The following interview originally appeared in career blog published by Big Shoes Network. Shared here with permission. 

Ron Culp has spent four decades moving effortlessly between newsroom urgency, corporate boardrooms and agency war rooms — and now brings that hard-won experience into the classroom as a self-described “pracademic.”

He’s led communications for Fortune 500 brands, opened and run agency offices, cofounded and chaired leadership organizations, and today teaches and mentors at DePaul while writing books and a popular careers blog. This conversation pulls back the curtain on the mentors, risk calculations, crisis work and business fluency that shaped a career built on curiosity and craft.

Read on for candid lessons on starting in agencies, surviving high-pressure financial and crisis communications, hiring and mentoring talent, and the core business concepts every communicator should master.

You describe yourself as a “pracademic.” What does that label mean to you, and when did you know you wanted to blend practitioner work with teaching?

The “pracademic” title was suggested by a PhD colleague on my first day of teaching at DePaul when I mentioned that I didn’t view myself as a true “academic” since I would be laser-focused on helping students prepare for the types of industry jobs I enjoyed over my long career. My classes are based on what my on-going discussions with PR leaders tell me they need from the next generation of PR professionals.

Looking back to your first jobs (reporter, press secretary, early communications roles), what early experiences or responsibilities shaped your approach to strategic communications?

John Rutherford, a demanding news editor during my first job as a reporter, taught me the importance of fact-checking and not burying the lead. More than once, he wadded up my then typewritten articles and threw them across the newsroom screaming “Rewrite!” I think of that guy almost every time I begin to write.

You’ve moved between in-house roles at major corporations and senior positions at agencies — what factors did you weigh when deciding to move from corporate to agency (and vice versa)?

Sears PR team, 1993

I often tell my students to “Do as I say, not as I did.” Even though I began my PR career with four great corporate jobs, I urge students to begin their careers in agencies, if possible. During my corporate career, I gained valuable insights into agency leadership and client service. Still, when I was asked to establish a new Chicago office for Sard Verbinnen, I realized how much I still didn’t know.

Fortunately, I got a lot of help and advice from the New York office and veteran colleagues like Judy Brennan, and I tapped my Chicago network of PR friends at other agencies. We didn’t treat each other as competitors, or at least that’s how it felt as they always gave me great advice. That may be unique to the Chicago PR community, but it pretty much continues to be the case today.

You were co-owner of a local paper and later ran corporate communications for major brands. How did that small-business experience inform your work in large organizations?

Besides once owning a weekly newspaper in beautiful Zionsville, Ind., my wife and I also opened a gourmet coffee store while working full-time in Albany, New York – around the time Starbucks was starting up.

Those entrepreneurial experiences helped me understand the importance of listening to the customer, adapting your product mix to give them what they want–not necessarily what you want to sell. I gained a deep appreciation for small business owners which is a mindset too many people in major corporations and government don’t fully seem to grasp.

Which career pivot (e.g., joining Sears, starting the Chicago office for Sard Verbinnen, leading Ketchum’s Midwest) felt riskiest at the time — and how did you evaluate that risk?

First corporate job, media relations department head, Eli Lilly & Co., 1987

My riskiest career move might have been giving up a great comms manager job at Lilly to move across the country to Stamford, Connecticut to become director of public relations at Pitney Bowes. My wife was seven months pregnant, and I began a job that was far less exciting than the crisis-ridden position in Indianapolis, where Sandra had a great job and we were actively involved in the community.

The risk/reward evaluation was pretty simple: At that time, Lilly required an MBA or law degree for anyone being considered for a director-level promotion. That “glass ceiling” would keep me from moving into a more senior position. In hindsight, I wish I had pursued an advanced degree. But the move still set me up in a positive direction for further career success.

You led financial communications and crisis work early in your career. What stays with you from those high-pressure moments?

I had no experience in financial communications until my boss at Lilly left the company and his boss walked into my office to tell me that I needed to immediately go talk with the CFO about the third-quarter earnings release.

I took copious notes, which might as well have been written in Greek. With glazed eyes, I came back to my new boss who asked me if I had any questions. “Yes, what are earnings?”

He quickly introduced me to the patient IR director, Bob Graper, who walked me through a crash course in earnings reporting 101. After more than a dozen drafts, the release was given to the CEO who apparently approved it since he made no changes and said I should be assigned to write the annual report.

From your experience advising C-suite clients and helping organizations find agency partners, what makes an agency relationship succeed (or fail)?

It’s not very original, but the best agency partners know as much or more about the client’s business as the client – its products, services, customers, and financials. Of the dozens of agencies I worked with over the years, the truly outstanding firms consistently delivered work that I considered CEO-ready to review.

Your books focus on business acumen for communicators. What core business concepts do PR students most need but rarely learn?

To meet higher expectations of corporate management today, communicators must demonstrate that they fully understand how businesses make money. That includes being able to discuss financial reporting statements, which can be terrifyingly confusing for us right-brainers.

Unfortunately for too many of us, that knowledge is generally learned over time and sometimes with embarrassing consequences when we show our ignorance about basic financial terms. In our books, Matt Ragas and I include extensive, easy-to-understand glossaries of business terms. Most of these terms are things I wish I had known earlier in my communications career.

Describe a mentorship that changed your trajectory. How should mentees and mentors structure that relationship for real impact?

When I was invited to give the commencement address at my college alma mater a few years ago, I decided to talk about several of my greatest mentors, two of whom were professors–journalism prof and adviser to the student newspaper which I edited for two years (Claude Billings) and political science prof William Maxam). Both consistently went above and beyond the call of duty. If you showed interest in their subjects, they were committed to helping you gain the experience needed to hit the ground running in your initial internships and jobs. They both were advocates for the need to gain as much practical experience as possible early in your career.

Claude Billings once said, “Never ask someone who works for you to do something you’re not willing to do if they weren’t around.” These phenomenal mentors were the inspiration for my lifelong focus on mentoring and helped inspire me to start blogging about careers more than 15 years ago.

What advice would you give yourself at age 30?

By now, you likely have a good sense of where your career is heading. If not, switch gears and follow your passion. That might require going back to grad school or taking a step backwards to pick up the experience that will allow you to become enthusiastic about what you’ll likely be doing for the next 30 years or so.

I can honestly say that by 30, I knew I was in love with my chosen profession. I’ve been a long-time believer in the late Al Golin’s career philosophy: “Find a job you love and you will never work another day the rest of your life.”