Customer Reviews

Manage the Media: Don't Let the Media Manage You (Memo to the CEO)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the titles in the "Memo to the CEO" series published by Harvard Business Press, each less than 200 pages in length and superbly produced. In fact, none is a "memo" or written solely for a CEO. In this volume, William Holstein provides sound advice to decision-makers in any organization that receives media attention, especially in response to a crisis of some kind. Much of his advice will also guide and inform initiatives to attract their favorable attention. He is certainly a well-qualified business journalist, have been involved in covering major US companies for more than 20 years as a senior writer at U.S. News & World Report, then as an editor-at-large at Business 2.0. He has also written business articles for The New York Times, Fortune, and Barron's. "In recent years, I have specialized in covering CEOs and their boards as editor-in-chief of Chief Executive and Directorship magazines." It should also be noted that, over the years, he has interviewed countless CEOs and thus had the opportunity to measure the extent to which each understands (a) the fundamentals of an effective media relations program and (b) the perils and possible (probable?) consequences of not having such a program in place.

Readers will appreciate the fact that Holstein cites real-world examples throughout his lively narrative to illustrate his key points. For example, in the first chapter he explains how Home Depot's PR strategy ("or the absence of one") created so many problems for its then CEO, Robert Nardelli. He also cites a situation in which Wal-Mart "found itself in an almost purely defensive posture similar to that of the Nixon White House" because it allowed its opponents to decide the terms of engagement, in this instance an agenda of social issues, and put Wal-Mart on the defensive. Some CEOs simply don't know how to manage media relations effectively while others attempt to "stonewall" what they perceive to be antagonistic media. "The experts say it's [also] a mistake for heads of companies to think they can end-run the media and communicate separately with the various constituencies." Holstein cites statistics compiled by Edelman PR's annual Trust Barometer study indicating that the credibility associated with CEOs had declined from 28% in 2006 to 22% in 2007.

After explaining how not to manage the media, Holstein explains in the next chapter why so many CEOs are ineffective in that key management area. Reasons vary, course, but the most prominent include being hired by boards that do not set communication skills as a high priority; being uncomfortable with those in the media who ask questions they consider upsetting, threatening, and perhaps disrespectful; hiring the wrong people to "handle PR,"confident that they can "control" the media; and delegating key corporate communications issues (including those relevant to media relations) to those whose judgment should be consulted but who are not qualified to make a final decision. "For all these [and other] reasons, too many CEOs are simply outmaneuvered and outgunned."

What does Holstein recommend? His response to that question is to suggest four separate but related strategies and devotes a separate chapter to each in which he suggests how to formulate and then execute it.

1. Incorporate communications into corporate strategy

Excerpt:" Once all the building blocks are in place, and communications skills have been inculcated into the whole organization's DNA, CEOs have a chance to go on the offensive in the complex battle swirling around them." I presume to add that communications issues are really business issues. Therefore, communications initiatives must always be in proper alignment with an organization's overall strategy.

2. Go on the offensive and shape the message

Excerpt: "One if the central rules of public relations is the `shark' rule. It goes like this: if you don't feed the sharks, they will feed on you. However unflattering that is to journalists, there is a certain truth to it. The best CEOs are able to define the story by creating a set of issues that the media pay attention to. That's a much better strategy than letting the media or activist groups define the story." In other words, either manage or be managed.

3. Prevent the emergence of broad coalitions [of opposition]

Excerpt: If CEOs become engaged rather than "remain in their bunkers...they can work with selected [internal and/or external] groups and still achieve their business goals, perhaps even enhance their business performance. In so doing, they can prevent the emergence of broad-based coalitions - because single-cause activist groups, if isolated, find it much more difficult to get traction in the marketplace of ideas."

4. Embrace the new media [e.g. blogs and social sites]
Excerpt: "The key is that millions of Americans are hungry for information, and they're turning to searches on the Internet and other online resources to get it...Companies that do this well [i.e. reach out to people by using new technologies effectively] may be able to gain insight into product development, consumer needs, and strategic opportunity."

To Holstein's great credit, he quickly identifies the "what" and then devotes most of his attention to explaining the "how" in each of these four chapters, citing real-world examples. He also quotes authorities on coping with a problematic situation such as whether to form a coalition internally or forge a strategic alliance when taking the offensive against "an intractable external foe that is relying extensively on media coverage." Then in the concluding chapter, skillfully invoking direct address, he poses several questions to which he invites his reader to respond. These questions serve two separate but related and very important purposes. First, they offer a framework within which to complete a self-audit of the reader's current media management awareness and capabilities; also, they help the reader to consider several possible courses of action.

Earlier I suggested that the volumes in the "Memo to the CEO" series are neither memos nor written exclusively for CEOs. Rather, they are primers on major business subjects, offering valuable information and wisdom to CEOs, of course, but also to many other executives who are not a CEO now but aspire to be one. All of them need to understand what, in this instance, effective management of corporate communications (and especially media relations) involves.

I find it truly remarkable that William Holstein is able to cover so much ground, to provide so much outstanding material on a very complicated subject within a volume of only 100 pages. That is indeed a brilliant achievement and I congratulate him on it.

CEOs and boards of directors generally place little value on communication experience or strategy, but they ignore public relations (PR) at their peril. William J. Holstein cites examples of how corporate leaders' poor communication skills caused media debacles. He succinctly introduces CEOs to communication basics. He emphasizes taking the offensive, framing your message and using the new media. He discusses how to avoid, or learn from bad publicity, whether deserved or undeserved (a distinction he underplays), and explains how good PR can deter negative attention. Holstein seems to suggest that firms should change their PR strategies to earn warmer public attention, and pays less attention to whether they should also change their actions, even though policies that betray the public interest consistently provoke negative press. He offers tactics to strengthen corporations' outreach to shape the media's message. getAbstract recommends this short essay to executives who need to build their PR skills and who need to know that nothing draws positive attention like having good practices to promote.

Award-winning, veteran journalist William J. Holstein has written a little gem of a book filled with wise advice for CEOs about how to manage today's media. Manage the Media is one of Harvard Business Press's new "Memo to the CEO" series. It's a quick read and to the point which should be perfect for time-starved executives. I highly recommend it for CEOs, board members, members of senior management and anyone interested in media coverage of organizations.

In Manage the Media, Holstein clearly educates the reader about the threats and opportunites related to today's media environment. He illustrates them with compelling examples. (If you thought you knew the whole story of Bob Nardelli's downfall at Home Depot, just wait until you read what was really going on behind the scenes.) Thanks to the internet, search engines and social media, with a couple mouse clicks anyone can assess the reputation of most organizations. This presents a risk to every organization. According to Holstein, wise organizations anticipate media risk, and plan and implement organizational structures and processes to monitor and respond to threats as they arise.

The best organizations will go even further. They proactively take their stories to the media and systematically develop relationships with media representatives who cover their organizations. By doing so, these media savvy organizations build a rapport with the media. The goodwill they accumulate over time represents value to the organization because it makes it easier to get their point of view represented in future media coverage of events that are important to the organization's interests. I know this is true from personal experience. When I was Chief Marketing Officer of Charles Schwab's U.S. Trust business and had the public relations function reporting to me, U.S. Trust was fined by the federal and state banking autourities for failing to comply with money laundering laws. This could have been extremely damaging to U.S. Trust's business. Because we had established relationships with the meda, we were able to tell the real story that in fact no money laundering had occurred but the fine was instead related to the organization's failure to establish computer systems that would identify transactions that were required to be reported to federal and state bank examiners. What could have escalated into a media disaster ending up being a story with a short life. Recalling this event, Holstein's book especially resonated with me.

In summary, readers will benefit from Holstein's insights and pragmatic recommendations on how to manage the media and they will appreciate the user-friendly length of the book. I highly recommend it.

This new series from HBR looks at issues from the 30,000 foot perspective. A few of the ideas: have the internal communication employees report directly to the ceo, it is that important; do not hire former journalists because you think they can schmooze over problems---they can't, a story is going to be a story; understand that there is now an alternate "media" made up of non journalists---bloggers, interest groups, etc. His advice: engage them if you can, fight them if you must. A nice, short read.