By Jacqui Banaszynski

Perfecting Personality Profiles

Creating compelling business coverage through compelling characters

Memorable characters

What makes them so?

People are memorable due to character

Deeds or actions Signature traits

Words Defining moments

… So, too, with businesses

Poll Question #1 What percentage of your business-beat

stories are profiles or focus primarily on a central character?

Why profiles? • Businesses are PEOPLE

• Started by, run by, made successful by, sometimes ruined by PEOPLE

• They affect PEOPLE

• Provide or end jobs

• Create products we consume

• Provide services we use

• Drive the economy we all are part of

Photo by Flickr user Kurman Communications Inc.

Why profiles? • At heart, any business is just a

compilation of the characters

• Who run it

• Who make it run

• Who are affected by it

Businesses are about

PASSION and PURPOSE.

And those come from PEOPLE. Employees at the opening of an Apple Store. Photo by Flickr user macinate.

Poll Question #2 What type of person do you or your

editors usually select as profile subjects?

Whom to profile?

Obvious subjects:

• Businesspeople or businesses in the news

• Or in the bull's-eye of a controversy

Photo by Flickr user Eran Sandler

General Motors CEO Mary Barra

1st WOMAN TO HEAD A MAJOR AUTO COMPANY

Will her character change the culture, character or operation of the company?

AMAZON CEO BUYS WASHINGON POST

Jeff Bezos

Visionary remaker of retail takes on revered traditional institution

Will he stabilize, transform, save, undermine or revolutionize an industry in trouble?

Bernie Madoff

Slam-dunk profile subjects

• Firsts or barrier busters • Heroes or goats • Winners or losers • True newsmakers

BUT… you don’t have to wait for news

to bring fascinating characters to your coverage.

Photo by Flickr user Jerry Bowley

Search your community or beat for:

• People facing a dramatic challenge or going through a compelling transformation

• Turn-around artists • Futurists, visionaries and

risk-takers • Entrepreneurs and inventors • Change agents

Photo by Flickr user Martin Playing With Pixels and Words

Pope Francis

Rocks the Vatican with changes

Captivates journalists and the public

Martha Stewart

Look for survivors

• Characters who defy the odds

• Whom we love to hate

• Whom we admire or follow

• Who teach us something as leaders, consumers, human beings

Profile potential is everywhere

• The passionate craftsperson

• The expert who can explain how things work or why they matter

• The longtime loyal employee who becomes the embodiment of a company

Photo by Flickr user Silvia Benedet

• The individual who represents a broader trend or illustrates a bigger issue

When the story becomes the business

Which becomes an ongoing story

as people who buy the product buy

into the story

(glassybaby)

Or just a great story… The business is really the story

behind the business The product and business take on the CHARACTER of the founder

Community characters

The local shop owner or repairman or

salesperson or butcher, baker, undertaker we all know … but don’t

really know

(Bob at Dawson’s Shoe Repair in Columbia,

Mo.)

Poll Question #3 What are the two most important

elements of a good personality profile?

Profiles are not… • Resumes • Chronological life

biographies • Lists of

employment or accomplishments

• Q&A interviews

• (Use bio boxes)

DEFINING MOMENTS that demonstrate character, value, motivation, style

Effective profiles are character revealed through…

SCENES that show people in place, time, culture and situation; put people in context

Relevant and REVELATORY DETAIL that shows not just what someone does but who someone is

DIALOGUE and DYNAMICS that illustrate relationships and interactions

Memorable TRAITS, DEEDS, WORDS

PROFILE TYPES

• Not one-size fits all

• Must match publication, purpose, audience interest and newsworthiness

• Adjust to tone of subject or character, and to your own time, resources, style or strengths

1. Whole Earth

• Cradle-to-current • Obituaries • Major figures or news

(Don’t overuse. Subject, space,

interest, access often doesn’t warrant or require the whole life story.)

Janet Yellen New Chair of the Federal Reserve

• Person known in small circles bursts into national awareness or prominence

• Focus on primary aspects of job or role, but fill in the whole-life background

• Give the public context

But you can also profile in a

...Paragraph • Character captured in a

phrase or paragraph • Puts personality to names

and titles • Selective, relevant detail,

description or dialogue • Metaphor helps (if it

speaks to understood or shared culture)

Photo by Flickr user Windell Oskay

"He was Dobie Gillis turned crusty Army scout..."

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_24980304/pioneer-press-senior-editor-mike-bulger-dies-at

“He wore all the hats, knew

where all the bodies are

buried, held the flashlight, led the way, saved our a--es so many

times, bemused by us but never

critical.”

2. Newsmaker/Niche

• Focus on key aspect connected to news of the moment or situation being explored.

• Include only background

information relevant to that news, and then with tight selection and compression.

Photo by Flickr user Christopher Woo

3. Micro • Represents or reveals a

macro issue or situation • Uses one to tell the story of

many • Micro subject must be

chosen carefully to be a fair stand-in

• If one character doesn’t represent issue fully or fairly, zoom in on three or four

Photo by Flickr user Evan Leeson

Photo by Flickr user Dave_S

4. Interview

• Often necessary for celebrity or limited-access profiles

• “My lunch with …” • Done well, puts readers

in the room • Relies on effective

dialogue and description • Interview questions

essential

Photo by Flickr user Craig Howell

Spice Girl Melanie Brown, spokeswoman for Jenny Craig

Photo by Flickr user Eva Rinaldi

Melinda Gates

Careful Controlled Guarded

Seldom accessible Always on message

But… how

interesting if…

5. Negative space • Lack of access or

cooperation • Obituaries • Control freaks • Geographically challenged • Subjects buffered by

publicists, lawyers, policies

• Relies on records, multiple other voices and/or observation

Photo by Flickr user Beverly & Pack

“INTO THE

WILD”

Jon Krakauer never met Chris McCandless, but brought him to life through the stories of those who had.

“Roger and Me”

Michael Moore’s quest to interview GM CEO Roger Smith. Interview never happens, but character of place, culture and company is explored.

Tomorrow The HOW of Profiles

• Access and sourcing of profiles • Best practices of reporting for profiles • Effective writing structures for profiles • Alternative profile approaches and

structures

Homework Make two lists: 1. List the 5 most important and influential people on your beat. If you don’t cover a specific beat, then just list the most important or influential people in your community. 2. Then list the 5 most interesting people you’ve ever met on your beat or in your community. Don’t limit yourself to people who fit the usual definition of “newsworthiness.” Now identify the people who would make a great profile. (Hint: If someone is on both lists, they rise to the top.) Choose one or two, and answer these questions: (1) Why would you want to profile them? (2) What would you most want to find out about them?

Please email your answers to: Cassandra.Nicholson@businessjournalism.org

by 8 ET tonight, Feb. 5.

Questions? banaszynskij@missouri.edu Twitter: @jacquib Slides, video, handouts, homework at: http://bit.ly/profiles2014

Photo by Flickr user Xurble