We do a lot of research at HubSpot. 

It's how we remain able to deeply understand human behaviour and so manage to innovate by developing new software that people actually want to and need to use. 

We invented inbound marketing which helped thousands of companies out there drive good-fit leads through their own website and content, and then pass them onto the sales department that though an inbound sales philosophy became able to close these leads into actual customers and so grow the company's revenue. 

We preach what we teach and this whole methodology served us well for a long time. But by deeply knowing our own customers we're starting to see a shift where customer acquisition through the described approach above is not only becoming more expensive but it's also not as effective as it used to be. 

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of chatting with Shaun Tabatt for his podcast about my new book Inbound PR. 

Shaun is a really great guy. I had such a fantastic time talking to him thanks to the thoughtful questions he was asking and just generally how nice he is. (Do follow his podcast!)

We had a long conversation about the PR industry, what got me to write a book and who would benefit from it but we also spoke a lot about how I began my career in PR, why I chose it and then why I chose to leave it.

Those personal stories is what I wanted to share with you today so below I have pulled out some of the key conversation points alongside the full podcast recording. 

What propelled you to move in this career development direction? What were the starting points for you? 

Do you know what prewiring is? 

By the time you finish reading this blog post, you will. 

I recently read the McKinsey Mind which is a great, quick book that offers a simple problem-solving framework and quite a few consulting techniques, proven and tested by McKinsey and its people. 

We all know McKinsey so I think we can trust their expertise which is why I wanted to share with you my learnings from the book.

Some of them are simple but we don't implement them enough, others are very clever tips that can help us not just in consulting but also with stakeholder management and buy-in or teamwork. 

Before I get to the tips, here's the model that McKinsey uses for problem-solving with clients: 

Don't Believe in Inbound PR? This Post Will Change Your Mind was the first post I ever wrote about Inbound PR. That was in July 2015.

I kept on writing and started doing public speaking on the topic around the world. 

Then came the INBOUND16 conference in November 2016 where my pitch for Inbound PR was accepted and I spoke in front of hundreds of people about it. The immediate questions after my talk were: "Is there a book or a HubSpot Academy Certification where we can keep learning about this?" 

I said "Well, no, there isn't. Yet."

Fast forward to March 2017, I had just finished writing the first draft of my 40,000 words manuscript  for my Inbound PR book. 

I've always dreamed about working with Wiley as a publisher because they've published the books of some of my favourite PR and business authors such as Brian Solis, David Meerman Scott and Stephen Waddington so I took a chance and emailed them my pitch. 

And I got a YES. Can you believe it? I couldn't initially. 

Now fast forward to April 2018, the Inbound PR book published by Wiley is a reality. 

And it drops today! 

CIPR's State of the Profession is out. It's the UK PR industry's longest-running and most authoritative research study into public relations practice that delivers industry-leading data on the trends, issues and challenges impacting PR. I cover the research every year. 

In 2018, the study found that the biggest challenge for the PR industry is under-representation of PR professionals at board level - this was the same in the 2017 research. To give you some of the numbers, only 1 in 10 senior respondents indicated they were a member of an executive board.

When trying to figure out why, the study found that PR pros are overwhelmingly engaged in tactical delivery, for example, 76% spend some or most time copywriting and editing.

A longer-term challenge for the PR industry seems to be finding new ways and sources to provide value, specifically when it comes to having to counter the risk of AI and new technologies. 

This too relates back to how the most commonly undertaken activity in PR is copywriting and editing, the second most common is delivering PR campaigns and the third most common is media relations. Elements of these activities, as well as social media relations, are at risk of automation. 

What this all tells us is that if PR people want a seat at the table, they need to break away from tactical communications and assert wider influence over the organisation they work in. 

Most importantly, PR people need to build their business acumen to break through beyond PR. This is something I've realised a while ago and was one of the key reasons I developed the concept and thinking around Inbound PR.