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Zeno Group releases a report showing that while communications are a bigger factor than ever in strategy, growth, risk and workforce decisions for companies, most communications leaders don’t think they are totally ready for what lies ahead.
A sizeable majority (72 percent) of the more than 1,400 communications leaders surveyed for Clarity 2030: Communications at a Crossroads say they expect their influence to be even greater by 2030.
Chief communications officers are becoming critical partners at every level of a business, the report notes. This increased importance comes as CEOs increasingly prioritize reputation, AI governance and internal culture.
However, only slightly more than a quarter (29 percent) of survey respondents say they feel fully ready at the individual, team or organizational level to capitalize on that greater influence.
In order to keep up, respondents said, more training will be needed. While nearly three in four are confident in their skills today, 77 percent believe communications will require entirely new skill sets by 2030.
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Communicators will also need to adapt to their bigger role in incorporating and implementing AI. About two-thirds (65 percent) of the comms leaders surveyed said they are more influential than IT in shaping AI adoption, with roughly half leading or partnering to steer change management. But fewer than half say all teams have access to company-approved tools, and nearly one in five report the use of unsanctioned shadow tools.
One big effect of AI’s higher profile will be on the importance of earned media. Almost eight out of ten (79 percent) of communicators said the increased role of LLM search, and the decline of traditional search, means that earned media will play a greater part in shaping reptation.
The survey also finds that the human factor is not about to go away, with creative experimentation taking the top spot among the human capabilities required of future communications leaders.
But a big problem could come from what the study calls a “quiet exit risk.” Close to half (44 percent) of respondents say they could imagine leaving the field by 2030, citing AI disruption, leadership misalignment, job security and limited advancement as possible causes.
“Communications is no longer adjacent to the business. It is the business,” said Zeno Group CEO Barby K. Siegel. “We are moving from being managers of the message to drivers of strategic growth and that is an important and exciting shift.”
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