Like many communications-focused conferences, the recent 2009 PRSA International Conference in San Diego was very focused on social media. Don’t get me wrong, that topic is important but, James Lukaszewski’s Developing a Strategic Mindset: How to Become a Trusted, Strategic Advisor session was the best presentations many missed because they were too focused on social media.

Jim LukaszewskiAs well all know, a recurring theme of public relations practitioners over the years has been our deep desire to get a seat at the table. You know, THE table. This c-suite destination has been much heralded and held up as our industry’s version of the Promised Land. He gave the capacity crowd in attendance a tremendous amount of insight about getting there.

In my opinion this was the most important session of the entire conference. Beyond all of the wanderlust about social media and advanced technologies now being leveraged in our industry, being a strategic and trusted advisor to bosses, CEOs and clients should never be overlooked, over-hyped or undervalued.

As a notable practitioner and seasoned counselor to CEOs and other titans of business, Lukaszewski started out his session by plainly telling the room that the table at which everyone is aspiring to get a seat doesn’t actually exist. He shared a humorous story that a CEO once asked him if he had heard of this table and if he could tell him where it was located.

Although this could be equated to a “What? Santa Claus doesn’t exist?” moment for the PR pros in the room, Lukaszewski reassured everyone by saying that we’re at the “table” when we are meeting with company leadership, one-on-one or otherwise, and providing meaningful and relevant counsel.

As Sara Meaney likes to say about sessions that include way too much information, Lukaszewki’s presentation almost suffered from “fire hosery.” I looked around the room a couple times to see everyone frantically taking notes in a way that I haven’t seen since my college days. This fact does not, at all, take anything away from his presentation. Because of this, there is no way that I could possibly share every detail he shared, but here are some highlights.

The top things that leaders are looking for in strategic counselors:

Provide advice on the spot – Management is a real-time activity. It happens now, so leaving a meeting and offering recommendations later in the day isn’t valuable to them.

Say things that matter from the boss’s perspective…not your perspective – Put yourself in your boss’s shoes. When you offer advice and talk in meetings, you have to ask yourself – Is this really important? Is this what we’re here to talk about?

Provide focus – In meetings you may need to pull leaders back and get them centered on what’s important and relevant in the problem/issue you are discussing right now.

Help with things they don’t already know – Pointing out the obvious isn’t valuable. What can you bring to the table that is lacking?

Give options to consider – If you only offer one option they will likely question it to death, so give them other ideas that can work.

Help with what to do next – They already know what has happened. Give them ideas on what the company should do and offer insight about what will happen because of it.

Our presenter also stressed the importance of verbal skill when working with corporate leaders. He often makes sure he isn’t talking too much and that when he talks he makes sure it is important and it matters. He calls verbal skills the currency of the business world.

No session on strategic thinking could be held without a definition or two of strategy. He offered his own; James Lukaszewski’s: Mental energy verbally injected into an organization through communication that moves it forward. And one from Jack Welch, the past CEO of GE: A core or significant idea moving through changing circumstances.

After presenting this, Lukaszewski dived into reasons why strategies fail. If you’ve spent any time with bosses and most of us have, we already know one of the main reasons: The strategy was not developed with the boss’s input first. It’s a good reminder though. Another reason includes: neglecting to deal with the truly tough stuff. This could also be referred to taking the easy way out.

To help the room take a strategic approach to meeting with business executives he offered a way to break down the discussions into its most important parts to avoid wasting time and making sure you are able to offer appropriate counsel:

James Lukaszewski’s Three-minute Conversation Drill

Part 1: Explanation/description – Give a snapshot of the current situation and what you are presenting. (30 seconds of speaking time).

Part 2: Analysis – Share why you are talking about this. What’s the threat, urgency? (30 seconds).

Part 3: Goals – They want to know where they’re going – now (30 seconds).

Part 4: Options – Provide three ideas/concepts that they can consider. These ideas should always fall into the following categories A) doing nothing, B) doing something with 100% effort and C) doing something more with 150% effort. (60 seconds)

Part 5: Recommendations – Offer insight into which option you would choose (30 seconds).

Part 6: Justifications – Why that one option over another? (30 seconds).

In the end, the Lukaszewski offered some great insight into helping our profession provide meaningful and relevant information in ways that our senior leaders, CEOs and client will respond to achieve the best possible outcomes – finding a solution and positioning you as a trusted, strategic advisor.