Interview with Michael Bouliane, Corporate Communications

Michael Bouliane believes in being a life-long student, and is always learning and adapting to the new trends in his sector. He talks to us about working for corporate clients as well as NGOs, adjusting to Beer O’clock, and relishing the moments he gets to be in a “Robin Hood” role. With more than 15 years in the industry, he gives us his best advice on how to kickstart your career, and what he looks for most when hiring.

Read the interview below. You can also watch his series of videos here.

Tell us what you do, and what your work entails.

At the moment, I'm the Corporate Communications Manager for Toyota Canada. That entails managing all the media relations, both proactive and reactive, as well as issues management, crisis communications, and brand PR, for the Toyota Lexus and Toyota corporate brands in Canada. I also manage corporate social responsibility and community investment, things like executive communications. That's the portfolio that I manage. I manage a team of amazing PR people, and we work with some agencies who support us, and we handle all the public relations and corporate communications for Toyota in Canada.

So, you work for Toyota Canada now, but you’ve worked all over the world. Tell us about your career trajectory.

I've been a ping pong ball! I've really been bouncing around the world. In fact, I started a blog a few years ago called The Bouncing Nomad, just because I've been bouncing around the world so much for the past 15 years.

How did I start? Well, I went to Wilfred Laurier University for communications. Prior to that, I'd been a part-time journalist for a few years, decided that communications and public relations were what I wanted to do, and Laurier had a communications program. I was lucky enough to get into the internship or co-op option, and had some great opportunities—public relations, and corporate PR opportunities—through that.

Coming out of school, I had a contract role with a PR agency handling the public relations for HMV Music in Canada. But I decided that I wanted to go back to school and I did a one-year postgraduate certificate in Public Relations at Humber College in Toronto. There, I really tuned the skill set that I needed for corporate PR. My internship out of Humber was with Nike Canada, at their Canadian head office, on a small public relations team there—and I got to do a little bit of everything. That really started my career off with a bang. Nike's obviously well-known as a marketing expert. I was lucky enough to be able to work within the marketing department to handle their public relations and corporate communications in Canada.

After two years, I decided that I wanted to keep growing my career and do something a little different. I'd always wanted to learn Spanish, so I went down to Costa Rica for—initially it was for three months—to take an intensive language training program to become trilingual, to learn Spanish. That was three months of intensive language training, full immersion, and I basically came back trilingual after three months. Knowing French was quite helpful for learning Spanish.

I came back to Canada, and within a few weeks, I was offered a job back down in Costa Rica with a global PR firm's Central American head office. It was a company called Ketchum Public Relations and their Central American affiliate called Comunicación Corporativa. I was offered the role to manage the PR for two quite large accounts: Delta Airlines and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts for Central America, It was another fantastic opportunity: I lived and worked in Costa Rica—basically, paradise for two years,

I decided that it was time to come back to Canada after a couple of years. I came back to Canada, worked for Sears Canada in the same type of role, managing their corporate communications and corporate social responsibility and community investment for two years. Met a pretty prairie girl; that took me out to Winnipeg for four years. In Winnipeg, I worked for a company called MTS Allstream: they are basically the Bell of Manitoba—and now have been bought by Bell. I was the spokesperson for them, and managed their corporate social responsibility and community relations, community investment programs for four years.

When I left there, I went to New Zealand. The idea was to take a bit of a career break. I'd had ten years of a very stressful career, with issues management, media relations, and acting as a spokesperson. I thought, okay, I need a year off. I'm going to go to New Zealand, and be a concierge at a fancy hotel, or work at Starbucks and be a barista — a couple things I always kind of wanted to try — and give my brain a bit of something different to do. But, within three days of being in New Zealand - I still hadn't unpacked my bags and I was living in a hotel room - I was tracked down by a corporate recruiter. Five interviews, and two weeks later, I was being offered a permanent full-time gig with a mobile phone company called 2degrees Mobile in New Zealand, to manage their public relations, media relations, corporate social responsibility programs in New Zealand. It was lots of fun - a great brand, great company, young, energetic kind of fun - they are what I would call a disruptor in the mobile phone industry in New Zealand. It was lots of fun, a great career opportunity. I stayed there for two years and they were working me toward residency, and wanted me to stay on for longer. But I decided, for family reasons, that I wanted to be back in Canada, to be close to my parents who were having some health issues.

You have some experience with NGO work. Can you tell us about that specifically?

I spent about three years as an independent consultant, working mostly with not-for-profits and NGOs, helping them with their outreach to potential sponsors, with their communications, with their marketing and brand development. That took me a couple of years and I decided that I wanted to get some more international experience. I found a really interesting volunteer opportunity – a professional volunteer opportunity - with an organization called CUSO International. They are an organization that sends professional volunteers, or mid-career professionals, who are specialized in certain areas or certain fields, overseas to partner with NGOs in developing countries. I went to Peru for six months. And there I was consulting seven young social entrepreneurs, helping them grow their businesses, to the next level, again, with marketing, brand development, media relations, social media, and sponsor outreach, those types of things. And again, seven young, fantastic, energetic young entrepreneurs with social enterprises, in areas like health care, education and those types of fields. That was a phenomenal experience as a volunteer, lending my sort of experience and expertise, passing that knowledge on to people doing great things in a developing country, in Peru.

After six months, I came back to Canada, and I continued consulting and doing contracts with NGOs and not-for-profits here in Canada. I then decided that I wanted to get back into the corporate world—I missed the corporate world—and that took me to the role I have now with Toyota Canada.

You have worked in both the corporate world and the NGO world. Talk to us about that.

My whole career I've been sort of bouncing back and forth between the not-for-profit or NGO world and the corporate world. I find that when I'm in the corporate world, a big part of my role is managing corporate social responsibility, community investment, and community relations for those companies. I've always told people that when I'm in those roles, I feel like I have one foot in the community and one foot in the corporation. You know, I'm looking out for both the interests of the company that I'm working for, and also the community or society at large. I love that, I love feeling like I'm doing good, working for a "big, bad company" and sort of playing a bit of a Robin Hood role, supporting not-for-profits and NGOs in the community.

And then I found myself, having developed those relationships with the NGOs and not-for-profits, when I was between corporate roles, being offered contract opportunities to consult with those same NGOs and not-for-profits that I was a sponsor of, or partner of, when I was in the corporate world. So, it's kind of been interesting. I use my NGO experience to my advantage when I'm in the corporate world, and I use my corporate experience, insights and knowledge when I'm in the NGO world.

I've kind of been bouncing back and forth. I think the insights from one industry or one field have really helped me with the other. No matter what I'm doing, I feel good at the end of the day, because I'm helping, not for profits and NGOs do great things, whether it's here in Canada or in other parts of the world.

You’ve been in this sector for a while. How has it changed over time? What have you noticed?

You know, I've been in the field for close to 17 years. What I'm really noticing is that the corporate world is just sort of catching on to something called knowledge sharing or capacity development. That's something that the NGO world has known for a long time is extremely valuable. The corporate world I find—and the company I am with now, especially—is realizing that, you know, it's one thing to cut a check for a not-for-profit. It's one thing to sort of donate products or services. But it's a whole other thing to share their expertise or share their knowledge to build the capacity of a not-for-profit or an NGO. And I find that the corporate world is just sort of catching on to that, whereas the NGO world has been doing that for quite a while.

It was really neat to work for an organization like CUSO International, as a volunteer who is focused on capacity development and knowledge sharing between the developed world and the developing world. To see an organization that's an expert at that, and has been doing it for decades—and then to come to a great, big company that's been operating for decades and decades as well, all over the world, quite successfully... They are just sort of catching on, or just sort of realizing, "Hey, you know what? We've got a skill set here. We've got an expertise that we can share with the not-for-profit world, with the NGO world.

You know, I'm excited right now that the company I work for is quite well-known for something called the Toyota Production System, where they're experts. They're known to be experts, and business schools use the Toyota Production System as an example of an ultra-efficient production system and continuous improvement—something called Kaizen.

And, the company's now sharing that with non-profits and NGOs who could really use that development. We're working right now with Canadian Blood Services and a similar organization in Quebec and French Canada called Héma-Québec, to help them improve and make more efficient their production systems—using the expertise, the engineering expertise, the Toyota Production System expertise that the company has been using internally for decades.

So, I find that the merging of those two worlds is fantastic. The worlds of corporate social responsibility and community investment, they're now developing partnerships that are very multifaceted, and much deeper partnerships. So, you are still making that financial contribution, you are still donating those vehicles or that product, but you're also sharing corporate knowledge and expertise so that those organizations can develop their own capacity and so on.

That's where I see the two worlds sort of coming together. It's really changed over the past 15 to 17 years. It's been a neat ride and it's neat to be on the cusp of corporate social responsibility or community investment.

What about the public relations and communications field - how has that changed?

Public Relations and corporate communications have definitely changed over the past 15 years that I have been in the business. Having said that, the core skill set is very much the same. Communication skills—written, and verbal— are massive. Interpersonal skills, relationship development skills... those are really at the core of what we do in our field, in public relations, in corporate communications.

If you can build relationships. if you can communicate clearly in writing, or verbally that's really the core of where we are at. And then there are the soft skills—personality traits, I would call them, or soft skills. Diplomacy and tact are things that I think are perhaps taught, but more likely are innate— they are either in you or they are not in you. So those are skills that haven't changed, they are requirements for public relations and corporate communications that haven't changed in at least the decade and a half that I have been in the business.

But you know, having said that, the channels are changing. Obviously. I've seen it go from print newspapers, and TV with cable, and radio, to, you know, online media and websites and that kind of thing, to now shifting more fully into the social world. What we used to call "earned media" or coverage, is now shifting to toward content or paid content. And, what used to be a very clear line—they used to call it the "invisible wall" in the newsroom, between the editorial staff and the advertising staff—that wall's now blown apart and there is one giant gray area in between. You know, it's hard now to tell these days when you're on social, or in the online world, what's been paid for, what's earned media, what's true editorial or news coverage, what is paid content. That area of advertorial, paid content or native content—the lines are definitely blurred now. And so, you find yourself working very closely with the marketing team, the social media team, the advertising team, because those lines are so blurred. There's still very much room for corporate communications and media relations, because there is still very much a true media out there. But, certainly, there is a whole gray area now, in between true editorial news coverage and fully paid advertising. I think that's probably the biggest change I've seen over the past decade-and-a-half.

What will make someone's resume or CV stand out or get them the interview?

I only take so much stock in a resume or a LinkedIn profile. In our profession, probably more than a lot of other professions, what's written on paper is one thing, but you really need to meet the person. See what their personality is all about. See what their communication skills are. See what their interpersonal skills are like, and their relationship development skills. Those soft skills are so core to what we do in public relations or corporate communications.

Having said that, I think you can take a look at resumes and see that someone has had some significant experience in the field. I look for experience with similar types of companies or similar-sized companies. A big part of what I do is corporate communications and community investment, and it's funny because I will flip right to the last page of someone's resume instead of looking at the first. I'll go right to the very bottom, where it says volunteerism or community involvement. And I'm really interested in that, because to me if a person's worked in the community, and done a lot of volunteer work, a lot of community work, then they'll naturally understand the kind of work that we're doing in community relations, community investment, or corporate Social Responsibility.

Are there certain skills or abilities that are needed to succeed in the communications sector internationally?

I'm very lucky to be in a profession where the skills are quite transferable, not only from industry to industry, but also from culture to culture. You know, I've been lucky enough to work on four continents and in three different languages, all in the same profession. And I think a lot of the core skills are the same. If you can communicate and you can build relationships, you've got interpersonal skills and communication skills—that's going to take you a long way.

Of course, if you want to be working internationally, things like language skills are important. Either you can do language or you can't; I've found it's either one or the other. Language skills are massive. The more global the economy gets, the more valuable those language skills are.

Also, to work internationally, I think you have to be able to have a lot of flexibility and adaptability. If you're someone who's easily shocked by different cultures, or, you know, living in different places and different work cultures, different personal or local cultures, then you're maybe not going to adapt as easily. But again, I think that often comes with experience.

I would tell any young person who does want to work internationally to volunteer internationally, to live internationally, to get those language skills, to know what it's like to live in another part of the world. And, you know, feel free to come back and leave again, come back and leave again.

Clearly, I mean, some of the basic skills need to be there. If you're not adaptable, you're not flexible, you can't deal very well with cultural differences, then obviously, maybe you shouldn't be doing international work. Having said that, I would recommend any to anyone who wants to work internationally to get those language skills, yes, but to go, go and try it.

And if you can't get work right away, then volunteer for an organization like CUSO International, go do volunteer work overseas, get that international experience. Just like I would tell anyone looking for experience in public relations here in Canada, if you're not getting that first job, go out there and volunteer. Volunteer your skills. Work in that field on a volunteer basis. To me, that's experience which is just as valuable as paid work experience. And I tell anyone to try it, get that experience on your resume or on your LinkedIn profile, and it'll take you places.

What were some of the lessons you learned, or challenges you faced, working internationally?

It took me about six months, when I was first living in Costa Rica, to get used to the fact that if you showed up at eight o'clock for an eight o'clock meeting, you were 20 minutes early. And honestly, you know, I'd show up at eight o'clock for an eight o'clock meeting, and nobody would be there until 8:20. It took me six months to figure out that eight o'clock meant, you know, 8:20 or 8:30. If you show up to your meeting at eight o'clock, you sit there for 20 minutes by yourself. People come at 8:20, talk for 20 minutes about last night, about family, about friends. What did you guys do last night? Ten minutes of business and then the meeting is over.

And so, six months into it, I finally adjusted. I got used to it. I said, "Okay, eight o'clock meeting. That means 8:15 or 8:20. I'll be there for then, we'll chit chat about, you know, personal stuff, relationship building. We'll do a little bit of business, discuss a little bit of business. And, you know, go back to our desks." I finally got used to that, and it was ingrained in me. I came back to Canada, and you know that first eight o'clock meeting where I showed up at 8:20... how angry were people that I was 20 minutes late for the meeting? It took me a long time to get used to, you know, being right on time for things again—and those are just cultural differences, right?

Costa Rica is on the Caribbean and in Latin America. Priorities are a little bit different, and time is a little bit different. And, you know, relationships are key. Whereas, here in North America, an eight o'clock meeting starts at eight o'clock sharp, you get right to business. You're not chit-chatting about last night's dinner or whatever it might be. You finish your meeting and you move on. In Latin America, you can't do that. There's a lot more relationship-building required.

I have lots of anecdotes about learning languages. You know, when I was learning Spanish, there were some things that I said that shocked a few people because I chose the wrong word. But, I tell people, the best way to learn a language is to dive right in and try and just, you know, go for it and say things. You're going to make mistakes, and it's going to be funny, and you're going to shock people because you've chosen the wrong word. But they really appreciate that you're learning the language, that you're trying, and everyone gets a laugh about it when you choose the wrong word, even if it's a little bit embarrassing. It's part of the game, it's part of the progress of learning a language.

So, at my company in New Zealand— and, I thought it was just my company for the longest time!—but in New Zealand, at four o'clock on a Friday, everything stops. In the middle of the office, they roll out a cart with chips and beer and wine, and everyone, from the CEO all the way on down the chain, stops and and talks and has chips and drinks a glass of wine, or a bottle of beer, and then goes home for the weekend. Most companies in New Zealand have that sort of—I won't say policy—but have that sort of tradition. And I thought, wow, I work for the best company. But, the more people I met from other companies, I found out that at four o'clock on a Friday, you know, everywhere, they roll out the beer cart, and everyone has a beer and eats some chips and socializes. And, you know, it takes a while to get used to that. If you're sitting at your desk, they'll come and get you; the CEO will be like, "Hey, what are you doing? We're having chips and beer and wine right now. Why aren't you out there with us? Stop working!" And, you know, that that took some getting used to as well.

And, finally, if you work in other parts of the world, you realize that people's priorities can be quite different. In North America, we probably work a little too hard and place a little too much emphasis on our work and our careers. You know, really, it's about work, work, work, work, work. And when you have time, sort of family, friends, and everything else. In a lot of other parts of the world, in places like Spain, Italy and Latin America, places like New Zealand, it's kind of flipped. Priorities are family, friends, food, and wine, and then way down on a list is work. You've heard the old adage, live to work or work to live. And, it really is flipped. In places like North America, the UK, Japan, and Germany, I believe work is a big priority for people, and perhaps pushes down other life priorities. The rest of the world tends to flip it and say, "You know what, we need to work to make some money to be able to live. But, the priorities are family, friends, food, wine, and enjoying life. That takes a bit of getting used to. And then, of course, there is the reverse culture shock when you can come back to Canada and work is work, and nobody stops at five o'clock —you're in the office till the work is done. It takes a while to reach out to readjust.

You’re a lifelong learner. Talk to us about higher education. Are advanced degrees necessary in this field? What credentials do you look for?

For corporate communications and public relations positions, often you'll see in the job description, "Must have a degree in communications, public relations..." you know. And they list a few—English, political science, social science, etc. Honestly, I think everyone knows that a degree or diploma is kind of a bit of a starting point. It doesn't necessarily set you apart. It's almost table stakes. You kind of need it. And in our field, you know, it helps when you're hiring, it helps you know that someone's got a bit of communication skills, or some public relations skills or experience, if they're coming in with a degree in those fields.

But, honestly, work experience in our field, is so much more important to me. I've had candidates with a degree in communications and a master's in corporate communications. You know, you could have a PhD in public relations. And if you don't have the work experience, the real-world experience in our field, that education's kind of moot. I think in an ideal world, you'd have a little bit of education in one of those fields, but honestly, I did four years in university, and I learned more in eight months of community college, in my postgraduate certificate program in public relations, than I did in the four years of university. Obviously, I didn't learn more, but in terms of skills that are directly applicable to my career, that eight months of community college was to me more valuable than the four years I spent in university.

What I'm looking for, again, the soft skills are huge. If you've got a degree or diploma, that's great. That's a starting point. But I want, ideally, some experience. And to me, volunteer experience is huge. If you can't get that entry-level job, if you're having trouble finding the role that gets you started in your career, in your field, go volunteer your skills somewhere. Very few, non-profits or NGOs that I that I know of, especially the smaller ones, will turn away a person who's offering free labour and and has a certain skill set to offer the organization. If you walk up to a medium-sized or small not-for-profit, and say, "Look, this is the training I have. This is the skill set I have. I can offer you this many hours per week of my time. Can you put me to work for free?" Very few, not-for-profits that I know of would turn that opportunity away, and that's an opportunity for you to get real-world public relations and corporate communication skills. While you're doing that job search, while you're concurrently looking for that entry-level role, be volunteering. Have that at the top of your resume. I could care less that in brackets, besides communications coordinator, it says volunteer. The fact is, you've been the communications coordinator or the communications assistant for XYZ not-for-profit for six months; you've done press releases, you've done media relations, you manage websites and social media and those are hard skills, and that's real-world experience. It's not maybe in a corporate environment, but it is very applicable, and I'd much sooner hire somebody who's got some real-world experience than somebody who's got a master's or a PhD in our field.

Are there misconceptions about your sector?

A lot of people think, "Public relations? Oh right, you guys put on events, and you're having fun all the time, and you give money to charity, and it's just a lot of fun. You go to parties, and you put on parties and, you know, it's all fun."

That's obviously a huge misconception. And you find people, even within the company, have the impression that all we do is put on events and parties and that kind of thing. The reality is: I've seen studies where they rank the most stressful professions out there, and media relations, public relations, is one of the most stressful careers—right after police officer, firefighter, surgeon. It's an extremely stressful career.

You're the spokesperson for a big company, you're on the record, you're in front of the cameras. When there's an issue, when there's a crisis, you're there to manage it. You're there to communicate with the public. You need to balance the company's communication goals, or the organization's communication goals, with what the media needs from you in terms of the story. It's a very stressful career. It will wear you down quite quickly.

Personally, I've found that the way to deal with that is to take some breaks in the middle of your career. Everyone thinks there's only one way to work, and that's, you know, find a job keep growing, keep climbing the ladder. If you move laterally, or upward, then you can change companies. Otherwise, you know, stay in that company and keep growing.

Over the past 17 years, I've taken a series of what I call mini-retirements, you know, six months or a year, to just clear my brain, to give myself a bit of a break. Because, again, public relations or corporate communications, it's a career that will wear you down. It's a very, very fast pace. Things are changing all the time. It's very difficult to schedule your time. You're on call often.

I think that's a big misconception. People believe that we're, you know, having fun, putting on events and going to galas. Certainly, that is part of the role, but a big part of it is quite stressful. People need to realize that if they don't do well with stress, if they don't do well with a very fast pace, if they don't do well with constant change and a constant reshuffling of priorities—then public relations or corporate communications is not the career for you.

Are there common mistakes that young people make when entering this field?

I think the young people entering the field of public relations and corporate communications are probably making the same mistakes that I made 15 or 20 years ago, coming into the career, coming into the profession. This is a profession that, if you let yourself, you could work 100 hours a week. You could work 24 hours a day. You can work all night and all day and not sleep. And the work will not stop, the calls will not stop coming in. There's always something new. There's always a new priority. There's always an issue to manage.

I find young people coming in kind of come in with that hero complex. You know, "I can work 100-hour weeks. I can get more done. I'll really impress them if I keep working and I stay late until eight o'clock, and I'm here later than the CEO." To me, it's the opposite. I look at those people, and I think, you know what? If you attack this profession that way, without taking the rest you need and the break that you need, without taking your weekends and your evenings whenever you can, you're going to burn out really quickly. And I don't need someone on my team who is burnt out and can't think because, you know, they worked 100 hours a week for the past eight months because they are trying to prove something or trying to impress people.

I think this profession... if you want to stay in it for the long haul, you have to enjoy it. You take your breaks when you can. If there's some downtime or a slow period of the year, take your vacation, take your weekends, take your evenings, and rest. Because you're going to need it. Because there's always another crisis, another issue around the corner. The media will always be calling and asking for comments, and the business is always going to be going and growing and changing. So, my advice would be, take it easy, pace yourself, and rest when you can. Yes, work hard, you know, put your hours in. But, you're not necessarily impressing people by putting in the extra hours. You will burn yourself out. People need to realize that coming into this profession.

Having worked in both corporate communications and the NGO side of things, is it harder to go from one to the other as far as career goes?

I've always found that once you're in the corporate world, you can stay in the corporate world. It's a lot easier once you've got corporate experience on your resume to stay in the corporate world. If you're in the agency world, the not-for-profit world, I've always found it harder to go from agency or not-for-profit to corporate.

Having said that, in some specific areas of public relations, for example, community relations, community investment, or corporate social responsibility, having worked for an NGO or a not-for-profit, is quite valuable to a corporation, because you've got that inside knowledge. You've got that inside scoop. Similarly, if you're in the area of public relations, focused on media relations, having worked in the media, having been a journalist, having been a reporter, is extremely valuable experience to have. And, companies are looking for that.

So, I do think that once you're in the corporate world, it's a lot easier to stay there. It's a very different culture than the not-for-profit or the NGO world. Having said that, it's not impossible to go from agency to corporate, or from not-for-profit or NGO to corporate. But, certainly, I would tell people early in their career, that if you can get some corporate experience, I would definitely take that opportunity.

And similarly, get a variety of experience. I love having worked in the agency world. I love having worked in the not-for-profit NGO world. I love having worked in the corporate world, and I think that the insights and the experience that I bring from those different areas help me in the area that I'm in right now.

Right now, I'm in corporate but it is helpful knowing how agencies work, how they operate, what they can and can't do, and what they're best at when they're trying to pull the wool over my eyes. I think that experience is valuable in a corporate role. Similarly, having worked on the inside, having consulted NGOs and not-for-profits, I believe, helps a lot when I'm when I'm working every day on the community investment, and corporate social responsibility side of things. When I'm working with those same NGOs and not-for-profits, I know what their stresses are, and I know what the cultures are like in those types of organizations. I think that insight helps a lot. So, I tell people, hey, if you can get experience in all those areas, great. But, to be fair, I do think that once you've got corporate experience, it's a lot easier to stay in corporate. I know a lot of agency people who have been trying to go corporate for a long time and find it a little more difficult.

Talk to us about social media and communications.

Social media is has definitely changed things. It's obviously hugely important to a lot of us in our personal lives, but also in our work lives. In our field, and public relations communications, social media is massive. But, I would tell anyone that wants to get into our field to really keep those two spheres separate. Keep your personal persona on social quite separate from your professional persona on social. By that, I mean your LinkedIn profile is professional and should be kept professional. Your Facebook profile and your Twitter handle should be kept personal.

Having said that, some people I know have a professional Twitter handle and a personal Twitter handle; some people I know have a professional LinkedIn account and a LinkedIn account for their volunteer activities. Some people have two Facebook accounts, one of them that's a little bit more scrubbed, maybe, than the other. But, my advice would be to not mix those worlds.

And then, to any aspiring public relations person, I'd say, keep even your very locked-down personal social media accounts extremely clean and extremely, you know, G-rated, family-rated. Because, you know you are building your personal brand, and you're going to be a spokesperson at some point. The last thing you want is, you know, imagery or language on one of your social profiles to come back and haunt you down the road. So, yes, put on all your privacy settings. But you know, if you have any doubt at all, just don't post it. Don't tweet it, don't put it out there on social because, you know, I've seen it come back to bite too many people. Just keep it clean. And if you want to use foul language or do crazy things, by all means, do that in the comfort of your own home or when you're out with your friends. But, you know, resist the need. to post that and share it for the world to see, because the world will see it. And as a corporate spokesperson, you need to be quite clean and quite representative of your organization. You don't want that old stuff out there to haunt you.