What does the search for the best piña colada in San Juan have to do with public relations? In this month’s issue of Tactics, my column, “Striving to Be the Best in Our Evolving Profession,” tells the story of what happened when some of the smartest PR agency leaders in the country were intrigued by two local establishments making the same claim.

As a member of PRSA‘s Counselors Academy executive committee, I’ve been collaborating with Tactics editor John Elsasser for several months as a liaison of sorts to secure contributors for the publication’s monthly column called “Changing Times.” It was started by Michael Herman, APR, Fellow PRSA, friend and mentor to many. There was no one better than Mike to write about changes in the public relations industry, and his only published column appeared in January 2015, the same month he unexpectedly left this world.

Since then, members of PRSA’s Counselors Academy have been contributing their thoughts on the evolution of our profession. It’s an honor for me to be the featured author for this month and next month’s issues and to get to write about something near and dear to my heart, the Counselors Academy Conference, that’s coming up May 1-3 in San Juan. Incidentally, it was Mike who encouraged me to get involved with the conference planning and the executive committee. (I hope I’ve done you proud, buddy!)

Want to know more about Counselors Academy and its members? Read our previous posts here.