Outsiders sometimes perceive public
relations professionals as used car
salesmen willing to hype any cause or
product.
Folks in the business know that the
truth works better than spin,
especially in an age of cynicism about
business and government.
So, how about making PR the driving
force in shaping organizations for the
good?
“In advising on the what to do, we
have to act as the corporate
conscience,” said Richard Edelman,
chairman of the board of DJE Holdings
and president and chief executive of
Edelman, told an audience of
communicators.
Speaking at the International
Association of Business Communicators
world conference in New York this
week, Edelman urged PR professionals
to make it their job to advise
organizations not just about
communications, but about how to
behave ethically and transparently.
Edelman heads the world’s largest
public relations firm, with 67 offices
and 4,800 employees worldwide.
Declining trust
The 2013 Edelman Trust Barometer , a
survey of 31,000 respondents in 26
countries, shows a dramatic decline in
trust since 2008, Edelman says.
Eighty percent of people believe
government is inept or corrupt, and 50
percent believe businesses are
unethical. “This is a pretty staggering
state of affairs,” he said. Only 20
percent of people believe that a
business leader will tell the truth
when confronted with a difficult
issue.
Chatter about how great your
organization is doesn’t cut it
anymore. He cited one PR executive
who said public perception of an
organization is influenced 90 percent
by what it does, and only 10 percent by
what it says.
“Too often we have accepted the role
of the 10 percent,” he said. “We’ve
only influenced how we communicate.
It’s not good enough anymore, ladies
and gentlemen.”
Edelman echoed the conclusions of the
survey: Only 18 percent of people trust
business leaders and only 13 percent
trust government leaders to tell the
truth, it concluded.
“Ultimately, the 13th annual Edelman
Trust Barometer shows a crisis of
leadership,” the company states in a
video summary .
[RELATED: Hear how top
companies adapted to the digital
PR industry changes at this
August event.
]
Public engagement
The company calls for a new model:
Business leaders still communicate
from the top down, but employees,
consumers, and social activists speak
out and change the conversation,
with news from the few to the many.
“I believe that we have to expand
from public relations to public
engagement,” Edelman told his IABC
audience. “It is now about advising on
a company’s behavior, strengthening
relationships across the entire
stakeholder universe, and making sure
that we build trust.”
Each of you, he said to the attendees,
can change the supply chain or boost
sustainability. Meeting the minimum
legal standards isn’t what the public
wants nowadays. They want companies
to operate at a higher level.
“That means that you serve not only
the interests of your shareholders,
but the interests of society,” Edelman
said. “We have to help companies
operate on the basis of principles, not
just by obeying laws. Compliance is no
longer enough.”
Engagement that builds trust
He cited the software company Adobe.
When it launches a product, it beta-
tests it with its Facebook community,
giving people a link to software and
involving the public in development.
“They get early feedback from
passionate consumers who then
publically blog about it and say, ‘I like
this feature,’ or, ‘I hate this
feature,’” Edelman said. “When the
product is introduced, it’s already
been road-tested.”
He also cited GE’s participation in
conversation with employees and
employees. Its Ideas Lab brings in
respected outside contributors, as
well as employees involved in areas
ranging from turbines to intellectual
property.
Edelman predicts a shift to radical
corporate transparency, so that a
shopper buying a fish could scan the
code with a smartphone and find out
where the fish was caught, whether it
was raised sustainably, and even who
the fisherman was. (This is already
happening in Germany, he said.)
Edelman’s remarks rang true with
several members of his audience.
Joanne John, director general of
communications and marketing for
Natural Resources Canada , a federal
agency, said her organization deals
with matters such as the Alberta oil
sands. These fields would be the
source for the controversial Keystone
XL Pipeline, a proposed project that
would pump crude oil 1,179 miles from
Hardisty, Alberta, to Steele City, Neb.
Communicators must present such
issues transparently to the public and
to their own employees, she said.
“We have to be able to explain what we
do in order to reassure Canadians that
we’re not doing anything that’s not
in their best interest, that we’re
trying to do it in a sustainable way for
the environment,” Johns said.
Anna Wingard, a senior graphic
designer at CDM Smith, sees a
generational difference in employees’
demands for greater trust and
transparency. For millennials and
others entering the workforce, the
goal of becoming the conscience of an
organization doesn’t sound unrealistic
or beyond reach.
“They want to make a difference,”
Wingard said. “They don’t just want to
pop in and pop out. They want to work
somewhere where they know they’re
really making a positive change.”
Russell Working is a staff writer at
Ragan Communications.coursey -pr daily.
relations professionals as used car
salesmen willing to hype any cause or
product.
Folks in the business know that the
truth works better than spin,
especially in an age of cynicism about
business and government.
So, how about making PR the driving
force in shaping organizations for the
good?
“In advising on the what to do, we
have to act as the corporate
conscience,” said Richard Edelman,
chairman of the board of DJE Holdings
and president and chief executive of
Edelman, told an audience of
communicators.
Speaking at the International
Association of Business Communicators
world conference in New York this
week, Edelman urged PR professionals
to make it their job to advise
organizations not just about
communications, but about how to
behave ethically and transparently.
Edelman heads the world’s largest
public relations firm, with 67 offices
and 4,800 employees worldwide.
Declining trust
The 2013 Edelman Trust Barometer , a
survey of 31,000 respondents in 26
countries, shows a dramatic decline in
trust since 2008, Edelman says.
Eighty percent of people believe
government is inept or corrupt, and 50
percent believe businesses are
unethical. “This is a pretty staggering
state of affairs,” he said. Only 20
percent of people believe that a
business leader will tell the truth
when confronted with a difficult
issue.
Chatter about how great your
organization is doesn’t cut it
anymore. He cited one PR executive
who said public perception of an
organization is influenced 90 percent
by what it does, and only 10 percent by
what it says.
“Too often we have accepted the role
of the 10 percent,” he said. “We’ve
only influenced how we communicate.
It’s not good enough anymore, ladies
and gentlemen.”
Edelman echoed the conclusions of the
survey: Only 18 percent of people trust
business leaders and only 13 percent
trust government leaders to tell the
truth, it concluded.
“Ultimately, the 13th annual Edelman
Trust Barometer shows a crisis of
leadership,” the company states in a
video summary .
[RELATED: Hear how top
companies adapted to the digital
PR industry changes at this
August event.
]
Public engagement
The company calls for a new model:
Business leaders still communicate
from the top down, but employees,
consumers, and social activists speak
out and change the conversation,
with news from the few to the many.
“I believe that we have to expand
from public relations to public
engagement,” Edelman told his IABC
audience. “It is now about advising on
a company’s behavior, strengthening
relationships across the entire
stakeholder universe, and making sure
that we build trust.”
Each of you, he said to the attendees,
can change the supply chain or boost
sustainability. Meeting the minimum
legal standards isn’t what the public
wants nowadays. They want companies
to operate at a higher level.
“That means that you serve not only
the interests of your shareholders,
but the interests of society,” Edelman
said. “We have to help companies
operate on the basis of principles, not
just by obeying laws. Compliance is no
longer enough.”
Engagement that builds trust
He cited the software company Adobe.
When it launches a product, it beta-
tests it with its Facebook community,
giving people a link to software and
involving the public in development.
“They get early feedback from
passionate consumers who then
publically blog about it and say, ‘I like
this feature,’ or, ‘I hate this
feature,’” Edelman said. “When the
product is introduced, it’s already
been road-tested.”
He also cited GE’s participation in
conversation with employees and
employees. Its Ideas Lab brings in
respected outside contributors, as
well as employees involved in areas
ranging from turbines to intellectual
property.
Edelman predicts a shift to radical
corporate transparency, so that a
shopper buying a fish could scan the
code with a smartphone and find out
where the fish was caught, whether it
was raised sustainably, and even who
the fisherman was. (This is already
happening in Germany, he said.)
Edelman’s remarks rang true with
several members of his audience.
Joanne John, director general of
communications and marketing for
Natural Resources Canada , a federal
agency, said her organization deals
with matters such as the Alberta oil
sands. These fields would be the
source for the controversial Keystone
XL Pipeline, a proposed project that
would pump crude oil 1,179 miles from
Hardisty, Alberta, to Steele City, Neb.
Communicators must present such
issues transparently to the public and
to their own employees, she said.
“We have to be able to explain what we
do in order to reassure Canadians that
we’re not doing anything that’s not
in their best interest, that we’re
trying to do it in a sustainable way for
the environment,” Johns said.
Anna Wingard, a senior graphic
designer at CDM Smith, sees a
generational difference in employees’
demands for greater trust and
transparency. For millennials and
others entering the workforce, the
goal of becoming the conscience of an
organization doesn’t sound unrealistic
or beyond reach.
“They want to make a difference,”
Wingard said. “They don’t just want to
pop in and pop out. They want to work
somewhere where they know they’re
really making a positive change.”
Russell Working is a staff writer at
Ragan Communications.coursey -pr daily.
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