Author: Karla Gower
The Betsy Plank book by Karla Gower, a Behringer distinguished professor at the University of Alabama and a director of the Plank Center for Leadership in PR formed by Betsy Ann Plank in collaboration with the university’s administration of the time, presents an interesting read about a PR woman who had a lot of ‘firsts’ in her career including being the first woman president of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). The book is written in a very compelling and interesting writing style, and it is, without exaggeration one of the best academic books I’ve ever read. The reason for this lies in the author’s ability to write a biography about a PR person, which also very faithfully narrates conditions and developments in the PR industry through the prism of Plank’s rise to prominence and power. Thus, the reader reads about early American PR and professional development whilst also following the career and private life of Betsy A. Plank.
I was particularly interested in developments in PRSA and conversations about the future of PR, professionalising PR, standardising PR education, accreditation of practitioners as well as politics surrounding Plank’s rise to power and how she negotiated being in a leadership position as the first woman PRSA president. I am a massive fan of PRSA, so I enormously enjoyed this part of the book. My enthusiasm for PRSA is such that it clouded my judgement once when I gave a large talk about PRSA at one event when I shouldn’t have because as I know now, I crossed some people for telling them to be more like PRSA but anyway. Live and learn (to shut up!). However, for someone with an interest in PRSA and professionalising PR, this book is incredibly valuable plus the writing style is an add-on because Gower writes in a way that makes it difficult to let the book go. Only novelists usually make me feel that way so there is a novelist style of writing here, but the book is based on Plank’s archive she also left for the University of Alabama when she founded the Plank Center, thus also being an excellent and well-sourced academic study.
I knew who Betsy Plank was before reading this book (because I have followed PRSA for many years and knew about their history) but I did not know that she was mentored by a woman who gave her a kickstart to her career, Duffy Schwartz based in Chicago who set Plank up with her first role that eventually led to a successful career in PR. Plank later became a mentor to younger scholars, which is something I do a lot so I was able to relate to her on this level even though we come from very different social backgrounds, I am a feminist whilst Plank wasn’t and I am guided by tikkun olam philosophy whilst Plank followed Presbyterianism. I was intrigued by Plank’s opinion that one does not seek a mentor, but a mentor finds you. I reflected on who I mentor and realised that outside of my activism as part of three professional associations for whom I have mentored young scholars (British Sociological Association, EUPRERA, and most recently the American Sociological Association), I also offered help and mentorship to people who did not ask me for help because I felt I could help and do something for them (irrespective of race, gender and social origin) or because I felt they needed it due to the lack of privilege they face (working classes, ethnic minorities, women). I have seldom accepted, or been successful if I did, random requests for mentorships so this was interesting to read about Plank as a point of reflection. I was also surprised to learn she valued studying human behaviour because this is something I study in the context of PR but do not always find understanding of what I do apart from sociological and social science circles, so this caught me by surprise.
These are just some bits from the book I found interesting, but the book is much more than that. Karla Gower spent many years developing the book using an extensive archive Plank left and there is plenty of information about day-to-day PR work, the importance and development of internal communication in early PR, bringing internal publics on board with leader’s decisions, etc. This book is worth reading regardless of whether you are interested in women in PR, PR history, professional development or just generally if you are someone who likes reading biographies. The book has all of it and so much more. Anyone working in PR or studying for a PR degree could benefit from this book.
Thank you for reading and since the author is from the University of Alabama, Roll Tide Always! 😊