THE 5 UGLY TRUTHS OF OUR INDUSTRY
An urgent call to unlearn, look inward and enter 2026 with purpose, courage and clarity.
What no one wants to say, but we all need to hear before the end of 2025.
And then? Today we really looked at each other.
(I speak to you from the heart, because 2026 requires us to unlearn)
Today, December 1, 2025, I decided to do what we rarely do in this industry: look in the mirror without fear.
I speak to them as I speak to my team: with passion but without passion, with clarity and with the honesty that an industry that wants to grow deserves.
Because our purpose is to live happily with our vocation, not to survive it. And for that, we have to accept these five uncomfortable truths.
1. We're burning talent... and we're losing it.
We see exhaustion, frozen places and roles replaced by talent outside PR. Not because they are better, but because here we are working from tiredness, not on purpose.
If we continue like this, we lose what is most valuable: our people. And then?
2. We operate with processes that no longer work.
Eternal approvals. Unnecessary meetings. Slow workflows. Silos that exist by inertia.
Technology and the market are in a sprint... and many of us are still in slow motion.
You can't compete in 2026 with processes from 2015. And then?
3. It's hard for us to adapt. More than we admit.
We talk about innovation, but we adopted it late. We want agility, but we operate rigidly.
The truth is simple: the world isn't going too fast... we're going too slow. And then?
4. We are more reactive than proactive.
We know how to respond, but anticipating is not yet the norm. We expect briefs, changes, emergencies. But 2026 will reward the one who steps ahead, not the one who reacts. And then?
5. We continue to work divided.
The consumer lives everything integrated, but we don't. Departments, disciplines and egos continue to create distance.
And without integration, there's no real impact. And then?
Why say this today?
Because December is for real seeing each other. To recognize that these truths are not attacks, but opportunities.
To work with passion but without being passionate, and remember that our purpose is to live happily in our vocation.
If we go into 2026 doing the same thing, we are not planning: we are going backwards.
My call:
Let's unlearn what no longer works. Let's question what we took for granted. Let's embrace what the present requires. Let's evolve without excuses.
2026 isn't going to wait for anyone. And then?
- Ruben J. Rodriguez CEO, P2P Group
