With interest in and scrutiny of business at an all time high,
today’s CEOs must also assume the role of CCO – chief communication
officers. With the value of trust at a premium, corporate reputation
management should now be high on the agenda for all business leaders.
This means that the most successful CEOs will be accomplished
communicators – not masters of spin, but authentic, passionate leaders
with the ability to communicate their messages effectively. These
skills are required in the good times to drive growth and, even more
crucially, when engaged in crisis management.
Effective communication cannot be achieved by deciding what you want
to say and ignoring the legitimate questions and concerns of your
stakeholders. That’s why I was so interested to read the following
Twitter exchange from Simon Neville, one of the Guardian’s business
reporters, following an interview with Marks and Spencer CEO Marc
Bolland (read from the bottom up):
When preparing for an interview, my advice is to face your fears and
contemplate the five toughest, most unpleasant questions possible and
work out your best answers to each of them. Doing so means you will
approach the interview with confidence knowing that in a worst case
scenario, you have the ability to handle whatever the journalist may
throw at you.
If you’ve done your media training you will also understand that you
can’t control a reporter’s questions, only your response to them. Don’t
allow yourself to be riled: an emotional spokesman can lose control of
an interview.
Finally, remember to begin your interview planning by considering
the perspective of the people reading the newspaper article: it’s not
enough to consider what you want to say – you must double-check that
your proposed messages resonate with the ultimate audience. It’s only
by adopting this approach that CEOs will win the trust of their
stakeholders and fulfill their potential as CCOs.
Jonathan Hemus