PR’s new ‘dark arts’ kill off corporate scandals before they break

A recent piece in The Sunday Times considers what it describes as the renaissance of PR and the return of the communications “Svengali”. But behind that story sits a more significant shift: the growing influence of reputation on corporate decision-making itself.

Reputation is moving decisively into the boardroom. Some of the smartest and most ambitious Corporate Affairs Directors now have the ear of the CEO and operate at, or very close to, the boardroom table. Their role is no longer simply to communicate or defend decisions made elsewhere. Increasingly, they are helping to shape those decisions in the first place.

Perhaps, then, PR’s real “dark art” today isn’t killing a difficult story. It is anticipating the reputational consequences of a decision before that decision is made.

That represents a fundamental evolution in the role of Corporate Affairs. Reputation is becoming an input into strategy rather than simply an output to be managed – with implications for everything from corporate transactions and investment decisions to political engagement, employee relations and the way companies communicate with capital markets.

It also makes the question of who owns reputation increasingly important. While Corporate Affairs may be its natural custodian, reputation is shaped by decisions taken across the organisation – by the CEO and Board, but also by Finance, Investor Relations, HR, Legal and other members of the executive team. In that sense, reputation is increasingly a C-suite responsibility.

We’ll be exploring this changing dynamic at our forthcoming Reputation Through the C-Suite Lens event, in collaboration with Morgan Stanley and in association with Brunswick. Bringing together senior corporate leaders, the discussion will examine how reputation is influencing corporate decision-making, capital markets and value creation at the highest level.

Read the full Sunday Times article HERE