5 essential overlooked soft skills for tomorrow’s communicators

There’s a saying: “May you live in interesting times.” Whether intended as a blessing or a curse, there’s little doubt we are living in interesting times. It’s how we respond that makes all the difference, especially in media relations.

According to Pew Research Center, trust in the media continues to decline to its lowest levels. Trust in corporations, particularly those in the technology sector, is declining as well.

At the same time, newsrooms are being acquired, gutted—and in some cases threatened. Journalists’ resources are squeezed, yet they are often expected to produce more and embrace new forms of storytelling and information sharing. For those of us who have made a career out of bridging this gap, these are interesting times indeed.

As communicators, our job is to help our clients build trust and relevance with their stakeholders—difficult to quantify, yet urgently needed today. And, how we do that is always evolving.

Here are five very important, yet often overlooked soft skills a successful media relations professional needs to lead that evolution that serves today, while aimed for tomorrow:

1. Resilience

You will hear “no” a lot, from reporters, clients, and others. Don’t let it deter you.