CEOs could learn a lot about the value of PR from government and political leaders, former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez told the Arthur W. Page Society Spring Seminar April 3 at the Jumeira Essex House, New York.
Carlos Gutierrez |
Gutierrez, who was CEO and chairman of Kellogg Co. before joining the Bush Administration, said he was shocked at the amount of teamwork and collegiality achieved by the Administration and the involvement of the PR person in policy matters.
"In government, communications people are policy people—they know policy with a high level of detail," he said.
"In the private sector, communications people are not always business people close to strategy," he continued. "It’s not your fault, it’s the CEO’s fault. It’s the CEO’s responsibility to see communications as a strategic tool."
Urging PR people to get close to their CEOs, Gutierrez said "You should be with your CEO in every meeting."
He felt the level of knowledge given to communicators in government is far greater than that given to PR people in the business world.
"My sense is that in the corporate world PR people walk around not knowing why the company may have dropped its dividend by 10% or why a new product was launched," he said.
What CEOs wants to know, he continued, is whether employees understand his vision, what he wants, and whether all employees are working together as a team.
'Simple' Language Urged
PR people should use "simple language that everyone can understand," said Gutierrez.
In the corporate world, he said, "We often mistake complexity for sophistication … simplicity is an art and a science and the beauty of simplicity is often overlooked."
CEOs who see communications as "a little bit of role-playing are making a huge mistake," he said.
President Reagan and President Obama, whom he called "two of the best communicators we’ve had in Presidents," spend an "incredible amount of time on communication, on every trip and every meeting. They cannot go a full day without talking to their top communications person because they understand how strategic communicators are to them."
He said he hopes CEOs will realize that chief corporate communicator is one of the most strategic jobs in corporate America.
"I want to congratulate you on what you do and I wish you the best of luck," he concluded.
'Industries in Turmoil'
Tom Kowaleski, VP, corporate communications, BMW of North America, interviewed John Casesa, managing partner of Casesa Shapiro Group, an auto industry advisory firm, to discuss an industry in turmoil and under public scrutiny.
Tom Kowaleski |
Kowaleski asked Casesa to explore the most compelling elements in the unfolding auto industry story today that are responsible for capturing the attention of the American public and the media.
Casesa said that over time the auto industry has been a general interest story because of the number of jobs involved, technology, people and products.
"The thing that's captured people's attention now is that the industry is asking the taxpayer to open his pocketbook and it's pretty straightforward," he said. "So now it's a question for the future of the industry, it's a question for the average American citizen. So that's the change here," he said.
Casesa Shapiro Group |
Casesa said: "This has gone from an abstract problem mostly in Detroit to a problem for all Americans potentially, depending on what we choose to do in Washington for the future of the industry."
"I ask myself this all the time because people say, 'Why did this happen,' and I think particularly now if you're responsible for making these decisions in Washington, you've got to know the root causes of the problem to determine what the right answers are -- potentially correct answers are."
Casesa said that the reasons why Detroit is the way it is today go back a long way.
More Page coverage:
Secrecy Added to Wall St. Woes (4/3/09)
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