Change Agents, Media, and Message

Government Change Agents must be excellent communicators. In fact, several change agents have hinted at their use of the media to alert others as to what they are thinking, or to test an idea.  During our interview, Admiral Cebrowski noted that he would sometimes communicate with Rumsfeld by means of a timely press interview.  Cebrowski knew that even when half way around the world, the media was certain to get the Secretary’s attention. 

One journalist who commands attention every time he speaks is the legendary Bob Woodward.  He spoke this week at a conference in Tokyo with these words (thanks to the AP for supplying them):

• “We should have been much more aggressive. I’ve thought what I could have done. The only way to find out if WMDs really existed is to get on the ground.”
• “It’s a crazy media environment. We need to slow it down. We need weeks, months or even years to work on stories.”
• “The real impulse is to make the government accountable so we do not get a secret government”
• “The nightmare is that the president gets so closed off, so secretive, so convinced they are doing the right thing or just unable to face the possibility that they’ve made a very, very serious mistake.”

If Woodward is right, and the media gets more aggressive in the future, we should consider the implications for senior executives in government.  The current mentality is that time spent with media outlets is time not spent on the business of government. If journalists get more aggressive, will leaders have enough time to spend with them, and meet their needs for a more robust and analytical story? Woodward’s view of the future means that change agents must be very careful about cultivating relationships with journalists. Change agents may be called to spend more time with fewer journalists, in order shape the larger and perhaps longer stories required to deliver a specific message to the public.

What I love about what Woodward is saying is that the speed and pressure of modern media relations may give rise to a more thoughtful and analytical reporting style. However, in the world of blogs, new media, and decreasing attention spans; only time will tell if Woodward is right and such reporting is actually valued by the market. Nonetheless, change agents take heed.  Woodward knows more than most in Washington at any given point, and he may just be on to something that will eat more and more of your precious time.

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