2010 - Public Relations Society of America
2010 - Public Relations Society of America
2010 - Public Relations Society of America
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Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Clare Morgan at Oxford notes that poetry is valued for the business<br />
strategist in ways that are not normally understood in the business world. She states: “<br />
Reading poetry, for example, generates conceptual spaces that may be different from the<br />
spaces available to business strategists. These spaces are different because they are<br />
associative rather than causal; are imaginative rather than deductive; <strong>of</strong>fer new ways <strong>of</strong><br />
assessing relations between things; and encourages a radical skepticism about the nature<br />
<strong>of</strong> fact,” (Morgan, <strong>2010</strong>, p. 23).<br />
The Boston Consulting Group decided to join forces with Oxford to promote<br />
poetry in the pr<strong>of</strong>essions because it recognized the discipline <strong>of</strong> strategy has <strong>of</strong>ten been<br />
reduced to a narrow toolbox, and what was needed was a broader appeal that poetry can<br />
bring to business problems. Poetry is starting to make its way in the field <strong>of</strong> advertising<br />
and public relations. An ad for the Wonderbra states: Wonderbra for the way you are.<br />
This is communicated with a device T.S. Eliot coined as the auditory imagination. It has<br />
suggestions and meanings that resonate with the words <strong>of</strong> the ad that go beyond mere<br />
logic. Morgan et al (<strong>2010</strong>) notes “ that the beyond logic message goes something like<br />
this: If you don’t buy this bra, before long you may find you are a non-woman.” This<br />
device <strong>of</strong> auditory imagination helps the writer <strong>of</strong> ads or public relations material expand<br />
his or her message to the consumer that does not depend solely on logic or fact. In short,<br />
the poetic words in the ad for the Wonderbra reaches the consumer’s mind in a totally<br />
pleasing way that can affect the decision to purchase the product.<br />
From the research at Oxford and the work <strong>of</strong> the Boston Consulting Group, it<br />
appears that one can also teach aspects <strong>of</strong> values and ethics with poetry. For instance, the<br />
researchers believe that poetry can help strip away the old ways <strong>of</strong> seeing events and help<br />
an executive review the situation with the freedom <strong>of</strong> a new perspective. The Frost poem<br />
“ The Road Not Traveled” is a very good example <strong>of</strong> complex decision-making at a<br />
critical junction in life. In the case <strong>of</strong> business leaders from Toyota and BP, for example,<br />
they could examine recent decisions that led to dire consequences for the public by not<br />
taking alternative roads albeit more expensive and time consuming. This approach could<br />
be the springboard <strong>of</strong> a large-scale public airing on topics important to the <strong>America</strong>n<br />
consumer and global citizens.<br />
Poetry, Values and Decision Making<br />
Poetry, in many ways, can help shape or reframe our values. It is the power <strong>of</strong><br />
poetry to move a pr<strong>of</strong>essional by showing him or her an alternative viewpoint and giving<br />
him or her a chance to practice moral courage. The image, rhythm, sound pattern and<br />
syntax <strong>of</strong> the poem give rise to feelings that help us think deeply about important issues<br />
or messages. And, it may make us also look at issues and messages from different angles<br />
as a detached observer.<br />
In his book Changing Minds, Harvard educator Howard Gardner argues “artists<br />
changes minds different from scientists and leaders <strong>of</strong> nation. Artists rather than<br />
employing theories, ideas, and concepts, tend to introduce new ideas, skills, and<br />
practices” (Morgan et al <strong>2010</strong>, p 166). New movements and shifts in art, music, and<br />
poetry <strong>of</strong>ten change the way we see ourselves in the world, a good reason to study poetry<br />
and make it part <strong>of</strong> our working life. At West Point, the study <strong>of</strong> poetry has become part<br />
<strong>of</strong> a cadet’s life on campus. Cadets at the Point spend sixteen weeks studying poetry from<br />
the ancients to the present day. Lt. General James Lennox who has responsibility for the<br />
West Point curriculum believes that poetry is important to the development <strong>of</strong> the highest<br />
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