The SPEC Sheet: “You Can’t Connect the Dots Looking Forward.”
July 17, 2026
I worked for my dad’s landscape company in my late teens and early 20s. I was good at it, worked hard, learned a lot, made good friends on the crew. But the days started early, and I was bad about showing up late. Enough that eventually dad fired me. That still stings. But it’s also one of the pivotal “dots” on my ultimate move to California a few years later. Getting fired by dad was NOT my plan, but it was likely an instrumental step to where I’m sitting right now.
These days, I love a good plan. Strategy is the “S” in SPEC. I believe in working towards goals. But I also take great comfort in this Steve Jobs quote, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”
Jobs had a storied, non-linear career. Dropped out of college. Credited a comped calligraphy class for part of his design inspiration, and became one of the world’s best-known business leaders and communicators. He had goals and plans like everyone else, but only looking back did he see the links between disparate choices and events. Some he could control, and others he very much couldn’t.
This concept feels timely today.
As I write this, it’s been announced that Octane Media has laid off their editorial staff. Octane owns some historical and influential powersports titles, and we have some good friends who worked at these publications. I hate that for them. But I know they are all smart, talented people who will land on their feet. Hopefully better for the move. Another dot forward.
Shuttering legacy endemic media titles is never a good signal for our industry, and we’ve talked at length in our newsletters about the challenges AI is creating for our line of work, but at the same time, we’re seeing positive signs too.
Cision and Muck Rack are reporting that media relations is increasingly important (think, GEO) and good PR is more important to journalists than ever (think, AI misinformation).
Positive signs for a PR guy, but still just dots on an unpredictable journey.
And in hindsight, media and PR have always been unpredictable and evolving from spoken word, to print, to TV, to internet, to social media, and now AI. I’ve heard Musk claim that in five years we’ll all just have a single handheld device with an AI assistant that provides whatever information or entertainment we want. No more apps. No more software. No more media. Just AI. If Musk is right? I guess we’ll all go back to telling stories around the fire. My one prediction: authentic experiences and great stories will never go out of fashion.
We can’t connect our dots looking forward, but we can look back and see that change is inevitable, we’re adaptable, and we can build visions and frameworks based on strategies and storytelling that will endure any evolution.
The SPEC Framework: Strategic, Pragmatic, Effective Communications is durable and not dependent on individual tactics. I put my trust in this and share it with clients on the daily.
Stay curious and be creative. Have a plan but also some faith. Find something to push us forward and trust the dots like stepping stones will create a path to the outdoors where we can have those real experiences with each other … and tell great stories about our adventures.
See you out there!
Van
Founding Partner, SPEC PR
Strategic, Pragmatic, Effective Communications
SPEC Insights
Strategic Storytelling: Marketing’s New Center of Gravity
I was recently reminded of the nuance of specificity when I, rather thoughtlessly, proclaimed: “I am not a marketer” in a meeting.
My flippant comment was centered on old-school thinking (I am firmly Gen X) that adhered to a rather narrow definition of the term “marketer.” In my head, I conjured up an image of a guy poring over market research, A/B testing ad layouts, and running focus groups.
Coming up through the ranks, that wasn’t what my role as a PR specialist looked like on the daily. My work involved developing and executing campaigns to tell the stories of brands, products, and experts to the audiences that mattered and served business objectives. How that happened could take any number of forms, from crafting story angles and pitches, to writing brand narratives and making connections (the relational aspect of public relations). Yes, media relations. But only as a means of communicating information to the readers and viewers to influence decisions on how they spend their resources (time, money, influence, etc.).
Since that meeting, I have had a few conversations on the topic of how the nature and interdependency of marketing and PR have evolved. And since my phone was in proximity to these conversations (It listens … can’t convince me otherwise), various algorithms shifted my social feeds to content reflecting the current thinking around what it means to be a marketer. In fact, a few explainer infographics from folks I am not connected to on LinkedIn were served up. So helpful (dripping with sarcasm).
When I started my career (yes, decades ago), PR had … a bit of a PR problem. It was considered sort of important, but few executives could really articulate why. It was part of marketing, but it was difficult to measure in the tidy ways other marketing disciplines could report. PR budgets were often cut to support ad campaigns because there wasn’t a direct line between a solid feature article or a speech before a convention of influentials and sales.
With perspective, perception, and personality, today’s marketing is centered on PR capabilities. No other marketing discipline maps to the demand for storytelling like PR. I still wouldn’t call myself a marketer. However, the thing marketing is scrambling to get right — story, trust, relationship — is the thing PR never stopped doing. What was once behind-the-scenes is now center stage as skilled and dedicated strategists leverage the new, rich, and urgent ways we communicate. We make and tell stories so our clients are better understood. We create relations with the public.
Lisa
Founding Partner, SPEC PR
Strategic, Pragmatic, Effective Communications
Something to Think About
I went “behind the swinging doors” at my local Trader Joe’s recently and I was delighted to find that their sign game is even stronger in the stockroom than it is up front. The entire Trader Joe’s ethos is captured on a single sign, and quite frankly, it’s inspiring:
- Integrity: Treat others as you would have them treat you
- Product Driven: Amazing products our customers love
- Wow Experience: The customer is an honored guest!
- No Bureaucracy: No room for that here.
- Neighborhood Store: We reflect our community!
- Kaizen: A little bit better, all day … every day!
- Our Store Is Our Brand: Earn the customers’ delight … every day!
Here at SPEC, we have an official framework that truly mirrors these values. Our “product” is bringing passion and expertise to our clients’ stories. Our “honored guests” are both our clients, and the journalists we get to take on amazing adventures with a “Wow Experience.” We really do try to “delight” them every day. Van and Lisa lead the way in modeling “integrity” and “no bureaucracy.” All in all, this is a great place to work, and to do work that we’re proud of!
I suggest you go through the exercise of looking at your brand and business through the lens of Trader Joe’s Values. This quirky little grocery store with the cult following and viral tote bags is really onto something, even if its parking lots are always crowded!
Julie
Lead Communicator, SPEC PR
Strategic, Pragmatic, Effective Communications
Something to Read
Muck Rack and Cision have shared their annual reports on PR and Media.
For its part, Muck Rack says its annual survey of PR pros showed that 48% of respondents expect the importance of media relations to grow over the next five years (with GEO likely being the key instigator). That’s significant in itself, but considering it’s up 13% from last year, it’s eye popping. (For reference, Influencer Marketing, and Measurement and Analytics both landed at 25%.)
Over at Cision, they recently surveyed more than 1,800 journalists for insights on the current media landscape. Thanks to Tyler for some quick analysis: There’s an interesting take here that media are relying on PR professionals to feed them content for their stories. The role of PR is no longer seen as a publicist for brands — it’s a news room partner to provide assets reporters need the most.
According to Cision, where are media getting story ideas?
- 66% of journalists rely on PR-provided content (press releases, pitches, media kits)
- 45% from social media
There’s a lot more to read and digest in each of these reports. Take a look, and let us know what you think stands out:
Van
Founding Partner, SPEC PR
Strategic, Pragmatic, Effective Communications
SPEC Survey
Muck Rack and Cision both survey a wide range of professionals globally. There’s value in their reports, but it’s not specific to our endemic media landscape. Whether you’re a PR pro, a journalist, creator, or marketing or advertising rep, we’d love to hear from you, our friends in powersports and ORec, about your unique experiences and predictions for the future.
We encourage you to take our survey and let us know your own experiences in today’s media landscape: Start Survey
