Advice from the PR Pros: Al Golin

The Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication has conducted oral history interviews with dozens of the nation’s most influential public relations practitioners. The Page Center website features a vast collection of transcripts and videos of these interviews. On this blog, we will highlight some of the advice given by professionals on attaining positions in the field of public relations.

Al Golin, founder of the international public relations firm GolinHarris, began his career in 1951 as a field press representative for MGM Studios. In 1957, when he was with Max Cooper & Associates, he placed a cold call to Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald’s. That conversation eventually grew to a partnership that changed McDonald’s from a fledgling company to one that has grown to 37,000 locations worldwide with 243 Ronald McDonald Houses in 25 countries.

Al Golin developed the term “Trust Bank” with Ray Kroc, believing trust was the greatest intangible at the heart of every long-term business or personal relationship. GolinHarris currently has 30 offices worldwide with corporate headquarters in Chicago, Illinois.

“Trust Bank” should have more deposits than withdrawals

“I think I did coin that term years ago where this ‘trust bank’ would be akin to building up deposits of goodwill in case you needed it later on… It’s a long-term process where you have to build up these deposits in this ‘trust bank’ so that it does make sense if a company does have a problem or a crisis, the public or your employees would not think ill of you and would think that you are not the kind of company that would violate that trust.”

“The CEO is very important for setting the tone for the trust. But I think it has to be carried out in every department of a company.”

“I interviewed some CEO’s of some of the major companies that I admired. One of them was a man named Ralph Larson, who is the former CEO of Johnson & Johnson, because I had heard he coined a term called a ‘trust mark.’ I always thought that was a great term. He always told his people at Johnson & Johnson that you don’t have a trademark in this company. You have a trust mark. And if anybody fouls that up, you have to answer to me, he said.”

“If you lose trust, you’ve really lost almost everything you have.”