Public Relations Stories and Strategies

Every organization has a story people believe about it. Most leaders didn't choose that story. They inherited it, stumbled into it, or lost control of it somewhere along the way. Stories and Strategies is the podcast that changes that. Host Doug Downs talks with the communicators, executives, and strategists who understand that narrative isn't a marketing function. It's a leadership one. Each episode unpacks what actually shapes reputation, trust, and public perception at the highest levels, drawing on behavioral science, media intelligence, and the ethics that keep persuasion honest. This is public relations at the level serious leaders need it. Not tactics and press releases. The thinking behind why some stories win and others disappear. Ranked among the most listened-to public relations podcasts in the world, Stories and Strategies reaches leaders and communicators across six continents every week. If you a

Public Relations Stories and Strategies is a business podcast hosted by Stories and Strategies https://storiesandstrategies.ca/, with 272 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Stories and Strategies https://storiesandstrategies.ca/ hosts Public Relations Stories and Strategies, a business show with 272 episodes published.

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  Episode #243

  Can this AI Tool Spot Your Next PR Crisis Before You Do?

  Aug 18, 202623 minS5

  As a communications professional you’ve used ChatGPT, Claude, or Copilot in the last 30 days. Probably in the last week. Probably earlier today. And at some point you’ve had the same experience: you put in a prompt, you get back something that’s technically competent and completely generic. You spend the next 20 minutes re-prompting, editing, wrestling it into something that actually sounds like your organization, your voice, your situation. A Workday study found that 40% of the time saved by using generative AI tools is immediately lost reworking the outputs. You traded one kind of work for another. The reason is simple and almost nobody is saying it out loud. Those tools were built for everyone. Which in communications terms means they were built for no one in particular. They don't think like a communicator. They don't have access to what a communicator needs. They don't know what’s being said about your organization right now across 4,000 TikTok videos, each with modest view counts, each repeating the same damaging narrative, each flying completely below the radar of your existing monitoring tools. Stratum is the tool that needed to be built three years ago. Watch the YouTube Video of this episode to see Stratum demonstration Listen For 3:29 Why do communications teams need AI built around use cases instead of tools? 6:30 What is Stratum and how is it different from ChatGPT or Copilot? 12:18 What is the difference between an AI agent and an agentic workflow? 17:29 Can AI detect a reputation crisis before it goes viral? 19:45 How can AI identify the right influencers for a campaign? Guest: Matt Collette, Sequencr.AI Website | LinkedIn | Stratum Platform Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn Subscribe to the Stories and Strategies PR podcast newsletter Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

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  Episode #242

  Two Thirds of the Room but Almost NONE of the Corner Offices

  Aug 11, 202620 minS5

  In Canada, women make up roughly two thirds of the public relations profession. They are the majority in the classrooms, the majority in the entry level roles, and the majority climbing through the middle ranks. And then somewhere around the senior level, the numbers flip. The leadership tables in PR firms and communications departments across the country look nothing like the profession they are supposed to represent. This is not a new observation. The data has been there for years. Here’s what’s new. Two researchers decided to stop describing the problem and start asking a harder question. Not how do we get more women to the table? But why does the table keep failing the women who get there. Because what the data also shows, and what too many PR women know personally, is that the exit is often quiet and deliberate. Not a firing. Not a failure. A decision. A moment where a woman who is absolutely capable of leading looks at what it costs and says this is not worth it. This episode is about what is driving that decision, and what it is going to take to change it. Listen For 4:15 Why Do Women Hold Fewer Than 30% of Senior PR Leadership Roles? 7:11 What Does It Mean to Rethink the Leadership Table? 9:15 How Can PR Organizations Create Sustainable Leadership Careers? 15:06 What Can Women and Men Do to Change PR Leadership? 17:03 Why Won’t Teaching Women to Play Golf Solve Workplace Exclusion? Guests: Amy Thurlow Website | LinkedIn Colleen Killingsworth LinkedIn Book Rethinking the Table on Amazon Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

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  Episode #241

  Good Girls Are Quiet

  Aug 4, 202620 minS5

  Most women don't lose their voice all at once. It happens slowly, quietly, and with the best of intentions. They soften their tone here. They hold back an opinion there. They make themselves a little smaller, a little easier, a little less. Until one day they can't quite remember what they actually sound like. This episode is about that. Where the muting comes from, what it costs, and what it takes to find your voice at midlife. Listen For 3:30 What Does It Really Mean to Find Your Voice at Midlife? 5:03 Why Do So Many Women Feel Ready to Explode in Midlife? 7:13 Why Are Assertive Women Judged Differently From Assertive Men? 12:19 How Can Women Process the Unspoken Grief of Not Having Children? 16:19 When Should You Speak Up, and When Should You Protect Your Peace? Guest: Priya Sudarsanam, Speech Pathologist LinkedIn | Website | Instagram | Podcast | Facebook | YouTube Doug Downs Substack | Website | LinkedIn Subscribe to the Stories and Strategies PR podcast newsletter Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

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  Episode #240

  The Paradox of Polarization… Division Makes PR More Valuable

  Jul 28, 202615 minS5

  There’s a booming business in divisiveness. And PR is caught right in the thick of it. Recorded at the June 2026 IABC conference in Toronto, Doug Downs speaks with Fred Cook about A Quiet Shift , a report exploring how polarization is reshaping public relations. Cook explains why division is damaging society, mental health, and business while making thoughtful communications counsel more valuable. They examine echo chambers, outrage as a political and media strategy, the possibility that AI reinforces existing beliefs, and the disappearance of productive dialogue. Cook also outlines how PR education must evolve, emphasizing crisis management, finance, government relations, public affairs, ethics, and responsible technology use. Ultimately, the conversation challenges communicators to adapt without contributing to the very divisions that create demand for their expertise. Listen For 2:33 How Is Polarization Changing Public Relations? 5:38 Why Can Polarization Make PR More Valuable—and More Vulnerable? 6:25 Is AI Reinforcing Bias and Deepening Polarization? 9:01 Which Skills Will Future PR Professionals Need Most? 12:00 Why Does Calling the Other Side “Stupid” Destroy Dialogue? Guest: Fred Cook, Director USC USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations Fred bio Doug Downs Substack | Website | LinkedIn Subscribe to the Stories and Strategies PR podcast newsletter Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

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  Episode #239

  Sticky Stories Start with the Itch Your Audience is Already Scratching

  Jul 21, 202621 minS5

  Generic messaging fails for a simple reason. It speaks to everyone, which means it actually speaks to no one. The messages that stick, the ones people repeat, forward, and act on, are never written for "employees" or "stakeholders" or "our valued customers." They are written for one person, with one specific frustration, in one specific moment. That’s not a nice idea about storytelling. It’s a framework, and once you see it, you can’t unsee it in every all-staff email that gets ignored and every campaign that gets remembered. In this episode we get the five tip framework behind stories that actually stick, from a communicator who has spent her career studying why some messages disappear the moment they’re sent while others get repeated for years. Listen for: 3:17 The Five-Step Framework for Sticky Stories 7:12 Finding the Frustration: Real Communication Examples 10:34 Break the Fourth Wall to Make Messages Memorable 13:54 The Recipe for Stories People Remember Guest: Eduvie Martin, FCIPR, Past President of IABC UK and Ireland LinkedIn | Comic Republic Doug Downs Substack | Website | LinkedIn Subscribe to the Stories and Strategies PR podcast newsletter Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Support the show

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