Maxim Behar's Blog, page 16

PRWeek ��nnounced Maxim Behar Best PR Professional in Europe

Maxim Behar was announced "Best PR Professional in Europe" at this year's official ceremony of PR Week Global Awards 2020, live broadcast from London. The winners were judged by world-renowned public communications professionals.

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Maxim is a PR expert with over 25 years of experience in the field of PR communications, leads the successful PR agency M3 Communications Group, and is the President of the World Communication Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and former President of the World PR Organization - ICCO. Not long ago, Maxim published his latest book, The Global PR Revolution, which became a bestseller and headed the PR, Sales & Marketing and Career Advises sections of amazon.com.��

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���It is an honor for me to receive such a prestigious award, which is not only a high appreciation for my work but most of all a recognition for Bulgaria and my team in the company. This award proves that Bulgarian business is developing in the right direction and has the potential to be even more successful. In the current situation in the world, the role of quality communications is more important than ever, and therefore my team and I will continue to strive to make the PR industry even more innovative and efficient.��� said Maxim Behar.

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Here is a comment of one of the judges, published by the PRWeek: "An excellent entry that documents the life and career of Maxim Behar, who has raised the bar on PR. Coming from humble beginnings, his journey is inspiring and his success is to be feted.���

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Video from Maxim's award you can see here. The whole ceremony you can follow here. The announcement of PRWeek is here.

What���s New about ���The Global PR Revolution��� on BNT1

Sources: Interview of Anna Angelova for the broadcast ���Culture BG��� on BNT1

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Anna Angelova:

Maxim Behar who will present his latest book ���The Global PR Revolution��� is already here. Good morning and welcome!

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Maxim Behar:

Good morning and be healthy!

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Anna Angelova:

Same to you! Thank you for participating in the broadcast. Your book was first released in the USA market. Why?

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Maxim Behar:

The book was written for an American publishing house and it was ordered by an American publishing house. Since this is an overview of the PR business worldwide, there are opinions of 100 people from 65 countries inside. It was quite logical to present it first in America as America is the homeland of our PR business. However, immediately after that, the publishing house "Enthusiast" published it in Bulgaria and I am very happy that Bulgaria is the second country after America. That was the most logical thing, of course. It is currently being translated in 7 languages for their countries. This whole situation, of course, will slightly delay the issue. It is translated in Israel, in Greece, in Poland, in Brazil, in Vietnam.

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Anna Angelova:

Which is great! Congratulations! You said there are a lot of collected opinions of professionals on this issue. What do they say about the world of PR and the changes that are taking place in it? How do they see it in the future?

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Maxim Behar:

Revolution, in a single word ���revolution".

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Anna Angelova:

Revolution or coup?

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Maxim Behar:

No, no - a revolution and it is caused mainly by the change of media ownership. You know, only 10 years ago, the media was in the hands of televisions, television owners, countries, public television in general, newspapers, radios, newspaper owners, radio owners. The media is now in the hands of billions of people. Everyone has media in their hands. Everyone has an account on any social media - on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram. This is an extremely big revolutionary change because it has a terribly strong impact on our business. Only 10 years ago, we in the PR business were intermediaries between our clients and the media.

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Anna Angelova:

And now?

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Maxim Behar:

We are now intermediaries between our clients and their clients. If someone wants to sell a good product and wants that we brand and promote this product in the best way, they turn to us to manage their media. Every company ultimately has its own media. This medium, among other things, is very easy to be measured. You can very easily see how many people have logged in, how many people have bought the product from your, for example, Facebook profile or your Instagram profile. You can see who how is commenting because this media is interactive. That is, all this change in the media has led to a change in our business. By the way, it led to change and revolution in our entire lives. For these nearly 2 months of quarantine, we see how��� Imagine that we were locked inside without the Internet, without interactive connections, without the ability to communicate with other people. And this happened in the history of the world. That would be a great horror.

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Anna Angelova:

Lots of work for psychologists.

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Maxim Behar:

I was the president of the World PR Organization - ICCO for several years, and as such, I travelled a lot around the world. I visited 47 or 48 countries. I met with my business colleagues, talked to their forums, and then I decided to write the book so that I could take a look at, in fact, how this business has changed in different countries around the world. I allowed myself to made predictions in several places, which, fortunately, or unfortunately, most of them came true in these 2 months, in which we live in a completely different way.

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Anna Angelova:

Which of your predictions came true?

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Maxim Behar:

The unification, for example, of the three main units in the public communications business, is happening very quickly. These are advertising, PR, and digital media. Anyway, one day, and this is one of the chapters in the book, these 3 businesses will merge into one - the advertising business, the PR business, and the digital business. For the last 2 months, I have seen a very fast merger, because customers abruptly withdrew from the advertising business and have come to us with much larger projects, because there is nothing to advertise given that their goods are not being sold or available in stores, which are closed. The other big change is the demise of the event business. An event that cost tens of thousands of dollars, euros or levas, took a lot of time and logistics. Now it can be done on the Internet in Zoom or in any other software or platform literally in a few hours with a much larger success, much more pragmatic and much more effective. Life is different. I am very pleased that this book came out, thank God, before all this chaos in the world, because many more people are reading at home now. Sales, as I follow on Amazon, have skyrocketed for the last two months.

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Anna Angelova:

Certainly, yes. Our lives have changed. You say that now many of the events are organized online, but don't you think that after the end of the state of emergency not only in Bulgaria but all over the world, there will be a hunger for live events. Then we will have a PR revolution again.

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Maxim Behar:

I'm talking about business events. I don't believe there is such a hunger for live business events. Concerts, of course, theaters, cinemas, of course. There will be a lot of hunger, especially for concerts. People will want to see live groups, to participate in such events.

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Anna Angelova:

Isn't personal contact necessary even in business?

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Maxim Behar:

It is needed less and less so far as life has made us more pragmatic. Personal contact is important, but it is far more important to see a person, to do a job, to make a deal, to understand his case, to be able to help and consult him. This is much more important. I will give you an example. I am now the President of the World Communication Forum in Davos and we were due to have our annual meeting in mid-April. Of course, there was no way this thing could happen. We did it 10 days ago online in Zoom. People from 41 countries took part. For 3 hours we said what we had to say to each other. Everyone made their presentation. We recorded them. We put them online. They had tens of thousands of views. This would not have happened if we had done it in Switzerland. First - time to travel. Secondly - it is very expensive because hotels and transport are expensive and to go to Davos you have to go to Zurich, to go from Sofia to Zurich there is no direct flight and you have to go through Vienna. This means that you lose 2 days travelling, 3 days there and probably 10-15 thousand euros spent. In fact, we did it for 3 hours online with an incredibly greater effect. Many international media have quoted us and there will probably be some symbiosis between online and real events in the future. Finally, we saw that what was happening online had a big effect.

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Anna Angelova:

And great potential.

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Maxim Behar:

Yes. So it will be the same in the future.

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Anna Angelova:

Let's pay attention to the subtitle in your book: How Thought Leaders Succeed in the Transformed World of PR? We are constantly talking about a crisis of leaders, a crisis of chiefs, a crisis of authorities. Who the leaders are today? And who are the smart leaders?

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Maxim Behar:

Leaders are the ones who can create teams. In my opinion, leaders can create teams. Smart leaders are the ones who create new leaders. This is, it seems, the characteristic or assessment that can be given to a leader. I don't know a person who runs a company and manages it successfully, not being able to create a good team in it. A team that is very well synchronized, as I say in my company - like a clock. All gears must fit. There must be a moving gear, just like in the clock, to wind the spring and that is the leader. And all the other gears so that they fit so that the clock gives the exact time. And smart leaders really need to create new leaders and they need to have smarter people around them. I really feel very uncomfortable when I go somewhere and I have the feeling, probably not always, I know more than others. I want to go to a place where everyone knows more than I do so that we can fit in that and I can learn something and participate in the conversation.

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Anna Angelova:

How often in Bulgaria do you see an example of leaders and smart leaders after we have already made the distinction?

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Maxim Behar:

There are many leaders in business. There is none one in politics. This is a global trend. There are no leaders in politics because the political system does not work.

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Anna Angelova:

And why doesn't it work?

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Maxim Behar:

Because the world has changed and one of the reasons for this change is the social media and online communication. There can be no elections every 4 years provided that the control is daily. Any politician who does something wrong can be immediately evaluated on the Internet or on social media - to be assessed negatively or to be corrected. This politician can make a series of mistakes but still remain in power for the next 4 years. This is not possible in the business. If the chairman of the board of directors of a large company makes a mistake, to be more concrete a big mistake, the next day is out. This system must be changed in such a way that there can be an instantaneous change of political leaders so that the system can work. However, it seems to me that political systems must already be dependent on e-government. I give you a very simple example. A politician promises that there will be a budget deficit of 3 percent. He is chosen, of course, because he is the biggest in promises. Next week the budget deficit is 7 percent. A little fictional story, but very close to reality. If he had e-government no one would permit him to make any decision other than what he had promised. This is a very long topic, of course, but now during these 2 months, during which we were in quarantine and will probably be for another 2-3 months, it seems to me that the most important change in leadership is that those who do not have a lot of money will succeed not those who are rich and have great resources. Those who can quickly adapt and turn the helm of the business so that it fits the needs that society currently has will succeed. These are successful leaders today. Those who can quickly adapt to new conditions. Nobody knows how they will develop.

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Anna Angelova:

At the end of this conversation - Why should people read your book and how will it be useful for those who do not work in the PR field?

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Maxim Behar:

This is a book for everyone. For anyone who even has a small shop. For anyone who has something in business. Moreover, now my publishing house "Enthusiast" offers all books with a 30 percent discount. Anyone can buy it online. It can be bought for Kindle, it can be bought for Apple, for all possible platforms. But the most important thing, in my opinion, is that everyone can learn, even from one page, what to put in their business so that they become more successful.

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Anna Angelova:

Thank you for participating in the broadcast today. Maxim Behar and his new book "The Global PR Revolution". Read it, because as I think you understood from our conversation - there is a good reason to do it.

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Watch the full video here:�� https://www.bnt.bg/bg/a/knigata-svetovnata-pr-revolyutsiya-ot-maksim-bekhar?fbclid=IwAR32FNHMHIeWVd-qDCuvY_eE5kzaqm-QhXW4ntmeHtS-kBcLHcPvZYVbjl0

Gain or Lose Image World Leaders during the Coronavirus Crisis according to Maxim Behar

*Sources: Interview for Svetoslava Rudolf���s broadcast ���On the Network��� on Bulgaria 24 TV

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Svetoslava Rudolf:

This is the broadcast ���On the Network���, your show. I'm Svetoslava Rudolf, hello! Today we will discuss a curious question - How does the corona crisis affect the political rating of world leaders? How do they use this crisis? Who succeeds and who does not to make a successful PR in order to win the next election? Today I invited Maxim Behar, an international PR specialist to be our virtual guest. He recently published a unique book, ���The Global PR Revolution", and I read it in half underlining. An extremely interesting book that contains the opinion of international experts. In fact, this book was first published in the United States, where it was sold out very successfully, and then he released it in Bulgaria. Now on our Skype line is Maxim Behar. Hello!

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Maxim Behar:

Hello, Svetoslava! I am very happy to talk to you and your audience. A great apology that I am not in the studio in person today, but there will come a time when we will see each other in person in the studio.

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Svetoslava Rudolf:

Let's start with this - Which of the world leaders is successfully using the corona crisis? Of course, the word "use" I do not want to sound cynical but it is necessary to. Simultaneously, leaders as politicians speak out and strive to rise their image and rating. How do you think the most famous and interesting presidents - Trump, Macron, Chancellor Merkel, Erdogan, Putin, Borissov, President Rumen Radev - are managing? We will go through all.

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Maxim Behar:

If the word "use" may sound a little cynical, perhaps the word "successfully" would sound a little cynical too because it is very difficult now to say to what extent, who and how has taken the lead or has lagged behind in its popularity because this is a process. This is a process all over the world. Maybe in 3-4 months, hopefully, everything will pass, we will be able to make an assessment and the politicians will be able to make an assessment too. What I see, however, is that in every country, without exception, each of the leaders is trying to be as visible as possible, as public as possible, on television, radio, with interviews, everywhere. To have a rating, to be concerned, probably with a single purpose - to increase its popularity as this is a unique case. Almost everywhere there is a state of emergency in which any leader can be as online as he can when he can as he wants. It seems to me that in Bulgaria, as mentioned by Boyko Borissov, the government is doing quite well from a communication point of view. We will judge again in 1, 2, 3 months to whom the rating has risen and to whom it has fallen.

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Svetoslava Rudolf:

Now, if you want, let's take a look at the Bulgarian politicians. Then we will move onto the international ones. From the very beginning, some charts came out about Boyko Borissov, that his rating rose a lot, and he started appearing in the morning and evening, but at one point it seemed people started to get annoyed. There is a danger, this actually applies to all the other leaders who appear very often such as President Trump. There was a statistic a few days ago that he was on the air for 28 hours almost every day. At one point, his rating rises, but then this show begins to carry negatives. Isn't there such danger with Boyko Borissov especially with the night briefings that irritate people?

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Maxim Behar:

Any overdose, of course, is contraindicated. This is one of the basic principles especially in times of crisis. In any case, it should be overdone, however, the lack of information is a bigger problem and a much greater danger than the overdose of politicians and people who talk about coronavirus and how we will deal with the crisis. This applies not only to Boyko Borissov, but it also applies to the so-called headquarters, it also applies to all doctors, some specialists, some not. I even think it's far more nonproductive and far more dangerous - doctors who, one dentist, another specialist in internal disease, not to mention abdominal surgeons, and everyone suddenly become a specialist in infectious diseases, which is terribly dangerous. However, from the point of view of the conversation about politicians, it seems to me that enough information is a better option than the opposite. The great danger is not even from politicians even but rather from fake news and the fact that everyone has begun to understand virology, infectious diseases and, in fact, the entire Internet space is filled with opinions that should be credible, but in the end, not all of them are professional and created by specialists.

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Svetoslava Rudolf:

General Mutafchiiski is a very interesting phenomenon and in the very beginning, the people started to talk he would become a President. He topped the ranking of ratings in Bulgaria, but yesterday I saw on Facebook a post saying that his briefings, which opinion I do not share at all, but here's what people write that his briefings have become like the briefings at the headquarters of the book ���1984��� by Orwell, in which the briefings were called ���2 minutes of hatred���. General Mutafchiiski said yesterday that his life was threatened. The mood already changed to such an extent that some people did not want to see him, and today I was even surprised to hear him say that the bad messenger that he had become would be killed. Can you imagine? How far can the pendulum go?

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Maxim Behar:

I don't know him personally but he seems to be a very calm and intelligent man. It seems to me that there was a need for such a person during a crisis and so many nervous relationships of different news and information, relationships, emotions. There was a need of someone like him to calm them down, to speak sensibly and intelligently. Of course, he will have a higher rating because many people listen to his advice reasonably. He should collect and administer all the information that comes from various sources and, together with his consultants, he will choose the best. I sympathize with him because he really looks like an intelligent and sensible person. If he has political ambitions, he could try for a President.

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Svetoslava Rudolf:

All is about that he has to say bad things that people don't want to hear. He is constantly talking about deaths that are terribly unpleasant for the ears. You, as a PR, could tell if that was playing a bad joke on him?

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Maxim Behar:

He speaks in a very sensible and very objective way, very calmly. So far, with a very few exceptions, he has shown some emotion, unlike Boyko Borissov, his Prime Minister and his boss, as the headquarters is subordinate to the government. You know, a lot of people understand these measures in a very wrong way, and that's because of people's psychology. Borissov said yesterday - "Bulgaria is one of the countries with the most liberal situation and the most liberal regime in terms of going out, walking, contacts with other people." However, it seems that people are not so aware of the gigantic danger that exists in society. See the example of Singapore, which was one of the best cases in the world, perhaps not only in Asia. For a week now, Singapore has been horrified because they do not comply with the measures because they have not closed their stores. They relied almost exclusively on culture and upbringing that God would protect the people. Not so. We must listen to what politicians say, not for anything else, but because in Bulgaria there is a very pragmatic and very simple approach - stay at home, you will not worry about anything else and you will not spread the disease. There is nothing better than that. I think that if this thing is done, if Bulgaria goes in this direction, Borissov will be a winner. I am not very fascinated by what I see in the President.

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Svetoslava Rudolf:

Now let���s talk about President Radev and his appearances in this situation. Tell me what do you think? He still strives, he must be admitted to run on his track and stand out as you said a while ago. That is, he can not follow the Government, you know from a PR point of view. There is perhaps something to criticize sometimes. Why not doing it?

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Maxim Behar:

No, I do not mean criticism or following the Government. I just don't move in this construction. However, I believe that the President must be very proactive. As a matter of fact, until a few months ago, he behaved very well and sent very meaningful and intelligent messages. Now, it seems, he has suddenly gone into a plain that is not very positive and anyone can criticize it. However, in the present time, in order to win a rating, in order to win people, in order to be even grateful to the people, this applies not only to the President, this applies to every single minister, this also applies to the Prime Minister, but you also have to prove that you really work for the people and that you think their good, and communicate it in a very good, very concise and very professional way. By the way, the French president is doing this, the Spanish prime minister is doing it, the Italian president is doing the same.

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Svetoslava Rudolf:

Sorry, I am interrupting you. We'll move onto Macron in a moment. However, as for President Radev, why do you think he does not speak to the people? On the contrary, he seems to be addressing the poor precisely, that the poorest should be helped, that the economy should be helped. He said such things.

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Maxim Behar:

This is more than clear, Svetoslava. Of course, the people who are in the most difficult situation, those who have lost their jobs, they will probably be hundreds or thousands of people. Businesses need��to be supported and given special attention. If I had to advise the President or the Prime Minister, if they needed me to advise them, they would call me. I think that if the President or the presidential institution wanted to be useful and constructive, then he had to gather a group of economists around him and come up with an alternative or a real economic plan, which is very necessary for Bulgaria at the moment. It is very necessary. Yesterday I watched the debates in the parliament and there was such a question to the Prime Minister and he did not seem to answer very clearly and precisely. We need a very clear program on which businesses should be supported as a priority, which businesses are important for Bulgaria, and how they will be supported. If the Prime Minister, the President, whoever, comes out and proposes something with figures and arguments, I think that even in terms of PR, but purely pragmatically, they would win a lot, Bulgaria would also win.

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Svetoslava Rudolf:

Well, what do you think of the position of the BSP in this situation, which provoked yesterday's parliamentary debate?

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Maxim Behar:

It is incomprehensible to me. Again, I do not want to go into political criticism or evaluation. You also can't stand there and ask questions. If someone has a clear economic program, if someone has a clear political message, how to get out of this crisis. But no one knows, of course, because no one has been through it, or at least we are not. I don't know, neither the BSP, nor anyone else in politics, except Boyko Borissov, I do not see how he could gain influence at the moment if of course there is no clear program and clear message.

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Svetoslava Rudolf:

How do you see the IMRO's proposal to deal with some of these economic measures that they proposed as well?

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Maxim Behar:

IMRO is an interesting political phenomenon, even because their leader Krassimir Karakachanov manages to get out of any situation quite well and quite intelligently and has never crossed borders before. It seems to me that this is a party of pragmatic people. He and his partners have the most accurate and clear messages today. The fact is that they, excluding IMRO who have little participation in the vote, the fact is that they do not carry a large burden at the moment, but still have a very sober voice and that they manage to survive in this coalition is also not a small achievement. Borissov is a very powerful man who seems not to agree with compromises easily, and I think it is a success for the IMRO that they continue to be in the Government with him.

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Svetoslava Rudolf:

There was a very interesting incident at one of the briefings, however, Boyko Borissov has a sense of humor which comes out from any situations, in which they sat with General Mutafchiiski at the table for the briefing and then Boyko Borissov told General Mutafchiiski - "Don't sit on my place, because with this rating������

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Maxim Behar:

No, it was a different situation. They were getting up after the briefing when Boyko Borissov told General Mutafchiiski - "If you want to come onto my place, if you want to continue", then he said - "Well, you better not do that with this rating������

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Svetoslava Rudolf:

Yes, it was that way.

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Maxim Behar:

I think he seriously thinks that. It's not so much a sense of humor.

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Svetoslava Rudolf:

Absolutely! Where there is a joke, there is the truth, as they say.

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Maxim Behar:

Well, he has lived with the highest rating in Bulgaria for the past 10 years and suddenly a General appears from nowhere, who on top of everything, is in a military uniform. There is a study that shows that this General, who has been on television for 1 month or less, suddenly has a higher rating than the Prime Minister. No wonder, this is human after all, and it's normal that he was worried then. He made a joke, however, if someone has a higher rating than a person who has held it for 10 years, or even more, even as Secretary-General there was a rating far higher than the rating of the former Prime Minister, who was King Simeon.

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Svetoslava Rudolf:

Well, does Boyko Borissov play the role of the father of the nation well with these endless in terms of hours conversations, messages, messages, messages? It is noticeable that the journalists ask him something, but he answers what he knows, very often he does not answer the questions, but answers what he thinks. Somehow he's trying to play the role of Batman. By the way, thinking about this comparison to Batman is a bit funny, because the coronavirus comes from a bat. Right? Boyko Borissov in the role of Batman saves people.

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Maxim Behar:

You know, my friends and I talk about companies, we are together in Zoom from morning till night. There are many people who are dissatisfied with his excessive presence on the screen, including in the evenings. However, it is true that many people in Bulgaria, due to his high rating, want to hear things from people who have power and make decisions, who know how to use words, who speak their language and as much as to hear dissatisfaction and to say to ourselves - ���Get rid of him, he has such a language" and everything else. The majority, this is a definite statement for years, the mass of people in Bulgaria identify with him and his language. He thus gained popularity. Otherwise, if there is something extraordinary when we have returned to our homes and we are afraid to show up outside so to not become infected. When, thank God, the economy is still working well, but there are still difficulties and the crisis is still to come. The fact that someone appears on TV one night to say funny things is not a big drama. It seems to me that he earns good points with this. He may be a little more temperate, but he is Boyko Borissov. There is no way anyone can advise him to be different. He kicked his PR, the chief of public relations department, out of the press conference. What's about if someone tries to advise him to be more temperate. He is as he is. We have to take this into consideration. He was elected by the people, he is the Prime Minister and so far I think that he has been doing quite well in terms of communication.

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Svetoslava Rudolf:

Now let's move to other presidents. For example, let's talk again about President Trump. He is known to be at war with most media, with the exception of one or two conservative media that took part in his political campaign. You are very familiar with American PR territory. What is happening to Trump now? In the beginning, his rating was really high, but now President Trump has started to stop his press conferences by himself, as he wrote on Twitter that they are out of use.

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Maxim Behar:

Everything that is happening in America is unique and there are people I talk to and no one can believe that this can happen in America. The fact is that in addition to everything else, in addition to his war with the media, in addition to all these remarks at every briefing he says to CNN representatives or some from other newspapers - the New York Times, the Washington Post, he just throws them somewhere. By the way, the attitude of Boyko Borissov towards the Bulgarian media is radically opposite. We all saw how he answer ed to awkward questions from a TV that doesn't like him so much - that of Slavi Trifonov, we saw how he answered to almost all questions forcing himself. Something that wouldn't even have crossed Trump's mind. He interrupts CNN reporters in the middle of the question. He tells him - ���You are liars. You are spreading fake news. I don't want to talk to you." This, especially for America, is very difficult to bear because, in all these years that we remember, dozens of presidents have changed who have had such an attitude, neither to the people around them, nor to the journalists, nor to the media, nor to his advisers. I don't think that's a good message from Trump to the people of America, no matter what economic miracles he does, no matter how many new jobs he creates, no matter how much he expels all the Chinese from America and thus performs well. You can't treat the media in this way, you can't send such messages like injecting yourself with disinfectants, drinking bleach. You know, there are already cases of people drinking disinfectants and bleach and going to hospitals. And I say to myself, "God, what are these people like who listen to a person on a TV screen and start drinking poison?" That is, now in this stressful situation of crisis, politicians and those people who elect and listen to them are obviously confused in all the countries.

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Svetoslava Rudolf:

Well, I want to ask you if there is any risk in this situation, in which a leader stands for hours in front of the audience, in front of people who ask him questions, in front of journalists, in such a critical and stressful situation in which he must be ready to corresponds to absolutely everything, to answer in the best way, not to say a single word that is out of place. He can't help but say something stupid. That is how it happens.

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Maxim Behar:

Unfortunately, this is how it happens. Of course, there are politicians especially in Europe who behave very adequately and very intelligently - the Italian Prime Minister, we talked about Macron, the Spanish Prime Minister as well.

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Svetoslava Rudolf:

Let's say a few words about Macron. I have prepared a video in which he participates as a reporter in a situation with coronavirus patients.

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Maxim Behar:

Svetla, every politician must be prepared for any critical situation, especially the Prime Minister, especially the President, because they are in responsible positions. If necessary, they will prepare with PR experts, if necessary, they will listen to all the criticism. However, their performance during a crisis must be super productive, super-intelligent, encouraging, in any case unmeasured, and they have no right to take steps aside. That's it. We advise dozens of international companies in their critical situations nowadays especially to do just that. What about the politicians who govern an entire country? Of course, they must be prepared in the best way.

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Svetoslava Rudolf:

The most interesting thing happened to Chancellor Angela Merkel who was off the political scene. I even talked, we had a live connection from Germany, where they said - "She returned as the mother of the nation. Everyone loves her. What matters is what she says." How would you assess this paradoxical situation in Germany?

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Maxim Behar:

The German people are quite well-bred, organized, and united people. In my opinion, they have suddenly chosen a far more pragmatic approach - to support the person they know and trust, rather than trusting someone else who will replace her now in the middle of a crisis the world has never seen. Otherwise, I am a little surprised that Merkel is quite pessimistic. Yesterday I read her last statement that we are only at the beginning of the pandemic, that this will continue for many years, that we must be ready for the pandemic to continue with even greater force this year in the following months, which is totally contrary to that, which we hear from other politicians, including experts.

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Svetoslava Rudolf:

Isn't that exactly the right approach? That Merkel was different from all leaders because she said things close to the truth, whether if it was hopeless. This truth prepared the German people to take the situation realistically. While in many other countries, among which we may fit, we are listening to things and we do not know what to expect and we do not know what will happen. It is constantly said that no one knows what will happen because we have never experienced such a thing. At one point, they ask Boyko Borissov - ���What will happen in the future? Do you have a plan?��� And he says - "We have not seen such a thing. No one can make a concrete plan��� and so on. Suddenly they decided to give us "hope". In the hope that the measures will be relaxed, this is happening when coronavirus cases are multiplied. People ask themselves the question - "Why are the measures quitted when the disease is spreading? Isn't this a contradiction from a semantic point of view?���

��

Maxim Behar:

Absolutely logical question and there is no answer. In my opinion, this is a political game of Borissov, of the government. Probably the same thing is happening in other countries so that people do not turn against politicians so that tensions can be reduced a little. I think, again I'm not an expert, from everything I read and see, I think it's a huge mistake. We have to protect ourselves, to stay at home, not to contact anyone, because 1, 2, or 3 omissions can lead to great unhappiness among many people.

��

Svetoslava Rudolf:

Yes, I agree.

��

Maxim Behar:

This must be repeated constantly, people must be patient. Televisions like yours and a show like yours also play a huge role in communicating to people so they can understand. They are more responsible, everyone is more responsible than the Prime Minister today. The situation of the Prime Minister is easy. He is sitting in the car, wearing a mask, putting on gloves. There is no danger of infecting anyone or being infected. However, each of us has a huge responsibility to not infect his relatives, to not infect his friends, to not infect anybody on the street, to not be infected. If we are all aware of this responsibility but we do not hear it from politicians, we do not hear it from their PR experts, consultants. If each of us is well aware of our responsibility, it seems that we will pass much faster. As a friend of mine from America says - ���When I cross the bridge, I'll call." So, we all need to want to cross the bridge. Unfortunately, no one knows how long it is. That is why we will soon cross this bridge. But we all need to have that patience, to follow all these measures so that we can continue our lives normally and we will remember, of course, those months at home.

��

Svetoslava Rudolf:

In the last 5 minutes of the first part of the show, I would like to briefly comment on Presidents Erdogan and Putin. Why does Erdogan act differently? He does not appear often. If you look for his videos now you will see that he has only appeared 1, 2, or 3 times during all this time. In fact, there are fluctuations in his rating. We did a special show from Turkey about what's going on there. How would you comment on Erdogan's behavior in this situation?

��

Maxim Behar:

His attitude is very similar to what Putin is doing in Moscow. These are people who are controlling the situation with political and economic inventory so much that they have no need to be on screen every day. They appear very briefly, very rarely, they say a few things, and these messages reach people through all sorts of channels that they have made over the years. This is their strategy. I believe that every politician should know his political space and his strategy, compared to what he has around him and has done over the years. I'm not surprised by that. Erdogan is not a person who stands on the screen all the time. He is a man who appears rarely but when there are very large and massive demonstrations he is there. I hope everything goes well in Turkey and there are not many upheavals, because these are big countries. You see how in the United States everything went wrong and everything turned upside down. We all thought that this was the most stable and best-paid medical health care system which suddenly, in the first few weeks, turned out to be falling apart. Hopefully, this is not happening anywhere else. I hope we see Turkey and Russia, it is also very important to cross this bridge successfully, with the least cases of infection.

��

Svetoslava Rudolf:

Thank you very much for this conversation. It was very valuable for us. Thank you and in the future, we will consult you in other cases when there is a specific situation. Because I think people should count on learning. It is simply informationally important to learn to understand the behavior of leaders.

��

Maxim Behar:

Thank you! Let everyone remember that he is his own leader in his house, in his place, in his kitchen. Everyone should be a leader and he should control his mood and manage his mood and actions to protect everyone else around him. Only then we will succeed quickly. Thank you. I wish success to your audience!

��

Svetoslava Rudolf:

Thank you and I wish you success and health!

��

Watch the full video here:�� https://www.facebook.com/maxbehar/videos/10157329991897877/

Maxim Behar: Fake News Must be Criminalized

The Host:

Hi, I'm Siana from Enthusiast Publishing house. I am happy that during the Holy Week after Easter and the day after the Holiday of the book, guest of our virtual studio is Maxim Behar - a recognized PR expert, a former president of ICCO, a member of dozens of international boards and organizations, and CEO of the prestigious M3 Communications Group. In his latest book, ���The Global PR Revolution���, which Enthusiast published in December, he talks about How Thought Leaders Succeed in the Transformed World of PR. In fact, this is a title for everyone in the business, not just for the leaders, and it is especially necessary for a state of emergency. So I'm very happy that we can talk. Hi, Maxim.

��

Maxim Behar:

Good afternoon to Enthusiast, to all friends, to readers, to friends of the book especially. Happy holiday, but since yesterday it was the International Book Day, today it may be continuing. It will probably be Book Week, Book Month. We spend two months with books, you see behind my back.

��

The Host:

Yes, I hope you are ready to answer the readers' questions, but first I want to ask you: You are a real professional and a person who really loves his work and what he does and that is evident in everything you publish and share. How is the workflow happening in the new environment?

��

Maxim Behar:

We're getting used to it. In my opinion, the business will change a lot and one of those changes is actually that next year, half of the time we spend on projects will be from home. Much more efficient, much more time available, but of course, it requires much greater internal discipline and ability to respond in the best way. All my colleagues work from home, some in Sofia, some in the countryside. We meet every day in the various video link software programs and this cannot happen in real time. In our previous life, we met once a week, while now we are all online. We are doing much better. I feel more fulfilled, I have more time to think and more time to work.

��

The Host:

It is great, yes. However, there is some communication problem as well, because now there is much more virtual communication. Do you miss contact with people, live meetings?

��

Maxim Behar:

You know, I haven't known for years what is virtual and what is real. 7 years ago, in 2013, Enthusiast published my book, ���Generation F���, and exactly, maybe, half of this book was a reflection of what is virtual and what is real. Sometimes you meet a lot of people, some of them friends, other colleagues, like-minded people, in a real environment, and it turns out that this connection is not as effective or as real as the relationship with many other people who have never seen and met them. However, in the so-called virtual environment, which sometimes turns out to be much more real. For many years, it doesn't matter much to me whether I have been seen one person face-to-face or online. I even get the feeling that online people are a little freer, less anxious, can ask hotter questions, more direct questions, maybe more personal. Therefore, I do not give much weight to the comparison real-virtual, but rather look at the effect of what we do. Whether it ultimately results, whether something interesting has happened, whether people create, or if they understand. This type of communication has its risks, especially when it is not with video but only with writing, it can be very difficult to grasp what is going on in the head of a person who writes a sentence, so there are often big discrepancies. Some have written one thing and you have written another. Then some explanations begin. But in a year or two or three, it will be depersonalized. People will begin to get used to communicating online quickly, clearly, and pragmatically. You know, during these 2 months since we were being at home, we have been working in different conditions, we have been living in different conditions. In my opinion, the most important word we have all learned is pragmatism. I try to be pragmatic, to be direct, concrete, and ultimately to look at the result because we are in a time of crisis and it is a very deep crisis. I do not want this crisis to become mental or psychological. Rather, it is incarnated in our extraordinary life. Otherwise, we all know that there is still no economic crisis. We have everything we need to have. We have the most important, one of the best Internet in Europe, the fastest broadband connections. So, if there is a crisis, it is because we live differently and that is why we have to be very pragmatic, looking only at the result.

��

The Host:

I ask a question from Miglena: ���Mr. Behar, PR is not just a modern concept, it is a necessary concept with a flexible definition, it is a skill and an art to communicate globally. PR is a global language that few people master. I am interested in what way you plan today, for today's I would call it crisis PR because it is very important how information is presented to the population.���

��

Maxim Behar:

You know, Siana, nowadays anyone can be freely giving advice, stand on the sidelines and say it's right, it's not right, why the people from the television are filling our heads with so many things. If, for example, there are no briefings and conferences at 8 o'clock which these people with shoulder-straps give, then the people will say why they do not inform us. It seems to me that there is too much information from all sources at the moment and, thank God, everyone has the freedom to choose the sources of information. Since I was on pretty good age when the Chernobyl tragedy happened in 1986, there was no information then, and we all listened to the BBC and all sorts of other sources, very difficult to capture in Bulgaria, to find out what was going on. Inadvertently, over these weeks, months, I have compared to the year 1986 and say to myself - Thank goodness there is a lot of information, everyone can choose what he wants, whatever he wants. I don't know how I would proceed if I had to be a consultant to those people who speak from the screens from morning till evening. Rather, I am committed to being a little more frightened than being freer and not thinking about the consequences of the pandemic. Personally, my family and I do not go out from home at all, we do not receive anyone at home, we stay at home because we think it should be this way, but there are other people who say to themselves - Fuck, I don't care. You know, I work for a wonderful country called Seychelles and 2-3 weeks ago, just before the flights stopped and the borders closed, a woman called and told me - "I'm traveling to Seychelles tomorrow. What's the situation there? " I said, ���Wait, how are you going to travel? It's not a question of Seychelles, because there you go to the beach and you don't see a person. The point is, you will travel, you will go through airports, planes, you can get infected there. Who knows what kind of people will be on these planes." She told me - ���One moment, Mr. Behar, I paid my vacation and I am not afraid of any viruses. I'm going." I remained open-mouthed because she said to me, "I'm a young person and I don't get sick." There are such people, but there are also people who strictly follow the measures. I think communication and information come from all sides, so everyone can choose what they want to learn.

��

The Host:

I skip the sequence of questions a bit because we have a question about fake news from Carolina Hristova - "In your book, you talk about the fake news and its distribution. In the current situation, fake news can be described as a virus on Social Media networks. What do you think are the mechanisms by which we can limit them and protect ourselves from them?���

��

Maxim Behar:

For many years I have been touring the various Davos world forums, ICCO congresses, and talking about fake news. I will say, what I have believed for many years, that fake news must be criminalized, that is, to be under the Penal Code of all countries or as many countries as possible. There are several US states that have already done this. You publish fake news and you suffer the consequences, that is, it should be qualified as a criminal act. Otherwise, there is no way to fight it because a huge number of websites, various news sources have to be closed. The problem will be that there is no freedom of speech and there is, in general, something quite disturbing about it, because you never know which news media or which website, with what logic and reasons, will be shut down. It may be fake news. Tomorrow, someone who may think he can do anything may assume power. That is, fake news when it goes to court and be qualified as a criminal act, then it seems to me that��� it is like theft - you steal something, or run over someone with a car, or do something else that falls within the scope of the Penal Code��� then people will think about what they publish. And I set this example in my book - when 120 years ago, Henry Ford introduced the first, then called ���gasoline car" and said - ���Here's a car that will take you quickly and safely from one place to another���. Then many people said that this was not possible because that car could ran over a person, it could burst a tire, it could break the engine, and everything above had to be filled with gasoline - ���Where will we get this gasoline from?��� That was then, it seemed very dangerous to all these people to replace the cart with horses of that time. Yes, we can now see carts with horses only in some suburbs with people who only load them with waste. Everyone drives a car and bears the appropriate responsibility for driving a car and doing something wrong to anyone else. Similarly, when you have media in your hands, each of us has media in his hands, and this is the most important thing that has happened to have The Global PR Revolution - changing media ownership. When you have the media in your hands, you bear the corresponding responsibility. Posting fake news is like hitting a man on the street with a car. In the same way, I qualify them because with one fake news you can scare people, break a brand, you can kill a person, change his future, you can do him harm. Yes, if you do not affect human health, but the only effective fight against fake news is to put it on the spot as one of the crimes that a person can commit because he has a medium in his hands and can abuse this medium. Not to mention how many competitors publish fake news about their opponents, how many brands suffer from this thing, probably how many companies and people. I do not see any other way that anyone will publish something and we will refute it.

��

The Host:

Still, in your opinion, can society and even people with relatively social status be able to get a filter on how to read news, especially now? Maybe if they check the sources of information? Maybe that's where everything comes from? The source of information and its veracity must always be checked.

��

Maxim Behar:

That's almost impossible, Siana. Imagine reading interesting information, you have to start checking the source, you have to check if it has been published elsewhere, compare it��� Yes, that may happen, of course, but this is not the way, because it is rather a reaction to the consequences of this fake news, not to the source itself. In my opinion, everything that should happen should happen upon potential sources of potential fake news. There are software, Microsoft have developed software that classifies the media according to whether they are reliable - whether they can be trusted and whether they publish fake news. However, it is putting a stigma on one media because 1, 2, or 3 times, without wanting or because of neglect, it published something and immediately you hit a slap and say that this media has fake news. The end. No, I think each one of us checks many times, especially now. The last news that contented something about the wind that would bring something from Chernobyl and I saw some published news about it. People have compared them many times without anyone remembering that no radiation can come from this already closed plant. However, when you check from 2-3 places, you see that it is fake news. You lost half an hour and you had a lot of things going through your head. No, the one who posted something, I am not exactly referring to this case because I have not analyzed it so much, but the one who reported something that is not true has suffer the consequences.

��

The Host:

Another question from Diana Georgieva: "Mr. Behar, according to your opinion, is freedom of speech currently threatened?���

��

Maxim Behar:

Freedom of speech is always threatened, and in Bulgaria it is threatened too. I have no idea, despite of spending half my life in journalism and being a part of various associations and organizations. I founded an association for journalists in the European Union at that time. Some adherents and I wanted Bulgaria to join the European Union as soon as possible, to have a free market, free media. I believe that freedom of speech is also threatened now. It is because there are media that are very heavily dependent on someone. Everyone knows this and it's no secret. Otherwise, each of us owns media and can say what he wants to say. Yes, it is not the same power as the power of the television screen or the power of the newspaper. However, media freedom is determined not only by what the journalists say or not only by what the publishers publish. I know that Bulgaria is in 111th place in the ranking, but I do not know this ranking what it is based on, how it is created, what are the criteria. Again, freedom of expression is always threatened, at any time, in every country. But each of us must know how to operate the media because that is their power. If you want to be honest and honorable, you can be honest and honorable without any problem. If you want to write something that is true or you are convinced that it is true and justified, you can do it. Many people think that the word is television, newspapers and, to a lesser extent, the radio. No, this is not all media. Media is also Facebook, media is also Instagram, media is Twitter,�� media is LinkedIn. All that can go through our head and publish and write something where we want to. Yes, it is true that there are newspapers and TVs that, at least I think, are very selective and cautious when writing about one person or another. However, there are social media and people who are not cautious at all when writing about the same companies, people, events, social events and everything else. Freedom of speech is threatened as long as we do not have access to free speech, and all of us ultimately have access. I do not know what I can say about the traditional media, which are disappearing or undergoing a great transformation that makes them completely different already. I remember that in 1999, then a friend of mine, Justine Toms, you know, she writes books and deals with the Internet. Then she published a newspaper, it was at the very beginning of the Internet and the media in Bulgaria, and I had an interview in which I said that in my opinion, the last printed newspaper would be published in Bulgaria in 2025. I know how many slaps I received back then from a lot of my friends, because I was a newspaperman for many years, because they kept calling me on the phone and telling me - ���You are a traitor. How can you say such a thing? The newspapers are feeding you." But it was obvious, then 21 years ago in 1999, it was obvious that newspapers were going away, not because they were bad, but because online media appeared and advertisers began to show a great interest in online media. Back then, there was no Facebook, no social media, only websites. However, it was an indication that the entire market would be moving online, which is already clearly happening, especially on social media. Much better-targeted advertising, much cheaper advertising, much more visible advertising, interactive advertising, that is, you can see a link, click on it and go where you want to go and most importantly - an ad that is measured. That is, the advertiser can log in and see how many people have seen his ad, how many people have clicked, how many people have bought later. As advertisers, from the traditional media, which are newspapers, radios with very little influence, and TVs move online, it's natural for online media to become stronger. This is us, in the online media we all are honest, honorable, decent, we have something to say. It is not so big tragedy that a newspaper or a television can have corporate influence from one person or another. It's dangerous, it's not fair, it's not right, but it's not a tragedy because we already have the media in our hands. 7 million Bulgarians, of whom probably 5 million are online, 5 million are media.

��

The Host:

Another question from Daniel Gospodinov: "Do you notice any misconduct on the part of state leaders in the crisis, not only the Bulgarian but also the world ones?���

��

Maxim Behar:

It will take several hours. Of course, all of them, I can also talk about the leaders in Bulgaria - about Boyko Borisov, about Rumen Radev, about all that is happening. Since the leaders are over-appearing, some of them, I can talk about Donald Trump, of course. These are the people who stand on screen from morning to evening. There is no way they will make no mistake. There is no way that some people would liked them and others would say it is an absurd that a statesman to say such a thing. If we look at the Bulgarian Prime Minister, I have analyzed his words, sometimes he says something and some people think, including people in my social environment - ���How he can speak such stupid things?��� Otherwise, there are people who say he is great - "He has such a cool language." - for the same thing. That is, it all depends on who perceives and understands it. It's the same with Donald Trump. On YouTube, and in general, the media is full of scraps of things we have never seen before in any President, no statesman. You can't think that someone will tell a journalist - Get out of the hall. Leave. You are a fool. You don't deserve to work for CNN��� - or something else. Some people say this is unacceptable and how a statesman can talk like that. Other people will say that he told it very correctly and well that the journalist was kicked out. That is, the more one statesman appears in the media and social media, the more visible he is. The more weaknesses he has, the more we see his weaknesses. Appearing in a pre-recorded conversation or interview, such as Todor Zhivkov or Leonid Brezhnev, and other such people we had, and we watched them. They recorded them all day to record 15 minutes in their best light. You could never see live how he would react. You could not imagine him appearing live, in front of the television or in public. I do not want to go back and I don't want to think about this artificial life. That life was more artificial than life in the online space now. What you say is virtual space, and what I say is real. However, these are people, we observe Boris Johnson, we observe Macron, we also observe Merkel, and all these people who can omit some stupidity, they can say a word more. After all, we have to judge what exactly is happening in each country and what they are specifically doing. One of the principles in television journalism is that the camera enhances your positive qualities, if any, and accordingly increases your negative manifestations, if any. When these people are in front of the camera all day long, they cannot handle and arrange the stories, cannot arrange or learn the sentences in advance. If they do that they will look like coiled spring dolls, once you wind up them are telling you things. Honestly, I prefer people like Trump and Borisov, Johnson, because at least you can see how much they cost. If one person likes them, you will say good and great about them, but if you do not like them, you will say that you do not like them. Question of opinion. The most important thing is what is happening in the countries and what the leaders are doing. What they do is more important now than what they say.

��

The Host:

Since we do not have much time, I suggest returning the conversation to the books. As there are many more questions that cover a variety of topics, people have been tempted to ask you about politics, the media, and it is normal to do so. But I want to talk about ���The Global PR Revolution" and in my opinion, one of the most valuable things about this book is that it actually gathers the opinions of over 100 leading PR experts from around the world, from 65 countries. What did you learn from meeting them?

��

Maxim Behar:

I did not expect or even thought that the book could have such a success. Last night I surfed in amazon.com and saw it ranked 45th out of the 100 best PR books in all of Amazon's history. I have always thought it was a book that would be more appropriate for marketing and PR professionals, including those in Bulgaria. But also in Bulgaria, I get every day emails from all kinds of people who have nothing in common with the business and tell me that they have read it. An Israeli grandmother wrote to me. I hope she's not offended that she's a grandmother, but she's 85 years old. He wrote to me that she was reading the book.

��

The Host:

An Israeli girl.

��

Maxim Behar:

One girl from Israel, right. I am very pleased that everyone finds something in it. The idea of ������the book was to be written so that you could open the page you wanted, read something and close again. Then, especially if you are travelling by plane or at a hotel, open somewhere else and read something interesting again. These 100 people are actually very valuable to me because that makes the book unique. Since, after the US publishers started editing it, a process that takes about 1 year maybe, I started digging into Amazon to see what books were written and published. There is no such book. There is simply no such book in the entire history of PR publishing that has garnered so many views from so many countries. What I wrote, someone may like it and others may not. One may say that he does not want to read what I have written, and another may say that he likes my previous books. Additionally, I'm not a professional writer. I write so I can share the experience I have. But the opinions of these 100 people from any country, from small countries like Botswana and Albania, to countries like Australia, Canada, America, Brazil, is something that I think would remain in history and after time when someone wants to find out what it was like our business in 2020, he can open this book and, leave my written opinion, see the opinions of people, some of them manage, for example, Sir Martin Sorrell, David Gallagher, Jack Martin, Elise Mitchell, Francis Ingham. These are the people who manage billions of dollars, run giant companies, and their opinion is really important.

��

The Host:

By the end of our conversation, what are you reading right now? What are your recommendations for movies, series, if you want museum exhibitions online, to look at now? Is there a hobby you have rediscovered?

��

Maxim Behar:

I read a lot of material and articles related to my business, because it is very important that I can analyze how it will change, and it will really change only after 2, 3, 4 months. I've left the literature behind my back, I can't focus on it. We watch various movies every night, which is why I would hardly recommend a movie. Even when we talk at 4 pm at the meeting with all my colleagues and they tell me - ���Tell me some interesting movie? Tell me about a new movie?" I start to struggle and start to dig into my memory which movie we watched yesterday, which movie we watched last day, so I can really recommend some worthwhile. There are so many good movies. There are so many things to see that it's just a huge paradise and I'm a little worried about recommending anything. I don't watch virtual exhibitions, I don't look at virtual museums. Rather, I'm trying to use my time. First I want to think about the 2 books I have on my laptop and I know that starting them I will finish them in a week or two. One, for sure, I can write very quickly. The other book I want to write is about a topic related to that in all these years I have gone through several universities where I studied leadership. The last one was Harvard Kennedy School last year and when I came back from Harvard I was so excited, I was full of energy that I said to myself - ���My God, everything I learned at Harvard I have to share and I have to write a book." Then I remembered the one month I spent at Yukohama Kenshu Institute, then remembered the month and a half I spent at the Pacific Institute in Seattle. I started to unite everything and wanted to write something about leadership. In fact, that's how my book, "The Global PR Revolution���, ends. The last sentence is that this is a business for leaders. I think that after all this jumble called the coronavirus, life is already becoming life for leaders, not just in business.

��

The Host:

Great finish. Thank you very much for the opportunity to talk and I hope to do it again soon.

��

Maxim Behar:

Thank you! I wish you success! Sincere thanks to all the publishers and once again Happy Holidays!

��

Full video watch here:��https://www.facebook.com/maxbehar/videos/10157336825942877/?epa=SEARCH_BOX

Maxim Behar for Capital: How PR Business Will Change After the Pandemic (5 forecasts about the future of the industry)

A significant number of the different industries worldwide are blocked and many of them might not start again with the products they have made so far. On the other hand, services, although secondary business and dependent on industries, investment, and trading, seem to be able to adapt to new conditions quickly. The PR business will have some brand new elements which have long been ready to happen and have now gotten an unexpected and irreversible acceleration

1.��During its ICCO Summit in 2015, some five years ago, speakers forecasted that in the future 70 percent of the public relations business activities will be done from home. This has already happened and it seems that��this percentage will be surpassed after the quarantine worldwide��ends. Working from home, or a nearby park or coffee shop has thousands of benefits, and all of us, who spend our days now in online video communication platforms, have already started believing in it. Everything is more pragmatic now, with a huge amount of saved time, emotions, and efforts for personal meetings with clients or partners. Undoubtedly, time takes first place in my list - for transportation, parking, waiting. Pragmatism is the keyword in this business, and we were all easily convinced that in half an hour conversation we can do more work than having an hours-long meeting.

2. The end for the so-called one-man-show PR consultants has come and only the companies with the fastest reaction and with well prepared and multifunctional teams will stay on the market. These are the ones who can manage several social media channels simultaneously, provide a numerous amount of services focused among one or two people, and last but not least - who can look beyond their client���s everyday problems.��The future will be filled with insecurity and potential crises, many of which will come as a surprise and will be unpredictable.��These crises won���t be managed by ordinary intermediaries between the client and media (be it social), but by visionaries, who will react on behalf of the client during the seven days of the week and the 24 hours of each day.

3. Developing and��maintaining corporate brands will become one of the main activities of every PR company.��In a difficult to predict and highly tense period, consumers will search for brands that they can rely on and that has an impeccable reputation when it comes to prices and quality. Undoubtedly, more than ever the brand will guarantee the quality of a product or a service. Namely, because times in which everyone will pay close attention to expenses are coming, high trust in brands will assure them more customers.��This will certainly require a much better relationship between the client and the PR companies��� experts��- they will take way more privileged positions in the clients��� boards and will be given way more authority.

4.��The��merge of the three main pillars of the public communications business ��� Public Relations, Advertising, and Digital - has now happened irrevocably��and way faster than expected. in practice, once the world is out of this incredibly hectic situation, there will only be one business without it even having a name. Corporations will start paying much more attention to targeted and interactive advertising, as well as their costs. This logically means that advertising budgets will gradually transfer from TV towards social media, where the focus is naturally on content. Even now part of the content management for clients is done by the PR agencies, which soon will be entirely handled by them. PR companies will lead in the future united business and there are three reasons. Firstly, they can manage content creation; secondly, the PR business is responsible for crisis management, and thirdly, brand management is also in the hands of the PR experts.

5.��The Event Management business goes down in history.��Not only because gathering many people together at the same place will be considered dangerous years ahead. Recent months have proven that an online event produces far greater results than such on-site. What���s more - it saves you expenses, time, and logistics. To organize a quality event in Zoom, for instance, you only need a few hours, an interesting topic, good and influential speakers, and a well-organized database. Only half a year ago the same event would have been way more expensive, and in fact, it costs almost nothing now, would have taken a lot more time to organize, and would have naturally been much more difficult to stream online immediately for those who couldn���t attend.

Indeed, compared to just ten years ago, when out of a sudden several billion people on the planet ended up with (social) media in their hands, which revolutionary altered the PR business upside down, the current changes won���t be as extreme. Following the traditional press releases, the event management business is disappearing forever, but, on the other hand, the business moves out of the offices (which is also a small revolution) and acquires a whole new dimension by taking a significant part from the business of advertising and digital agencies.

This all means that the PR business will come out of the crisis stronger, but also transformed. To sum up: the time for multifunctional visionary companies, full of knowledgeable people who can make quick decisions, comes.

About the author:

Maxim Behar is CEO & Chairman of the Board of the M3 Communications Group, Inc. (www.m3bg.com), a partner of the International corporation Hill+Knowlton Strategies. He is past President of Global PR Organization ICCO and since last year is President of the World Communication Forum Association in Davos, Switzerland. He graduated from Harvard Kennedy School and also Universities in Prague, Seattle, and Yokohama. Behar is the author of several books in the field of communications, the last of which is��The Global PR Revolution, published in the USA and Bulgaria.��

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*The article was published in Bulgaria's leading business newspaper Capital on April 25, 2020

Maxim Behar: We must quickly adapt to the changes

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An Interview for the Morning Weekend Show of Neda Vasileva on Europe TV

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How did communications changed since the beginning of the emergency state and what will change from now on with the Corona crisis? We will talk about that with Maxim Behar, a globally renown PR expert, founder and manager of one of the leading Bulgarian PR companies ��� M3 Communications Group, Inc. .

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Neda Vaslieva: Good morning! Maxim Behar is on our Skype line.

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Maxim Behar: Good morning! I'm sorry we're going to talk remotely for the first time. I salute the viewers of TV Europe. Everything has changed.

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Neda Vasileva: Thank you very much for being online! Yes, everything has changed as well as now when we have to take all the security conditions so that to be safe.

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Maxim Behar: Yes, of course. But the most important thing is that we all will have to manage to learn about communication in other ways. Already communication is mostly online and we have become more pragmatic, the information itself is even clearer and more accurate. Now we need to adapt very well to this new communication environment and to monitor what happens every day, rejecting panic, because the situation also provides its advantages. A few days ago we had a meeting at the forum of the business leaders of whose board I am part of. I am just imagining how that meeting was organized for half a day in the Zoom app and we discussed so many interesting things, everything recording on video. If this meeting had to be done in other conditions, we had to rent a hotel room, pay this hotel, provide catering, have coffee breaks and all the rest that is needed. Now, without all that preparations we did the work literally for an hour, an hour and a half coming up with extremely valuable proposals and opinions and commenting on all that the Government issues as economic measures. I mainly see the positive side, of course. But the truth is that we all change, not just communications ��� the business environment is also changing, and we need to be very careful about it, so that we can succeed. As a friend of mine says: "We'll see the situation clearly when we cross the road."

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Neda Vasileva: Yes, we will probably make better statements only after the crisis has passed and hope this is as soon as possible. Yesterday was held an event for which you were a lecturer. The event was about the PR crisis, it was about the failures and successes of the communication business at the moment. What did you commented on? Was there a great interest about the event?

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Maxim Behar: There was a lot of interest. Over a thousand people had signed up and the event was held by the unique, private university in Bulgaria ��� SoftUni. The questions were mainly aimed at raising the importance of Crisis PR to a new level and new type of communication. My thesis was that in today's conditions will not survive those who have the most money or who are the richest, nor those that are the greatest, but will survive those who quickly and painlessly can adapt to the new conditions, and start to manage their business even better, increasing their productivity. In my case, this is the communication business, but there are many different businesses that, regardless of the type, will have to be better. They will have to strive not only to survive, but also to develop. We all know about the crisis that happened 12 years ago (2008���s crisis). Then we were saying enthusiastically how the hieroglyph from Japanese meaning for crisis also means "opportunity." Then we said "Behold, the crisis is an opportunity!" but this one is different. It is different, among other things, in that it will change people and the way we communicate. This is why it is important for us to be able to adapt very quickly, using new tools and new means. We will have to communicate so that to succeed�� quickly.

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Neda Vasileva: How will communications be changed? Haven't we communicated enough online so far? Are we going to enter even more into the digital world and is there a way that a large part of the business industry will be transferred to the Internet,�� for example?

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Maxim Behar: Obviously we have not communicated enough online, given that there is still room for improvement. Of course, the online communications were mostly reduced to writing and sending emails. From time to time there is some video call or conversation with partners from abroad. We all traveled a lot, we preferred to sit on forums, discussing topics. Now, from this point of view, I have a feeling that it was, in a sense, a big waste of time. The other Friday I will be on a gathering at the World Communication Forum in Davos, which I have been president for a year.�� Can you imagine that just for a few four hours we will gather so many people from all over the world who will say their opinions and we will discuss without having to travel and without wasting time? Yes, we're not going to meet in person, we're not going to sit around a table and have dinner, exchanging business cards. But I think this kind of communication will become more and more dominant in our lives as well as in business and I see a very positive message in all of that. I see great progress because we will become more pragmatic. In my company and for many people these days I repeat that the key word now is pragmatic.

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Neda Vasileva: Pragmatic you say, but will we be able to assess the personal contact after the end of the crisis?

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Maxim Behar: Well, now we have a good video connection, and we say the things we need to say, right? Of course that meeting in person has its own fascination and meaning. But when it comes to business, I believe that online communication is going through a gigantic transformation. Not only business but even in the Bulgarian online education where for only 2-3 weeks happened an exceptional progress. Everyone said that there was no personal contact on those meetings or that teachers could not control their children and they may get distracted and would not learn. I have examples with tens of thousands of children who take their exams successfully, do not lose their hour-hour and a half a day to go to school and wait for sandwiches and everything else. Life has changed and I have been trying to see the good things that will change in this life, because I think there will be a lot, especially when it's over - you said the crisis, I say the pandemic.

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Neda Vasileva: You have a pretty positive outlook on things, Mr. Behar. How does the Crisis PR management work in such situations? Is it good enough, both in our country and globally, because you are a world-famous PR expert and have a clear look at those issues?

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Maxim Behar: In different countries, governments take different measures to deal with the crisis. It seems to me that one of the businesses that underwent gigantic development these weeks is the Crisis PR management. That is the feeling of being 24 hours, 7 days available and being ready to react in any moment. The basis in the crisis management is to have a good preparation and a good look of your mistakes. In order to be prepared we make simulations in our company almost every week, both for different clients and for ourselves. It seems to me that now this business occupies more than 80% of all the business in the world. This is great because we acquire knowledge - I see, again, the positive things that are happening in the business and I think that we have chances to position the PR business on a whole other, better level.

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Neda Vasileva: Just before our meeting, we heard another press conference from the National Operational Headquarters. We understand that the cases of COVID-19 infected are now over 500 people. Is the information from the authorities properly served?

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Maxim Behar: I believe it is. There may be a lot of different perspectives ��� some may say that the government speaks only about the Coronavirus or about a pandemic, a diseases fromday to night. Others may say that information is confusing or at least can be better served. There are over 7 million people in Bulgaria and probably there are 15 million different opinions on that topic. I as a professional believe that information is quite good, for sure it is a lot and everyone can take what interests him. I think general Mutafchiiski is calm and manages the situation properly. For years we haven���t seen in Bulgaria a person who can be so long on the TV screen, responding to all the questions from the journalists. Some of them good, others - absolutely absurd. Some colleagues go prepared, others do not know where does the sun rises from. But in the end, he manages to do a good job. I believe that Boyko Borissov also gives good messages. He is responding very quickly and takes a lot of questions, answering them as well. For this I think that enough information is provided and this are some good steps taken so that to help informing the people.

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Neda Vasileva: This way of communicating ��� through the screen, does it encourage us to comply with the security measures that are recommended every day or rather scare us?

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Maxim Behar: Well, one of them is related to the other. We must comply with security measures if we are frightened and so we are all because the virus is everywhere. It seems extremely irresponsible and frivolous for someone to go out and infect people on the streets because nobody knows if it has the virus or not. The fact that they tell us till night - stay home, protect the community, be careful not to infect someone - I think is positive and responsible. Each one of us should be careful not to infect others and that's a big responsibility. I'd prefer being a little more frightened rather than say it would pass and go away. By the way, I had such a similar case. You know that I work for a wonderful country called Seychelles. Two weeks ago, I got a call from a girl I didn't know and she said, "I'm going to Seychelles, what do you say?" and I said: "How are you going to go to Seychelles..."�� It's not the problem of being there on the beach, the problem is on the plane, at airports.

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Neda Vasileva: Yes, that is reality. We need to be as much responsible as possible. I wish you to be healthy, responsible and remain at home, as well as that I wish you a lot of success. Surely we will meet again probably on Skype ans soon I hope -�� live in the studio. Thank you so much for having this interview with you,�� Mr. Behar!

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Maxim Behar: Thank you as well!

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Full video watch here: https://www.tvevropa.com/2020/04/koronavirusat-krizi-vazmozhnosti-uspehi-i-provali/?fbclid=IwAR2YtoY9Cf4GfF4ICNE3bUFd3nwWVISUAJtuRTnv1buQ9ltUEr76SR3sxBE

Maxim Behar: Be Aware of Fake News During a Pandemic

How to protect ourselves from fake news during a pandemic, Ganela Angelova from Bulgaria on Air TV Channel asks the PR expert Maxim Behar.

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Ganela Angelova: Good evening, Mr. Behar!

Maxim Behar: Good evening! Be safe and sound, stay home and don't get sick!

Ganela Angelova: Great message, you also be safe and healthy! Very often, especially in the last few weeks, we see fake news that might be even dangerous because medicine use is involved. How do we recognize fake news so that not to be confused?

Maxim Behar: There is no universal formula on how to recognize fake news, there is not even a specific formula on believing one or other news, no matter if they are semi-fake or completely fake. We need to check correctly the information from several sources and be very aware and careful. I see that there is ridiculous news and they are terrifying many people, especially in social media. That creates panic and makes the blood of many run cold. So when we can see the source of the information, we have to check it out very well. If someone reports information and it seems overly appealing, we should immediately search Google or another search engine so that to be sure about the authenticity of it.

Ganela Angelova: We have seen that in the course of this hysteria, profiles of popular personalities have been hacked, calling people out to use a certain medicine. Then it turns out that this is fake news but people believe the information.

Maxim Behar: Many accounts were hacked even before the pandemic. Of course, the two most popular social media in Bulgaria ��� Facebook, and Instagram undertake pretty serious steps to limit hacking or impersonation. If someone reads the blog or the wall of someone's profile and takes seriously such a call to use medication, he should be angry at himself. I understand that it is a crisis and some people are worried or are even panicking, but when it comes to medicines and taking them without consulting a medical practitioner ��� that becomes silliness and absurdity.

Ganela Angelova: In Germany there are already two such cases of people who used medicines that have not been prescribed by a doctor and are now dead.

Maxim Behar: I'm sorry to hear that but we must have a very careful approach to any information. Of course, if a recommendation is given by a doctor or a medical practitioner it is more likely that the information is real and in such cases it should be taken more seriously. However, if someone tells you that you should take a particular medicine and you do it without thinking, then that becomes pretty reckless and irresponsible.

Ganela Angelova: How important is the information being properly served by the authorities? How's the crisis headquarters doing so far? We see that there are briefings several times a day.

Maxim Behar: There are different opinions on that question. Some say that authorities fool and deceive us, others are glad and grateful that there is so much information, even over-information. I think the information that comes to us is very good at the moment. It is even more than some can take. I welcome both the headquarters, the Medical Board, and the prime minister, as well as all those who we watch from morning to night. It is a much better option to become bored and annoyed than not to have information at all and make all kinds of speculations and interpret things by ourselves. For sure, our interpretations will not be accurate and true. However it cannot be otherwise in the world of social media. If someone does not say it on TV or if General Mutafchiiski, Boyko Borisov or anyone else does not appear, the information will be submitted by other people in social media. In any case, it will be more inaccurate, false or misleading than if someone would say it with the authenticity of their face, authority and with the responsibility that their words bring. I believe that the government, mainly prime minister and Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev, are making quite good efforts so that all of us know what is happening in the state. Nowadays that is super important.

Ganela Angelova: Yes, people must get accurate information. Have we learned how to cope with crisis PR?

Maxim Behar: We are still learning. In our business, we learn every day. What you call PR is something extremely dynamic and nowadays it is so rapidly changing and evolving that if last Tuesday we solved a crisis, next Tuesday that crisis might have completely different dimensions, requirements and quite diverse ways of reaction. Of course, we're becoming better. I believe that in Bulgaria, the PR market is well developed and colleagues react very quickly and adequately. Both they and our company are constantly learning. It's nice to work from home, from a distance a person sees a lot more things that he can't see in the office, being there from morning to night. Yes, we kind of miss this whole atmosphere of lunches, dinners, discussions and meetings together but that is life. We need to be able to adapt easily and become better professionals. Now, especially to us ��� the PR specialists, are given extremely favorable opportunities to advance in the profession and to get to know things that we will remember for years to come. I take nonstop pictures with a protecting mask and helmet. Someone asked me why I took those pictures and I told him that I wanted to remember this moment because after 2-3 years when we come back in our memories to that period, we���ll probably not even believe that this happened. But it did, still is happening.

Ganela Angelova: Mr. Behar, what will we learn from this crisis? Are we going to take the lessons from the situation or will we move forward as usual when it passes?

Maxim Behar: No, it's a cold shower for everyone and we will remember this situation at least a few generations ahead. I hope it never happens again. We will rethink our values, see and appreciate the important things in life, maybe even find new ways to practice our profession.�� Something very important-we will realize that nothing lasts forever. I remember a conversation with a big client of mine who built the Sofia Airport Center, this large office building that is located not far from your TV studio. The man who built it is named Alan Levy, he is the CEO of a large American company. The story I���m about to tell happened about 16 ago ��� we were at his house in Beverly Hills, by the pool, drinking some drinks, and he said, "Max, you have to be ready for a crisis." It was only 2003-2004 at that time. Of course I answered him with disbelief that it was possible. I thought it was a total absurdity ��� the year 2007 Bulgaria was about to become part of the EU. I believed that the whole EU would be with us, therefore ��� money, funds and opportunities for business development would be expected. He looked at me while taking a sip of his drink and said: "Max, you're wrong, every 10-15 years there's a crisis, you should be ready for it." Well, I didn't believe him then, but it's a fact that 2008 begun the big crisis, which is still the most serious one for the Bulgarian business. The conclusion is that nothing lasts forever. We have to be honest, honorable, do business properly and be ready for the next time when another crisis happens. Of course, we hope that this situation with COVID-19 will never happen again, but in the meantime we must be prepared for the economic crisis that will follow. Today, right at that moment we have to start thinking about how to overcome it and how to become better. These are lessons that nobody, anywhere can give you. Even at Harvard University, which I graduated last year or Princeton or any other great university. These are the lessons of life and we have to learn them and learn from them carefully.

Ganela Angelova: Thank you, will be looking forward to meeting you again! Maxim Behar for "ONAIR Day"

Maxim Behar: Thank you, be looking forward to meeting you live in the studio next time!

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Taken from Bulgaria on air Friday evening talk show with Ganela Angelova, March 2020

Full video you can find here: https://www.bgonair.bg/a/2-bulgaria/189628-falshivi-novini-po-vreme-na-kriza-tryabva-da-proveryavame-nyakolko-iztochnika?fbclid=IwAR3DuYdqhpllVw3YmkGaESUfikYiY2eoBtnR5jJE6oLfre_zMHrkFp-0Yak

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Fake News During a Pandemic

How to protect ourselves from fake news during a pandemic, we ask the PR expert Maxim Behar.

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G. A.: Good evening, Mr. Behar!

M. B.: Good evening! Be safe and sound, stay home and don't get sick!

G. A.: Great message, you also be safe and healthy! Very often, especially in the last few weeks, we see fake news that might be even dangerous because medicine use is involved. How do we recognize fake news so that not to be confused?

M. B: There is no universal formula on how to recognize fake news, there is not even a specific formula on believing one or other news, no matter if they are semi-fake or completely fake. We need to check correctly the information from several sources and be very aware and careful. I see that there is ridiculous news and they are terrifying many people, especially in social media. That creates panic and makes the blood of many run cold. So when we can see the source of the information, we have to check it out very well. If someone reports information and it seems overly appealing, we should immediately search Google or another search engine so that to be sure about the authenticity of it.

D. A: We have seen that in the course of this hysteria, profiles of popular personalities have been hacked, calling people out to use a certain medicine. Then it turns out that this is fake news but people believe the information.

M. B: Many accounts were hacked even before the pandemic. Of course, the two most popular social media in Bulgaria ��� Facebook, and Instagram undertake pretty serious steps to limit hacking or impersonation. If someone reads the blog or the wall of someone's profile and takes seriously such a call to use medication, he should be angry at himself. I understand that it is a crisis and some people are worried or are even panicking, but when it comes to medicines and taking them without consulting a medical practitioner ��� that becomes silliness and absurdity.

D. A.: In Germany there are already two such cases of people who used medicines that have not been prescribed by a doctor and are now dead.

M. B.: I'm sorry to hear that but we must have a very careful approach to any information. Of course, if a recommendation is given by a doctor or a medical practitioner it is more likely that the information is real and in such cases it should be taken more seriously. However, if someone tells you that you should take a particular medicine and you do it without thinking, then that becomes pretty reckless and irresponsible.

D. A.: How important is the information being properly served by the authorities? How's the crisis headquarters doing so far? We see that there are briefings several times a day.

M. B.: There are different opinions on that question. Some say that authorities fool and deceive us, others are glad and grateful that there is so much information, even over-information. I think the information that comes to us is very good at the moment. It is even more than some can take. I welcome both the headquarters, the Medical Board, and the prime minister, as well as all those who we watch from morning to night. It is a much better option to become bored and annoyed than not to have information at all and make all kinds of speculations and interpret things by ourselves. For sure, our interpretations will not be accurate and true. However it cannot be otherwise in the world of social media. If someone does not say it on TV or if General Mutafchiiski, Boyko Borisov or anyone else does not appear, the information will be submitted by other people in social media. In any case, it will be more inaccurate, false or misleading than if someone would say it with the authenticity of their face, authority and with the responsibility that their words bring. I believe that the government, mainly prime minister and Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev, are making quite good efforts so that all of us know what is happening in the state. Nowadays that is super important.

G. A.: Yes, people must get accurate information. Have we learned how to cope with crisis PR?

M. B.: We are still learning. In our business, we learn every day. What you call PR is something extremely dynamic and nowadays it is so rapidly changing and evolving that if last Tuesday we solved a crisis, next Tuesday that crisis might have completely different dimensions, requirements and quite diverse ways of reaction. Of course, we're becoming better. I believe that in Bulgaria, the PR market is well developed and colleagues react very quickly and adequately. Both they and our company are constantly learning. It's nice to work from home, from a distance a person sees a lot more things that he can't see in the office, being there from morning to night. Yes, we kind of miss this whole atmosphere of lunches, dinners, discussions and meetings together but that is life. We need to be able to adapt easily and become better professionals. Now, especially to us ��� the PR specialists, are given extremely favorable opportunities to advance in the profession and to get to know things that we will remember for years to come. I take nonstop pictures with a protecting mask and helmet. Someone asked me why I took those pictures and I told him that I wanted to remember this moment because after 2-3 years when we come back in our memories to that period, we���ll probably not even believe that this happened. But it did, still is happening.

G. A.: Mr. Behar, what will we learn from this crisis? Are we going to take the lessons from the situation or will we move forward as usual when it passes?

M. B.: No, it's a cold shower for everyone and we will remember this situation at least a few generations ahead. I hope it never happens again. We will rethink our values, see and appreciate the important things in life, maybe even find new ways to practice our profession.�� Something very important-we will realize that nothing lasts forever. I remember a conversation with a big client of mine who built the Sofia Airport Center, this large office building that is located not far from your TV studio. The man who built it is named Alan Levy, he is the CEO of a large American company. The story I���m about to tell happened about 16 ago ��� we were at his house in Beverly Hills, by the pool, drinking some drinks, and he said, "Max, you have to be ready for a crisis." It was only 2003-2004 at that time. Of course I answered him with disbelief that it was possible. I thought it was a total absurdity ��� the year 2007 Bulgaria was about to become part of the EU. I believed that the whole EU would be with us, therefore ��� money, funds and opportunities for business development would be expected. He looked at me while taking a sip of his drink and said: "Max, you're wrong, every 10-15 years there's a crisis, you should be ready for it." Well, I didn't believe him then, but it's a fact that 2008 begun the big crisis, which is still the most serious one for the Bulgarian business. The conclusion is that nothing lasts forever. We have to be honest, honorable, do business properly and be ready for the next time when another crisis happens. Of course, we hope that this situation with COVID-19 will never happen again, but in the meantime we must be prepared for the economic crisis that will follow. Today, right at that moment we have to start thinking about how to overcome it and how to become better. These are lessons that nobody, anywhere can give you. Even at Harvard University, which I graduated last year or Princeton or any other great university. These are the lessons of life and we have to learn them and learn from them carefully.

G. A.: Thank you, will be looking forward to meeting you again! Maxim Behar for "ONAIR Day"

M. B.: Thank you, be looking forward to meeting you live in the studio next time!

��

Taken from Bulgaria on air Friday evening talk show, March 2020

Full video you can find here: https://www.bgonair.bg/a/2-bulgaria/189628-falshivi-novini-po-vreme-na-kriza-tryabva-da-proveryavame-nyakolko-iztochnika?fbclid=IwAR3DuYdqhpllVw3YmkGaESUfikYiY2eoBtnR5jJE6oLfre_zMHrkFp-0Yak

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What Maxim Behar Reads While Being Isolated?

In a time of social isolation, a good book can be a great choice if we want to get distracted, rest, learn something new, and why not use the book to take a trip to distant places.��Economy.bg��contacted editors, writers, managers and popular personalities in Bulgaria and asked them what are they reading right now. Check out what Maxim Behar - a journalist, businessman, diplomat, and founder of M3 Communications Group, Inc. said to us.

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"Considering the situation it is obvious that now I have the time to read things that I have bought in recent months from big bookstores around the world, and e-books from amazon.com. But the one I'm reading at that moment is one of the particularly valuable books I've been given over the years by my wonderful friends, Janet and Martin Zaharievi. They always hit the bull���s eye when it comes to books! This one I decided to leave it for a special delight, but now, instead of waiting for that moment, I began to read it because of the immense need.��Being the Boss��was written by two great authors, Linda Hill and Kent Lebeck, and was published by Harvard, my favorite University, which I graduated just a year ago.

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So: Being a boss, the hardest profession in this world, is already filtered through my eyes in a completely different light. Boss, director, manager, President, editor-in-chief... It's what I've been doing for over 30 years, but in the book I've found things that have opened my eyes to the modern world and ��� most importantly ��� to modern management. You don't necessarily have to be "a boss" to read this interesting book, it is for everyone ��� from the employee to the student and it is quite valuable for the high-ranked managers. As one of the corporate managers cited inside says: "It will be good this book to be read carefully from the whole federal government". Well, I'm impressed, of course, by the "three imperatives" of becoming a good leader... which they are - you can find only in the book! "

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Maxim Behar : PR Is My Entire Life!

An interview of Maxim Behar for the series "The important thing for you" with Niki Kanchev

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Niki Kanchev:��Max, Hello!

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Maxim Behar:��Hi, Nicky!

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Niki Kanchev:��Recently you published your book "The Global PR Revolution", what will we find in it?

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Maxim Behar:��First of all, the book gives information about what is happening in the world right now. Not only in the field of PR, but in general when it comes to public communications. I am the person who wrote it, so I can���t give a clear opinion because as they say "I'm inside the forest" and I can not look at the trees from the outside. The very process of writing lasted a year and then another year had to pass before the US publishers fully edited it. I believe that through the book I was able to look at many interesting and present-day issues and topics related to public communications. However, I can't hide my surprise after the "World PR Revolution" has been a bestseller for two weeks at��www.amazon.com. Maybe that shows, perhaps, there is interesting information in it. The opinion of 100 people leading PR experts from all around the world, as well as 65 countries that share their views on how the Public Relations business is evolving in the world, influenced a lot the writing process of that book. There are many stories, as well as my personal ones from Bulgaria that tell much about our country. This is a book published in America by a very large publisher and it is important for Bulgaria, as it is important you and I, and many other people - everyone to tell a little bit about our beautiful country. So step-by-step, part by part, we will solve the big puzzle and people around the world will see that Bulgaria is a great country.

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Niki Kanchev:��What exactly is PR for you? Let���s remind our wide audience that you are a journalist.

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Maxim Behar:��Yes, once a journalist ��� a lifetime journalist. 25 years ago I started a new business, Public Relations which in Bulgaria at that time was almost unknown. That was the logical continuation of what I did while being a journalist. I created content, tried to make it interesting and understandable. So, it seems to me, we managed to make a good company, which already a quarter of a century is on the market and is among the leading companies in the industry. Most importantly, Nicky, I much enjoyed and still enjoy my work. Every morning when I drive my car to the office, I flip different thoughts through my head: how I will wish my secretary a nice day, how I will congratulate my colleagues, where I will go first, which project today should I do. That has been a fact for nearly ten thousand days ��� pretty much time and it still makes me bursting of joy. For me, PR is my life.

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Niki Kanchev:��That���s great. But are you a good manager and a good boss? Do you usually take the right decisions?

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Maxim Behar:��I have no idea. Now I am writing a book about modern management, a major Bulgarian publisher asked for it and there I describe different occasions and events. Sometimes I think I'm good, sometimes I don't think I'm so good.

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Niki Kanchev:��Have you ever fired someone because of something? Do you give a second chance?

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Maxim Behar:��No, I have never fired anyone, ever! That���s not my way, I'm giving up to 10 chances. This doesn���t mean I am being soft, on the contrary, it is a glimpse into the future ��� a vision for at least 2, 3, 4, 5 years forward. No one has ever been born educated, I have said it to my colleagues many times, especially those who are new in the company. I can make from an amateur - professional for 5-6 months, but I can���t make the lazy one - hardworking. I can���t change the schemer into a team worker. These are qualities that every person possesses and I cannot change them. However, if one wants to learn, he can learn from us. I've trained hundreds, maybe thousands of different people. From the youngest, being 15-16 years of age to the other age categories. Many are on the market right now and they write to me very often. Almost every week I get long messages on social media, mainly on Linkedin. In those messages they describe moments and situations that we have experienced together. In that sense, I think I'm a good manager. Of course, like everything in life, there are some pros and cons. In my opinion, what makes a leader is not how much he/she earns, not whether he has large market positions. A leader is great when he creates good working teams from which other people become leaders as well. This is what makes a good manager a great leader.

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Niki Kanchev:��I had the pleasure of attending the 25th anniversary of M3 Communications Group Inc., your company. I saw that your children - both your real children and the team, stayed until 23:00 ��� 00:00 o���clock. That says a lot. If you were a pro forma boss, they would have left 21:00 ��� 22:00 o ���clock. That means you're successful. Many people work or want to work in large companies. Can you give three tips to the employees who want to be part of big, influential companies?

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Maxim Behar:��First of all, they must be very honest and loyal. That is the basis of everything for both employees and managers. If someone goes to a company and is not welcomed how it���s supposed to be or it is not respected - better not to stay there at all. Of course, each one should consider its place in the company. It seems to me that there should be a very good parity in the relationship between the manager and the employee. I hate the word employer and I think it is not important at all who owns the company, but who manages it. A good parity is important because the employee has to take a step as well as the manager, meeting somewhere in the middle. Now, in 2020 I like to take control of my company horizontally - to be one of the many, not the person standing at the top. Of course, I have my responsibility as a manager and the man who makes the decisions. However, when it comes to doing projects, we are all equal. I have a very interesting case that is related to that. 3-4 years ago, an ex-employee called me. A very nice girl. Back then she worked in one of the big women's magazines, maybe even still working, and she said:

�� ��- "Boss, I know that in the team of M3 has a lot of women, now we are looking for the woman of the year and we have to create a rating. Can you present to us one of your employees? "

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��I replied:

-"Villy!"

There was silence for about 30 seconds:

-"Villy who, the cleaning lady?"��

-"Of course the cleaning lady." That's my woman of the year. She's been working on our team for 20 years. She does her job wonderfully and most of all is a very good woman."

Now she is retired, but she comes to all of our celebrations and we maintain a great relationship. After all, Villy became a woman of the year. A lot of other women and girls have been part of M3, but I didn't hesitate for a second. It doesn't matter if you're a manager, a secretary, an assistant or a cleaning lady. The important thing is how you do your job, what attitude you have towards your life and your colleagues.

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Niki Kanchev:��How many salaries do you have to provide?

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Maxim Behar:��At that moment 40-50 people are working in our company but before the crisis of 2009 they were much more.

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Niki Kanchev:��This is a huge responsibility.��

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Maxim Behar:��That���s right but even one salary is a huge responsibility. It all depends on how you consider it.

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Niki Kanchev:��You are one of the first people to have realized Facebook in its many dimensions. Not just for a chat, relationship or love. But mainly being a social phenomenon and you even wrote a book about it. What are the differences in traditionally making PR and using social media?

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Maxim Behar:��There are a lot of differences. If we go back to my book "The World PR Revolution" it will become clear that a major part of this revolution is in the change of ownership of the media. In a traditional media ��� Internet, TV or newspaper ��� there are journalists, publishers, editors-in-chief who manage this media. Viewed objectively, the user of this media ��� the reader or the viewer has no direct access to it. Social media is a quite different case - you, your team, we all have media in our hands. We manage them and that makes us major editors of these media. No matter how much you underestimate Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram or any other account or profile, some people have over 1 million followers, even in Bulgaria. Televisions do not have such an audience, not to mention newspapers. Social media has totally changed our lives, I'm sure - for better. They allowed each one to express itself, to be able to influence if we have something to say. Nowadays a taxi driver in his garage using a second-hand laptop, if it is intelligent and has something to say can be much more popular than any politician in Bulgaria. I am saying that with some uncertainty whether politics are a good example for comparing.

Niki Kanchev:��Of course, if a person is original and has some catchy information to share, it will be interesting for the audience.

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Maxim Behar:��Definitely. The other huge difference is in the popularity of each one of us. Just 10-15 years ago, who were the popular people? ��� politicians, people from the show business and sportsmen. Now everyone who has media in their hands has something to say and shares it in an interesting way can influence and be much more popular than anyone else.

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Niki Kanchev:��Have you ever turned back a client or company and why?

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Maxim Behar:��Many times. We refuse for two reasons: 1st of all when we don���t feel chemistry with our customers. For me, this is of most importance. When we talk to a client and see what he wants and how he wants to achieve it, we know if we are playing on the same team. Of course, some have not liked us, because we thought that, let's say, are part of the grey market. We have never been and will never be part of that kind of business. We also refuse when we see that the customer is asking for things that can���t be achieved. I will tell you about such a situation:

Many years ago our office was situated in a small building, you also visited that place. One day I was sitting on my desk, doing work as usual. Suddenly the door opens with a kick and a man wearing a black T-shirt and a black jacket enters the place. He sat down holding a plastic bag in his hand and said:

�� �� �� ��- "Are you Behar, the famous one?"

�� �� �� ��- "I am Maxim Behar, yes" ��� I answered as I was working.

�� �� �� ��- "I was told that your price is 5000 dollars."

��I didn't know exactly what I was supposed to answer and asked:��

������������ - "What's that all about?"��

He put the bag on the table and pulled from it some amount of money:

������������ - "Here���s 5000 bucks. I want an interview to be published on the front page of newspaper X next Friday.

Meanwhile, I see two guards standing outside the door, four more in front of the building, and a few cars waiting for that man. I realized that there's no way I can say no to him and just kick him out.��

That's why I said:��

������������ - "It is possible but we have to do brainstorming (a technique for generating creative ideas), it will take around 6 hours."��

He looked at me and said:

�� �� �� ����- "What is this?"

�� �� �� ����- "Well, just brainstorming, then we will prepare a strategy. It will take some time, about 1-2 weeks. Then we will make another appointment with my team. "

Suddenly he got up and replied:

������������ - "I was told you were a specialist. Nonsenses, that���s not true and you're not an expert! "

He took his bag and left. That's how I refused on this guy.

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Niki Kanchev:��Do you change your clients' opinion or is it pointless?

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Maxim Behar:��Very often, even always. We are experts if a client comes to our company, it means that they need a piece of expert advice. To this day, even today I always tell the customers: "If you have an opinion, what do you need me for? Why are you coming to us? You want to give your money when you know how it works?" I often give an example of being a dentist. When you go to the dentist, do you tell him what to do? If you know what to do, go in front of the mirror and fix your teeth by yourself. You go to the dentist because you put the decisions about your health in his hands. I believe that we are professionals and we have proven that we are doing our job perfectly. We've done about 5700 projects. I stopped counting them when they were around 5200-5300. Every one of these projects has gone through my brain, my eyes, through the decisions I've made. I believe that we have enough experience to have the confidence to know what is best for our customers. I haven't had a single case when advising a client, defending my opinion and being wrong at the end.

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Niki Kanchev:��Will you share with us some practical advice you have given to the companies you are consulting?

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Maxim Behar:��What should not be underestimated at any price is the importance of reacting immediately. That is one of the most basic things I can share. Crisis management is a serious field. Ten years ago, it was very easy. You wake up in the morning and open the newspaper, there you see that someone has written something bad for a company or a person that is your client. You call the boss and say that there's a problem. You go to his/her place, drink a coffee together or have lunch. Then you come up with a press release, possibly invite journalists to a press conference. The fact is that you have 10-12 hours to solve the case. Now we don't have 10 minutes even. We must be ready to respond immediately, we must have a combination of quick reactions and super broad knowledge to be in that business. Often people who cause a crisis or have a bad opinion about our clients are right. Then we immediately advise our clients to say: "Okay, that's right, we were wrong. Of course, we will compensate you." But if they are not right, we advise reacting honestly, honorably, with the responsibility that comes when being moral because nothing can remain hidden anymore. Very often we have customers who tell us: "Let it go, it will pass." What it means "will pass", how it will pass..? Probably it will, but it will remain the memory that such a case has happened, that we have not responded to it and we haven���t come up with a professional reaction. That���s why the fastest and most accurate reaction is of great significance. Understanding our business Public Relations and what we do, as well as the importance of the way we manage social media is also a distinction, and we work very hard so that our customers know it.��

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Niki Kanchev:��Maxim, what's important to you?

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Maxim Behar:��Happiness. It is very important that we are happy at work, with our families, with the people who surround us, with those who we share our most precious time. It seems to me that if a person is not happy, it can���t do anything. It cannot be useful to itself or the people around and society in general. Of course, what you leave behind is essential. I'll repeat my words: A great leader is the one who creates new leaders. When I see so many of my colleagues with whom I work taking independent and professional decisions, having in mind that with some of them we have been working for 15 years so far, it gives me great pleasure and makes me professionally happy. There's nothing more important than happiness.

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Niki Kanchev:��Is there one of your students who has surpassed you?

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Maxim Behar:��Sure. First of all, thank you for being part of the presentation of my book at Greenwich's bookstore. That event was attended by several people who used to be my colleagues. I shared my opinion on who���s a real, great leader with them as well and while signing their books, I said: "That���s about you" because I have colleagues who used to have not so attractive positions and now many of them are very well represented in large companies and are even managers. I am very proud of that fact.

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Niki Kanchev:��Thank you very much for this interview!

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Maxim Behar:��I am thankful. Be safe!

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Full video you can find here:����https://topnovini.bg/novini/857132-vajnoto-za-teb-maksim-behar-moyat-jivot-e-pr-at

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