God, Megaphones, and Metrics: A New Reality for Comms

Howard Krais:

John Lennon’s song “God” is widely considered one of his most raw and controversial statements. Released in December 1970, it wasn’t a pop track, it was a systematic dismantling of the idealistic myths, false idols, and counterculture dreams of the 1960s.

Over my 30 years as a communicator, I’ve found myself increasingly questioning the “myths” of our own industry, shedding the practices and metrics I once took for granted. Listening to Lennon recently, it hit me that his ultimate song of disillusionment is the perfect framework for how I now see the world of internal communications.

With humble apologies to the Lennon purists, here is my version of his classic. I call it “PEOPLE.”

PEOPLE (Inspired by “God” by John Lennon)

Engagement is a metric by which we measure compliance

I’ll say it again

Engagement is a metric by which we measure compliance

I don’t believe in the annual survey
I don’t believe in cascades
I don’t believe in open rates and click-throughs
I don’t believe in vanity metrics
I don’t believe in dashboards
I don’t believe in channels no-one uses
I don’t believe in magic platforms
I don’t believe in a better intranet
I don’t believe in the megaphone
I don’t believe in saying yes to everything
I don’t believe in change forced from the top
I don’t believe in values campaigns
I don’t believe in engagement scores

I just believe in people,

In listening

And my ability to deliver real value.

That’s my reality

The score-chasing is over

What can I say?

The illusion is over

Yesterday
I was the broadcaster
I pushed it out
And called it communication

Yesterday
I was the content creator
I filled the channels
And the silence grew

But now I’m reborn

I am the listener

And so dear leaders
The time has come

Step into the room
Listen to what they’re saying

And then do something with it

The broadcast is over

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To connect with Howard Krais and to talk more about listening, you can find Howard on LinkedIn, or via howard@true-comms.com.

You can buy a copy of ‘Leading the Listening Organisation’ here.