Ex-pat PRs
Posted on June 23rd, 2006 by sherrilynne
Neville Hobson has posted his reading list and dared us all to guess his politcal persuasion. Well given his profession, you’d expect him to “read around” to keep a handle on all perspectives, so it’s not really a fair challenge.
The discussion in the comments is the best part of the post. A number of ex-pats are chiming in about working as displaced persons. I especially enjoyed Simon’s comments about the Isle of Man. 
It gets me wondering. Why are there so many ex-pats in the PR blogging community? Are we a transient bunch by nature? Or do the travellers among us tend to seek out new friends (online and otherwise)? For me, it’s probably the latter. What say you all? 
Filed under: public relations
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I tend agree with you, Sherrilynne, that it’s the seeking out of like minds. Not sure it’s an exclusivity of the PR profession, though.
Maybe as communicators with a strong interest in the online world and all it means in terms of connecting, we have a disposition for reaching out to people and making those connections. Expats or not.
The good PR practitioner (in-house and consultancy) is always in an awkward position: standing simultaneously inside and outside the organization. (Academics describe it as a ‘boundry spanning’ role).
While some are great at fitting in, others recognize that their value in in being an outsider, complete with an independent perspective. I think this is another way of explainging these ‘ex-pat’ qualities.
Thanks for the feedback Richard and Neville. Perhaps the personality traits that drew us to this profession are the ones that keep us moving on. Anyway, our ‘outsider’ perspective adds value to our services, there is no doubt.