Preparing for the Worst, (re)Introduction
The authority on mixternal comms
Heads up!
Rosh Hashanah begins Sep. 25. and Yom Kippur is Oct. 4.
National Manufacturing Day (U.S.A.) is Oct. 7.
It’s open enrollment season. Here are 6 Simple Ways to Improve Your Open Enrollment Emails to Employees (Jellyvision via Happy Monday)
Oh, the Humanity
Russian President Vladimir Putin renewed threats of nuclear war. Besides the crisis comms, how would your team respond if the unthinkable happened? Two articles to get you thinking:
The point is not to be caught off guard should the unexpected (unlikely?) crisis occur. Prepare, prepare, prepare.
Why? Because constantly reacting to world events is a major cause of burnout in our profession.
😖
Staffbase asked three comms pros—including yours truly—how IC pros can best handle anxiety from world events. Here’s what we had to say:
Denisa Orlandea: “It’s important to have a balance between addressing world events and acknowledging the anxiety surrounding them with compassion, curiosity, and care — and being intentional about creating needed reprieves from the constant stream of bad news.”
Andrea Greenhous: “I believe one of the most important roles internal communications professionals play is to listen and understand people in your organization. We don’t do it enough. Listening can and should take many forms, but should largely depend on what’s most comfortable for employees.”
My advice: “Employees who are anxious and scared can smell bullshit. Honesty is the best policy, communicated on a frequent, non-annoying basis.”
Read more in English or German.
Quick Hits
❤️ The big heart behind The Switchboard, Julia Levy, announced the Kindness at Work Honor Roll. The feel-good project recognizes 21 inspiring stories of empathy in the workplace.
✍️ The Storytelling & Writing for Internal Communications conference happens on Sep. 27 (virtual). Friends of Mister Editorial are participating:
Andrea Greenhous is hosting the event and is also running the Strategic Storytelling: Lessons from the Paper Bag Princess workshop.
Zane Ewton is hosting the Take Time To Get The Story Right workshop.
Use code “FALL250” to save $250 on the registration.
🎧 Congrats to Jenni Field on the debut of season three of her podcast, Redefining Communications with Jenni Field! The first four episodes are now live. Each episode is <15 minutes.
👋 Speaking of podcasts. Welcome Infernal Comms, hosted by Staffbase’s effervescent Kyla Sims.
📚 Two new books have been added to the Mister Editorial Bookshop:
The Conscious Communicator: The Fine Art of Not Saying Stupid Sh*t by Janet M. Stovall and Kim Clark
Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More With Less by Mike Allen, Jim Vandehei, and Roy Schwartz
“To anybody who is starting in executive communications, I think the hardest part is really building trust. And also building your self-confidence to be able to speak up with authority about communications and, basically, being a voice for the employees in the room.”
— Natalie Ridsdale, Sr. Director of Employee and Executive Communications at Levi Strauss & Co., on the Cohesion podcast
Hiring
Bloomberg - Global Head of Internal Comms (NYC)
Levi Strauss & Co. - Digital Content and Social Media Specialist (San Francisco)
Natural Capital Group - Communications Strategist (NYC or Washington, D.C.)
Ralph Lauren - Executive Comms Lead (NYC, hybrid)
Spotify - Head of Internal Comms
Read Mister Editorial’s interview with a Spotify comms pro
Walmart - Director, Global Communications—Corporate Affiars, Executive Comms (Bentonville, Arkansas)
XPO Logistics - Manager of Internal Comms (Charlotte, North Carolina)
(re)Introducing Me, Mister Editorial
Hundreds of comms-rades from around the world have joined Mister Editorial in the past month. You come for the industry news, insights, analysis, and best practices.
You also get me, Mister Editorial. In today’s lingo, I am authentically me. My personality and opinions pepper these dispatches. With so many people coming on board recently I thought I’d (re)introduce myself, so you know who you’re dealing with.
I’m Shaun Randol and you can also find me on LinkedIn and Twitter. I’ve done a few interesting things in life, but relevant to Mister Editorial is that I’ve been writing, editing, publishing, and doing comms in various capacities since 2008.
In the comms space I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside and learning from supreme talent at Bloomberg, BlackRock, Splunk, and Lam Research.
The latter, my employer, is where I’m charged with internal and external storytelling, i.e., mixternal comms.
So yea, I work full-time, which means I get up extra early M-F to work on Mister Editorial. I’m a little bit crazy, I guess.
I started publishing Mister Editorial in 2020 for several reasons. I love writing and editing (truly!) and I’m pretty good at comms. So why not combine the two? Hence, Mister Editorial.
We comms-rades work behind firewalls. I’m trying to overcome them in service to our profession.
But the love of vocation and my professional experience isn’t all that defines Mister Editorial.
A Personal Note
A year ago (Sep. 21) I was diagnosed with stage 3b Hodgkin Lymphoma, a rare blood cancer. The doctor gave me four to eight months to live unless we immediately started an aggressive chemotherapy regimen, which we did, and here I am, 12 months later.
The diagnosis came the day before my wedding. Can you imagine that? Yesterday Meredith and I celebrated our one-year anniversary. She is my rock.
I shared this news with Mister Editorial’s readers—the outpouring made me cry—and I’m sharing this all over again for old and new subscribers alike as a reminder…
Life is too short. It’s too short and too precious and too beautiful to let work get you down.
For the past several years our job has been extremely stressful. For whatever reason, this reality is too often unnoticed by leadership.
But I see you.
Just remember: if that thing that’s driving you nuts at work today doesn’t get done…so what? The company will still be in business tomorrow. People will not die. Don’t sweat it. No job is worth your mental and spiritual health and well-being. Family, friends, and love first, always.
If you’ll permit a bit of my Midwestern vernacular … all’s I want to do is keep it real with you. Mister Editorial is nothing without this ever-striving, ever-giving community. Mister Editorial is also, for now, just a guy named Shaun Randol who’s thinking of you, wants you (us!) to succeed, and is giving it his best.
I’ll keep doing what I’m doing and try to get better and better at it.
If there’s anything I can do for you through this vehicle or another, personal or professional, don’t hesitate to reach out.
And if there’s anything I can do to increase the value of this experience, please let me know.
We’re in this together, comms-rades. Just remember to keep it all in perspective.
Shaun
a.k.a. Mister Editorial
❤️
Thank you for being a part of Mister Editorial.
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Disclaimer: Besides running Mister Editorial, I am the editor-in-chief of Digital Publications at Lam Research. The views in this newsletter are my own.
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You're doing wonderful work, Shaun, and it's so great to hear you're happy and healthy. What a difference a year can make.
Thank you 🙏 for the shout out, recognizing kindness and embodying it yourself!