Trust your gut. Those instinctual vibes that occur in you brain and which you feel at your core. You’ll be happy you did.
Granted, the saying itself may seem trite to some, and really, what does it mean, you might ask.
I’ll tell you what I think.
Sometimes it is as simple as asking the question that pops into your head as a current or future operation, communications plan, or public affairs guidance is discussed. Doesn’t mean you support that position, but it is a question that has to be asked – so be prepared to explain why you are asking, whether to the Commander, the J3, or a fellow PAO. At other times, it means acting on something you learned, either through real world experience or in the school house. Still other times, it may be picking up the phone on an ostensible whim to connect with someone with whom you have an important relationship and neglected too long.
One pertinent example from experience (and the school house). In August 2016, I had arranged a telephonic interview with the Commander (a four-star) and NPR’s Morning Edition. NPR had pitched the point of the interview as getting to know what the four-star, sub-unified Command was all about so Morning Edition’s audience could learn more. What a great opportunity to reach a fairly broad, educated audience, we thought.
We’d talked with the producer and an assistant and were scheduled to speak with the slated Morning Edition host about what we all wanted out of the interview and some ground rules – one primary stipulation being that we could not discuss a particular hot topic at the time due to classification and policy involved (‘you can ask, that’s your job, but we won’t be able to talk about it; so, let’s not waste time’). They agreed. I never spoke with the host (and the Commander never had a pre-game get-to-know you call with the host, which is a great approach). Hey, I trusted the host and the approach NPR generally seemed to take in my experience and the Command agreed to go ahead.
Regardless, at the last minute, a different host (a newer one) was slated due to an apparent conflict in the timing. The hot topic we could not discuss was also freshly hot that week. We could have pulled out (this is a post for another time), but went ahead.
The day of the interview, the Colonel to whom I was the deputy introduced the Commander and the interview over the speaker phone was about to proceed. There was a split second before it kicked off in earnest in which I was going to review the ground rules.
It buzzed in my gut and head, speak up to provide a reminder: ‘as discussed, you can ask about this hot topic, but we cannot discuss, so let’s not waste time,’ I could have said.
Then, I thought, ‘well, the Colonel has taken the lead and although I was the action officer, we’re all professionals, it will be fine.’
The particular Morning Edition host began the interview with a question on the topic we could not discuss. O.k., fine. The Commander answered transparently and forthrightly. The interviewer then asked again in a different way. He went on to continue to ask throughout the interview.
It did not go well.
When NPR ran the story the following morning, the piece became mostly about the hot topic and the host had the gall to state that the Commander was not particularly forthcoming. This was not what I used to with NPR’s approach (again, my experience) and there was almost nothing said about the Command overall, which was supposed to have been the point.
Did the NPR host not get the word from his staff, did he believe the sizzle of the hot topic was worth more than the relationship?
Ridiculous. And avoidable.
Had I reviewed the agreed upon ground rules as the interview started, the host might still have taken the frankly lame approach he did. But, the Command could have benefited from a re-stated, on-the-record review of said agreed upon approach. It may have changed the tone to the Command’s benefit, opening a more natural moment to speak up again to say, ‘hey, let’s move on, because we all agreed this is not a good use of time.’ Maybe the host wasn’t tracking the ground rules at all and the entire thing could have been entirely different.
Missed the opportunity and the Commander, Command, and DoD was put in a poor position at the moment. On a personal, professional note, I temporarily lost some hard earned credibility.
I earned back the trust and the Command kicks ass, so it moved on unsullied. Still. Speak up.
Trust your gut.
