Davos revealed the communications imperative in volatile times.
Shared concerns surfaced among corporate leaders and policymakers during conversations at this year’s World Economic Forum. What came through was a noticeable gap between the speed of strategic decision-making and stakeholders’ ability to understand and trust the decisions that need to match the rapid cadence of change.
As PR Week UK described, what was usually a week of diplomatic discussion of issues affecting the globe aimed at consensus this year “adopted a more pronounced sense of geopolitical reckoning.” FleishmanHillard Global President and CEO J.J. Carter spoke with PR Week UK about that shift in tone.
“A consistent tension has emerged here across conversations with CEOs, policymakers and corporate affairs chiefs,” Carter said from Davos. “Leaders are under pressure to act decisively in an environment defined by volatility, but stakeholder tolerance for poorly explained change is wearing thin. Strategies are evolving much faster than understanding, and that gap creates a real drag on execution.”
Carter noted that even in this challenging environment, a new way of approaching communications created a great opportunity to impact business. “What stood out this week is how central corporate affairs has become to leadership itself. The strongest organisations are not treating communications as a polishing exercise, but rather as an accelerant to business transformation.”
Carter continued that discussion with PR Week’s Steve Barrett, reflecting on how “decisiveness is no longer the constraint, credibility is.”
“With trade conflicts and wars thundering on, there is a palpable sense of urgency this year,” Carter told Barrett. “But also a refreshing openness to the idea that business and government are not destined for a zero-sum future. Big problems demand big tents. Even as political and trade winds tilt toward nationalism, there remains broad acknowledgment that industry and government must function together if society is to move forward.”
The conversations follow the release of FleishmanHillard’s proprietary ‘License to Lead’ survey of 5,500 global leaders and stakeholders that paved the way for a playbook for leaders in a volatile era. Executive and communications teams from across global industries and markets showed through their responses that the central challenge facing organizations is often not determining the right strategy, but securing the permission to communicate effectively when bold or evolving strategies test the limits of stakeholder confidence. Dive into ‘License to Lead’ below.
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