Addressing corporate crises may become even more challenging from a public relations perspective as a new kind of corporate executive rises to power – one exhibiting boldness in decision-making but with perhaps less crisis management experience.
Opinion leaders, or opinion “elites,” are placing less emphasis on prior crises management experience and more on boldness and risk-taking, according to Global Street Fight Study conducted for G&S Business Communications by Harris Poll. Although those opinion leaders don’t directly appoint CEOs, their views are highly influential and may be harbinger of a coming trend.
“Today’s CEOs seem to be in a state of constant reputational triage, from managing earnings expectations to competitive differentiation to being accountable for what their employees say on social media,” said Steve Halsey, principal and managing director, business consulting, G&S Business Communications. “As a result, we’re seeing a more nontraditional type of executive emerging. And it’s the opinion elites’ attitudes that are helping fuel some of these unexpected or dark horse’ CEO appointments of late.”
As corporations struggle with slow growth, changing consumer tastes and product quality issues, corporate boards are reaching down into the ranks to name leaders prepared to implement bold reforms. Those leaders typically have less experience in media relations and crisis management, and their appointments tend to attract greater media attention. That combination places greater pressure on corporate PR teams and consultants, who advise executive leaders.
Accountability and Honesty Seen as Top Traits
Opinion leaders, those who are highly informed and regularly appear in the media, want corporate leaders who are accountable, honest and can deliver on promises during crises, concludes the survey of over 2,000 U.S adults.
Eighty-nine percent of opinion leaders view accountability as a very important trait senior leaders dealing with a crisis; 86 percent say honesty, and 79 percent say the ability to deliver on promises are important. Characteristics they are least likely to describe as very important when dealing with a crisis are innovation at 49 percent and prior crisis experience at 50 percent.
When asked what characteristics make someone a bold leader, opinion elites increased their selection of “risk taker” from 54 percent last year to 73 percent and “daring” from 43 to 53 percent in one year.
Examples of New Leaders
G&S pointed out some examples of the new type of leadership. In February, Honda Motor Co., struggling through a multi-year global financial crisis and quality issues, tapped a little known engineer as its new chief executive. Takahiro Hachigo skipped several ranks in his promotion to CEO and is the company’s first non-director to take the seat.
In January, facing declining sales, McDonald’s reached into the brand department and named Steve Easterbrook as the company’s new CEO. He is known for re-energizing the McDonald’s brand in the Europe and has spent most of his career overseas.
Last year, Mary Barra became the CEO of General Motors amidst massive recalls and a struggling reputation. She is the first woman appointed CEO of any of the big three automakers, and in another rarity, is a second generation GMer who was promoted from within the company she has worked for since she was 18 years old.
The new breed of corporate leader has important implications for public relations.
“The table is set,” said Halsey. “It’s now about counseling this new breed of CEO that they must constantly look at things from multiple perspectives. Every decision they make has the potential to benefit one group, while having unintended consequences on another. And in today’s always-on traditional and social media world, vocal critics are everywhere and effective reputation management matters now, more than ever… because it can be lost in an instant.”
Bottom Line: As new executives with bold business agendas increasingly take over corporations, PR pros must take a more active role in in counselling company leaders on media relations and managing PR crisis. In an environment where critics are always ready to pounce and social media is always on, preparing for and managing corporate PR crises must become a top corporate priority. A survey of media influencers highlights the importance of accountability and honesty for executive leadership handing corporate crises, findings for PR pros to keep in mind.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
