It’s more than a bit ironic to begin this blog, for a site offering communications and writing services, with a cliché. My writing teachers would doubtless advise against it. But as it’s a cliché beloved of consulting firms, I think it’s important to discuss here, to help you understand the value Apparent Wind Consulting can bring to your company.

So here it is: As I hope will be – pardon the pun – “apparent” from this site, Apparent Wind Consulting is, as the cliché goes, “a different type of consulting firm. “ Many consulting firms use that term; for some, it may be well-deserved.

So what’s different about Apparent Wind Consulting? Why is the cliché justified? Here’s how I see it: Unlike firms that focus primarily on communications or media relations or policy, Apparent Wind Consulting seeks the complete integration of policy issues into all aspects of strategic communications. AWC works with clients to step back a bit from the need for the instant “hit” or the quick reaction, important as those may be in a particular instance, to take a broader view of the policy landscape, a client’s goals, and how these impact a client’s strategic communications plan.

We start from the perspective that an intelligent choice of communications tactics generally depends on wise decisions on strategy. In many cases, particularly for highly-regulated industries, policy considerations should fully inform that strategy.

As a critical part of this perspective, AWC’s goal is to ask not only what the policy implications of any particular communications strategy are now, but even more, what policy implications any particular communications strategy and tactics have for the future. AWC helps clients address those “second order” questions – what happens when your critics read your statements reacting to their criticism? Will a strategy or a particular intervention help your company not only now but one, three, even five years from now? Can the field of operations be broadened, to change the course of the debate – or perhaps even prevent a debate from arising?

It’s easy to become caught up in the day-to-day, particularly in situations of crisis communications. Yet Apparent Wind Consulting, as the name implies, helps a client to understand not only the “true winds” a client is facing but the “apparent winds” as well, because only by knowing them can one make progress, whether the winds are fair or difficult.

No consulting firm can (or should) promise what sailors describe as “fair winds and following seas.” But a strong consulting firm, working closely and openly with its clients, can help set the right course for the journey, react to changing winds, and – perhaps most of all – help you know the power of your force to direct the vessel most favorably towards your destination, be it near or far.

I look forward to hearing from you.