WHAT EXPERIENCE REALLY LOOKS LIKE IN PR. STRATEGY, PERSUASION AND TRUST UNDER PRESSURE
by Nikki Francis-Jones, managing director of The Wilful Group
I’m an avid listener of the excellent BBC Radio 4 podcast When It Hits the Fan, usually while walking my dog across some windswept field. In a recent episode, co-hosts David Yelland, former editor of The Sun and Simon Lewis, former Communications Secretary for Queen Elizabeth II and Comms Chief for Prime Minister Gordon Brown discussed the BBC’s Traitors. Their focus was Rachel, who has made it nearly to the end of the series and was described by The Independent as “undeniably the puppet master of this year’s series”. The detail that apparently flipped Simon Lewis from indifference in the programme to fascination was that ‘traitor’ Rachel is an experienced public relations consultant and head of communications.
Traitors is a show about strategy and persuasion. So is PR, when it is done properly.
An experienced strategic corporate communications adviser is not defined by one output, whether that is a press release, a briefing note or a crisis statement. They are defined by judgement. The value they bring lies in helping leadership teams shape decisions that will stand up to scrutiny whether that is by investors, regulators, staff, partners, journalists or the public. That work is closer to risk management and behavioural strategy than simple execution. It is about narrative discipline, stakeholder psychology as well as credibility under pressure.
That difference is often invisible until you see it play out in an arena where persuasion is the whole point.
Rachel’s performance is compelling because it is not theatrical. It is controlled. As David and Simon point out, she looks relaxed while remaining intensely focused. She persuades without appearing to push. She outmanoeuvres threats without escalating drama. She does something many professionals recognise instantly, she stabilises the room.
Composure that’s Functional
That is the first quality of an experienced PR practitioner: composure that is functional, not cosmetic. Calm is not a personality trait in this line of work. It is a tool. In moments of uncertainty, the most influential person is often the one who does not transmit panic. Leaders are human. Teams are emotional. Stakeholders interpret tone as signal. When pressure rises, composure becomes part of the message, whether you intend it or not.
Narrative Discipline
The second quality is narrative discipline. Inexperienced communicators often mistake narrative for spin or a slogan. In reality, narrative is the organising logic that helps people interpret events. In complex situations, facts rarely arrive neatly. They arrive in fragments. They change. They contradict. The temptation is to react to each new development and call it responsiveness. That is how organisations lose coherence and trust.
Experienced PR professionals are trained to do the opposite. They work out what must remain consistent, what can flex, and what must never be said until it can be proven. They are relentlessly focused on alignment between strategy and messaging, between leadership and frontline, between what is promised and what is actually deliverable.
You can see that in Traitors. Rachel’s advantage is not only that she can persuade people. It is that she keeps the story consistent when the pressure is on. She does not allow the room’s anxiety to rewrite her plot.
Stakeholder Intelligence
The third quality is stakeholder intelligence. Strategic PR is rarely about the media alone. It is about people. What drives them, what are their incentives, fears, loyalties or blind spots? Experienced practitioners quickly map who influences whom, what each player needs to believe, and where the pressure points sit. They understand that authority and influence are not the same. They know that the most important stakeholders are often not the loudest ones.
This is why senior PR is advisory. It is not a service you bolt on after decisions are made. It changes the decision-making itself by forcing leaders to confront how choices will land and what trade-offs they are actually making with reputation and trust. At this level, a strategic corporate communications adviser is valued not for outputs alone, but for their ability to anticipate pressure points, challenge assumptions and protect trust before it is tested publicly.
The ability to convene rather than confront
The fourth quality is the ability to convene rather than confront. Rachel’s manoeuvres, as discussed on the podcast, included neutralising threats by bringing people to her side and persuading them. That is not managing the message. That is coalition-building. In corporate life, convening is how you get alignment across silos, how you prevent internal leaks, and how you create the conditions for a difficult announcement to be received as credible rather than chaotic.
This work is rarely visible. It is pre-briefs, sequencing, pressure-testing arguments, rehearsing leadership responses and making sure behaviour does not contradict words. It is precisely because this work happens upstream that the profession is so often misunderstood.
Ethical judgement
The fifth quality, and the one that separates experienced practitioners from polished performers, is ethical judgement. Traitors raises a delicious question, posed by David Yelland on When It Hits the Fan: does a PR background make you a better traitor or a better faithful? His answer was that you need a bit of both.
In real life, senior communicators must do both simultaneously. They hold confidence while maintaining trust. They protect sensitive information while remaining credible. They advocate fiercely while knowing when restraint is the wiser course. They tell leaders what they may not want to hear, because long-term reputation is built on choices, not statements.
There is also a shadow side that Traitors usefully exposes. Being too controlled, too poised, can raise suspicion. Are you managing the message rather than telling the truth? Experienced advisers understand this tension. They know the difference between disciplined communication and over-engineered messaging. Credibility is created through candour and behaviour that matches the words.
This is the value of experienced PR. It is not publicity. It is counsel.
For anyone starting out in PR, considering whether this is the right profession, or already established and looking for a fresh perspective, I highly recommend downloading every episode of When It Hits the Fan and listen carefully. You may learn more about how reputations are really made and lost than from any textbook or degree course.
This is a career for people who like complexity, who can hold tension without flinching, who can read a room and still speak truth to power.
This work deserves more credit than it gets. And on current evidence, it can make for very good television and radio too.
www.thewilful.com, www.gongcommunications.com, www.cherishpr.com
