I’ve had the opportunity to interview quite a few prospective employees and interns during my time with WordWrite Communications. When it comes time to ask them whether they have any questions for me, usually, in one way or another, they ask, “What kind of person are you looking for to fill this role?” 
One of the first answers I give, having come to learn it from my experience as a PR practitioner at WordWrite, is, “You need to be curious about the world around you.”
In other words, you need to ask questions – “beautiful questions,” as I’ve recently read about.
Ironically, this is the same answer I’d give any business leader looking to hire a public relations firm who might ask, “What should I look for in a public relations firm?”
Beautiful questions.
So what are beautiful questions? Business journalist Warren Berger has written a new book, A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas. I read a short interview with him in the March 2014 issue of Inc. magazine. Berger described a beautiful question as one that “reframes an issue and forces you to look at it in a different way. It challenges assumptions and is really ambitious.”
Berger, who has written for the New York Times, GQ, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Reader’s Digest, and Business 2.0, has interviewed and studied hundreds of the world’s leading innovators, designers, and creative thinkers to analyze how they ask fundamental questions, solve problems, and create new possibilities.
The premise here is that beautiful questions beget beautiful, successful innovations. Here’s an example from Berger’s book. “What if we could map the DNA of music?” Answer: Pandora.
So what does this have to do with the practice of public relations?
Being curious – asking questions – to understand how business works, or, for that matter, how the world works, is essential to providing sound strategic counsel to clients. Being able to speak the same language as the business leaders we are serving, beyond the ability to drop a little jargon, is a big step to becoming a trusted adviser. Helping them connect the dots between strategic communications and their business goals cannot be done effectively without a sophisticated understanding of the world around us – politics, finance, public affairs, international news, business trends, to name a few.
Taken one step further, asking clients beautiful questions – questions that, as Berger suggests, begin with the phrase, “How might we … ” – moves us beyond tactics and into the rarefied air all communications consultants seek: advisor to the C-suite on important business strategies and objectives.
Yes, as a public relations practitioner, one must be expert in developing relationships with and pitching stories to the media; a master of the latest social media channels with the ability to integrate them into a broader communications plan; and, of course, a strong writer. But those are table stakes, necessities simply for entrance to the game, so to speak.
WordWrite is a team of trusted advisors to our clients, providing insight and value that goes far beyond the parameters of the communication services we deliver.
We’ve asked ourselves the question, “How might we create the most valued public relations model in the world?” The answer, in part: StoryCraftingSM.
We’re strategic communications consultants, but like Apple completely changed what we believed computers could do, like Starbucks completely transformed the act of having a cup of coffee into an experience and destination, we’re changing the way public relations is practiced. And story is central to that.
We take the same approach, the same mindset, to collaboratively working with our clients to solve their problems as we do to telling their story. Many times, they are one and the same.
Download our whitepaper below on why stories matter in business, and find out how we might help you more innovatively and effectively tell your story.
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Jason Snyder is a senior vice president for WordWrite Communications. 
