“Passion is the ultimate multiplier ofhuman effort,” said Polly LaBarre. “Find yourpurpose, be who you say you are and knowwhat ideas you’re fighting for.”

As a founding member ofFast Companyand the editorial director of MIX, LaBarre saysthat the magazine aims to promote ideas aboutleading, succeeding, innovating and trying newthings.

And at the Oct. 13 General Session, sheshared lessons on how to be more resilient andengaging, noting that only 13 percent ofemployees are engaged at work.

She began by quoting Ralph WaldoEmerson: “There are always two parties, theparty of the Past and the party of the Future;the Establishment and the Movement.”

“There is no old media or new media,”LaBarre said. “There’s just the space betweenyou and your audience.” So you need to homein on your purpose and start a movement.

“Today, your message is not your own,”she said. It’s fodder for comments and retweets.“We can’t control the conversation but we canhost it.”

To do this, you need to “get rid of that jar-gon monoxide and speak human,” she said,adding that buzzwords, acronyms and abstractand technical terminology don’t mean any-thing.

“Everybody who is honest is interesting,”LaBarre said, offering the following advice:

• Stand for something.• Cultivate your innovation DNA.• Lead without authority.

We’re all inventors, producers and artists,

she said. Thinking like anartist is important to col-laboration and innova-tion. So we have to takerisks to find out how tounleash our true humanpotential. “How do you

art as a team sport?” she asked. “Puteveryone on the same team.

By working together, learningand evolving we can create connec-tions that help tap into new ideas,which are resources for an organiza-tion’s success. “Invite a weirdo tolunch — you will learn something,”she said. “And leadership is a functionthat is not about where you sit, butwhat you can do.”

To add value and inspire creativ-ity, she said, remember these neworganizing principles:

• Coordination happens with-out centralization.

• All ideas compete on equalfooting.

• Power comes from sharing, nothoarding.

• The wisdom ofthe many trumps theauthority of the few.

• Novel view-points get amplified.

• Mediocrity getsexposed.

• Intrinsicrewards matter mostof all.

“Are you learning as fast as the world ischanging? Do you ask more questions than yougive answers?” LaBarre asked. “Argue for thepower of curiosity over certainty. You have todevelop a first-person experience with thefuture.”

TACTICS November 2014 13

#prsaicon

Fast Company’s Polly LaBarre on Inspiring Ideasand Adding ValueBy Amy Jacques

Following her General Session,Fast Company co-founder PollyLaBarre spoke with TacticsManaging Editor Amy Jacques.

In your speech, you said, “Yourmessage isn’t your own — it’sfodder for comment. We can’tcontrol the conversation, butwe can host it.” What didyou mean by that?

We live in a worldwhere the notion of controlis giving way to a more diverseset of voices and authority-phobicpopulation — everybody has theopportunity to weigh in, speakup, tweet, retweet, meet up andchallenge authority.

And that’s the soup you’reswimming in as PR professionals.It’s a tough gig, right? You can nolonger control the conversation,as hard as you work to shape it

beautifully. The second it’s outthere, it’s out there, and it’s imme-diate fodder for critique, com-ment, retweet.

What you can do, though, issomething that might be poten-tially more powerful: You can hostthe conversation. You can connectyour audience and constituents toeach other and to sources of

inspiration and opportuni-ties that are relevant. Youcan host a community that,ultimately, is on your team.

And that’s much more powerfulthan a bunch of customers whoare being broadcast to you.There’s a lot of opportunity, butthere’s a lot of uncertainty andnoise and confusion in the sys-tem, so it’s certainly a challenge.

With different stimuli comingat people from all directions, allthe time, what’s the best way to

reach your consumer?The new answer is the old

answer: At the core, you have tohave a deeply human, authentic,compelling story that you’retelling. Brand is culture and cul-ture is brand, and it’s true for anykind of messaging. Messagingisn’t messaging — it’s how do youcreate a seamlessness betweenwho you are at home and whoyou are in the marketplace?

That starts with having awell-defined and articulated pointof view about what you’re tryingto do in the world and why it’s dif-ferent from everybody else, andliving that as a set of values insidean organization. People can detectsomething that’s high-gloss,something that’s a message. Whatbreaks through today is some-thing that’s human, emotional,raw — maybe even a little messy.People have a tolerance for

halfway polished work inprogress.

And that powerful lesson isthat sharing is a way of buildingtrust. When you invite your com-munity or audience in and havesomething relevant to offer, bepart of the conversation — helpus figure it out together. You notonly create better solutions andmessaging, but you also create alot of commitment and energygoing forward.

What makes a powerful story-teller, and also an innovativeone?

Powerful storytelling —we’re always perfecting this ashuman beings, but it does go backto this original set of ideas, thisauthentic ambition to do some-thing different and meaningful.You’ve got to have the raw materi-als to tell a great story. And having

that point of view is so crucial.For a lot of organizations, espe-cially big brands that have beenaround for a while, the questionis: If you don’t have that, where doyou get it? How do you excavatethe ruins of the company to findit? And surprisingly, it exists inevery organization because anytime human beings come togeth-er to try to do something that’sbigger than themselves, there isthat original spark of what youwould set out to do. Often, thebest way to excavate or develop asense of purpose is to, on the onehand, go back to your past, andthen, on the other hand, go out toyour community. And that idea,that search for a sense of purpose,can be a fruitful exercise, but it’sone that you have to undertakeand realize that honesty, authen-ticity and human language are atthe core.

An Exclusive Q-and-A with Polly LaBarre

Q&A