Why We Write

One of the defining moments of my communications career happened in my first few weeks on the job.

The year was 1999, and I was hired on a six-month contract to write speeches for Ontario Premier Mike Harris.

One day, I was sent to the Premier’s Office to get a file from one of the senior writers’ offices. I knocked timidly on the doorframe, and from inside I heard a voice say: “Go away. Can’t you see I’m busy putting words into the mouth of the Premier?”

A few weeks later, that writer was gone. And twenty years later, I’m still writing speeches — among other things — for a fabulous and diverse group of clients.

That exchange taught me there are two kinds of communications professionals in the world: those who want to make the client sound like them, and those who want to make the client sound like the best version of themselves. In other words — communicators who want to control the client, and those who want to serve the client. And only one of those communications people, it turns out, gets to have a lasting career. That writer didn’t understand why he was there — and that it wasn’t about him.

When I founded LRC just over a year ago, our goal was to help our clients find their own voice, their own story, their own words. Our tagline: “words that get people talking” isn’t a boast about how clever we are. It’s a promise that we will always help our clients be true to their voice, and always be rooted in who our clients are, not who anyone else thinks they should be. (For a great post about authenticity, read what my colleague James Bullbrook has to say about that here).

For LRC, that all starts with the “why.”

One of the first questions we ask new clients is: why do you love what you do? What gets you up in the morning? What gets you excited? Why do you care?

The reason “why” someone does something is always — and I mean always — more interesting than the thing itself. If you jump out of perfectly good airplanes for fun, for example, that’s pretty cool. But the fact is, lots of people skydive. What’s unique to you is why you choose to do it. That’s what turns a factual piece of information (I like to skydive) into the start of a memorable story (because as a kid I watched James Bond movies and every time I jump, I feel like an action hero).

What a lot of leaders and organizations forget is that what makes a person interesting are the same things that make a company interesting — a clear sense of why they do what they do, and an obvious passion and love for doing it. That, together with authenticity and a clear, positive message are why some people can command the attention of everyone in a room, and why others hug the punch bowl.

It’s why some brands are everywhere — and others are invisible.

Helping people and organizations understand that good communications starts with knowing “why” is — to be really meta about it — why LRC exists.

We get excited when we can help our clients clarify the importance of what they do with a passionate, authentic and compelling “why,” and use that to start a captivating story about their work. For us, there’s nothing we like better than standing back, and watching our customers command a room, or any other space they are in.

If that sounds exciting to you, let us know. We’d love to work with you. You can reach us through the “contact” tab above.

And if you’re already one of our customers, watch this space. In the weeks and months ahead, we’re going to blog about all kinds of issues and trends in communications — and we’ll share some of our stories, too. After all, this new website — and our new, expanded company — is a team effort.

Welcome to the new LRC — let’s get people talking, together.