Cool Communication Job: John Mink, communication manager at Harley-Davidson Motor Company
by Janna White
 John Mink applied for a job at Harley-Davidson Motor Company (H-D) “on a whim,” fully expecting to be turned down. He possessed relevant communication work experience, but he assumed his lack of familiarity with the manufacturing environment would immediately disqualify him. Luckily, the staff of H-D’s Vehicle and Powertrain Operations plant in Kansas City, Missouri was looking for something a little different. “They were much more concerned with the type of person they were going to hire than with finding someone who had manufacturing experience. They needed to find someone who could mesh with both the management and the employees; someone who understood both sides, who had gotten his hands dirty and knew how to do the hard work,” explains John. Ultimately, John sold H-D on his blue-collar experience in restaurant management and maintenance operations prior to his transition to a communication career.
Since moving from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Kansas City to join the H-D team in the winter of 2006, John has tackled head-on the task of understanding and adapting to his new environment—the plant where 40 percent of all H-D motorcycles are manufactured. He cites his efforts to adapt as one of his biggest challenges, and as helping to keep his job interesting. “Every day is a learning experience. Sometimes I’ll attend a production meeting and feel overwhelmed when I hear new terms that I don’t know. I’m constantly trying to get to a point where I am truly credible as a communicator.”
It’s a small world
After interviewing John, Student Connection editor Janna White discovered that IABC President Julie Freeman had visited the H-D headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin only one week before.
Says Julie, “Although it’s been years since I drove a motorcycle, I seem to run into Harleys all the time. My cousin lives in Hollister, California, a town of 10,000 people that hosts a motorcycle rally every July. But the invasion of 40,000 bikers there is nothing compared to the Labor Day rally in Milwaukee. Recently when I visited Harley headquarters, the party for 200,000 bikers was a big topic of our discussions. That must be quite a party!”
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Credibility is crucial in the Kansas City plant, where 85 percent of employees are unionized and internal management and union presidents share a workspace. John manages communications during labor negotiations that are often sensitive, even given the excellent relationship H-D shares with its unions. “We developed communication strategies for the processes leading up to the vote, and contingencies for every possible outcome. While the negotiations are in progress there’s a greater focus on internal [communication], keeping people up to speed on what’s going on while respecting the confidentiality of the negotiations process. When it actually goes into a vote, we start to see media interest. We aren’t particularly proactive about contacting media, but the word gets out. Once a decision is made we have to notify everyone here and put together a press release for the public at the same time.” The notability of the H-D brand and of the plant’s unique labor-management relationship attracts other attention as well. John sits on a committee formed specifically to respond to benchmarking requests—“you would be amazed how many we get. The H-D name is very high profile in the manufacturing community, so a lot of companies want to benchmark us on our processes and organizational structure.”
Not every project on John’s desk is quite so pragmatic. He also supports public and media coverage of special events like H-D’s upcoming 105th anniversary celebration in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the Kansas City plant’s annual open-house fundraiser for muscular dystrophy, where H-D enthusiasts relish the opportunity to talk directly to the people who make their bikes. “This isn’t some salesman; this is the real deal. This is the employee who is putting wheels on, welding the frame, hooking up the electronics. The people who work here truly love the brand and live the motorcycling lifestyle. That enthusiasm is contagious and, while I don’t ride yet, it makes me think I want to be a part of that.”
When John’s not dreaming up the next great communication campaign, he focuses his attention on raising his two-year old daughter and one-month old son with his wife, Lauri. If it weren’t for Lauri, John might not be working for H-D to begin with. “I started at the University of New Mexico as a biology major, but as I was going through my coursework I realized I wasn’t interested in the super-microscopic details, the cycle of cellular energy or whatever the heck it was called,” he remarks, chuckling. “I’d always had an ability when it came to English and writing, and my girlfriend, now my wife, helped me do some soul-searching and realize that I’d been fighting those natural tendencies.” He switched to a communication program soon thereafter. “So now I’m the only person I know with the rather unusual combination of a communications major and a biology minor!”
John’s writing skills—cultivated since he began writing and staging original plays in his junior high school auditorium—have helped foster trust and credibility in his work for H-D. But he also emphasizes the equally profound effect of strategic relationships. “Find people who will help plug you into what the issues are, people who really understand what the pulse is. What ‘landmines’ should you avoid? When do you have to be careful where you step? Get on someone’s calendar for a regular meeting and the dialogue will evolve into a more natural and organic conversation. I still struggle sometimes, but now when we get new employees, suddenly I’m not the new guy anymore, and they’re coming to me.”
John shared one piece of advice for communication students. “I wish I had taken more marketing classes in school. A lot of what you do in these kinds of roles is marketing, even in my position where it’s an internal and more ‘captive’ audience. A communication program is really a marketing program, so having that experience can really help.”
“A day in the life” of John Mink
5 a.m. Arrive at the plant to facilitate the first of three Town Hall meetings
8 a.m. Production meeting (updates on production issues and schedules)
8:30 a.m. Check voice mail and e-mail; identify and schedule tasks/actions
9:30 a.m. Attend organizational communication team conference call; discuss current issues and upcoming projects
10:30 a.m. Meet with contract employee to discuss story ideas for weekly newsletter
11:30 a.m. Benchmarking committee meeting to review requests for visits
1 p.m. Conference call for 105th anniversary planning
2:30 p.m. Facilitate final Town Hall session
4:30 p.m. Head home!
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