Road Trip Serves Up Important PR Reminder

Summer road trips have begun for the Brown family. Our first excursion took us to Arkansas. An interesting exchange in the backseat between my mother-in-law and four-year-old son was the inspiration for this blog post. My mother-in-law was lamenting about the copious amount of door dings that pepper our four door sedan. “People are so rude these days!” she said. “No they’re not,” said my son from his car seat. “Yes they are!” she fired back. “No they’re not,” he said flatly once more. The conversation reminded me of two things: that only having one child has its advantages, and that our own bias can get in the way of effectively communicating to our audience groups.

After four years of life, my son believes that people are inherently good – and I hope that never changes. However, my mother-in-law genuinely believes that during the last five decades mankind has become meaner and, more specifically, less careful when opening car doors. I suspect no one is actively studying the number of door dings on our vehicles as it relates to uncaring door handlers. Were people more careful in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s? My guess is no. What changed is my mother- in-law’s perception of the general public. The last three decades haven’t been easy for her, and her job at a big box retailer provides a front row seat to mankind’s worst behavior.

There’s nothing I can do to change her perception. Her beliefs are firm. What I can do is draw from this experience as a poignant reminder of why it is important to remember my own bias on various subjects and how important it is to keep it out of what I write for varying audience groups.