Bob Pickard

Bob Pickard

@pr.bobpickard.com

Principal, Leadership Communication Inc. Public relations for newsmakers. 30+ year comms career @ 🇺🇸🇨🇳🇯🇵🇨🇦🇰🇷🇸🇬 Served as CEO of Burson in Asia and North Asia of Edelman. Former MDB global comms chief. PRC state media says I perform “purely sensational hype.”

3K followers2K following955 posts

Bob Pickard
@pr.bobpickard.com

"The unavailability of others is so disturbing, so disabling that our only defense is to become unavailable ourselves." "It is far more pleasant to share a space with someone who, however subtly, acknowledges that you exist."

lithub.comWhy We Should All Put Down Our SmartphonesThese days, we use the word “available” to refer primarily to digital availability, i.e., how quickly a person replies to texts or emails. Is there someone you could text right now and be sure of a…
Bob Pickard
@pr.bobpickard.com

"'What we need is candid, transparent, courageous leadership communication,’ said Bob Pickard, principal at Leadership Communication Inc., a Calgary-based firm that advises executives and newsmakers on public relations.”

thecanadianpressnews.ca'Hardly surprising' many Alberta business leaders staying mum on separation: expertCALGARY - Some prominent business leaders have taken a public stand on Alberta remaining a part of Canada, but many more remain on the sidelines as a provincial referendum on

Bob Pickard reposted

World Politics Review
@wpr.bsky.social

Development banks are often led by officials from their biggest shareholder. But Zou Jiayi, the new head of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, comes from Communist Party bodies that oversee political control across Chinese society, @nithincoca.com writes.

wpr.pubChina Is Done Pretending the AIIB Is IndependentWhen the AIIB was founded a decade ago, China went to great lengths to portray it as a technocratic institution. That has changed.
Bob Pickard
@pr.bobpickard.com

A new top-down attempt to rebrand artificial intelligence data centers as "super intelligence factories" tries too hard and just won't stick with the general public.

Polymarket@polymarket.extwitter.link

JUST IN: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang declares data centers are now called “superintelligence factories.”

Bob Pickard
@pr.bobpickard.com

Public disclosures of politicians using AI for their leadership communication are becoming more frequent. They all have staff whose duties include speechwriting, but clearly many are taking the easy way out and embarrassing their bosses who are ultimately responsible.

theglobeandmail.comInternational Trade Minister among MPs who used AI to help write speeches in Commons chamberEleven MPs used AI to help craft about half their words in the Commons chamber in the past year, the Economist found
Bob Pickard
@pr.bobpickard.com

In the private sector, CEOs should take note and assume their own AI use may become public, and govern themselves and their comms departments accordingly.

Bob Pickard
@pr.bobpickard.com

"Journalists hate AI-generated PR" 1,394,740 public relations pitches ÷ 42,392 journalist requests = 33 PR pitches per journo request, of which 21% or an average of 7 are fully AI pitches.

Bob Pickard
@pr.bobpickard.com

I don't see an actual outright denial from Driscoll's that berries with excess chemical levels were shipped to Canada in this carefully worded written statement. Companies will often insist on commenting through email to control the message and avoid media follow-up questions.

Bob Pickard
@pr.bobpickard.com

"Researching climate communication is complex. Some psychological studies do show that pleasant feelings can support behavioral change. Other studies, however, suggest that people change when they understand that it is necessary."

Bob Pickard reposted

Laura Babcock 🇨🇦
@laura-babcock.bsky.social

🇨🇦 PM Mark Carney heralded as Leader of the Free World retaliates with new dollar-for-dollar tariffs on Trump’s America. Trump and Ford trade blows while Premier Danielle Smith threatens our sovereignty helping separatists. 🇨🇦 The OShow with @pr.bobpickard.com 🔗 youtu.be/E_Odjnj9kZs?...

youtu.beTHE OSHOW: CARNEY LEADS FREE WORLD, TRUMP WANTS LAKE ONTARIO, CANADA RETALIATES, SMITH HELPING USAYouTube video by The OShow with Laura Babcock
Bob Pickard
@pr.bobpickard.com

I hope this toxic propagandist proves too radioactive for any corporate comms department or public relations firm to hire. All WH Press Secretaries pivot and prevaricate, but this unethical liar is the most dishonest of any spokesperson to ever stand at the lectern in the Press Briefing Room.

VT Commons@vtcommons.bsky.social

She'll do great lying as part of a corporate comms team. www.cnbc.com/2026/08/12/t...

cnbc.comTrump says Karoline Leavitt resigning as White House press secretaryLeavitt, the youngest White House press secretary ever, gave birth in May to a girl, her second child.

Bob Pickard reposted

Maggie Harrison Dupré
@mharrisondupre.bsky.social

NEW: A PR firm used at least 15 fake personas — equipped with fake emails, fake websites, and in some cases, fake AI-generated faces — to send me dozens of pitch emails about its (very real) clients. Those clients told me they had no idea this was happening. futurism.com/artificial-i...

futurism.comWe Are Alarmed by This PR Firm Using a Small Army of Fake AI-Powered Publicists to Barrage Journalists With Pitches for Its ClientsA PR firm called Movchan Agency operated a roster of fake PR representatives, some with AI faces, to pitch journalists on stories. Why?
Bob Pickard
@pr.bobpickard.com

This is an instantly iconic photo that will be remembered from this hinge point in history.

Michel Mompontet@mmompontet.bsky.social

Et cette photo terrible de Maximilien Lamy de l'AFP, qui nous montre ce que nous sommes devenus. Les spectateurs vaincus du désastre climatique .

Bob Pickard
@pr.bobpickard.com

I'm listening to historic radio station WWJ Detroit, on the air for 106 years since 1920. Broadcasting on 950 kHz at 50,000 watts, WWJ is credited with originating the first regular radio news reports, the first regularly scheduled religious broadcasts, and the first play-by-play sports broadcasts.

Bob Pickard
@pr.bobpickard.com

Politicians are trying to influence what AI chatbots say about them. Corporations have already been doing the same. Managing how AI systems characterize a subject is already a key part of reputation management. Understanding how AI systems form their answers is important for the people using them.

nytimes.comPoliticians Are Trying to Change What Chatbots Say About Them (Gift Article)Political campaigns have something new to worry about these days: unflattering or incomplete information produced by A.I. programs when voters ask questions about candidates.
Bob Pickard
@pr.bobpickard.com

The liar isn’t the most dangerous communicator. It’s the person who doesn’t care if they’re telling the truth. A new study explains why: false claims are more believable from truth-indifferent sources than known liars (and corrections that kill lies bounce off bullshit). Repetition does the rest.

Bob Pickard
@pr.bobpickard.com

So the public is hearing much less about climate change. The share of Americans encountering the topic in the media at least monthly has fallen from 57% to 39%, even though 65% say the issue is personally important to them (and a majority are interested in global warming news stories).

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication@yaleclimatecomm.bsky.social

NEW STUDY: Awareness of climate change as a health issue is increasing, but polarization on the topic is, too. More findings, including public trust in figures like first responders and doctors, available here: iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1... @mason4c.bsky.social

iopscience.iop.orgWidening polarization in Americans’ perception of the health harms of climate change (2014–2024)Widening polarization in Americans’ perception of the health harms of climate change (2014–2024), Fine, Julia, Ettinger, Joshua, Zakiyyah, Hilyatuz, Yue, Yuan, Kotcher, John, Campbell, Eryn, Thier, Kathryn, Myers, Teresa, Carman, Jennifer, Rosenthal, Seth A, Leiserowitz, Anthony, Maibach, Edward
Bob Pickard
@pr.bobpickard.com

This has consequences. When an issue recedes from public view, people can begin to assume that others no longer care about it. Media neglect does not merely reflect the public agenda; it reshapes it.

Bob Pickard
@pr.bobpickard.com

Changing news dynamics, ownership patterns and pervasive fatalism all play a role. But these findings also suggest that climate communication needs to become much more effective at sustaining attention, demonstrating public concern and overcoming resignation.

Bob Pickard
@pr.bobpickard.com

Here comes the anti-Binface smear campaign, with hit pieces now starting to appear. It's so telling which outlets are joining in. Binface only got 95 votes in his last by-election run, against Burnham in Makerfield. So why are they attacking a joke candidate, unless the joke is actually landing?

Tom Irwin@tomi.eurosky.social

The official arbiters of comedy have spoken

Bob Pickard
@pr.bobpickard.com
Count Binface@countbinface.bsky.social

What’s that, Dale? You want to give me an unconditional personal gift of £5million to do whatever I want with? Sure! I just need to fill out a form. If I didn’t declare it that would be silly.