Keeping it real
I've spent 25 years asking awkward questions (and answering them)
Journalism, broadcasting, politics and PR. It’s useful to know how all sides of the conversation work.
I’m Kenny Campbell. My career has taken me through newsrooms, studios, political campaigns and communications of all sorts. As Editor-in-Chief of Metro, I led a team that helped turn that title into Britain's most popular newspaper, a publication famous for its brevity and wit, and also for giving a damn.
I’ve been – and still am – the journalist asking the questions, the adviser preparing someone to answer them and the person sitting behind the microphone hoping not to make an idiot of himself.
So I understand what makes a story interesting, what makes an argument credible and what happens to perfectly sensible people when somebody points a camera at them. If you've made a blooper in an interview, or watched a gremlin turn a well-prepared session into a circus, I've probably been there either spiritually or literally.
These days I use that experience to help people communicate more clearly, whether they’re facing an interview, developing an argument, writing something worth reading or trying to sound like themselves in front of an audience. Words, pictures and performance have given me a pretty extraordinary career and I still get a huge kick out of using what I’ve learned to help other people.
I don’t teach people to sound trained; I help them think clearly so they sound like themselves.
Good communication isn’t just about memorising the right phrases or learning how to deal with a stinker of a question, although I'll help you do both.
It’s about knowing why your words matter to the audience, and how to engage, inform and entertain them in the clearest, most human way.
Sometimes that means encouragement. Sometimes it means somebody telling you that the brilliant line you’ve polished for three days is, sadly, rubbish. I’m comfortable doing both because I've been both the giver and receiver of such advice on many, many occasions. It's how we get better at this stuff.
Along the way
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Edited Britain's most popular newspaper and spent years in senior editorial roles
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Worked inside sometimes brutal political campaigns and communications teams
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Advised leaders, spokespeople and organisations on media and messaging
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Built and run communications businesses, productions and partnerships
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Produced and presented podcasts and broadcast content
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Trained teams in huge companies, charities, campaigns and public-facing organisations
Need someone in your corner?
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