A business case for Public Engagement
I’ve recently been reading the 80 Minute MBA by Richard Reeves and John Knell.
Not an immediately obvious source for thoughts on public engagement but by chance here’s the passage I was reading yesterday from the chapter on what used to be called Marketing, and what they have down as Conversation (pp108-110)…
“The internet and new forms of social software and social media are affording consumers the ability to contribute to as well as receive information…. Everyone used to be a viewer, reader or listener. But now everyone can also be a broadcaster and content provider…
These weapons of mass conversation allow thousands upon thousands of individuals and communities to create content, share ideas and interests, talk to each other, talk to you, leave recommendations, share networks and causes and build or break brand reputations. We are no longer passive consumers but active producers.”
They go on to comment about how companies, products and markets are increasingly built by conversation and quote Theodore Zeldin, “When minds meet, they don’t just exchange facts; they transform them, rehsape them, draw different implications from them, engage in new trains of thought. Conversation does not simply reshuffle the cards, it creates new cards.”
So for an organisation involved in public engagement - a cultural company or university, even health services and science research companies, the business case is the same. Your continued existence and success in working with potential public relies on conversation, dialogue and exchange rather than older models of ‘knowledge transfer’.
For me what matters is - is public engagement something you do to people - or something you explore with them?
