We’re now officially in the time of year when comms teams wherever you are – internal or agency—are assembling review decks showcasing results: how efforts and campaigns delivered value, contributed to growth and made an impact. I’m doing this, too. But to those metrics, I like to add breakthroughs: how our work overcame barriers and changed perceptions, how AI helped us learn and optimize at levels we hadn’t achieved before, the relationships we created that broke new ground, and decisions we made and paths we pursued that grew brands and reputation and led to meaningful insights. Why do I add this metric? Because behind nearly every major breakthrough in science, technology and business lies human curiosity, connection and the drive to solve – areas where communications thrive.
There are countless proof points in history of people who followed their curiosity to challenge the status quo and break new ground. As usual, I look to healthcare. Alexander Fleming, for example, discovered penicillin while exploring mold that contaminated a petri dish. Wilhelm Röntgen’s investigation of cathode rays led him to discover X-rays which revolutionized medical imaging.
For more current inspo, I look to the visionary scientists I’ve had the privilege to work with for client assignments, some of whom went on to win Nobel Prizes. Two examples are Carolyn Bertozzi (2022, Chemistry) and David Baker (2024, Chemistry), who – at the risk of very serious oversimplification—pioneered transformative new ways to design and develop highly targeted drugs for devastating diseases including cancer and infectious disease.
Of course, while I like to keep my goals lofty, breakthroughs don’t need to reach Nobel-level heights to make important contributions. Every meaningful advance—no matter how “ground-level”—is valuable and makes an impact.
When we break new ground in communications, whether AI-empowered or all-human, consider three areas that drive us forward:
As communicators about brands and company reputation, it is our curiosity that leads us to:
- See the solutions hidden in plain sight
- Meet evolving stakeholder demands and expectations
- Understand the daily challenges, frustrations and aspirations of stakeholders
- Use and development of AI tools that reveal and predict as well as offer efficiencies that change and enhance the everyday
It is our ability to connect that enables us to:
- Break through the cycles of noise and misinformation
- Identify, highlight and amplify the voices of stakeholders
- Find the platforms that stakeholders trust and where they want to engage
- Show the impact of the brand or company on real lives through story
It’s our drive to solve that:
- Shapes narrative we develop to reflect what brands stand for, promise and deliver across every medium. Bob Pearson, a comms and AI leader I’ve known for a long time, refers to brand narrative as our ‘source code’ –the foundation for how we create, tell, share and strengthen the story of our brand.
- Positions us to lead reputation, quantifying risk through data and experience, and guiding organizations through business-critical issues and crises.
- Builds partnerships and collaborations with individuals, families, companies and organizations where successfully tackling a challenge and breaking down barriers to improvements is in everybody’s interests.
Breakthroughs aren’t only about technology or the latest AI tools. I just saw new research from Upwork that found that even the most advanced AI agents often fail to complete straightforward tasks independently. But when paired with human experts, project completion rates soar by 70%. The takeaway: the real power (and the magic) happens when humans and technology work together.
Without question, AI empowers us in our work as communicators, helping us uncover insights, shift perceptions and break through to the other, preferred side of a barrier. Add to this the human relationships and collaborations we create that move the needle. And so much more. These are the product of humans in communications whose break throughs and achievements are worth highlighting – not just in end-of-year decks but all year long.
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