By Kevin McCauley
A cycle of spin is at the core of the "trust destruction" that has permeated American life, according to Bill Margaritis, who challenged communicators at last night's Institute for PR awards dinner in New York to lead the "transition back toward truth, trust and transparency."
The FedEx senior VP of global communications and IR, and Arthur Page Society chairman, told the sold-out crowd of 260 that he believes the popularity of "fake news" stars Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert is because they puncture the "posturing and hype" that dominate the media scene.
Margaritis at the Nov. 11 IPR event in New York.
Photo: Kevin Nelson |
The "cacophony of complaint" in the media is "amplified by the force of the Internet and the shortened attention spans of almost everyone," he said.
The 2010 IPR distinguished lecturer frets about the trust deficit. He cited a FedEx survey that found 40 percent of respondents having "little or no trust" in Corporate America. That compares to 29 percent of those polled by Frank Luntz reporting a "good or great deal of trust."
Fifty-one percent of respondents say trust is gained via "ethical business practices" followed by 27 percent citing a "sound moral compass."
Margaritis said it's the job of PR people to use their skills, knowledge and experience to drive the ethics and morality imperatives through the organization starting at the top management level: "This means having complete C-level cognizance at all times of how their actions will influence their reputation and how their culture influences their actions and then acting accordingly, with integrity."
As companies "embrace reputational intelligence, the dichotomy between "say" and "do" will break down, he said. The simple mission of communicators: "Say what we mean and mean what we say. Say what we will do and do as we say." (Read the full text of Margaritis' speech here - PDF)
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Margaritis stressed the importance of treating employees as customers, using research to determine "wants, needs, aspirations and opinions about the company."
It's also important to treat employees as "knowledgeable consumers of news about the company, and incorporating them fully as a key part of our external audience, even going as far as conducting most of our employee communications through external channels rather than a gated Intranet," he said.
Corporate communicators, Margaritis believes, should build their own "modern media companies" because they have opportunity to be credible and active contributors in the fractionated media marketplace.
Margaritis told how a key component of FedEx's reputational intelligence initiative is focused on an "individualized, personalized, humanized appeal, specifically centered on employee actions that make a difference for customers and communities."
Celebrating corporate culture through employee example add credibility to PR and disseminating those stores through external channels lets employees know of the company's pride in them, according to Margaritis.
"How much more powerful is it for employees to be able to send a YouTube embed of a story link to friends and family on their Facebook or Twitter accounts instead of telling them about a story that sits guarded behind a corporate firewall," he said. "That's some of the power you get by pushing your cultural communications into you own media operation."
A sold-out crowd of 260 attended the Institute event at the Yale Club New York.
Photo: Kevin Nelson |
Margaritis urged the audience to closely monitor social media to find out what is being said about their companies, especially by employees. That provides "continuous feedback on who connected employees feel to the company, along with early warnings of emerging issues."
Top corporate communicators must teach and empower junior PR staffers to "respectively question and probe business practices, standards and proposed actions with their business-side counterparts," he said.
Margaritis added: "We can't ask business-side people at any level to trust us until we prove we speak their language, understand their motivations and can add value to their business."
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