I recently attended the Council of PR Firms Critical Issues Forum in New York. I’m new to the council, whose mission is to advance the business of public relations firms by building the market and firms’ value as strategic business partners. As a small firm by industry standards, it was a treat to rub elbows with some of the industry giants, including Dave Senay from Fleishman Hillard, Melissa Waggoner-Zorkin from Waggoner Edstrom and Ray Kotcher from Ketchum, who was serving his final meeting as chairman.
The topic for the forum was Aftershock: Rebuilding Trust and Confidence in 2010. A Socratic debate format was used with the clever and brilliant Len Schlesinger, president of Babson College, moderating. Panelists included Beth Comstock, SVP and CMO for General Electric, Susie Gharib, anchor for Nightly Business Report, Steve Harris, VP Global Comms for General Motors (ret.), Margery Kraus, CEO of APCO Worldwide and James Wiggins, ED for Corp. Comm. for Morgan Stanley.
Len Schlesinger asked the audience, what is the role of public relations in building trust?
My answer was, public relations role is to serve as a clear voice that ethically and transparently serves as a guide for the public conscience and engages discussion about important issues facing society. People were all over the place on this issue, which turned out to be the point of the exercise.
The panel engaged in a spirited discussion and we learned how gray this issue is for our industry. The following were some of my observations:
On the role of leadership in rebuilding trust – Companies must lead by voluntarily taking action. Washington will continue to exert a strong hand in new regulations, including cap and trade legislation, curbing executive pay, etc. Bold, proactive moves that can serve as industry benchmarks will be rewarded even though it is difficult to go first. Some felt (correctly, in my opinion) like business can never do enough to satisfy critics.
On the role of language in rebuilding trust – There is a major disconnect, perhaps larger than corporate America thinks, between main street and Wall Street. The trust has been shattered by greed and stupidity. Use simple words that people understand to tell your story. Get rid of the fine print disclaimers that consumers have such a difficult time understanding. Be authentic with outreach programs, and don’t forget that community begins with being in the community. This year’s graduating class from Harvard MBA School took an oath around the idea that their professional careers would be dedicated to benefiting the social good before stakeholder value (or maybe one drives the other?).
On the role of change in rebuilding trust – The “new normal” is the idea that we’ll never go back to the way we were, which was widely acknowledged as accurate. Critics must be engaged because their distribution platform for publishing content is so fluid. Corporations and leaders that are insular are at risk of being out of touch. Finally, “there is not much time” according to Steve Harris from GM. America is a forgiving country, but not to those who ignore the realities of “new normal.”
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Tags: change, language, leadership