Leadership Corner: Helen Varner

Interviewed by Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer

Name: Helen Varner

Age: 58

Title: Dean

Organization: College of Communication, Hawai'i Pacific University

High school: Ball High School in Galveston, Texas

College: Doctor of education, Texas A&M University; master of arts in communications, and bachelor of arts and sciences in public relations, Stephen F. Austin State University

Breakthrough job: Her first job in advertising, working in Miami for John Gilbert, who, she said, was patient and caring. "He praised me as much as he criticized me," Varner said. "And he never criticized me without showing me how to improve."

Little-known fact: She collects dragon figurines and builds 25-mm-scale fantasy dioramas as a hobby.

Major challenge: "Resources! We have immensely talented students from all over the world, but it is expensive to provide equipment (and) facilities, and keep software updated. Other than computer science, communication is the most technologically dependent discipline, and we never have enough resources to keep up with the growth of the college. Anyone want to donate a computer?"

Q. You worked as a newspaper reporter and public-relations practitioner, then started your own public-relations and advertising company — all before you earned your undergraduate degree. Why did you decide to go back to college?

A. In 1979, I was president of the largest state professional association in the United States (Professional Communicators Association) and the next year I was sitting in the classroom taking my first public-relations class. (Going back to college) changed my life. I felt I owed a profession that had been very good to me a very prepared generation of professionals. ...

The public-relations profession deserves people who know what they're doing, and I can do that. So I became a teacher.

Q. What was the biggest difference for you in going back to college after working as a professional?

A. I honestly believe that when you go back to school, you get much more out of the experience because you can see the relevance and importance and value of what you're learning. And I think that's difficult to see without any kind of work experience.

Q. What did you learn by going back to college to study a profession you had been working in for years?

A. OTJ — on the job — we learn how other people do things. But not necessarily how they ought to be done. So my education exposed me to a lot of scholarship on how things really ought to be done. And sometimes those aren't the same.

So I learned how to sort the relevant from the irrelevant, research that was valid from that which was a waste of time and money. It changed the way I attack problems.

I'll give you a quote that has been a guiding force in my life: "If you only have one tool and that tool is a hammer, you tend to approach every problem as though it were a nail." Education gives you a bigger toolbox. ...

To become a teacher has been absolutely the best decision I ever made. What I do today is change lives, as mine was changed. My husband is a doctor, and we have this running joke: He heals people, but I change them (laughs).

But it's true. Education changes us. It gives us more options. It allows us to make better decisions.

So, what I do today is much more meaningful and much more of a contribution to my world than creating nice brochures and designing ads.

Q. When you arrived at Hawai'i Pacific University in 1991, the school offered just one communications course. Now the college of communication has six undergraduate degrees, one master's degree and more than 550 majors. How have you grown the program?

A. I'm a curriculum builder; it's what I do. I'm not a scholar, I'm a program builder. ... The difference has been in hiring academically qualified instructors who also have professional experience. That makes a big difference. And we have the best and brightest students from all over the world.

Q. What has been the most challenging part of your job?

A. This is a local, national and international award-winning program here; it's amazing. Here's this little school in the middle of the Pacific. But people here in Hawai'i do not recognize the international excellence of this school.

This has been the bane of my entire career. For many people, there's only one university here — the University of Hawai'i — and that's just not true. That's been my greatest frustration.

Q. How important is writing well in any industry and career?

A. Writing well and accurately is what most people do in any profession. And we have a lot of emphasis on writing in our curriculum as a result of that. ... Communication skills apply to every profession.

They also apply to your personal life. This may sound funny, but I know how to fight. I don't say things in an argument I'll regret later, because I'm very, very aware of the power of communication. Communication skills can make you skillful and successful at anything you do.

Q. How important are strong public-relations and advertising skills to any business?

A. Essential. No matter how wonderful your product or service, no one will buy it unless they know about it. That's advertising. But no amount of money spent on advertising will be effective if people do not trust you. Honest and accurate communication — public relations — is how you achieve that trust.

Q. What are must-have leadership skills, in your opinion?

A. The ability to gather information, analyze it and use the valid data to make sound decisions, and then rally a team to implement those decisions.

Leaders are those who can see the future and help others create it. Yes, one person can change the world, but that person can achieve even more with the help of others.