Burson calls for return of PR generalists

HONG KONG - Burson-Marsteller founder chairman Harold Burson (pictured) has warned the PR industry that increasing specialisation is hampering the emergence of executives who can run multi-disciplinary PR agencies.

“My concern is that young people get trained in a specific area and they don’t get as much interaction with other practices as they have in years past,” the 87-year-old told Media in Hong Kong. “It takes a generalist to oversee a large PR department.”

Burson added that tertiary institutions needed to a “better job” when it came to preparing students for careers in PR. “There’s already a lot of discussion about whether the PR curriculum is adequate. They are not turning out nearly as good writers as they did 20-30 years ago.”