Admittedly, it is hard to keep up with all the trends in communications. I started learning how to code websites with HTML almost 25 years ago. I later learned CSS and Java Script. Along the way, I learned Photoshop, Illustrator, In Design and Quark. Most of the websites I build now are WordPress sites, but I can still manipulate the raw code when it is needed.
I got my first Mac when I was living in New York City, right about the time the Apple Store came to SoHo. At that time, anyone could just hang out at the genius bar and soak it all in. It was a creative gold mine for me and helped me master Garageband, iMovie and Final Cut. I cringe now to think about what my early podcasts of short movies where like, but it was great experience.
I produced Conversations with Macrina weekly for three years. Basically, the podcast was a dialogue about faith and culture between myself and another guest. Around the same time, I started interning at Salt and Light Television, Canada’s National Catholic Media Foundation. There, I produced a few 30 minute documentaries, the most notable of which captured my service with the Holy See Mission at the United Nations.
As a result of this work, I began researching and thinking a lot about the intersection point between technology and spirituality. That led to a number of speaking engagements across Canada and the United States. My fundamental belief is that our use of technology has had an effect on our mental health and ability to tolerate preferences or ideas other than our own. Before everything was so customized, we had to listen to commercials to hear our favourite song; we had to fix our schedule in order to watch our favorite program; we had a limited number of stations so we watched things we did not always like. In short, we had more tolerance for what we did not like because we had to.
However, communications is far more than technology; it is the capacity for story-telling. I always loved watching the great interviewers on television because they crafted their question so well. My belief is that the right question is a pursuit worthy of a lifetime of study. How we tell a story is an art form in and of itself.
Strategically, I find particular enjoyment in brand development and awareness, especially at the non-profit level. Brand development is akin to mission development as it forces an organization to ask questions about what it is truly about and who it truly serves. Brand strategy also allows organizations to think about who they are not reaching and why? Quality brands have an ability to transcend the divisions culture, yet also respecting the differences.
Because I have lived all over the world, I have an immense respect for the diversity of culture and thought. I firmly believe that everyone should live in a country where they are not only the minority, but do not speak the native language. Each time I have been required to do this, my appreciation for non-verbal forms of communication, as well as perspective, grows.
Communication is all about relationship, so the trick is forming a relationship with your audience. This not only takes a bit of time, it requires the humility to listen more than you speak and the willingness to offer some vulnerability. This is my problem with most blogs: they simply play it safe, not allowing for some kind of vulnerability.
In addition to this kind of humility, great communicators always find a way to teach someone about something. There has to be a take-away – something work repeating.
As a result of offering homilies on an almost daily basis, I am quite adept at simplifying complex ideas in a very short amount of time. Though my better half says I have a tendency to talk too much, most people would say I am very direct and appreciate my “economy of words.”