I am really good at communication. I am TERRIBAD at math. 

Accounting, even for my own business, takes A LOT of focus and explanations for me to understand. My eyes glaze over at spreadsheets. 

I’m telling you this so you believe me when I say that if I’m writing you an entire email about a tax form, it is directly relevant to your communications.

I don’t just dilly dally in tax forms for funsies. No ma’am, no way. But times they are a-changin, and as communicators, we need to tap into the 990 game. 

But let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

Have you noticed that people… aren’t reading stuff very closely right now? (Not you, you’re doing a great job reading this blog so far!) 

Do you notice colleagues are more checked out than usual? 

Burnout, compassion fatigue, cognitive overload – you name it, our audiences have it. We’ve got short attention spans, and even shorter fuses. 

So what’s a communicator to do to get attention? Throw a party, of course.

While ghostwriting is absolutely one of my favorite projects, it's taken me years to get it right. (Or should I say write?). Today, I'm sharing some of my favorite best practices. 

I’ve ghostwritten for more superintendents, CEOs and leaders than I can count. Here are the steps I never skip. 

And for you CEOs and leaders who are getting ghostwritten for – these same tips apply!

My first job after college was at a PR agency.

I was working with – and I’m not sure how else to phrase this – men’s men. Think: veterans starting their own government contracting businesses, construction CEOs, cybersecurity leaders and more. There was plenty of little lady-ing. 

But there were also many, many lessons that I’m still using in my career today, 15 years later. I’m including one of my favorites, and some additional best practices, below.

You know those days where you just want someone to tell you where we're going to dinner? 

Sometimes, I get really tired of making decisions – partly because as busy leaders, we make decisions at work all day, every day.

We ask questions such as:

• Should we complete this grant application? 

• Which events should we go to? 

• Is that conference worth it?

And sometimes, your teammates don’t agree on the answer. 

That’s why at Forthright, we use – you guessed it – a data-backed approach to make these decisions.

In our world of child and family advocacy, few communicators have navigated the trenches quite like Marrianne McMullen. 

From managing high-stakes crises in the Obama administration to shaping narratives at DC Public Schools – where I had the immense privilege of working for her – Marrianne has spent her career masterfully championing policies that support children and families. Today, she serves as the Director of Communication & Dissemination at Chapin Hall, an independent research and policy center focused on child and family well-being. 

To celebrate the two-year anniversary of her book, Persuasive, I sat down with my former boss and mentor to reflect on what it takes to effectively move the needle.

When I say the word hope, I can hear some of you out there sighing through the internet tubes. And honestly, fair enough. In our field right now, hope can sometimes get packaged up like a vague platitude or a promise that misses the point. 

But, hear me out. Today, I’m talking about the kind of hope that’s fierce and very, very practical. 

Data consistently tells us that messaging has to trigger a sense of hope if you want to make sure your audiences don’t default to defensiveness.  

Age gaps exist all across the organization. 

From your eager intern to your seasoned board members (and your program staff to your executive director), you're likely communicating across up to 40 years of generational differences. 

Here are some tips and tricks to help you stay aligned.

When we launched our research process – the one that led to our new Frenemies + Jargon: Breaking the Habits That Stall Child and Family Advocacy report – I had suspicions about what we’d find.

We heard that as a field, we’re often fake friends. 

Let’s break down what we heard and what we can do about it.