Stop exporting your why: A preview of the Future of Communications Conference

J.B. Sauceda has sat on both sides of the table. He’s worked in communications, he’s currently a producer and he’s an entrepreneur with a focus on storytelling.

He’ll be taking the stage as one of the hosts at Ragan’s Future of Communications Conference in Austin, Texas, Nov. 11-13. Ahead of that, we sat down with Sauceda to discuss storytelling, media pitching and where to eat BBQ in Austin.

This interview has been edited for brevity and style.

Tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do.

I’ve been in Austin for about 23 years now, and I’ve largely been an entrepreneur my whole life. That’s the overarching umbrella, but I’ve made stops in the editorial and commercial photography world. I was in logistics. I’ve had retail brands that I ran and still run. And more recently, I took over the longstanding show “Texas Country Reporter,” which is the oldest independently produced show on television.

As you look to that future of storytelling, what do you think is going to change, and what do you think is always going to be the same?

I think the value of a great editor is becoming increasingly clear. There’s this incredible democratization of writing and of the ability to produce a lot of it, as a function of AI. What’s not happening, and part of why we have this really bad signal-to-noise ratio problem, is that we’re asking ourselves what we can write and what we can say. We’re not asking ourselves what we should say.

I’ve said this a lot about businesses of all sizes: Resource constraint is a feature, not a bug. It’s really important to ask the why. It’s the Simon Sinek idea: Start with why. That’s a hugely important step. Why are we even saying what we’re saying? Do we need to communicate it at all? I don’t think those questions are really being asked.

What I’m finding is that leaders who can legitimize their message through empathy and emotional reality are becoming even more important. More and more team members, both in large corporations and early-stage startups, tell me their leadership teams are basically on Claude and AI all day, sending 40-page strategy documents or communications that don’t really mean anything. They’re circular and superfluous. I think that’s happening in more and more places. So for communicators to be effective, volume is not the goal. Legitimacy, validity and empathy are becoming even more important, and those are traits AI just can’t achieve.

We’re exporting the work of the why to the people on the receiving end of our message. We’re not taking our responsibility as a society to question what we should even be sending and why, and to really cut through. At the root of that is human connection and empathy for the people on the receiving end. To me, that’s just going to become increasingly important. I think there’s a shift toward a slower pace of communication that a lot of people aspire to.

In your work at “Texas Country Reporter,” what catches your attention and makes for a really compelling pitch for you?

The people whose emails I’ll always open are the folks who know I also have a problem to solve. I have 78 stories a season to fill. If you send me a robust pitch that doesn’t take into account the show I produce or the things I’m concerned with, and that signals no understanding of who I am, you’re at the top of the list of people I’m going to archive immediately.

But if you truthfully make a connection and say something like, “I saw the show recently, and here’s why I think this really straightforward pitch would make sense to you,” and there’s connective tissue, I’ll always answer. Or if someone is sharing something that isn’t even one of their clients, I’ll always answer those emails, too. I always reply and say, “Here’s where you missed. Here’s why this won’t fit perfectly, but more of this thing over here would.” That’s helpful. That’s part of my job.

Early in my career, I was told the best way to communicate is to remember that we have two ears and one mouth. If you’re not listening more than you’re speaking, you’re probably not communicating. You’re just talking at someone. I think that’s a really valuable way to think about connecting with somebody like me, or vice versa, or anybody you want anything from. If you’re not listening to what they need, it’s a non-starter. You’re going to have an uphill climb.

Where should conference attendees check out in Austin?

Everyone’s going to rush out to Terry Black’s Barbecue because that’s the one everybody knows. Truth be told, they’re good, but it’s a chain, and they’ve been around for a minute. If you’re going to do barbecue, I think La Barbecue on the east side is one of the better options, a blend of the old school and the new school. LeRoy and Lewis, which is a bit more of a trek into South Austin, has a Michelin star and is a really cool, great spot. So go out into the city. Don’t hang too close to the conference.

One of the most beautiful things about the city is its environment. The time of year everyone’s going to be here is a really great time to get out on the lake and walk the trail. The Lady Bird Lake trail is, I think, the crown jewel of the city.

If you want to connect with other conference attendees, that’s a great place to do it, too. Just say, “Hey, can we go for a walk for 30 minutes?” That’s a huge ROI in terms of our love for the city and the sorts of things we all love doing when we’re here.

Other really important cultural highlights are the Broken Spoke, one of the oldest honky-tonks in town and still extremely relevant. I go dancing there with my wife. The Continental Club on South Congress is also a really great place to catch music. There’s music pretty much every night.

Join us in Austin.