Strategic Conversations : Existing Scenarios, Public Relations Theory and Futures

With public relations in the new millennium, it is a good time to explore ways to look forward and to speculate on what might lie ahead for the field. In emphasising that this is an art rather than a science, we move away from dominant approaches in two key literatures. Firstly, in drawing from leadership literature we acknowledge its contribution to the importance of future vision but contest the view that future projections are the restricted domain of leadership. Instead we show how they matter to public relations by extending Rost's (1993) conceptualisation of a divide between twentieth and twenty-first century paradigms to support the usefulness of scenarios in preparing for a time of change and uncertainty. Secondly we distance ourselves from the more quantitative and business-as-usual US forecasts for Public Relations Education for the 21st century. In making these moves we draw from other futurist writings, especially scenario theory and practice, to contend that public relations, both as a practice and as a body of theory, needs to be more knowledgeable about, and more involved in, these forward projections. We advocate these kinds of strategic conversations as an essential part of preparing public relations for the nonlinear, business–as-unusual future predictions not addressed in the field's current thinking