The New York Times

• 83 percent blamed the “culture of big money” in college sports in the past 20 years for Penn State officials’ lack of action.
• 40 percent would discourage their child from choosing a Division 1 institution that places a strong emphasis on sports.
• 72 percent said Division 1 college athletic programs have too much influence over college life.

View the full survey results.

I watch it several times a year with intention and focus, hoping and searching for some new meaning or lesson I have not yet encountered. My appreciation of this movie spans decades and it has continued to gain significance for me over the years. Recently, I opened a new door of meaning for myself. I began to connect themes from my work as a PR professional to the movie’s plot and characters. The new lessons I learn, and those that are re-affirmed for me on a daily basis in my professional role, are mixing with my amygdala and mingling with both shots and lines from the movie.  Some people make sense of their own work-related wisdoms through memes, videos or lists. I attach them to my first true love, Jaws.

I will connect for you the PR lessons I’ve learned with quotes from the finest story ever told. What, you ask, can possibly make me think Jaws has anything to do with public relations? Listen to the plot line (the movie version, not the book—there is a difference) and you may hear a familiar story.

Jaws is about a man trying to convince his community that they need to invest the time, resources and energy to deal with a problem. What he proposes seems out of the question, even though it is for the good of the community. At first, he can only offer his emotional plea, absent the proof his colleagues require. He finally convinces the community to take on this issue following a major crisis. At times, he himself questions the existence of the problem, only to find out that the problem is bigger than he originally thought. He seeks out the support of professionals – one grounded in science, another in experience – and faces his fear of the unknown.

Below are the movie quotes that have particular meaning for me. Suspend your disbelief while I connect a 1975 movie about a shark to PR.

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

This is, perhaps, my favorite quote from the movie. Police Chief Martin Brody says this almost under his breath as he catches a glimpse of the shark for the first time. Until this point, he has seen only blood and maybe a flash of fin and tail, but never the entire shark. In this scene, Chief Brody is chumming the waters, serving as Quint’s deck-hand, losing faith in the mission after a day at sea with no shark-sightings, wondering himself whether there really is a shark. Suddenly, the shark makes an appearance; mouth first, jaws wide-open. Brody realizes at once that he is dealing with something much larger than he ever imagined. But rather than run screaming to the wheel house to turn the boat back to shore, he commits again to the challenge, instantly assessing the tools available to him. One of the best business writing tips I have ever received was to always write in the positive. Using the words “can’t”, “shouldn’t”, “didn’t”, “won’t”, or any variation on the negative contraction is a fast track to losing an argument. Listing what is not present, not available or not possible is never as strong as listing what is. My proof-reading always includes reviewing whatever I have written to make sure I am always stating my position from a place of positive instead of saying that my boat isn’t big enough. People who offer solutions in conjunction with problems often lead the way.

“I’m not going to waste my time arguing with a man who’s lining up to be a hot lunch.”

If you have worked in PR even for a single day, you have experienced push back from a client. Even though they have gone to the trouble of selecting your firm, even though they know they need to participate in Twitter and stop pretending it doesn’t exist, even though they realize they need your support, they will push back. They will ask you, repeatedly, why this matters and they will forget why they hired you. It is the PR professional’s job to fight the urge to say “forget it”, as Jaws’ Hooper does in reference to Vaughn who still isn’t convinced after the deaths that he has a “shark problem.” Dig deep, find your patient root chakra and walk your client through your original pitch. Do so kindly and with compassion. Understand that admitting there is a problem means investing resources; it means acknowledging an area of need and remind them why they selected you in the first place.

“Martin, it’s all psychological. You yell barracuda, everybody says, ‘Huh? What?’ You yell shark, we’ve got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July.”
or
“It’s only an island if you look at it from the water.”

These two lines are classic spin. One issue that Amity, the island location of our shark problem, faces is the potential loss of business if the rumor of a shark-attack spreads. The first line is Mayor Vaughn’s attempt to reason with Brody and convince him not to close the beaches after the second attack. The second line is Chief Brody disregarding the fact that he has a paralyzing fear of water yet lives on an island. It is remarkable what we can accomplish with the right message. We can prevent escalation of a major issue or even ignore the problem altogether. Message is critical and informs how the world sees us and more importantly, betrays our secret way of seeing the world.

“My husband tells me you’re in sharks.”

If you are in PR, you have had to explain to someone, at some point, what you do for a living. This sometimes inspires questions, sometimes perplexing looks and sometimes it stirs the person to move on to someone else, hoping their vocation is something more tangible. When Hooper, the scientist, first arrives at Brody’s house, Mrs. Brody greets him and in an effort to fill the awkward silence, engages him about his work. He attempts to explain why it is that he does what he does. No easy feat for a PR professional, I mean, shark scientist.

“Love to prove that, wouldn’t ya? Get your name into the National Geographic.”

At the end of the day, clients want press; good, high-level, nationally-recognized press. They don’t necessarily want to work their way there, can’t see the value in engaging reporters through meetings or participating in the blogosphere but they do want their organization featured immediately with ebullient descriptions of their work in the publication of their choice. Now this is, I’ll admit, not what the speaker was referring to when he uttered this quote but give me a break.

So, whether it’s sharks or good PR, the hunt is quite the same. We ALWAYS need a bigger boat, we are often served up as live bait, it is indeed psychological, and ultimately we ARE “in sharks”! Just stay focused on the ultimate goal: getting that name into National Geographic!

Read “Class Matters. Why Won’t We Admit It?” here.

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