Curiosity: The Most Important Thing for Communicators

A young friend—a student in a creative communications progam—recently asked me to name the one skill that has been especially useful to me in my career.

“It seems that the communications world is changing so much that some of the skills I put time into learning might not be as valuable years down the road,” he said.

“Can you think of skills that you've always improved upon that haven't gone out of style?”

What would you respond?

What I told him was that the most important thing for me in my 37 years of doing journalism, communications and marketing is not a skill at all.

It’s curiosity.

For me, if there is any one thing that separates great communicators from good or average communicators, it is being curious about the world.

Curiosity is not a skill; it is a quality of your personality, something you develop and nurture.

It is always asking: "Why?"

Fortunately, many of the people attracted to careers in journalism or communications are headed that way because they are curious—they want to know why the world works the way it does, or why people behave the way they do.

As for the skills needed to do communications, those will always be changing.

I have seen that up-close during my career.

Since I started in 1981, I've gone from the world of Gutenberg to the world of Google; from mailing press releases to fax to e-mail; from pasting up magazine pages to graphic design programs; from land lines to cell phones; from printed newspapers to social media.

It’s been an amazing and dizzying trip. So many changes! 

But one thing has always stayed the same for me: Being curious about the world, and then telling the stories I find along the way.

And when you are curious, there's no end to the stories you will find.

My friend Steve Bell put it this way, in the context of songwriting.

When people compliment him on the songs he writes, he demurs, telling them that the songs are all out there—he just bumps into them because he has his antennae up.

Similarly, good communicators are people who have their antennae up. They can’t help bumping into stories, no matter where they go—because stories are everywhere.

Of course, having good skills is also important, especially at a time when the way people receive information is changing so fast.

But just knowing how to use the latest technology isn’t enough. I have met skilled communicators who turn out pedestrian work.

The best communicators, in my opinion, are the ones who see stories that others don't. They have their antennae up all the time.

They are always alert and alive to the story ideas that are all around them; they can't stop looking for them.

After finding the stories, they need to know the best ways to tell them. That's where skill comes in.

But it all starts with curiosity, so you can use your skills to tell the stories you find. 

One of the best quotes about the role of technology versus storytelling comes from famed American journalist Edward R. Murrow.

Murrow, who died in 1965, never got to see how computers changed the way we communicate. He never knew about something called the Internet.

But he saw enough to know what they could—and couldn’t—do.

Said Murrow:

“The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it.”

That, and how to be, and stay, curious. 

Image above from The Hans India. 

Pink Gorilla Suits, or Getting Media Attention for Charity Runs, Walks and Whatever

A friend wrote recently to ask for advice about raising money for cancer research.

His children were planning a run in a local park to raise funds in memory of their child—my friend’s grandchild—who had died of a brain tumor.

He wanted to know: How could he get media attention for the run to raise funds for other children and parents in the same situation?

After expressing sympathy for the loss of his grandchild, I told him the truth: It would be very hard.

The best way, I said, would be to tell the story of the grandchild, or what his loss meant to the parents, or about others facing the same thing.

But even then, it would be tough.

It’s not that the media are jaded, or don’t want to help people raise funds for good causes for things like this.

It’s just that there’s so many of them. It’s impossible for the media to cover them all.

I know; as a columnist for the Winnipeg Free Press, I get e-mails from people who want me to write about their fundraising efforts of various kinds.

There just isn’t enough time or space to write about every one.

Ever since Terry Fox tried to run one-legged across Canada in 1980, there have been multiple runs, walks, rollerbladings and whatever else across the country, or in most any locality.

All of them are well-meaning, done for the best and most altruistic purposes.

And all of them want media attention.

Frankly, it’s impossible for the media to do that, especially considering the downsizing that has occurred at most media outlets lately.

A gimmick helps, like the man who is rollerblading from Manitoba to the Pacific Ocean in a pink gorilla suit.

(Although the publicity didn’t necessarily help in this particular case, since reporters also discovered he has been charged with fraud—not exactly a stirring endorsement for someone who wants you to donate to their cause.)

As for cross-country charity walks, runs and whatever, not only are they hard to do and get media attention for, they often fail to raise as much funds as hoped.

This was addressed by the National Post in 2017.

In an article titled “Why your noble plan to cycle or run across Canada for charity is probably a bad idea,” author Tristin Hopper notes that some of these efforts fail to even cover expenses.

A cross-Canada marathon “remains lodged in the Canadian psyche as a noble and surefire way to support a cause, but it can be one of the least efficient ways to generate money for charity,” he writes.

In many cases, participants “would have generated more cash for their cause if they’d just stayed put, gotten an entry-level construction or resource job and donated the paycheque to charity.”

Which raises another important point; the media is wary of lending its support to charitable causes today—they don't want to be accused of promoting efforts that defraud donors.

So don't be surprised if reporters want to know if causes are connected to reputable charities, have the proper permits and approvals, and can explain how expenses will be covered.

So: What to do if you want to do a run or walk or something else for charity?

Plan for it as if the media won’t cover it. Use social media, personal networks, word-of-mouth, whatever.

And if they do cover it, be prepared for anything—even if you have a gimmick like a pink gorilla suit.