E. Bruce Harrison
Chief Executive Officer, EnviroComm International
Chicago, IL
September 14, 2009

To download a printable version of this speech, click here.

"Governance and Government: It's Our Deal"

This is such an extraordinary honor. The Page Society is the best in the field of corporate communications and I'm humbled and very grateful to you for this recognition.

Getting ready for this conversation with you, I thought of something I hadn't thought of in a very long time—namely, the first time I got an award that had to do with public relations, and that possibly put me on the path that runs through here.

I was 16 years old. I had won an essay contest on the topic "What does the West Point Manufacturing Company mean to me?"

The West Point Manufacturing Company was the company that owned the town I lived in. My essay was about how the local cotton mill—where my father worked for 49 years, and where I was already working part-time—about how the mill gave us all the benefits that we enjoyed…the schools, the gym, the local water supply, the picture show.

What I remember from the award ceremony was two things.

One, how scared I was because I had to stand up in front of an audience and say thank you for the recognition - and the prize money, which was a $25 U.S. Government bond.

And, two, how impressed I was with this one guy there who seemed to be in charge of things.

He set up the mike on this little stage at the picture show, he told me and he told the boss of the mill where to stand, he told the photographer how to take the picture of us, he told this young woman who was his assistant to get my name and phone number in case he needed to call me, and he told me to look for the next issue of our local weekly newspaper…that my picture would be on page one.

You can probably guess who that guy was. But I didn't know, and I asked my Dad. He said, "That's the company's publicity guy."

So, I was scared…but I have to tell you I was inspired by somebody who could promise you he could get your picture on page one of the newspaper.

Who knew? Maybe it's true…the twig gets bent and the tree starts growing in that direction.

But, not right away. Trees and careers have a habit of branching. And I had another idea. I wanted to be a newspaper reporter.

So, after I got a journalism degree at the University of Alabama, that's what I did—reporter, first at a weekly then at a daily in Columbus, Georgia, covering politics and the state legislature.

I loved it. I liked being in on the action, I liked asking questions, I even liked deadlines that made me work fast and zero in on what was essential, to cover a story and walk to the newsroom writing the lede in my head, putting the important facts first.

Not bad training for winding up here, in PR, but back then, being a reporter just felt cool. Felt like I was on my way. Maybe I could be the guy on the copy desk who cracked the whip and made reporters work faster and double check their sources and spell words right.

Maybe I could be editor! Who knew?

Then the tree branched off. One day, sitting at my typewriter trying to beat the deadline, knocking out the story, I got a call from a member of Congress who I had interviewed.

I guess he liked what I wrote, because he said, "Young man, how'd you like to come to Washington and be my press secretary?" I said I had to think about it. In about…oh, 45 seconds...I called back and said yes.

What do you think then happened?

Now one of the guys I worked with, a fellow reporter, was assigned to write a story about me, to ask me questions. I was branching off, into the other side of communications. Instead of asking the questions, I was the source. I was the communicator.

Now I had a boss, a client that needed the right kind of publicity. I had to get him on the front page of newspapers back in his home district in Alabama.

*

So now, a lot of years later, here I am, the PR guy and so grateful, knocked out really, to be here with you skilled and respected pros, giving these remarks.

I want to talk with you about two things—the need for us to be a lot more active in government relations and the need to figure out how we can help executives in the C-suite and the boards of directors do a better job in corporate governance.

Government has been a steady part of my professional life. It's true that except for those few years on the Federal payroll working in Congress, my public relations work has been in the private sector; but in fact it's always had something to do with government.

I was accountable for Washington relations for Freeport and in almost all the counseling for clients in my firm for 25 years, we focused on government issues.

We put together coalitions—mostly on environmental issues and sustainability—and we worked with companies on a range of legislative and regulatory matters.

So, as with many of you, we keep learning about the interface and influence that flow between government and business. The past year has provided us with a succession of teachable moments.

What I care about is the impact now and straight ahead on you and on corporate communications.

*

Getting ready for this conversation with you, I sponsored an online survey to ask people like you who are in corporate communications how you're working with government relations in your company.

A third of the respondents said government relations has increased significantly as a corporate issue in the past 12 months. A quarter said it has risen to paramount importance in corporate communications.

Half the respondents say they are on the same organizational level as government relations, reporting to the same senior corporate officer.

CCOs have increased involvement in government communications, in Political Action Committee decisions, and in what's happening in Washington, where there's an obvious shift of power away from places like New York.

I still enjoy Jack Kennedy's assertion that Washington is a city with Southern efficiency and Northern charm. But now we may be ready to say it is neither efficient nor charming, but it is necessary. You neglect Washington at your peril. Your CEOs now know this. Your boards know this.

I was interested to see Chase Manhattan this summer hold its first board meeting in Washington—and to invite Rahm Emanuel to drop by.

How many companies represented here hold board meetings in Washington? Who has staged events in Washington, where your products have been on display so Congress could see them and you could show how your company contributes to the economy?

Here's the bottom line on our survey: it confirmed that things have changed and any silos between corporate communications and government relations are being eliminated, and Washington has become a stronger focus.

*

Part of my inspiration to do the survey was an interview in the New York Times with Robert Bruner, who is dean of the Darden business school at the University of Virginia.

He was asked, what are the lessons business schools should take from the financial crisis?

Dean Bruner's answer: "…An amplification of ethics; behavioral economics and finance; and an understanding of the interface between business and government, which…is the forward-looking issue for us today."

He concludes, as I'm sure you do, that the aftermath of the macro-economic crisis is a much larger role for government in business.

So am I suggesting that CCOs become lobbyists? No. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I have to confess that I was one of the founders of the American League of Lobbyists a number of years ago.

Am I saying you have to take over government relations? No…although I know a couple of you in this room already have that accountability.

I am saying that government engagement -- political engagement -- is in your wheelhouse, now as never previously to this extent.

Sharp, effective communications to manage the perceptions of stakeholders have to wrap around the company's government relationships.

This gets chief communications officers into counsel on governance. Any formula now for corporate governance needs to consider political engagement.

The Page Society's hookup with the Business Roundtable recognizes that. The Roundtable relationship, by the way, is probably the best thing we've done to leverage the profession in corporate settings.

Bad corporate governance has been acknowledged as a major factor in the economic crisis. In the aftermath, trustworthy governance is the key to recovery.

And our challenge -- as corporate communicators -- is to provide rational, persuasive trustworthy counsel aimed toward business opportunity.

As for corporate board relations, there is obviously now, with government's rise as both watchdog and partner in American business, new pressure on corporate boards, new accountability.

And I suggest that this is the time for anybody in our profession to step up his or her engagement with boards and board members.

When we hear now that poor communications can well be part of the problems that get CEOs fired or handicaps their effectiveness, the question of CCO service as trustworthy counsel to boards and to CEOs rises as an area where, it seems to me, we can make some incremental progress.

Last year we had Bill George, the former CEO of Medtronic, as a speaker. In his new book, "7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis," George says this:

"Look at crisis as a gift. It provides you with a golden opportunity that may not come again to reshape your business and your industry and emerge as a winner. But you've got to be bold and focused to seize it."

The opportunity for CCOs, coming out of this crisis, is to bring to the table your unique talent to create stakeholders in the company's success. This conference is providing more of the intellectual framework that will enable us to focus and maybe be a little bolder in influencing trustworthy governance.

Failure to engage with the full range of corporate trust factors could be a terrible mistake. It could not only shortchange our managements during the recovery. It could default to others in the C-suite as the trustworthy counselors.

That to my mind is almost unthinkable. And I believe we, you and the Page Society will continue to make that unacceptable.

Thank you again for this recognition and for the privilege of our association in the opportunities ahead.