The drama of dying flowers
#PRChurch and the valley of death
The drama of dying flowers
I am knee deep in a big strategy build – another big one across Africa – and so I am in messy, avoidance, reading anything and everything, waving my fist at the sky, doing barefoot squats on the grass territory.
One of the most poignant things I came across this week was basically about how we have to use something in order to be able to build something in order to be able to lead something.
And it brought me back to that January 2020 moment of starting K.A. Muses Consultancy. A flat structure. Getting your hands dirty. Doing the work again. There are very few people that get into PR and strategic communications that want to sit in finance meetings, HR meetings, operational meetings, exco meetings, board meetings etc etc. The thing you are GOOD at is what you move further and further away from.
But many people do thrive on hierarchy and climbing that ladder. Five years later I know where our sweet spot groove point is at. You have to be a PR practitioner if you are going to be a PR leader. You have to be a PR practitioner if you want to be a PR strategist. I absolutely refuse for anyone on my team to build a campaign and then delegate it for execution – your idea / concept - you breathe life into it.
Which brings me to another funny moment in a presentation I attended, where the host said that executing an idea is like navigating the valley of death. Which is so true. Lordt! Clutches pearls. That launch moment and first week is do or die. It’s where experience allows for fluidity and flexibility and being opportunistic. It is where knowledge turns to wisdom. And where iteration shows learning and pivoting. It is about bespoke teams with the eye on the prize.
Where else is my head at?
“Are you thriving or just managing dysfunction?”
“What’s no longer working?”
“When a house manages to impart that feeling on their audience for the allotted fifteen minute showtime, they’ve nailed something that goes way beyond marketing. They’ve put their little mark on the psyches of the people in the audience, whose job, in turn, is to transmit that feeling to their own audiences.”
“Form and function”
“Nowhere”
“Hot cross biscuits”
“Myrrh and Tonka”
“Cowboy core”
“To move fast in setting up these projects the state, the PIF and its subsidiaries hired armies of consultants to beef up their workforces – a practice known as body-shopping – including from the so-called Big Four consultancy firms.”
“This week’s eclipse shook loose the patterns and narratives you’ve outgrown in your communal life.”
“It’s incredible – but also deeply sad – to see how creatives like Galliano, McQueen, Tom Ford, and Marc Jacobs revolutionised the industry, yet how fashion shifted from artistic expression to corporate-driven business. Unfortunately, profitability now outweighs creative consistency, and we’re seeing the effects more than ever.”
“The ego says: if it hurts, cover it up, run from it, numb it with addictions, avoid it at all cost. The soul says: “If it hurts, then hard as it is, turn towards us, see it, be present with it, give it your love and compassion … for you cannot cut off a part of yourself and feel whole.”
“Monocle. Live better. Read more.”
“Ukraine supplies Russian drone pilots with exploding goggles. The operation involved GUR operatives acquiring a large batch of goggles, modifying them and then distributing them through volunteers posing as donors, said the people involved.”
“Legally, by not acting against what is effectively hate speech on a WhatsApp group or by not calling for action or exiting, you end up being a tacit endorser of actions and therefore as legally liable as xxx. Damn right you called it out and exited.”
“Eclipses are an accelerated time of change and growth. The choices you make now will affect your life for years to come.”
“Canada, meet your new cabinet. We’ve built a smaller, focused and experienced team that is made to meet this moment.”
“Sometimes I just start a sentence and hope it ends well”
“Visionary energy is here to create new routes that is why their path is so undefined”
“Disney can’t even host a real premiere (for Snow White) in Los Angeles, and they can’t have an open red carpet with wide press coverage. Instead, the March 15th premiere will be limited to still photographers, no TV / media outlets and an in-house Disney team trying to put a bow on this catastrophic exercise.”
“And when that voice returns—it doesn’t always speak in words. It might arrive as an ache in your chest. A sudden intolerance for things you used to tolerate. A quiet refusal to betray yourself one more time. It might come as clarity. Or as chaos.”
“There is no perfect way to begin again. But begin we must. Not because you need to fix anything. But because you deserve to walk into the next version of yourself fully awake.”
“Wilderness”
“I’m looking at you posting all them politics but not building a thing.”
Let’s mic drop at that. She was never bored because ….
Here’s to all of us building things, wrapping up another financial year end and being courted for acquisition. Keep doing you boo. Look how the universe is conspiring to support you.
Much love xx
KA