bout de papier, Vol. 29, No. 1 (2015), pp. 36–37
GUERILLA COMMUNICATIONS, by Eduardo del Buey, 2014, Friesen Press, Victoria, B.C., 155 pp.
SPOKESPERSONRY: A GUIDE TO CONNECTING, by Eduardo del Buey, 2015, Friesen Press, Victoria, B.C., 165 pp. Www friesenpress com
Eduardo del Buey is a consultant in Washington, D.C. and worked close to four decades as a Canadian diplomat. He served at six Canadian missions and as the official spokesperson at the Organization of American States and the Commonwealth and as a deputy spokesperson for the Secretary General of the United Nations. He is also the author of two new and interrelated books.
Guerilla Communications is a practical guide to effective communications, no matter one’s place in an organization. It begins by discussing context, the importance of internal and external communications and of networking. It then addresses the tools of the trade, from the role of the spokesperson, to press releases, conferences, speeches, effective messaging and crisis communications. It is well organized, pithy at just 155 pages, disarmingly simple, funny and wise. Divided into 19 short parts, its logic is easy to follow. Del Buey marshals his arguments and lets the reader follow his reasoning so that we come share his insights and conclusions.
Presumably responding to client needs as a consultant and trainer, del Buey’s second book, Spokespersonry, provides further insights on how organizations can use “spokespersonry” to achieve their major communications objectives and connect effectively with the audience. Del Buey explains that this is best done by arousing feelings in the audience through words, images, stories and props (creating a “wow” moment), and by engaging in honest discourse. The story and its delivery must be fully researched and consulted, using internal and external assets, anticipating all contingencies, most importantly potential or current crises. He illustrates his basic thesis by moving the reader crisply through six chapters that cover much of the same territory as his first book. However, there is much greater emphasis on crisis communications and the art of presentation. These cover almost two thirds of the book’s 166 pages; the remaining third are about setting the bar realistically (not promising more than you can deliver), and adapting your communications “endgame” to respond to changing circumstances in real time.
Both books are greatly strengthened by the way that the material is organized and by the story telling approach del Buey advocates. He practices what he preaches. Parts/sub parts, chapters/sub chapters, are kept brief. All are enlivened by the extensive use of anecdotes and quotes. The chapter on Crisis Communications in the second book has 20 different case studies compressed into in 62 pages. That results in two books that are highly readable and memorable. The reader is able to connect to the messages in the stories, to relate them to her/his work situation, to benefit from the experience of those described, and from the lessons and knowledge that they impart. Clearly del Buey has been collecting his anecdotes and quotes for decades, no doubt supplemented by relevant anthologies and the wonder that is the internet search function.
Del Buey’s focus is on professional technique, stressing the importance of sound preparation and execution. The “how to” takes precedence over the “why”. He does address the latter but no more than he, and likely his editor, judge necessary to his purpose. This makes for a tightly presented, compelling read but leaves the reader wanting more of the back story on how precisely a spokesperson, and her/his team, would negotiate both a suitably flexile and comprehensive mandate from senior management at the outset, and for the later, inevitable re-calibrations.
The much greater emphasis in the second book on crisis communications and changing your endgame may reflect an account the reality of judgments and decisions made in real time that are almost always based on imperfect information. Such constraints acknowledged, del Buey also seems to be saying: “Yes, yes, of course, but in the end, you must get on with the task at hand”.
All good advice for a seasoned professional, but how does a spokesperson, faced with sometimes deep disagreements over an organization’s mission, navigate ethical and substantive challenges without overcomplicating the message? Del Buey tackles that question at various points in both books by making specific reference to pertinent case studies.
The lessons del Buey imparts are serial, cumulative and useful for communications practitioners. But what about others in the organization? I concluded that they would have been well-served if he had aggregated his insights in a more systematic way into a chapter or special section. That would have facilitated the ability of the spokesperson or communications practitioner to engage other colleagues in developing a communications policy and strategy as well as the necessary products and service ideas, and delivering them within the broader framework of the organization’s business lines and programming.
The benefits of such an approach would work both ways. Other colleagues need to engage with the spokesperson, to convince her/him of the relevancy and importance of their work as part of a broader corporate communications strategy. Given the expertise that the spokesperson’s team has in engaging with senior management and target audiences, such a symbiosis seems imperative for the successful marketing of seminal ideas and key messages. That lacuna aside, these books remain very useful because employees as a whole – and every organization has its share of introverts – can learn about being themselves pro-active in promoting the communications expert’s ideas (both to help secure senior management support and to see such ideas translated into communications products). In sum, for a truly successful communications effort, every relevant member of the organization should work to achieve his or her own “wow” moment.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 29, No. 1 (2015), pp. 36–37. Read the rest of this issue →
