‘Speak up! Speak out! Purpose, values and corporate activism in the age of radical uncertainty’

4
2018

Around 12 years ago, I was on a date in central London. The guy, who had bought the first round of drinks, turned to me and asked what I did.

Me: “I’m actually a lobbyist.”

Him: “Oh right. I’ve never met anyone who works in a hotel...

The stakes for corporations have risen.

On one hand, the myriad opportunities to seize new high ground, open new markets and invent new products and business lines are unprecedented. On the other, the speed and intensity with which...

Among the highlights at the 2018 European Communication Summit was the main-stage debate about communicators on the executive board.

We continued the discussion with panellist Dr. Stephan Feldhaus of Swiss pharma giant Roche, and asked him...

The world is more complex and dynamic than ever. The increased diversity of business environments, driven by the rate of technological innovation, is at odds with the way that many companies develop and deploy strategy.

To endure and...

A couple of years ago one of Europe’s largest banks faced an interesting situation: on one hand its communication department was battling to mitigate the reputational fallout of its embroilment in the...

The one eyed man is king, but only in the kingdom of the blind. In today’s fast moving social media world, are corporate communicators inhabiting such an apocryphal place when it comes to dealing with fake news?

In other words, are they...

I have been in the reputation research business for close to 30 years, aiming to empower those who want a voice and who want to listen.

This is perhaps because I grew up as the youngest of four sisters – and began my life with having to...

With fake news being the word of the year in 2017 and Bell Pottinger the first PR firm in history (potentially) whose business succumbed...

Cut and flashback: earlier in 2018, global technology and capital goods group voestalpine announced that it will become the main sponsor of the European races of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, starting this December with the 2018/2019 season...

We have all experienced the feeling: we know the buzzword, but we aren’t too sure what it covers. Take content marketing: the meaning is generally clear, but how can it be used as a market differentiator, in B2B, or on a limited budget?

To...

Traditional methods of organising in corporations are fundamentally challenged by the digital transformation and dynamic environments.

New strategies, structures and processes are necessary to keep pace with the high volatility of...

As we closed the office door, Claire and I high-fived. After a year of research, redrafting a business case and patiently waiting, we had finally got what we wanted. A job share.

We were the first-ever joint heads of internal communication...

It may surprise some that artificial intelligence is older than the internet.

The term “AI” was coined ahead of a 1956 summer research workshop at Dartmouth College. Since then AI has made intermittent but memorable forays into the...

In our experience, investors don’t use social media to access information on results or annual reports – the corporate website will always be their first port of call.

(Photo by ...

I have a new mantra: “You’re only two clicks away from uncovering a lie.” I learned it from a corporate executive who was describing how his company was dealing with the new communication reality.

His view was that, today, everything is...

A recently released survey of technology professionals, such as software/application developers and software engineers, finds high levels of positivity toward CEOs who speak out on hotly debated current issues.

The research, commissioned...

The birth of public relations was dominated by Edward Bernays and Ivy Lee – often referred to as the fathers of PR. Bernays saw the PR practitioner as having a distinct social purpose: “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organised...

Imagine a world, where everything we buy is produced without any unfair treatment.

A world, where consumerism no longer destroys our planet; where business is driven by what the public values and where business addresses the needs of...

The first edition of the Manifesto of the Communist Party was a 23-page pamphlet, first published in February 1848. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels updated it repeatedly, in various editions and languages, for decades.

We felt justified in...