How can PR be part of senior management?

You hear a lot about public relations pros wanting a seat at the senior management table or in the c-suite. The question is: what does this mean, other than being a vague validation of the importance of the field?

I had lunch at the Modern with a brilliant, independent-minded communications and management consultant in New York City today.

Here are some thoughts that came up during our intense and interesting conversation:

1. It means having communications be part of the initial stages of the business planing and development process. That means that when people are starting a new business, they should think: “I need to include a professional communicator on my team.”. Not as an implementer or as an order-taker, but as a former of the business.

2. It means that we have know how business works: how new communications disrupt existing processes and create new ones that create new business lines. Not helping to streamline or publicize the plans – no. Communications needs to be part of the reason for the business’s existence – at the heart of the biz plan.

3. Communications needs to understand and be able to evaluate our own value proposition. This means understand how social media and mobile computing have revolutionised the world’s cultures and economies by putting interpersonal communication and relationships at the heart of commerce.

 

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