The double-edged sword of Public Relations ⚔️

Since I wrote about the spy balloon a few weeks ago, international relations between the United States and China haven’t improved.

Last week Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs hosted an event with Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence.

Ms. Haines was being interviewed and, seemingly given a long rope with which to reply to the statement, “Tell us what you can about the balloon.”

If I were acting Chief Communications Officer for the government entity with which Ms. Haines works, I would have had a hard time in the post interview de-brief.

Reason being, my advice to clients and colleagues is to always make the human connection as early as possible in interviews. State your thesis or value proposition early and often. Ms. Haines did just that. She was having a lively professional discussion with the interviewer, Keren Yarhi-Milo, the Dean of Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. She had delivered the keynote and was then being interviewed by another brilliant female; score one for the ladies, right?!

Step back for a minute. Ms. Haines was attending the event, “A Conference on Today’s Competitive Geopolitical Landscape”, as the keynote speaker. Secretary Hilary Rodham Clinton was participating and panel sessions were to focus on nuclear war theory and great power competition. A joke factory this was not.

So here sits Ms. Haines and Ms. Yarhi-Milo post keynote. Knowing the sensitivity of the topic, Ms. Yarhi-Milo asks her guest to comment, to whatever extent she can, on the spy balloon incident(s).

Some giggles come from the audience, because, let’s face it, this whole thing is sort of crazy, and Ms. Haines laughter a little too. She then goes on to reference Veep, the HBO comedy who’s protagonist loves to say, “Politics is about people.” She likens the balloon situation to an episode of the show.

Queue Meet the Press’ producers who played the exchange before introducing the Sunday morning show’s panelists.

My point is, Ms. Haines did everything right — she has risen to the top of her field, she delivered a poignant keynote, and she connected with her interviewer, in a light-hearted exchange. Instead of being celebrated, Chuck Todd was able to tear her down — is she not giving proper weight or attention to this international issue? Does she not know how serious this is?

Using Ms. Haines as a political lightening rod is yet another reason to #FireChuckTodd . But the bigger issue is, why are we criticizing people with big, important jobs, who are also human? Is fair to call out a woman who was probably relieved the keynote was behind her, and wanted to have a low-key “fireside chat,” even with a smile or two to connect with the audience?

This post is to thank Ms. Haines for her work for the United States, and to give a lady a pass for being human and relatable, even when discussing an unbelievable situation.