“Trust No One”

Posted on September 24, 2008 | 0 Comments

Contributing columnist Ron Alsop of the Wall Street Journal kicked off a discussion of trust at the Page Society’s Annual Conference in Chatham on Monday by quoting the lead of a Journal story on the current financial crisis: “Trust no one.” The value of trust in business has never been clearer.

Alsop and his co-panelists, Paul W. Critchlow, Vice Chairman, Public Markets,
Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.; Patricia Wright, Vice President, External Affairs,BP America and Christine Anderson, Former Communications Director to Governor…

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Page Society Presents Recognition to Dave Drobis and Jim Grunig

Posted on September 24, 2008 | 0 Comments

The Arthur W. Page Society presented its two highest awards today to David Drobis, Chairman Emeritus, Ketchum and James E. Grunig, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Communication, University of Maryland.

Both received standing ovations from an audience of about 200 people at the Chatham Bars Inn on Cape Cod after presenting their acceptance remarks.

Drobis credited “any success I’ve had to the relationships I have with clients and colleagues and to relationships I’ve helped build for clients with their stakeholders,” in his…

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Globalization and Public Relations Roundtable

Posted on September 18, 2008 | 0 Comments

In the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the AIG rescue and the HBOS take over, Echo's third round-table on globalization and public relations hosted in Zurich today in Credit Suisse's offices, focused not surprisingly on the issues of mono brands versus sub brands, centralization vs decentralization.

The round-table panelists included Charles Naylor, CCO, Credit Suisse; Jan Mueller, VP Issues & Strategic Commmunications, EADS; Rolf Schlapfer, Global Corporate Communications, Roche; Inge van Halst, Global Communications Manager, Read More

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Communications Should Own the Company’s Values, but Which Ones?

Posted on September 09, 2008 | 0 Comments

Values are becoming an increasing area of interest and concern for communications professionals. The Page Society’s The Authentic Enterprise document suggests that communications professionals should help define their company’s values, not just articulate them. Bill Nielsen has been urging the profession to take ownership of values and has put together a “credo” of values for the profession to follow. In addition, the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communications at Penn State University has put out a call for research aimed at…

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Authentic to Whom?

Posted on September 09, 2008 | 0 Comments

I think we take international public relations for granted sometimes. In the United States, there still are too few professionals who regularly practice public relations and corporate communications among diverse cultures on multiple continents. You know the drill: Arriving at the office very early for a strategic planning call with Europe and Asia; putting out fires with Europe until about 2 p.m., and then scheduling a call with Tokyo from home in the evening – all while managing the day-to-day in the USA, taking an occasional call from São Paulo. This is not to mention the travel involved.

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Web 2.0 Down Under

Posted on September 05, 2008 | 0 Comments

In Melbourne, Australia this week 150 executives gathered for a two day conference on social media. This “hands-on” seminar allowed communications professionals to better understand the “what and how” of Web 2.0. Speakers included well known bloggers and government departments known for successfully integrating new communications into their outreach. For example, Police Victoria use on-line video for training – it’s called Blue Tube.

I was rostered at the end of the second day and spoke about the “why.” I presented The Authentic Enterprise from The Arthur W. Page Society. Like all of…

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