“It can feel empowering, because there’s a recognition that none of this is easy. You know, if you can get real with someone and talk about what really matters to them, then I think you can get somewhere.” ~ Greg Abel

Greg Abel is a wonderful storyteller. He’s also founder and CEO of a full-service public relations agency. 

I think Greg’s storytelling has roots in his listening. He’s one of those people who plunk themselves down in the beach chair next to you and start asking friendly generous, generative questions that get right into your head and heart. You get the feeling he really wants to understand not just you, but the whole ocean in which you might be swimming.

So when I started to think about curiosity in communications and PR – in the professional work of finding effective ways to tell our stories to one another, under all sorts of circumstances – I didn’t have to think very hard about whom to ask.

It starts with message and what you want to say. Then you go to audience and where they spend time. Intercept them where they spend time.

We talked about getting past the mundane and into the juicy stuff, appreciating and elevating expertise, finding the stories that stick, that clients need coaching, why reading fiction and sitting on the beach matter, the attention economy and differentiating audiences, remembering trust is everything in relationships, word of mouth – and how a little levity acts like a speed bump for our attention.

Listen to Ep. #342: Curiosity in Communications & PR, with Greg Abel

Greg Abel is founder and CEO of Abel Communications, a full-service public relations agency based in Baltimore. 

I got curious about the client organizations Greg mentioned. Maybe you did, too: Modjeski and Masters (the bridge people), Civic Works (the parking-lot-to-garden-plot people) and Maryland Marketing Partnership (the quality of life people).

Greg is married to Jennifer Mendelsohn who has joined me twice on the show. She helped us find what become my husband’s grandfather (Sondra’s Story: “You Can’t Help But Want to Know”) and we had a larger family-roots conversation, Curiosity & Genealogy: The Stories We Tell. Jennifer founded The Holocaust Reunion Project, which empowers Holocaust Survivors and their children to find family and reclaim their histories by leveraging the extraordinary potential of DNA testing.

Theme music by Sean Balick. “Town Market” by Onesuch Village, via via Blue Dot Sessions.

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