Remember the times when CEOs used to look down at journalists? I once attended the press conference of a bank in Prague and, at the end, went up to the CEO to ask him a question. He almost bit my head off and answered, “this is another press conference.” This was a rather outlandish way of telling me that he was only allowed to speak about the subject of the press conference …. It a was a beautiful summer day (very much like today…) and we were standing next to a window. The expression on his face told me that he might be about to throw me out of it…so, slowly but with a certain determination, I moved towards the door. Charming! Not great public relations I am afraid.
So, I was rather pleased to read in a recent issue of Business Week that “nice” is in again for CEOs: “…CEOs have to talk to everyone. With greater transparency in business, there’s no place to hide. It’s not enough to be popular with employees, board members, or the regulators perched outside your door. In today’s wired world, how you treat workers and the planet can quickly come back to haunt you in a blog or I-Hate-Your-Company Web site.”
There is no doubt that it is the dawn of a new era. There is no longer space for media relations based on fear or on “how to face aggressive questions” (I am quoting verbatim from a brief I was given recently). It is time to treat journalists as stakeholders and build relationships based on respect and mutual understanding of each other’s needs.
According to the article, the new recurring theme for top executives are “trust, inspiration, teamwork, authenticity.” This attitude would definitely have gotten me an answer and the banker turned would-be defenestrator a much better image. Who says that times don’t change for the better?