for two clips from the course that highlight some of the most important mindset shifts. #OrgCharts #OrgStructure #Communications #ExecutiveInfluence

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I created a free twelve section handbook for communicators navigating AI integration with their workflow. No paywall, no obligation, no email capture. You'll find it on GitHub at the link below. I wrote it because I've been the person in the room when you're desperate for a solution, have a nagging feeling you could do this with the team, but the vendor seems to have the answers (which feels safer when reporting up the chain). It's grounded in personal experience and published research, built for practitioners, and designed to be useful on Monday morning. https://lnkd.in/eQYDaBZY

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The latest Global Communication Report from USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism highlights a quiet shift in how corporations are using their voice: 1) Support for corporate advocacy on social issues has dropped sharply. Just over half of PR professionals now believe companies should speak out on issues unrelated to their business (a 38% drop since 2023!). 2) At the same time, polarization has made communications more central than ever. 91% of respondents say it has increased the importance of the comms function. 3) Silence is no longer perceived as a risk or a failure. It is increasingly being deployed as a deliberate strategy, especially inside companies. 4) The stakeholder map is changing: government has moved to the top of the list, overtaking employees and customers as the focus in risk assessments. 5) There is also a broader rebalancing of portfolio investments: more resources are being funneled toward AI, crisis response, and government relations, and fewer toward values-driven work and sustainability issues. Taken together, this points to a more cautious, situational approach to #socialimpact communications, shaped by a reality where every message carries a higher potential risk. For those of us working at the intersection of philanthropy, communications, and social impact, this raises an important question: if corporations are speaking out less about social issues, who fills that space and how do we ensure critical work still gets the broad visibility and support it needs from our partners, not just within our nonprofit ecosystem or echo chamber? Access and read the full report: annenberg.usc.edu/gcr

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Before you can effectively use tools, you need to know their uses and limitations. This course by MCM's Martin Waxman, MCM, APR will help you build your Gen-AI toolbox and teach you how to use it. Then... Apply your new knowledge this fall when we'll delve into the strategic side of comms and reputation management in an AI-driven world. McMaster University Master of Communications Management

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Technical PR skills are becoming more essential than the traditional ones we’ve long relied on. It’s time to stop saying we’re “not good at math.” AI is transforming communication faster than most of us can keep up, and our latest research with We. Communications shows just how fast that shift is happening. Our new study, Message vs. the Machine, reveals that while AI is widely seen as transformational, there’s a widening gap between who’s adapting and who’s not. Older leaders and public companies are leading adoption: raising questions about what that means for agencies, students, and newcomers who haven’t yet caught up. And while large language models are emerging as a new communication channel, few brands are thinking of AI as a storytelling vehicle. With more than 3,000 models worldwide, half based in China, the landscape of brand visibility and reputation could look very different in just a few years. At the USC Center for Public Relations, we believe every communicator will need to manage their AI brand as carefully as their corporate one. You can read Message vs. the Machine here: https://bit.ly/3LGrhrE #USCAnnenberg #WECommunications #AinPR #PRFuture #CenterforPR #Leadership

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"Brand and reputation are related but distinct functions with different owners, different metrics, and different time horizons," writes Nathaniel Sillin, senior director of global corporate communications and public affairs at Gilead Sciences, in the latest "Perspectives" article at PRovoke Media. "Reputation investments are expensive, slow, and difficult to attribute. Sooner or later, a CEO will ask to cut the budget in a tough quarter. That will kill the function unless the CCO has already built the case. The real case is that reputation is the asset that determines whether the company gets the benefit of the doubt when something goes wrong. And something always goes wrong." https://lnkd.in/eVrFWG27

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