Larry D. Lauer

This week I have been thinking quite a bit about the relationship between leadership and advocacy. The question on my mind has been: When little progress is being made on influencing legislative policy, can an advocate’s efforts still result in the organization being seen by its constituents as a leader in its industry?

Last week I found myself in a discussion about this with students in the Schieffer School of Journalism at TCU.  The class was PR and Advocacy, and I was invited there to discuss my work with the legislatures in Texas and Washington, and to explain why I do it when the entire process seems to be dysfunctional.

To get the discussion started, I asked the students how they define the word “advocacy.” They said they thought it means arguing your point of view, or representing a point of view on behalf of your client. As with legal representation, we all agreed that when all points of view are represented, better decisions can more likely get made.  But with that said, we jumped right to the big question: Are legislators today influenced by anything but extreme ideology and money? And if not, how then can my advocacy work on behalf of TCU be worth the effort?

I admitted that this question is not only a good one, but it is the key one.  Indeed, advocacy is very close to debating, and debating alone can lead only to polarization. And since we seem to no longer have a viable mechanism for negotiating legislative solutions, the resulting gridlock can make all efforts seem like a waste of time.

In retrospect, however, I came out of my dialogue with these students, and my subsequent reflections on the situation,  very certain that our efforts have  indeed been worthwhile.  

Over time it has become clear to me that whenever an institution’s advocate is at the table with other industry leaders in an effort to shape the policy that will shape their future, the result will eventually be the public acknowledgement of industry leadership. And I also can now confidently argue that this result is a significant component in developing a consistent and powerful institutional brand.