Circle of Fellows #75: Your Future in Focus

As the world struggles with what’s next for the workplace in the wake of the global pandemic, take time to consider your career path as a communication professional. Neil Griffiths, Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, and Brad Whitworth contributed their thoughts and experience to a Circle of Fellows focused on career assessment and planning, IABC’s Global Standard, strengths, professional development, certification, and more.

About the panel

Neil Griffiths, ABC, Chart.PR, IABC Fellow is Global Head of Diversity, Equality & Inclusion at ERM, the world’s largest sustainability consultancy, where he is responsible for the global DE&I; strategy and engagement plan. Neil’s background is varied, having spent the better part of 20 years in a series of external, brand, strategy, and internal communication roles, before moving into DE&I.; Neil has held leadership roles in a number of public, private, and non-profit organisations. In the volunteer space, Neil has held multiple leadership positions within the IABC and the Company of Communicators (CoC), which is one of the City of London’s modern Livery Companies. Volunteer highlights include being a member of the inaugural Global Communications Certification Council, Career Roadmap Committee member, Chair of the 2018 IABC World Conference (Montreal), Past Chair of IABC’s EMENA region, and, as of November 2020, Junior Warden of the CoC. Neil is a recipient of the IABC Regional Leader of the Year, Rae Hamlin and IABC Chair’s Awards. In 2019, Neil was named IABC Fellow, the highest honour bestowed on an IABC member. Together with co-author Deborah Hinton, Neil has published two studies on the current and future state of the communication profession and advocates for channeling your best communication self regardless of where and how you work.

Dr. Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, accredited by both IABC and PRSA. She is Managing Director of Business DNA, based in South Africa, which provides strategic research and consulting, including communication audits, customer service, and women’s leadership topics. She is licensed in Adobe Connect and WebEx, using these to conduct virtual professional learning and education sessions. and other focused research and training in communication skills. Her career has also included a 15-year stint as a research manager for the National Productivity Institute.

Brad Whitworth, ABC, SCMP, IABC Fellow, is a pre-eminent thought leader, lecturer, and author in organizational communication. He has led global internal and executive communication programs at HP, Cisco, Hitachi, PeopleSoft, AAA, and MicroFocus. He holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and undergraduate degrees in journalism and speech from the University of Missouri. Brad lives in California wine country and is growing Pinot Noir on his property. A former broadcaster, Brad has made more than 300 presentations to executives, communicators, and university classes around the world. Brad is a past board chairman of the International Association of Business Communicators and a Fellow of the association. He is one of the authors of The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication and the new IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer. He currently serves as past chair of the Global Communication Certification Counsel.