But, by he was disenchanted by the low pay and long hours associated with newspaper reporting and turned to the greener pastures in the then-emerging field of public relations, just as many other frustrated journalists had done. However, he did not completely renounce journalism; he relied heavily on his journalistic skills and remained deeply committed to its ideals. He and his friend George Parker soon opened their own public relations firm -- one of the first in the United States -- and promised that its work would be characterized by the journalistic qualities of "accuracy, authenticity, and interest," traits which were pretty rate among the vast majority of hyperbole-spouting publicity specialists and press agents of those days.
They even issued a formal Declaration of Principles to demonstrate their commitment to journalistic integrity. If you think any of our matter ought properly to go to your business office, do not use it.
Further details on any subject treated will be supplied promptly, and any editor will be assisted most carefully in verifying directly any statement of fact. This Declaration of Principles is undoubtedly Lee's longest lasting and most sweeping contribution to the profession. It was developed and distributed to the media in when he and Parker were advising anthracite coal operators on how they should respond to a strike. They issued the declaration hoping it would counteract, or at least soothe, the rising hostility some newspaper editors and reporters were showing to other public relations practitioners who were issuing press releases, running ads that were meant to look like news stories, and making other efforts to manipulate news coverage.
Lee's commitment to these principles became even more evident in his handling of a fatal accident on the Pennsylvania Railroad than it had been in the coal strike. Previously, American railroads had simply glossed over any accidents that occurred and didn't even acknowledge that they had occurred. They would cover up evidence, keep reporters off railroad property, and refuse to comment.
In this instance, Pennsylvania Railroad executives were about to do just that when Ivy Lee intervened and convinced them to try a new approach. Lee invited reporters and photographers to come to the scene of the accident and even provided a special train to get them there. He then held on-site briefings, distributed fact sheets, and made railroad experts and executives available for interviews. These were unprecedented actions for a railroad, but they paid huge dividends.
They were overwhelmingly praised and well-received by the news media, the general public, and government officials. One result was that the Pennsylvania Railroad received what some historians said was the first positive media coverage of any railroad in decades. Beyond that, state and local elected officials praised the railroad for its openness and apparent concern for passenger safety. The overall response was so favorable that almost every other major American railroad soon followed suit and began cooperating with the news media and responding to reporters' questions when accidents happened on their lines.
This approach seems obvious today, but it was nothing short of revolutionary at the time. In fact, Eric Goldman's history of public relations asserts that Lee's willingness to respond to questions and provide a more complete and understandable context for his clients' actions marked the start of the second stage of public relations' development, a period sometimes called the explanatory era. During World War I, the American Red Cross became one of Lee's clients that dramatically benefitted from his efforts to more fully and effectively explain its work to the American people.
It had been around long before the war, and it was generally well-regarded. But, it was simply seen as one of many, largely interchangeable "first aid organizations" that tried to help people in times of trouble. There was nothing that really distinguished it from the rest of the pack. Ivy Lee changed all that. By launching an aggressive publicity campaign that combined hard facts and statistical data with the personal stories of both victims and the volunteers who served them, he boosted the Red Cross's reputation to the point that it was seen as the pre-eminent source of disaster relief throughout America and as one of the most respected service organizations in the world.
And, he did it primarily by explaining what the Red Cross is and what it does. What he did for John D. Rockefeller was even more amazing. Prior to Rockefeller had a well-deserved reputation as a ruthless, profit-driven robber baron. Some commentators went so far as to call him "the most hated man in America," an image that even Ivy Lee couldn't change overnight.
But, he took him on as a client, and by the s Rockefeller was generally seen and revered as a generous, warm-hearted, humanitarian and philanthropist, a reputation that lives on today. A few paragraphs further down I'll explain why this transformation was not universally well-received but, before we get to that, let's briefly explore what Lee was trying to do with his new approach, how he did it, and what set it apart from earlier approaches to public relations.
Some of Lee's most ardent supporters describe his impact on public relations as almost messianic. For instance, Fraser Seitel, a nationally prominent practitioner and now a textbook author, wrote: "Lee, more than anyone before him, lifted the field from a questionable pursuit that is, seeking positive publicity at any cost to a professional discipline designed to win public confidence and trust through communications based on candor and truth.
By the time Lee took Rockefeller on as a client, he wasn't alone in taking an explanatory approach to public relations. Several other cutting edge practitioners also focused on explaining their clients' activities in ways that made them palatable to their publics. There were, however, limits. Lee ruefully admitted that even he couldn't honestly explain the actions of some of his clients well enough to make them palatable to the general public.
The indisputable fact is that John D. Rockefeller fully deserved his long-standing reputation as a "robber baron" because that's what he had been for decades, and he had made no secret of it. He and several other well-known American tycoons achieved their business success and wealth by being ruthless, profit-driven managers and manipulators whose actions were often harsh, arrogant, and uncaring.
While some of what they did might be explained away, much of it was beyond any hope of gift-wrapping or otherwise smoothing over.
The public would never approve of it. Faced with this realization, Lee came up with a suggestion that was totally contrary to the robber barons' prevailing philosophy of the public be damned.
Instead of trying to explain and justify Rockefeller's past actions, Lee decided that changing Rockefeller's current and future behavior patterns -- or at least his companies' actions -- offered the best hope of achieving a better public image of Rockefeller, so that's what he set out to do. Initially, Rockefeller resisted, but Lee's persistence and persuasiveness wore him down.
Instead of limiting his role to writing press releases and public statements and arranging special appearances for Rockefeller, Lee advised him about the public relations advantages of a broad range of business decisions and management policies. This included establishing new mechanisms to redress workers' grievances, selecting new plant sites, setting employee wages and working conditions, and negotiating contracts with suppliers and vendors.
Get the Insider App. Click here to learn more. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. Good Subscriber Account active since Shortcuts. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile. Log out. US Markets Loading H M S In the news. Mark Abadi. The Ivy Lee method is a year-old strategy for helping people become more productive at work. Under the Ivy Lee method, at the end of each night you write down your six most important tasks to accomplish the following day in order of importance.
The next day, you begin working on the tasks one at a time. The strategy works because it reduces "decision fatigue," saves you time, and forces you to prioritize your goals. Optimizing your schedule is important for making the most out of every workday.
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