“How did I do, PAO?” the leader asked after the interview.
“I have no idea Sir,” the good PAO answers. “We’ll see when the story comes out.”
The crappy PAO picks out the 600 times when the leader repeated the command message. This PAO compliments the leader on his rapport and his effort to really get to know the reporter.
The leader wants to hear this. He wants to know whether he hit the command messages, he wants to know if he said too much or too little, he wants to know if he was articulate.
None of this matters unless our efforts affect the story. Why did you do this interview in the first place? To affect the story.
You can conduct the “best” interview in the world. You can “hit it off” with the reporter. You can show him the deep, inside greatness of your organization but if none of this affects the story than we’ve wasted our time.
Sure, sometimes we engage reporters just to foster relationships. Sometimes we talk in order to prepare for future events.
When it comes to the after action review you have for the interview, wait until the story comes out.
