The CEO is your most powerful tool in building and protecting your reputation
Prepared CEO for WEF in Davos, Switzerland
More and more, CEOs are taking the lead as spokespersons for their company. And there is no question that their title opens doors with the press, regulators and elected officials.
We've had quite a bit of experience in this area, working over the last 20 years with CEOs from Arthur Andersen (Richard Measelle and Jim Wadia), Grant Thornton LLP (Adrian Smith, Ed Nusbaum and Stephen Chipman), Grant Thornton International (Ed Nusbaum) and W. Clement Stone (former Chairman of the Board of Aon). In addition to coaching and issue identification, we've also helped them present at the World Economic Forum at Davos, in TV and print interviews (which we arranged) and with regulators and elected officials. We have made numerous trips with CEOs to Capitol Hill, meeting with the elected officials and writing CEO text for a US Senate Banking Committee hearing.
We've had quite a bit of experience in this area, working over the last 20 years with CEOs from Arthur Andersen (Richard Measelle and Jim Wadia), Grant Thornton LLP (Adrian Smith, Ed Nusbaum and Stephen Chipman), Grant Thornton International (Ed Nusbaum) and W. Clement Stone (former Chairman of the Board of Aon). In addition to coaching and issue identification, we've also helped them present at the World Economic Forum at Davos, in TV and print interviews (which we arranged) and with regulators and elected officials. We have made numerous trips with CEOs to Capitol Hill, meeting with the elected officials and writing CEO text for a US Senate Banking Committee hearing.
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We customize each CEO program based on their level of experience -- so we won't throw them on CNBC as their first exposure. We take into account their past experience, aptitude and personality, and slowly build up their confidence. We like to think of it as managing a boxer - we would not throw them into the ring with the champion their first time out, but rather, schedule some easier bouts to build their confidence.
We do believe that every CEO communication program needs to include developing ongoing relationships with 3-4 of the most critical reporters who cover your industry. This might be at outlets like The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and a key trade publication. While they will not provide any favors, these quarterly meetings will create a positive line of communication that will benefit your firm in forward looking media coverage, but most importantly, create a line of communication in a crisis that will allow you (and most likely your Chief Legal Officer) to discuss issues off the record, or on background - crucial in managing a crisis and protecting a reputation. Our work has allowed CEOs to communicate through BBC-TV, CNN, CNBC, Reuters TV, Bloomberg TV and Al Jazeera. Print coverage includes The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Financial Times, BusinessWeek, the Washington Post, New York Times, Associated Press, and Reuters. We also work to coordinate CEO travel schedules for local media opportunities that has resulted in positive media coverage in numerous countries, including South Africa, Brazil, Japan, India, Spain, Australia and China. 
High-profile appearances on CNBC and CNN help with message delivery and in increasing positive name awareness
"I've watched John counsel many CEOs and senior executives. Whether it's in a time of crisis or pursuing positive publicity, John's calm, no-nonsense, strategic style ensures that leaders are both fully prepared and supremely confident." Scott Champion, Managing Partner, Align Marketing |
For the Harvard Business Review, we came up with the story idea, but wanted the CEO to give expert advice rather than author the article (we found a local academic to author the article). The other article is from BusinessWeek.
As mentioned earlier, in addition to deep US media know-how, we have global experience. These stories were coordinated with the CEO's travels.
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