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As universities, governments, and nonprofits quickly remove Cesar Chávez’s name from streets, buildings, and celebrations, or take down statues of the farmworker rights leader, I’m reminded of the movement a decade ago to remove Confederate imagery and statues. I was in communications leadership at The University of Texas at Austin in 2015 when we took

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With election season in full swing, millions of voters are focused on whom to support — while countless organizations are navigating whom to endorse.  Endorsements, however, are more than just a way to urge members, partners, and the public to get behind a specific candidate. They are also a communications opportunity, a chance to highlight

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While collaborating with a partner organization on a complex and emotionally charged announcement recently, one of its leaders shared an insight about messaging: “So the goal,” he said, “is to get it down to as consumable and quotable a size as possible, without sacrificing the nuance… which is a tremendous balancing act.”  That wisdom — the equivalent of

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When I spent years researching tourism, one pattern kept catching my eye: the checklist traveler. They arrive in Paris with a list: Eiffel Tower, check. Louvre, check. Best Croissant in Paris, check. The trip becomes a sequence of boxes to tick. Efficient? Yes. Memorable? Not always. By racing through the list, many travelers miss the

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Within minutes of President Trump announcing the U.S. missile attack on Iran this June, my inbox, WhatsApp chats, and text threads lit up. Colleagues and clients across sectors were debating whether they should weigh in on the monumental news and what to say.  For some, it was a gut check to confirm there was no

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The first time I worked with a university president, I thought the constant tension between him and the Board of Regents was both historic and unprecedented. I’ve since learned it’s par for the course. That governing board versus executive leadership dynamic has been reinforced by my service on nonprofit boards, where a natural—sometimes productive—tension often exists

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Dear College President, On campuses across the nation, presidents like you are navigating some of the most difficult decisions of their careers just as the semester winds down and they prepare for summer. The pressing need to combat intolerable episodes of antisemitism has evolved into a polarizing conversation about government funding and academic freedom. It’s

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High stakes moments don’t come with a warning.  You just never know when your day will bring some out-of-the-blue disruption, unforced error, or shift in public sentiment that your organization must address. But when that happens, your message becomes just as important as the issue itself. Here are three truths that can help you communicate

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Between presidential executive orders, natural and man-made disasters, and global crises, thebarrage of news in the first weeks of 2025 has rekindled a tough question for many organizations: Should we weigh in on these events — or stay silent? Higher education has been confronting this question over the past 18 months, and there is alsoa robust

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