Paul Gennaro

Edelman's 3.6% revenue decline in 2025, driven by challenges in North America and a downturn in corporate ESG and DEI work, underscores the fact that last year was a tough one for the global public relations business. But talking with Richard Edelman, it is clear that he is encouraged by a rebound in the fourth quarter, by the opportunities in marketing and brand-building, and in the potential for AI to unlock not only efficiency nut more critically the ability for PR firms to produce content at speed and scale. As a result, the firm could climb back above $`1 billion this year, he says. https://lnkd.in/egrfmEDB

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That didn't take long. One week in and the future is bright: Two new clients are already on board with our newly formed Media Intelligence Team: 1) One of the largest non-profit health systems in the United States with nearly 100 hospitals, serving millions of people each year. They've signed up for executive coaching with one of our go-to veterans, Suzanne Kennedy. 2) I'm headed back to my roots in Maryland with Chicago investigative reporter & anchor Ben Bradley for his first JPC project: We'll co-instruct at a university about recent critical incidents in higher education. What do campuses need to do to better prepare for and communicate with their multiple audiences on their worst day? We'll break down crisis comms success stories and examples where they could have done better and facilitate a discussion with campus leadership. The bench is deep and this team's experience is remarkable. We're here to help. Emilie (Voss) Eager Ashley (James) Wilson Angela Ingram Katie Syers Kristen Hunter Leslie Rhode Christina Cotterman Tony Perkins Alison Starling

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Protection and Movement: Leveling Up Across Disciplines After stepping through the “wardrobe” into a new professional chapter, I’ve found myself thinking more about how different disciplines approach movement and protection. Much of my professional foundation comes from Communications, particularly crisis management. For years in Comms/PR, I learned how to build walls of protection. Now in Marketing, I’m learning how to build engines of movement. That shift has changed how I observe decisions, messaging, and momentum. Communications often prioritizes protection, understanding consequences, anticipating reactions, and managing impact carefully. Marketing, on the other hand, thrives on movement, experimentation, acceleration, and forward momentum even when certainty is incomplete. I remember shooting down ideas for the sake of reputational safety in spite of potentials. Communications asks: What must we safeguard? Marketing asks: What must we pursue? Interestingly, this personal evolution reminds me of my love playing RPG games. As characters level up, they don’t discard their earlier abilities. Instead, they allocate new skill points. The core stats remain in shaping how they operate, even as new competencies define their next phase. In many ways, my comms background has become those core stats. The instincts remain embedded. But at this stage, I find myself allocating more “skill points” into marketing such as learning new mechanics, new rhythms, and new ways of creating momentum. Working within a banking environment adds another dimension. In such contexts, uncertainty is never fully eliminated. It is continuously assessed and navigated. This is where the idea of risk appetite becomes meaningful. Risk appetite acknowledges that our position is always changing. It asks us to reassess constantly: • Where are we today? • What has shifted around us? • What are we prepared to pursue — and what are we prepared to let go? Seen through this lens, protection and movement are not opposing forces. It is not about choosing protection over boldness — or boldness over protection. It is about blending them without losing their strengths. Today, I approach Communication and Marketing as complementary forces: • awareness guiding movement, • structure enabling experimentation, • and thoughtful guardrails allowing ideas to move forward without sacrificing long-term resilience. And now, I am curious to see how I evolve in this open world (read: real world).

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A new term I coined “Vibe comms” is the moment the comms professional stops being a writer, producer, or strategist and becomes an architect.

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What will it take to build a smarter, more strategic thought leadership program in 2026? Start by thoughtfully selecting the issues your organization will prioritize next year. Ask: What are the most significant global/national/regional/local issues today?  What does your organization do or know that others don’t? What problems are you uniquely equipped to solve? Read more about the three steps Beehive recommends to develop a program that positions your experts as thought leaders and drives industry conversations. https://hubs.la/Q03XXb3C0 #ThoughtLeadership #StrategicCommunication

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Communicators spend their careers building everyone else’s reputation. Our executives. Our organizations. Our brands. But many of us hesitate when it comes to building our own voice and visibility. Some feel they’re not “expert enough” yet. Some worry personal branding feels self-promotional. And many feel overwhelmed by the idea of content creation. AI is starting to change that. Used well, it can help communicators get clarity, develop ideas, and create content more efficiently without losing authenticity. At the end of April, I’ll be exploring this topic in Chicago at the Advanced Learning Institute Communications Conference in a session called: “Your Reputation, Your Voice: Building a Strategic Personal Brand in the Age of AI.” We’ll unpack the barriers that hold many communicators back and share practical ways to start strategically build and amplify your personal brand, authentically and efficiently. If you're planning to attend, you can use my speaker code for $500 off registration. Link to the conference in the comments 👇 Let me know if you will be there as I'd love to connect in person!

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“Authenticity is what fills the void when authority dies.” —Michael Hirschorn, in today’s New York Times A sharp observation—and a challenge—for anyone working in media, politics, or public influence today. As trust in institutions declines, people aren’t looking for polished talking points. They’re looking for something—and someone—that feels real. That’s why authenticity isn’t just a tone; it’s a strategy. Authentic communication means: - Keeping your message simple and clear—no jargon, no spin. - Prioritizing connection over preaching. - Being willing to engage productively with audiences who might not already agree with you. Because if you’re serious about shaping public perception, you can’t just speak to the choir. You have to be brave enough to show up, listen, and connect with new audiences too. That’s how trust—and influence—are built. https://lnkd.in/eFP4Kw-f

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Nassau Financial Group's Chief Investment Officer Joseph Orofino joins Paul Tyler to analyze the current economic landscape and its impact on retirement planning. They examine how Federal Reserve rate cuts affect annuity products, discuss inflation expectations hovering around 3%, and explore the looming Social Security funding crisis. Orofino explains why higher long-term interest rates benefit the annuity industry and shares insights on portfolio diversification strategies, including concerns about the S&P 500's heavy concentration in AI and tech stocks. Key topics include treasury rates, tariff impacts, sovereign wealth funds, and annuities. Learn more at www.thatannuityshow.com

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Measurement. Impact. Translation. It was all part of the conversation I had with Regine Nelson, MBA and Joseph Gallo on his latest episode of the "Comms Confidential" podcast — the first panel interview he's done. It was spicy, funny, informative and all of the feels. Check it out. Chat says it's the best episode of podcasting ever done, and not just because I asked it if it was good. Links in the comments.

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Strong spokespeople don’t just magically appear. They’re cultivated by communicators with intention and understanding. Two clips from my newest #RaganTraining course explain how most spokesperson breakdowns fall into three common patterns across industries, seniority levels and experience. Understanding those patterns empowers comms with a strategy to diagnose risk before it shows up externally and match the right spokesperson to the right moment. Check out the clips today on Ragan Communications and PR Daily! Link in comments. #MediaTraining #Communications #MediaRelations #RaganTraining

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Great insight from Josh Riggs on the future of communications. Spoiler alert: it’s digital. And the future is here now.

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Nearly 80% of Americans already use AI tools in their daily lives. Adoption isn’t the question anymore, so what is? Trust. TD's second annual AI Insights Report shows that trust for AI hinges on human accountability. When it comes to finance, most American's are confident when humans and AI work together to make financial decisions, but 81% want a person involved when they call their bank. The future of AI isn’t just faster or smarter - it’s also human. Learn more by reading https://lnkd.in/gEtu_TKA

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I really enjoyed reading John Winsor's article from Harvard Business School on "thought-doership," where he writes about how the era of the pure "thought leader" is over. I’ve spent three decades in communications where the friction of internal indecision has caused drops in stock prices; loss in sales; and key talent departures. I’ve also sat in the rooms where a narrative becomes a political firestorm in hours leading to a deepening crisis. When the CEO, Legal, and the Board are debating a crisis, they don’t need a framework. They need the judgment to predict how a decision will land with a regulator in Tokyo, a policymaker in D.C., and an employee in Seattle—simultaneously. Communications is no longer about messaging. It is about managing enterprise risk. I learned this the hard way: The "Legal vs. Legitimate" Gap: I once sat through a crisis where the "legally sound" response was a social disaster. I learned that if you wait for Legal to approve the "voice" of your response, you’ve already lost the battle. I learned to push back and prioritize our license to operate over a sanitized, defensive script. The Reality of Narrative Debt: Rapid scaling often creates a 'narrative debt.' When you move fast and break things without communicating the 'why,' you aren't just moving quickly, you’re borrowing against your future reputation. I’ve had to walk into boardrooms and deliver the hard news that we cannot message our way out of a structural trust deficit. The interest on that silence had matured into a regulatory wall, and no amount of clever PR could dismantle it. The Complexity Trap: Early on, I thought my job was to simplify. I was dead wrong. I learned that high-stakes stakeholders, especially regulators don't want over-simplification; they want an honest and accurate account of the trade-offs. Sometimes, admitting to the mess is the only way to earn the right to clean it up. The "Comms Lead" is an obsolete role. The "Trusted Advisor to the CEO" has replaced it. Today, technology and public trust collide daily. Having the experience of navigating that mess and making hard decisions is the only way to navigate through a crisis successfully.

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Amid a year of economic uncertainty, one message from South Jersey's financial leaders remains clear: "Chance favors the prepared mind." In our 2025 banking & finance outlook feature, experts share how to navigate market volatility with resilience, adaptability and long-term strategy. Explore how industry pros are guiding their communities: https://ow.ly/vQch50WgQ9R

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“CEOs are also increasingly expected to become their company’s chief PR person and chief communicator. People are now turning to the CEO, not the company’s official account or their PR head, for information, interaction, and questions.” — Dr. April Yue, Boston University This quote is music to my ears as I’ve been banging this drum for years through my consulting practice’s focus on leadership communication. So this new book on “Strategic CEO Communication” looks very interesting indeed — and definitely worth checking out. Its co-author, Dr. Yue (who I actually met on a visit to BU back in late ‘24), says that: “…we know that leadership cannot be separated from communication — research reveals organizational leaders spend 70% to 80% of their time communicating. So it’s really important to dive into what CEOs are communicating, their leadership communication styles; who they’re communicating to, the different stakeholder groups; and what the purpose and impact of their communication is in today’s world.” Hear, hear. #PublicRelations #CorporateComms #LeadershipCommunication

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THE ORIGINAL CHANGE AGENT: READ PRESS ON THE AWESOME AWNY25 SESSION;THEN BUY THE BOOK "It’s easy to blame the private sector as the biggest part of the problem. But I believe there’s a powerful way that businesses can come together based on a common desire to contribute to the solution, and a different clarity on ‘how’ to do so. As we continue to see unprecedented growth in organizations that are making sustainability a priority, there needs to be a neutral place where the integration of dialogue and action can occur outside the day-to-day silos. That’s what SustainChain™ is all about. In just a year since its launch, more than 1,200 users have joined SustainChain, which validates our core hypothesis: that organizations need and value access to each other, relevant opportunities to combine or learn from other initiatives, new partners, and innovative solutions that can further their individual and our collective progress." Jacqueline Corbelli, Founder/Chairman of BrightLine, CEO US Coalition on Sustainability/SustainChain

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Discover how Lisa Chensvold redefines success in the nonprofit world by focusing on impactful outcomes like economic opportunity and family support. Tune in to the #PRBunkerPod the latest episode and subscribe for more insights.

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Life transitions such as caregiving, career pauses, divorce, or widowhood can affect women’s retirement planning decisions. Co-hosts Mary Crean, and Laura Dinan Haber of Nassau Financial Group discuss how the financial industry can better address these realities. They are joined by Tina Beckwith, Chief Marketing Officer of LIMRA and LOMA, and Neeraja Rasmussen, Founder and CEO of Spyglaz AI, to explore gaps in financial planning and how AI and innovation can provide more personalized guidance to support women’s financial futures. In honor of Women’s History Month, this episode highlights strategies and insights that can help women plan for retirement with confidence. Listen now, where you get your podcasts, and at PrimeLifePodcast.com

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Nassau Financial Group’s Chief Growth Officer, Tom Buckingham, was recently featured in GoBankingRates discussing a key question many savers are asking as they prepare for retirement: What is the real minimum you need to save to retire without downsizing? Tom points to what counts—where you live, and more. “There’s no universal number because everyone’s situation is different.” He notes, “You have to take into account where you live, property taxes, insurance rates and local cost of living, he stressed. “It’s most important to build a plan that reflects your state and lifestyle, not a one-size-fits-all formula.” Read the full article by Jordan Rosenfeld: 🔗 GoBankingRates: https://lnkd.in/eBgW3Fdr #Annuities #Longevity #FinancialWellness

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