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CEO Still Sets The Tone, Agenda of Public Relations

Written by: Andy Marken

Article Overview: PR people can execute the plan but it is the CEO's task to shape the message and the direction.

CEO Still Sets The Tone, Agenda of Public Relations

In the aftermath of 9.11 there has been a flood of articles extolling the good American business and industry has done and will do going forward. There have been a large number of articles written on the new empowerment public relations people will have as we face a world of uncertainty. The Public Relations Strategist devoted its winter issue to the new; more influential role public relations will play in business decisions and activities.

During the same period we followed the daily soap opera of the HP-Compaq merger. We read the daily barrage of newspaper ads, heard about the countless conference calls, heard the trumped up predictions, watched the influence peddling with shareholders and followed the personal mudslinging. On April 19 we heard Carly Fiorina pronounce her resounding defeat of Walter Hewlett’s challenge while Hewlett acknowledged possible defeat with dignity.

We also learned that Enron had been constantly “cooking the books” while Arthur Andersen not only looked the other way but also contributed by shredding documents.

The former was a public relations embarrassment while the latter could be considered public relations complicity and collusion.

Public Relations Crossroads
In the midst of this, The Public Relations Strategist reprinted John Graham, chairman and CEO of Fleishman-Hillard’s comments made at the Legends Luncheon on October 29. Graham noted, “We are at the crossroads of decision making. Public relations is in the middle of everything....It means we have to rethink the way we approach our jobs. It means we have to reach for a new level of professionalism. It means we have to be ready to face a whole new set of challenges.”

We know somewhere there is a PR person or agency claiming bragging rights for the outstanding job they did with Mayor Giuliani, Jack Welch, Lou Gerstner, Bill Gates and the other corporate leaders whose firms placed so well in the Media Reputation Index 2001 Benchmark Study which was covered in the same issue.

But who is stepping up to say they counseled and guided and crafted the PR activities for Ken Lay, chairman, and Jeff Skilling, former CEO, of Enron? Who assisted Joe Brardino, CEO, and Eugene Frauenheim, former Houston managing partner, Arthur Andersen? Who is proud of the strategy of portraying Hewlett as a musician with no management experience?


Are these strategies and tactics of convenience the way we want to be known?

Selfish Survival
But good people or perhaps overachieving and egoistic people do do bad things as Fortune chronicled in its white-collar crime cover story. Whether you go back to 1920 when Charles Ponzi arbitraged postal coupons; move forward to Charles Keating’s collapsed Lincoln S&L and most recently Al “chainsaw” Dunlap’s aggressive accounting activities at Sunbeam; you have to wonder if these individuals and other white-collar criminals publicized their schemes solely by themselves.

While we agree with Graham as pointed out in The Strategist our recommendations, efforts and activities take on a new degree of importance both locally and globally. It’s going to be interesting and challenging. Even as the SEC and Congress focus on certain “common” business and accounting practices, CEOs like Fiorina are under extreme pressure from business stakeholders to prove themselves.

Public relations practitioners can’t supplant the CEO’s fundamental ethical standards. But he or she will have to assume added responsibility of building and managing the company’s and management’s credibility and reputation by ensuring clear communications internally as well as externally to customers, partners and shareholders.

Fortunately few of us will ever work with a CEO who will face legal action and possible jail time; most of us will work with senior managers who have greater expertise in finance, engineering, manufacturing or sales than in communications. It will be extremely important to help senior management understand why it is important to put a face on the company and that face is the CEO and his or her senior management. It is this face and personality that will bind stakeholders to the company.

The Pattern Returns
While the happenings of 9.11 have had a profound effect on those who lost friends and loved ones, can you view the business landscape six months later and say that the leadership role of management has fundamentally changed?

He or she is still the only one who can set and articulate the organization’s mission and vision. He or she is the only one shape and articulate their brands’ image in a clear, concise manner internally so it can be carried to the outside communities. He or she is the only person who can set the example of how the firm will act, react and interact with employees, business partners, customers and governments.

Six months after the seemingly senseless loss of life the CEO is still the only one who can establish and guide what the organization will be in the future.

Good CEOs will still do bad things.

The difference is the publics are better-educated, less tolerant to ambiguity and contrived truth. They expect honest and substantive truth and honesty.

Today public relations must quickly and effectively assess the situation and provide positive counsel and support to the CEO and his or her actions and words. This determines the value of public relations within the company and will determine the success or failure of the organization…and the CEO.

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