Annie Tsai

In the final days of 2024, I find myself questioning a foundational belief that I’ve held for years – and that is – if a tree falls in the woods and no one hears or sees, it still fell. However, if the surrounding trees and animals knew but the humans who needed paper did not and cut down a different tree instead, is it for nothing?

Of course, the answer is no in the macro sense. The forest does its work of using every bit of that tree to its greatest benefit in nourishing the soil, providing places for new life to grow, offering shelter for animals who need a home, and more. But, what of the other tree – the one that got cut down and could have replenished the planet’s oxygen for decades to come? Awareness can materially change decisions in important ways.

Here lies the question. The work of branding, messaging, and communicating investments, decisions, and progress has become almost more important than the work itself. And it’s taking more time than ever. This is something that I’ve been keenly aware of in my professional life, but it’s not something I ever prioritized elsewhere.

Professionally, I have always been a staunch advocate for champions over mentors, believing that while advice and an ear are important, it is having someone in the room to advocate on your behalf when you are not there that actually moves the needle from the standpoint of career progression and impact. But in order for champions to be effective, they need to be aware of your body of work, capacity, and capability. They may not know all of the details, but they must know enough to speak on your behalf in your absence.

As a parent, it’s always felt more appropriate to internalize the work of making a house a home  – to not burden our kids with all of the details, decisions, and time it takes to bring our lives to life or make magic happen. What current generations of parents have coined as “emotional labor”. But the unfortunate reality parents are faced with is that our children are being marketed to all day long and in the absence of our own visible awareness campaign, I sometimes wonder if it’s all just trees falling in the woods to silence. Would their lives be materially different if I simply didn’t do any of it and got 50 hours of my life back every week?

A few generations ago, I’m sure the advice I would have gotten is something like “the work of being a mother is invisible until they are in your shoes.”  What would be the advice from parents today? Is this part of the reason why in the United States, the lack of mandated paid maternity leave is still a glaring elephant in the room? 

And yet, our kids have so much more on their shoulders than we did growing up. Their worldview and access to information and current events are exponentially larger than ours ever were. Many of the things that keep them up at night are contemplations that would have never even been in our ethos. Is it fair to lay even more on them? Or is it our responsibility as parents to give them an appropriate purview into what it actually takes to raise families in the 21st century? 

Maybe they don’t need to know about every tree that falls, but as parents perhaps we need to expose them to the patterns and “the why”. To participate in creating the life we live together instead of simply being a recipient of its benefits.

In civics, it’s no different. Public funds need to be spent on an ongoing barrage of reports, memos, studies, meetings, surveys, image renderings, mailers, and most importantly – time – to attempt to get as many eyeballs on an initiative as possible lest project leads risk a single Facebook or Nextdoor post derailing a consent item on a public meeting agenda that’s been in the works for months. 

As the question of budget streamlining comes more to the forefront for many cities in San Mateo County and across the state, justifying priorities to communities will be both important work and a massive responsibility where no amount of cross-channel marketing will reach 100% of stakeholders. Short of getting sign-off from each person (as HR organizations in companies nationwide must do for compliance items), someone will not get the memo. In this case, the tree always falls into the abyss for some, and it inevitably is to someone with access to social media. 

Communications strategy and execution is a complicated problem to solve – how much information to who and when. Increasingly, this challenge impacts all facets of our lives. Are you ready to jump into the public relations game in the new year?