ob was not only to anticipate problems, but to convince others of the seriousness of those problems and to help find solutions to them. Doing one-third of the job didn't give me any bragging rights. Public relations is full of people who believe that their job is to be the "corporate conscience." Unfortunately, these people tend to be all mouth and no hands. They tend to forget that they represent a busi- ness. To them, price increases are a disaster. Layoffs are a catastrophe. Controversy is an occasion of sin. Like Chicken Little, they are univer- sally ignored or, on their best days, humored. At some point, every company has to face up to economic realities. An effective PR counselor will understand the business he or she represents as well as any of the other senior managers and will work with them to meet the needs of the company's multiple stakeholders. To be effective, PR counselors need to approach their job as business problem solving. They need to adopt a businessperson's perspective, not a journalist's. Good press is not an end in itself, and bad press is not something to be avoided at all costs-certainly not at the cost of lying. Effective PR counselors know how to balance a business's inter- ests with those of its stakeholders to help its leaders find win-win solu- tions. Truth Telling In my years at AT&T, my biggest struggle was with the truth. Not trying to hide it or disguise it, but simply to find it. Don't Confuse Politics and Public Relations In a large company, information is scattered across organizations, people hoard it and dole it out as it suits their interests, often with their own unique interpretation. It is especially difficult to distinguish what is true from what is speculative or simply wishful thinking in the heat of a crisis or when executives are protecting their own narrow interests. PR people have to be sufficiently plugged into their com- pany's day to day operations SO they can help unearth the truth in emotionally charged circumstances. Line executives have to trust them en