Person of Honor: Leslie Kerns

Leslie Kerns is the founder and CEO of 1235 Strategies. Her work centers around the merging of communications, advocacy and campaigns, and understanding which tools to apply in order to affect change. She’s someone whose strengths complement ours at HCC, and we’d like to think vice versa. We always look for opportunities to work with Leslie. But rarely do we get a chance to sit down and ask her all our pressing questions about the work she does and her path there, all of which we really admire. So we jumped at this chance.

Honor Code Creative: You’re a veteran of the law. (ed note: like Rachel). Any regrets about your departure?

Leslie: No regrets! A really good lawyer -a really good anything, to be honest- feels the work in their bones. They have a confidence that makes you want to work with them. I never felt being a lawyer in my bones and the confidence I had during that chapter of my life felt manufactured. Once I moved out of law and into communications, and eventually, social change consulting, I realized what it was like to have genuine professional confidence. And never looked back.

HCC: Anything you lean on from your law days?

LK: I gained a ton from law school and my ten minutes of practicing law. How to prepare extensively for every moment that matters, and realizing there are very few moments that don’t. How to think expansively about a problem and the solutions I come up with. Those habits and that discipline are vital in law… it’s vital when developing and running a winning advocacy campaign or communications effort.

HCC: When we met, you were in PR, also like me, but very focused on mission-based organizations. Will you speak to that transition? What were some of your crystallizing moments in PR?

LK: I knew I wanted to do something good with my career, to have an impact on people’s lives, but I didn’t really know what that would look like or the specific job I wanted. So I did the obvious thing and went to law school! I gave myself two years to practice law and if I didn’t love it after two years, I’d jump. Two years came and I jumped. But that drive to do something good and impactful was still there. 

I started to think about, and research, the big people and jobs that seemed the most interesting to me; Press Secretary, White House Communications Director, campaign director, heads of foundations or advocacy organizations -- and two through lines were communications and Masters in Public Policy or Administration. So I went from my cush law firm job to an entry-level PR position to learn the ropes and started applying to MPA programs. My first PR firm (sadly, the now-closed Schwartz Communications) was not mission-focused -- it was a Boston-area technology and healthcare PR powerhouse--but I moved up quickly (ed note: three promotions in two years!) and along the way learned the nuts and bolts of media relations and how to use it to insert people, ideas, and organizations into the public conversation. One of our law firm clients did pro bono work for the New England Innocence Project. I did the press around how two men were wrongfully convicted, why they should be exonerated, and what needed to change about the system, and loved every minute of it. Around that time, I got accepted to Columbia University’s and NYU’s MPA programs. But a Boston-based PR firm I had my eye on for a while -- the now Solomon McCown & Cence - because of their growing nonprofit practice supporting affordable housing, community development, and other issues -- offered me a job. I accepted the job, and again I’ve never looked back.  

HCC: You’ve been a pivot master! Got any tips?

LK: Dive in headfirst and with both feet fully in the water. I did that when I moved from law into communications, and from Cleveland to Boston, and from Boston to Washington, D.C. I worked really hard, got to know the cities, and did what I needed to meet and get to know people (threw parties, started social clubs, volunteered, found yoga studios). When I moved from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles, I tried to keep one foot firmly planted in D.C. and just dangle one toe in L.A., and it was a big mistake. It made it much harder and took me a lot longer to understand my new home and what it had to offer. Once I stopped traveling back to D.C. every month and prioritizing those ties and connections over those I could make in L.A., things fell into place.  

Get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. Change is the one constant thing in life. Still, change can be very uncomfortable. There’s no way around that. So embrace being uncomfortable. Otherwise, you’ll miss the good stuff that comes with change.

HCC: You’ve worked well with so many leaders, and you’ve been one. What are some leadership takeaways we can act on right now?

LK: Everyone wants to be respected and appreciated. So many problems can be avoided or resolved if you truly communicate both.

Apologizing or acknowledging you were wrong is a sign of strength, not weakness. A genuine acknowledgment of “I was wrong, you were right, and here’s how I propose we move forward” allows everyone involved to receive or show respect and appreciation and, more often than not, do a needed reset.

People might create conditions that are challenging or frustrating, but only you control how you respond. Hands down, when I have remembered and applied this advice, I have succeeded as a leader; and when I haven’t, I’ve failed.

And that’s the last takeaway...everyone fails. There will be those in your career who believe or make you feel like every mistake or failure -- real or perceived -- is a disaster or an indictment of your ability or character. Those people are wrong. And I’m no psychologist, but that way of thinking says a lot more about them than you. It’s about whether, and how, you get back up. 

HCC: When we’ve worked with you at HCC, we’ve noticed you are very thorough and able to see the big picture without missing any of the moving pieces, either. Is it a learnable skill?

LK: Preparing extensively and thinking expansively is something I learned from law. But it’s also something I’ve had reinforced through studying improv (ed note: Leslie took this up as a hobby after moving to L.A.). Don’t let her earnestness fool you; humor is her secret weapon.

In improv, you constantly ask yourself “and what that means is….” Your scene partner identifies themselves as a banana? and what that means is...I’m in a grocery store…and what that means is...I’m an apple…and what that means is...bananas and apples are very different from one another…and what that means is...we’re star-crossed lovers…and what that means is...we might have a very silly but funny take of Romeo and Juliet on our hands. 

So no, you don’t need to go to law school to see the big picture and move or manage all the pieces. Just apply some “and what that means is” to your project, campaign, problem, etc. and it’s a start.

HCC: Any surprises in starting your own business? 

LK: Accounting is really hard! Maybe not surprising, but still very true! More importantly, how substantive going small can be. I’ve worked for big and mid-sized firms and learned a ton. But those firm models often require senior people to touch an issue or client only for so long, and then they move on. You’d think that means you learn a lot about a lot of different things but since going out on my own, I work deeply with only a few organizations at a time, often over an extended period of time, and I’ve realized how narrow my previous world and professional views were. I have a much greater understanding of advocacy and its various forms, what narrative change means and how different organizations can participate in various ways, how nonprofits operate and their different communications needs, and what it means to help deliver impact in order to meet those needs.

I suspected some of this might be true when I started my own consultancy practice, but I am pleasantly surprised with the robust and actual reality.

HCC: Can you give me a couple of examples about campaigns you’ve worked on since striking out on your own?

LK: Yes! For the last four years, I worked with the amazing Vera Institute of Justice on a campaign to expand access to postsecondary education for incarcerated students. A real personal and career highlight. The long-term objective was to lift the federal ban on Pell grants for people in prison, a relic from the 1994 Crime Bill. We thought it would take us six to eight years and we did in four! Thousands of individuals and their families will have greater access to opportunities, which will in turn strengthen communities.  

Prior to starting 1235 Strategies, I was one of the original architects of Vera’s advocacy campaign. This included leading an issue assessment and opinion research, crafting messaging, designing the overall strategy (i.e. media, state and national partners, state organizing, and federal policy), conceiving of narrative-shifting content (i.e., Investing in Futures), and participating in efforts to secure initial funding. After starting 1235 Strategies, Vera asked me to re-join the campaign to provide strategic direction and management. Like all successful campaigns, it was a real team effort. For one, it was Vera’s effort, and they, and their various righteous partners, were the true experts and leads. We also had robust lobbying, organizing, and media teams to help execute and give good advice. 

HCC: How did you fit into this mix?

LK: My job was to serve as Vera’s overarching campaign strategist -- making sure the federal lobbying, state organizing, and media strategies were integrated and implemented in a way that responded to and stayed ahead of the legislative state-of-play. Day-to-day, this meant running weekly campaign meetings with the full crew, participating and weighing in on legislative and media team meetings, leading quarterly strategy check-ins and adjustments, reviewing all media and grasstops organizing materials, and providing partner, funder, and other advice along the way. I loved working with Vera and when you add up the impact and the day-to-day, again, a real highlight.

I’ve also had the good fortune of working with the MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge for a number of years, and I currently sit on its advisory counsel. Another highlight has been partnering with an initiative at the Harvard School of Public Health. We developed messaging for state advocates trying to get dangerous diet pills out of the hands of kids. I loved the issue and the clear aim of giving advocates what they need to push for change. And as a bonus, I got to work with one of my favorite opinion research partners, GQR. They’re so smart and so easy to work with!

HCC: Onto some of the softer stuff! We can’t help but notice your work set-up on our calls. Will you give us a quick desk tour?

LK: Just the basics: My standing desk and chair for when I’m tired. My Mac and my old-school notebook with various to-dos and other lists. Family photos and tchotchkes. And (if you look really carefully) Wonder Woman sticky notes.

HCC: What are you reading?

LK: I just finished Luster by Raven Leilani, and I am about to start Reconstruction by Eric Foner. 

HCC: Who inspires you?

LK: My Mom! She passed away in early 2016, but she still inspires me. Single mom, went to college in her early 40s and entered the workforce in her mid-40s to pull herself and her six kids out of poverty AND to make sure she had a third and fourth act in life. She was very brave and strong, but also very warm and loving. Whenever I think, “Shoot, I don’t think I can do this” I can hear her say, “Yes you can.”