I’ve spent most of my career as a professional ghost.
Hours spent along the back wall of conference rooms, scribbling notes while executives speak to board members, journalists, or even themselves.
Days spent whiling away on draft after draft of high-stakes keynotes, commencements, and op-eds.
Years spent as witness and accomplice to the best (and worst) leadership moments, seeing what courage and ego and empathy and indecision can do to people and organizations.
I’ve learned a lot—and realized it’s time to step out of the shadows.
Modern communications is a messy business. It’s a high stakes game that’s next to impossible to win: speak up or stay silent, you’ll face criticism either way.
How do we show up in an environment like this? It’s the question plaguing every communicator I meet with: both the communications practitioners I call my peers and the leaders we work with who want to do something meaningful with their platforms.
I’m launching Pluck to help find an answer.
Why “pluck”? Communicators are going to need to embrace and embody all aspects of the word to create fireproof messages that resonate.
Pluck can be a quality—the spirit and fearlessness to tackle any challenge thrown your way.
Pluck can be a mindset—a willingness to pull yourself from a place of comfort and into the unknown.
Pluck, most importantly, can be an impact—a reverberation that changes the atmosphere and people around you.
My great hope is that Pluck can be all these things—and more—for you. So join me here—on the first Friday of every month—for new dispatches on why the future of communications is fearless.
Pluck: A Newsletter for Fearless Communicators is produced by Justine Adelizzi, an award-winning speechwriter and communications leader. She is the founder of FEARLESScomms, a coaching and consulting firm dedicated to creating fearless communicators.