The Dialogue Takes Off

Posted on May 09, 2008 | 2 Comments

The dialogue we hoped to spark when we published The Authentic Enterprise and launched this blog is taking off. References to our white paper and our blog are popping up all over the world in the blogosphere and in the mainstream media, as well.

The latest example is a terrific podcast of an interview with IBM’s CCO, Jon Iwata, on a PR technology website called For Immediate Release (FIR) (scroll down to May 6). It’s co-hosted by a pair of consultants named Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson, who also write their own blogs, where they are prolific proponents of the use of Web 2.0 technology in corporate PR. Shel recently made a very thoughtful post about overcoming internal resistance to the use of social media in companies.

When asked about this in the FIR podcast, Jon offered an insightful response to those who worry about the ROI of Web 2.0 involvement. First focus on the “I,” not the “R,” Jon advises. The whole point of the digital networking revolution is that participation is virtually free. Once you quit worrying about the costs, and think about the value of having your employees participate in conversations where they might gain insights and influence critical constituencies, the barriers to participation begin to melt away.

By the way, the survey exploring these barriers, which was cosponsored by Page and the Corporate Executive Board and which Jon unveiled at the Spring Seminar, was covered in the online version of PRWeek.

Business audiences were exposed to The Authentic Enterprise in a column by Stefan Stern in the Financial Times. The white paper is also cited as a source in an article advising CEOs to communicate with the media and in Web 2.0 by noted author William J. Holstein in Booz Allen Hamilton’s strategy+business magazine. Holstein is the former editor of Chief Executive magazine.

Solid reviews of The Authentic Enterprise also appear on:
• The Institute for Public Relations website;
• Churbuck.com by David C. Churbuck, who is vice-president of global web marketing at Lenovo and was the founder of Forbes.com;
• Paul Gillin’s Blog, written by a consultant specializing in information technology topics;
• Social Media Explorer by Jason Falls, who holds the title of “social media explorer” at Doe Anderson, a brand-building agency based in Louisville, Ky.;
• Internal Communications Hub, a global membership organization for internal communicators;
• And Newsdesk PR 2.0, a Swedish blog written by Kristofer Björkman.

A welcoming, but semi-critical review of Page Turner, the Page Society blog, was posted by Michael Netzley, an assistant professor of corporate communication at Singapore Management University. I think we’ve addressed Michael’s concerns about subscribing to RSS feeds from our site, so give it a try, if you’re inclined. We’re also hoping to meet Michael’s – and your – expectations about content.

Our spectacular Spring Seminar program also has drawn substantial comment in the blogosphere from PRWeek, PR News, and from Page member and blogger Steve Cody, whose RepMan blog contains posts about the presentations of Ed Koch, Fareed Zakaria, and Rick DeLisi.

There’s much more out there, which can be found by searching the internet for Page Society Authentic Enterprise. But you get the point. We’ve begun to achieve our goal of stimulating dialogue about the trends impacting global enterprises and the role of the chief communications officer (CCO) in helping companies thrive in the rapidly changing environment.

If you have something to add to this conversation, comment here or elsewhere. We’d love to hear from you.

-- Roger Bolton
Senior Counselor
APCO Worldwide

A New Role for the CCO – Defining and Activating Values

Posted on May 07, 2008 | 2 Comments

One aspect of the Page Society’s white paper, The Authentic Enterprise, that has gotten little commentary, is the recommendation that chief communications officers (CCOs) assert leadership in defining and activating values. Ironically, this recommendation is the one that may represent the biggest departure from the way most people think about the role of the CCO.

For companies to succeed in the rapidly changing and challenging global business environment, having a set of values that serves as a guide to authenticity is essential. But many would not see this as a place for leadership from the CCO.

Certainly, most CCOs at major enterprises have responsibility for internal communications, and the good ones obviously view this as a strategic lever, designing internal communications programs that achieve strategic objectives, often including values and culture change. The departure, however, is the paper’s suggestion that CCOs provide leadership in helping companies define their “business model, brand, culture, policies and, most importantly, values.”

Okay, you may say that’s not so new, either. The best CCO’s since Arthur W. Page himself have been senior counselors involved in the most important strategic enterprise deliberations. Yes, but the white paper goes beyond even that by advocating not just a participative, but a leadership role in defining values.

Now, suggesting that CCOs assert leadership is not the same as staking out ownership. Clearly, other staff and line business leaders will play in the values deliberations and if there’s an ultimate owner, it’s doubtless the CEO. But the CCO is in the best position to lead a companywide effort to define and activate values.

Why? Because the CCO sees the need to help the enterprise be consistently authentic from top to bottom, and with increasingly diverse and diffuse organizations, the only way to do that is with consistent behaviors. If you can’t control all the actions and messages, you must influence the entire organization to think, act and speak consistently, guided by a shared set of beliefs. Also, the CCO has the capabilities to lead in defining and activating values because it requires the kind of participative dialogue that is one of our core competencies.

When I was at Aetna, our new leadership team faced the need to implement a radical turnaround in a company that had lost its sense of who it was. We saw the need to agree on a binding pervasive philosophy that encompassed mission, values, goals and operating principles. I was asked to lead the business-wide council that created what the company now calls The Aetna Way. Initially, I was surprised by this assignment, but as I felt my way through it, I began to understand why the CEO thought the head of communications should take on this role.

Creating The Aetna Way was simultaneously a top-down and bottom-up exercise that drew on the company’s traditional beliefs, but updated them to reflect new realities. This required extensive dialogue – both to accomplish the best result and to achieve a sense of participation and buy-in across the enterprise. In a very fundamental sense, this was a communications exercise, and my familiarity with the disciplines of internal communications, branding, positioning and strategy prepared me well for the task.

It was critically important that the council I chaired had representatives from all staff areas and business lines and from several levels of management. We sought input from every corner of the company. This ensured that the effort was viewed across the enterprise as valid. For CCOs who understand the needs and the language of the business, leadership in defining values can be quite a natural role.

-- Roger Bolton
Senior Counselor
APCO Worldwide

New Media, New Language

Posted on April 28, 2008 | 1 Comments

At a recent dinner, co-hosted by the Council of PR Firms and the Arthur W. Page Society in Chicago, a discussion on the future of the Corporate Communications Officer (CCO) was the main course. Both corporate and the agency perspectives were well represented throughout the evening’s panel discussion; highlights were captured in the Council’s new weekly e-publication,The Firm Voice.

Being authentic, as we discussed that evening, requires more negotiation and courage from today’s practitioner. The CCO’s efforts on this front, which include the four mandates laid out in the "The Authentic Enterprise"” can be bolstered by stronger partnerships across internal functions as well as with external relationships.

One of those four mandates is “embracing new media,” which was covered in a recent PR Week article, "Corporate PR Execs See New Media as the Weak Link" and ties in well with the spirit of our dinner discussion. Embracing new media requires both time and the right " partner/interpreter .” In a sense, it's like learning a new language: you can try learning it yourself or you can work with someone who is fluent. PR firms can oftentimes help CCOs apply the various dialects of new media into their communications programs because most firms have already made the investment in the talent and technology. Just as the CCO needs to forge a bond with the CMO to address the overall needs of the organization, as was revealed in "The Rising CCO" research by Weber Shandwick and Spencer Stuart, the expertise within the client/agency relationship can help strengthen the contributions by the CCO and his/her department to the overall organization.

Kathy Cripps
President
Council of Public Relations Firms
(Guest Contributor)