Great communications quote in one of the Wharton Knowledge newsletters that I get. “You can never err on the side of communication as a leader,” said Carter Roberts, president and CEO of the US World Wildlife Fund (WWF).  “In the absence of communication, you will be surprised by the incredible things they assume about you…. It’s great to have a vision, but where I see people fall down” is when they fail to “communicate that vision in every way, shape and form, every second of the day.” 

Communications is an integral part of leadership today. We see it being played out right now in the political arena. Obama is a gifted communicator. Hillary, on the other hand, had to communicate her emotional side in order to change the storyline about herself that might have cost her New Hampshire. When people ask me why communications is so important, I remind them how they felt on September 11th waiting for President Bush to speak about the horrific tragedy. Despite what people may think about him today, his words on 9.11 were critical to reassuring to Americans and helped steady this nation’s sense of loss. The wrong words would have been devastating. Unfortunately we saw what happens when leadership communications does fail — when the levees broke in New Orleans and the White House communicated too late about the destruction of homes and human lives. Without a doubt, communications can build or erode leadership reputation as much as any crisis.

A good quote for the day.

Have been meaning to mention that I attended a luncheon a few weeks ago where Bill Holstein spoke about the relationship between CEOs and the media. Bill is an award-winning editor and journalist who regularly writes about CEOs and board members. You have probably seen his name mentioned in The New York Times, Fortune, BusinessWeek and so on. Bill just wrote a book for Harvard Business School Press titled Manage the Media (Don’t Let the Media Manage You). It is part of a new series of HBS books called Memo to the CEO. These books provide leaders with advice on a wide variety of topics pertinent to top executives.  The premise of the book is that CEOs are not managing the media well and instead are having their reputations shellacked. Bill’s advice is to manage the relationships with the media for the long-term, not just when you need it. He advises proactively working with shareholder groups, using social media, architecting messages and never underestimating the importance of communications. Instead of living in a “gotcha” media environment, take control or your reputation will suffer.

Bill had a few unconventional ideas. He suggested that all CEOs in training spend one year training in the communications department to learn how to articulate their messages better and understand the media. His hope of course would be that rising stars would see joining the corporate communications department as an opportunity and not as punishment or a career detour. Not sure this will happen soon. His second suggestion had to do with his belief that many reporters do not really understand what CEOs do. He suggested an Adopt A Reporter program where CEOs educate reporters on the overwhelming complexity of the corner office. I thought that these ideas did a good job of challenging the status quo. 

We regularly get curious about things that happen in the communications and reputation space. Recently we were wondering if the frequency of “the company declined to comment” in the global media had risen or fallen in light of the intense media scrutiny that accompanies corporate crises and companies’ growing recognition of the need to be transparent.  My hypothesis, which was proven wrong, was that there had been a preciptious decline in “no comment” over the past several years. I based that assumption on the fact that “no comment” is increasingly perceived to be “guilty as read.” Instead no commentitis has risen steadily and although it has seen a few dips, remains standard operating procedure in the business world. Of course, every situation is different but reputations can be chipped over those two simple words.

An article in the Economist (December 1, 2007) writes about embattled British prime minister Gordon Brown: “Yet governments can reach a tipping point after which they find it impossible to govern. People neither like nor trust politicians, but usually suspend their disbelief when a new lot takes over. Once it seems clear that a prime minister is unlikely to improve things, and may not even be around for long, that suspension is over: the civil service starts leaking; cabinet ministers start briefing; the press looks for bad-news stories; and government becomes defensive and unfocused.”

Sounds to me alot like a CEO’s first year…research has shown that by about nine months, employees have a second sense that things will either work or not work with their new chief executive.  Proof again that those first three to six months for leaders can make or break their reputations. First impressions are very costly. No time to waste.

We just released our new findings on Global 500 CEO Departures. Just as it was released this week, I see the news that Motorola’s CEO Ed Zander stepped down. As I have noted many times, being CEO today is a treacherous job. The shelf life is short and reputations quickly tarnished. Here are some of the key findings.

• Over 10 percent of the world’s largest companies lost their CEOs in the first three quarters of 2007. This departure rate amounts to a CEO departure among the world’s largest-revenue producing companies nearly every 5 days.

Global CEO Turnover by Region: First Three Quarters 2006 vs. 2007
	2006		2007
Region	Total (#)	Percent (%)	Total (#)	Percent (%)
North America	16	8.7%	12	6.7%
Europe	17	9.3%	24	12.6%
Asia Pacific	19	15.5%	20	16.4%
Latin America	0	0%	1	10.0%
Total	52	10.4%	57	11.4%

2007 saw more chief executives exit during the first quarter than the following two quarters (26 vs. 15 vs. 16, respectively) and when compared to the first quarter of 2006 (26 vs. 16, respectively).   

Overall, 28 percent of chief executives who left office in the first three quarters of 2007 exited involuntarily. European CEOs were more likely to be pressured to leave their jobs than their regional counterparts.  While only two European CEOs were forced out of office by the end of the third quarter in 2006, nine European CEOs exited involuntarily during the same time period in 2007 – a 350 percent increase.  

Ousted Global CEOs By Region: First Three Quarters 2006 vs. 2007
	2006		2007
	Total (#)	Percent (%)	Total (#)	Percent (%)
North America	3	18.8%	3	25.0%
Europe	2	11.8%	9	37.5%
Asia Pacific	8	42.1%	4	20.0%
Latin America	0	0%	0	0%
Total	13	25.0%	16	28.0%

For the first three quarters of 2006 and 2007, insider executives continued to outnumber outsider executives when new CEOs were selected to lead the world’s largest companies.  Interestingly, 2007 had an even greater proportion of insider CEO successions than seen in 2006 (70 vs. 64 percent, respectively).

An article in today’s paper commented on Hillary Clinton’s reputation for the “responsibility gene.” I think that if she was going to have any special reputational DNA, that’s a good one to have. The writer was referring to her caution over what she says now as a candidate and what she will actually do if elected President. Hillary wants to make sure that she cannot be accused of changing her tune if elected. My sense is that if I was going to inherit anything, responsibility would be a good one to have been passed down through generations and should serve as a healthy structure for presidential success. We will soon seen how gene-ability favors her reputation in the primaries pretty soon.

Found a memorable quote that appeared in The New York Times at the same time I read the article on the next generation of CEOs (posted yesterday). The article was about how lessons from Shakespeare can prove invaluable for leaders today. There’s even a nice quote from JPMorgan Chase’s CEO Jamie Dimon about the insights provided by Mr. Shakespeare.

A few years ago, I attended a Wharton Leadership Forum in Philadelphia and Ken Adelman re-enacted scenes from Shakespeare. He and his wife regularly teach Shakespearean lessons to executives through their smartly named company Movers and Shakespeares. I was so impressed that I never forgot how impressed I was with King Lear’s insights into power and duplicity.

The article also had a quote from a Shakespearean actor that resonated with me. “CEOs are the modern kings and queens of the global world,” said Kevin Coleman. The continuing interest in CEOs remains steadfast for just this reason. CEOs are the world’s royalty. He said it better.