Three early lessons from life at 393

February 2026: Time flies when you’re having fun, and yes, I’ve enjoyed being new. Crazy, isn’t it? Often, there’s a million thoughts in your mind and that unspoken pressure of starting fresh – make your voice heard, absorb like a sponge and add value quickly. Being new can sometimes be seen as a short-term weakness – something you must overcome quickly. But if there’s one thing this month has taught me, it’s that being new isn’t a weakness to overcome, but a strength to embrace. On that note, here are three takeaways from my first month or so at 393…

#1 Being new is a skill 
 
When you’re a new joiner, it’s tempting to jump straight into conclusions. To show you’re proactive or ‘hit the ground running’. I felt this too. 
 
But what’s even more effective – is being observant. 
 
Curiosity is powerful. Asking thoughtful questions enriches your knowledge more than passive learning ever could. Couple this with taking feedback constructively, and it’s the perfect recipe for building resilience and capabilities quicker than trying to get everything right the first time. 
 
Learning how to be new builds habits that last far beyond the onboarding process. Everyone at 393 still operates with that growth mindset. They still ask questions. They still regularly sense check. Which made me think, this behaviour isn’t just a phase, but an attitude to keep and continuously nurture. 
 

#2 The silent work behind a good pitch 
 
PR is often judged by its outputs. A sharp pitch, lots of coverage and floods of emojis in the group chat when sharing the headline internally. 
 
Don’t get me wrong, these are all great feelings. But what’s struck me is the amount of research and thinking that goes behind the scenes to get the right pitch to land with the right journalist. 
 
Strong pitches are built on precise and detailed research and knowing what a journalist uniquely covers because you’ve read their work. I’ve learnt that taking this approach builds trust and credibility, as a PR professional and as a collective agency. 
 

#3 PR doesn’t have a relevance problem; it has a depth problem 
 
Finally, I’ve found it fascinating that many people think PR is fighting for relevance. Newsrooms are shrinking and AI is churning out content faster than ever as our attention spans shrink. 
 
To me, PR starts to lack depth when you fail to understand your audience and market context. 
 
Creating depth in PR requires detailed research into journalists and publications, human judgement to turn timely ideas into meaningful results, and constantly refining a story with the help of colleagues to make sure it adds an interesting view to a conversation. 
 
In a landscape starting to be shaped more and more by AI and automation, this depth may just be the competitive advantage that makes you stand out. 
 

Looking ahead 
 
It’s only been a month, and I’m still aware of how much more there is to learn. But that excites me. Already in these few weeks, my thinking around curiosity, depth and resilience has sharpened – evident in my daily habits, by going that extra mile in extensively researching journalists and publications, continuously asking questions and constructively taking feedback to improve my craft. 
 
It turns out, the real skill isn’t outgrowing the ‘new’ – it’s owning it. 

By Aaron Sterlin, Account Executive