Bill Nielson

Bill Nielson, retired Vice President of Public Affairs for Johnson and Johnson came this week to speak to our class about some general insight for what it was like working for a huge company like JNJ.
He said that his favorite part about working in the communications world is "the daily challenges he had to face, and the constant change. No two days were ever the same".
He explained people in the Public Relations field as "generalists"--we can handle a lot of things at once and are especially good listeners. He also emphasized that to make it in the Public Relations world, you MUST be a good writer.
Nielson had never even heard the word "Public Relations" during his 4 years in college. The first place he learned about it was when he enrolled in the air force straight after college graduation.

In 1988 Nielson went to Johnson and Johnson, and to him it was a dream job. He knew Johnson and Johnson was a company with a great reputation and ever since he took the offer he never looked back. What he liked most about his stay at Johnson & Johnsonwas that they were and still are a valued based company, surrounded by terrific people.

Coroprate Setting

• Alot of disiplines you have to deal with like the rules and regulations of general laws, Human Resources and the finance and accounting departments. Each of these sectors must work together perfectly and be in sync inorder to run a smooth operation like Johnson and Johnson does.
• It needs to be "seemless" as Nielson puts it, and we PR experts exsits for this reason. We play the role of filling in what needs to be done between those lines, or in the "grey space".

Always Remember

*Employees are your 1st and most important audience in a corporation like Johnson and Johnson, they comes the media. Johnson and Johnson always wanted support from the internal audience, their employees before they reached out to their extrenal ones.