For Immediate Release Archives

Jun 30, 2022

FIR #265: Fired Over Zoom

As the economy cooks, inflation ratchets up, and interest rates rise, some companies are faced with laying off staff. As we have moved to remote and hybrid work,…

Jun 21, 2022

FIR #264: On Background

From the title of this episode, you might think we were talking about company sources going on background when speaking to a reporter. (Quick advice: Don’t. Either be…

Jun 20, 2022

FIR #263: It’s Alive! (AI, That Is. Or Is it?)

In the monthly long-form episode for June, Neville and Shel consider a Google employee's claim that the company's AI has become sentient, the reactions the claim has provoked,…

Jun 14, 2022

FIR #262: You’re Hired! Or Not…

In the tech industry, there’s a trend: Rescinding offer letters as a cost-cutting measure. In this short episode of “For Immediate Release,” Neville and Shel explore the PR…

Jun 7, 2022

FIR #261: Crossing the Line When Surveilling Employees on Social Media

As it faced a unionization effort, Tesla contracted with a PR agency (where one of its communication directors once worked in an executive capacity) to spy on employees,…

Jun 3, 2022

FIR #260: Grappling with Authenticity

We all know that leaders should strive for authenticity. What does that mean, exactly? It’s easy to say authenticity is being who you are, but when you’re meeting…

May 26, 2022

FIR #259: Trust Rises in Companies That Left Russia

A new mid-year Trust Barometer is out from Edelman, and the news is excellent for most things Western (and bad for all things autocratic). Who in the West…

May 23, 2022

FIR #257: Purpose Vs. Polarization

For the past several years, momentum has been building as more and more organizations -- recognizing public expectations that they take steps to address social and environmental issues…

May 19, 2022

FIR #256: Comms Influence in the C-Suite

The COVID-19 pandemic created a host of new communication pressures on company leaders, so they, in turn, leaned on their communicators, who evidently came through for them in…

May 17, 2022

FIR #255: How TikTok Makes Spreadsheets Cool

Micro-learning is the formal label for the upbeat, music-backed TikTok videos that demonstrate how to accomplish tasks on Excel, Microsoft’s ubiquitous spreadsheet tool. The videos are racking up…