Happy New Year! Unless you believe this violates the Larry David Three-Day Rule.
We completed our eighth year in an unsettling time. Since our last update, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, COVID ended (sort of since I had it twice last year), regional banks failed, ChatGPT and other generative AI tools came to market, Elon Musk acquired Twitter, a former president was indicted, Hollywood and auto industry unions led extended strikes, and now Israel declared war on Hamas. On the brighter side, we’ve had the Taylor Swift and Barbie phenomenon.
Every one of these events and responses to them has impacted nearly every company or organization in one way or another, positively or negatively, depending on its response. Managing a reputation has never been more challenging or important.
This was the topic of this year’s USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations Global Communication Report, “New Reputation.” The report likens managing a reputation in these tumultuous times to solving a Rubik’s Cube. “Every move is connected to another. Changing the squares on one side of the cube impacts the squares on another side. Each turn either moves you closer to a solution or farther away. Progress can be hard to measure, but if you pay close attention, you might be able to convert the cube’s multiplexity into simple, satisfying solid colors.”
Following is a brief highlight of our work this past year as well as our continued engagement with USC, including the USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations, which I serve as a member of the board of advisors, the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, where I continue as an adjunct professor, and as a senior fellow of the Marketing and Communications Center of The Conference Board.
Our Work
Corporate Communications
Assessed a Fortune 500 company’s signature employee recognition program, including benchmarking of several high-profile companies’ best-in-class recognition initiatives
Assessed the presentation effectiveness of a senior executive at a Fortune 500 company
Developed a framework for a best practices communications exchange between a corporate communications function at a Fortune 500 company and potential exchange targets
Conducted media training for a supply chain executive at a major apparel brand
Crisis and Issues Management
Conducted executive interviews with a new management team and revised the crisis communications preparedness plan for a luxury vehicle company
Developed a crisis response plan, message framework, and related content for a new payment processing platform
Developed an internal and external communications strategy and plan for a possible backlash from a high-profile and well-connected contractor
Assisted in the development of a company’s internal and external communications regarding the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade
Continued to support a leading apparel brand on a host of issues ranging from the removal of a vaccine mandate and related litigation, RTW policies to the phaseout of a controlled substance, product recall, and wage issues in two foreign countries
USC Annenberg Center 2023 and 2024 Relevance Reports
As part of this year’s Relevance Report, “Causes,” which explored a variety of relevant issues and causes companies are taking stands on, I authored an essay titled, The Suppression of Voting Rights: An Assault on Our Democracy.
There is no more critical issue facing our country today than voting rights. If we don’t have the right to cast a vote freely, cast that vote, and have it counted accurately for the candidate of our choice, our democracy is in serious trouble.
The essay explores the increasing number of voter restriction laws that have been enacted that adversely impact lower-income voters and people of color and what we can all do at the state level, both in legislatures and the courts, to help ensure the enforcement of state constitutional protections for the right to vote that are surprisingly stronger than what is in the U.S. Constitution. You can read the full essay here.
The 2024 Relevance Report focuses on one topic, AI, in an effort “to understand how this tidal wave of technology will impact the future of communications.” In partnership with Microsoft, “Welcome to AI” features nearly 40 essays expressing different points of view about where AI may take us.
I authored an essay, “The Ethical Dilemmas of AI,” with an assist from ChatGPT, exploring some perplexing legal and ethical questions, the answers to which are being debated in universities, corporations, and courts of law. I encourage regulators, educators, developers, and users to continue to create and refine some guardrails around the use of this powerful tool to ensure it serves human purposes. You can read the full essay here.
USC Center Kenneth Owler Smith Symposium
The Kenneth Owler Smith Symposium, which I helped found along with several others more than 30 years ago, is USC Annenberg’s annual overview of the public relations industry. It has been the premier event for public relations students and practitioners in Southern California since its inception in 1990.
This year’s “New Reputation” symposium featured a discussion about the evolution of corporate reputation and ESG. The program included Vincent Stanley, Patagonia’s in-house philosopher and co-author of its corporate story, “The Responsible Company,” and Fred Cook, director of the USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations and chairman emeritus at Golin, who shared the results of USC’s 8th annual Global Communication Report (see above). The formal program was followed by a panel discussion about the future of corporate reputation and what audiences will care most about.
Teaching
For the fifth consecutive year, I had the privilege of teaching a second-year graduate student course at USC Annenberg, “Corporate Public Relations and Reputation.” The class explored the full range of the corporate communications function with a particular emphasis on managing reputation. The class came to life with guest lectures from senior communications executives at Levi Strauss, Meta, Edison International, NBCUniversal, CAA, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Properties, Ketchum, BCW, and The RepTrak Company. A huge shout out to Southwest Airlines’ chief administration and communications officer, Linda Rutherford, and Laurie Barnett, vice president of corporate reputation; and Hyundai Motor America’s director of North American communications, Michael Stewart (and my son), for providing real-life communications challenges for the final group project. The quality of the student presentations to their respective “clients” was outstanding.
Final Word
In the Spring of last year, I had an opportunity to visit South Korea and Japan on an incredible 23-day trip. I walked away with even a greater appreciation for something we seem to have lost in our culture – respect. We need more respect for one another, respect for our environment, and respect for the communities we live in. I can only imagine what our lives would be like at home and work and what we could accomplish together as a society with a greater shared sense of respect and collaboration.