The New CCO

In this episode, Ethan McCarty, CEO at Integral and the chair of our upcoming Spring Seminar, discusses the event's theme of Influence at Work, and explains how communicators can leverage influence to drive results.     EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Speaker 1 (00:00): Hey, it's Elliot. Before we get to the episode, I just wanted to give a quick reminder to please hit the subscribe button. We don't publish on a regular schedule, and so subscribing will give you a heads up when there's a fresh episode to check out. And if you love the podcast as much as we love making it, leave us a rating and review, we'd love to hear from you. Thanks Speaker 1 (00:20): Has always mattered. But it seems like today in a world where everyone is empowered to spread their views, it's more important than ever. Case in point, a billion dollar industry has materialized and the main commodity sells is influence on social media. This may feel like a new phenomenon, but finding trusted, influential voices and earning their advocacy has been a page in the comms playbook forever. The ability to influence is crucial for CCOs as they work to shape the actions and opinions of stakeholders. This is why our spring seminar this year is themed influence at work, the new rules to reach and persuade those who matter most. Speaker 2 (00:59): For me personally, influence Speaker 1 (01:02): Is Speaker 2 (01:03): As much about openness to influence as it is about the ability to influence other people. And it's that quality of intellectual curiosity, but rigor and a desire to change and grow that makes influence so interesting. Speaker 1 (01:24): Ethan McCarty, the chair of the 2023 Spring seminar, knows a thing or two about influence as the founder and CEO of Integral Ethan serves leaders of communications, hr, marketing and technology at organizations global and local alike. In light of the upcoming spring seminar, we spoke with Ethan to dive deeper into the key theme of influence. I'm Elliot Mizrahi, and this is the new c c o. Speaker 2 (01:50): The theme of this year's spring seminar is influence at work, and there's a bit that follows after that, but let me just say, influence at work is intentionally a triple entendre influence is simultaneously the work that we do, the communications marketing, public relations, like our profession, like the communications profession, a design point behind it, a raison detra for it is to, uh, generate influence, to wield influence, to understand who's influencing whom to shape, to shape a kind of operating environment, right? But it's also, you know, influence at work. Many of us, pretty much everyone is contending with a world where even in the workplace, which has been virtualized for a long time, but even in the workplace, we're trying to figure out like how do I as a leader influence these people? How do I become open to their influence in reasonable and rational and strategic ways? Speaker 2 (02:52): How do I wield influence at work? Uh, particularly in a world where teams are, you know, recombinant and self-directed and all of these wonderful things, right? But then the third dimension to that triple entendre is that influence is at work upon us and in new ways, in a lot of different ways too. You know, the, the media environment in which we all operate, the, uh, the environment of, of networks being opened or closed or accessible or not privileged, uh, equitable, like we are, we are under the influence as well of a changing environment as much as we are in an industry designed to shape it. And that's why, you know, I wanted to focus on influence. There's such a tight relationship between influence and transformation in the enterprise. I mean, pretty much every organization that I encounter is undergoing some kind of transformation, whether they like it or not, and whether they know it or not. Um, some are very explicit too, you know, like we are in this stage of this transformation and we think it's got a beginning, middle, and end and, and this kinda thing. Transformation is a familiar theme at page last year, at the 2022 page spring seminar. Many of the conversations centered around that topic to see what's changed. Since then. We checked in with last year's chair, Dr. Candace Steel flipping of Acuity Brands. Speaker 3 (04:25): First, I am really super excited about this topic and I believe it's really timely At the end of the day, you know, we need to get things done and long gone are the command and control type of days. And so we can all affect change from no matter where we sit. And so the idea that we can influence better is, um, really exciting to me so that we can shape the future that we want and connect the dots with the right narrative and the right message is, is is really relevant more than ever. Cuz again, as I mentioned, I think people's attentions and values are shifting. So how do you break through? And if we think about, you know, what's happened over the past three years, many of us don't have a really good roadmap in terms of where we're gonna go next because everything's different. So I'm excited about this particular conference because we're gonna bring our energy and understand what we need to do to break through to get all these important things we need to get done. Speaker 2 (05:30): And what role does the C C O have in navigating this new world of transformation and influence? Speaker 3 (05:35): I would say the role of the C C O, at least in the last several organizations I've been a part of is, is helping the organization lead and manage through change. It's the only constant that we're gonna see for organizations that want to thrive. And I spend a lot of time thinking about how leaders can be more effective, better leaders, and allowing them to understand the rationale of what we're trying to do in terms of how we're trying to win. And, and then looking at research that helps us un tap into what, what's really going on. I, I read over the weekend an interesting paper that kind of came up in, um, maybe my LinkedIn feed from Axios hq. And they were looking at a, a report of, from a study they had done with lots of different companies and lots of different sectors, and they looked at what leaders care about and what they wanna talk about, values, vision, and what people want to hear . Speaker 3 (06:42): And it was different. And so, you know, finding and identifying what that gap is to solution around it and create long-term sustainable, um, initiatives and strategies that, um, can help connect the dots so that we can continue to win is where I spent a lot of my time. And I will say that, um, it's not as straightforward because I believe people's values have reset and reshifted over the last three years. So what would've motivated someone three years ago, pre pandemic is different and I believe people are looking at their relationships with their company is very different because a lot of people have moved, um, in the last three years. And so it's, it's a lot of listening. It's a lot of thinking about, um, what's gonna make sustainable value for leaders and associates so that we earn the right for people to come and do their best every day Speaker 1 (07:39): With the new opportunities that communicators have. New risks aren't equal. Abundance, Ethan dives into what some of those can look like. Speaker 2 (07:48): Well, I think there's, I mean there's risk everywhere and, and it's, and we are, we are one of the levers that leaders at a societal and a business level can pull to mitigate the risk. I mean, it kind of depends on what risk we're talking about. I mean, like, I think one of the, one of the gravest risks that we face right now is that we will, y you know, collectively as a profession, uh, the we in that was our profession. Not all humans, but we'll, we'll exercise our influence in ways that are at cross purposes to, uh, the benefit and progress in of society. And, you know, that's one of the reasons why I believe so much in partici and participate so much. I mean, you see me do a lot of stuff with the page society is because I think it's such an important lever to pull in the world to say like, look, the way we communicate about things becomes the thing. Speaker 2 (08:46): I mean, this is, and so if, if we communicate in times of great risk, uh, in ways that are self-serving, if we communicate in ways that consolidate power to the few, if we communicate in ways that, um, drives people apart, I mean, these are all effective by the way, strategies for, you know, these are, you know, you can do that and g and make gains, um, for your organization. We see that all the time. Or you can communicate in ways that, that bring people together that, um, and we can exercise our influence particularly, I mean like we have big brands in page, you know, with, you know, tens or hundreds of thousands of people and that, you know, that make the, you know, the evening news every day for good or for bad. And, you know, um, that, um, wielding that influence in ways that brings people together rather than drives 'em apart, I think is, is the big opportunity. Speaker 2 (09:49): And the inverse of it is the big risk. And, you know, turning over judgment to turning over your judgment to people who are, you know, small minded or the robots that they've programmed, um, is, is a huge risk. And a lot of, I mean, we, listen, you're, this is hardly breaking news, but we all know that a lot of the data that, um, these generative AI systems have been trained upon is not necessarily, you know, it's, it's not like it's, it's getting only input from, you know, ethicists, . You know, there's a lot of content from, from trolls and from despots and from whomever else that's in there, and selfish people, what have you. So there's a lot of opportunity in, um, conscious capitalism in stakeholder driven communications, in stakeholder driven management in the, um, e S G movement. And I'm not talking about, um, some woke key thi you know, like whatever I'm, I'm talking about literally saying, okay, is, are there, you know, are there models out there right now that we can, that we can observe that we can take advantage of that allow us to make some choices and direct, you know, direct our, you know, direct our choices towards what is a net positive, um, for the business that we represent? Speaker 2 (11:14): You know, like, I wanna make money. I'm an ardent capitalist, right? I want my clients to make a ton of money and there's no reason that they have to do that at the expense of, you know, the kind of global commons all the time or expense of people all the time. Like there's a, there's a whole world in which bounty is, is, you know, there's just abundant bounty and we can pursue that together. And so I think that's kind of a big risk. I know I sort of went off into a little bit of a funny spot there, but let me come back. There's, there's, there's something I want to add. And I mean, you guys are gonna have to edit the heck out of this, but there's a, uh, one of these like laws like Murphy's Law, uh, but it, there's, it's called Conway's Law. Speaker 2 (11:57): And Conway's Law is worth taking a look at. And it, it basically says that the way it was written by this guy named Melvin Conway in, um, in a periodical called Data Mads back in 1968. So he was a computer scientist and the essay is called How Do Committees Invent? I think that's, or that's roughly the title, but it's, I mean, he takes a look at the way communication systems change the way people behave and what they do. And, and I think it's, it's really important, um, to, to take a look at that because he, he said basically it, the way we communicate is reified in the product that we make. And so what that means is, and I think his example is like, look, if you, if you have a, if you have a a, a team that meets every four weeks and they're trying to design a filter and what ends up happening is they end up building a four stage filter cuz they're gonna break up into four groups with the four week cadence and whatever. Speaker 2 (12:55): So the, the communications rhythms drive the output. And to me that's something that's like very, very exciting as a sort of principle to keep in mind as a communicator, the way we communicate actually affects, it constitutes what many organizations are. And in fact, there's a whole theory, professor Couchman, who has a theory called Constitutive Communications Theory. And if you look at that, you can see like the, the, the, the, an organization is not a vessel in which a bunch of communications happens. Actually, the organization comprises the communication. And so, you know, the way we communicate, it's not just, it's, it's not just something that's happening as a subsystem of the organization. It is, it constitutes the organization. And so this is both the risk and the opportunity because the way we communicate has incredible influence on the nature of reality for people, you know, and we see that in how privilege is exercised. We see that in how access is exercised. We see that in how status is exercised. A lot of these things don't exist in a material way until they're manifested through communication and then they have very material effects. And so I think that's both the risk and the opportunity and at the core of it is influence. You know, the way we communicate influences reality. Speaker 1 (14:27): If you enjoy today's episode of the new c o, be sure to check out our latest episodes and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. While you're there, leave us a rating and a review. We want to hear what you think so that we can keep making this podcast more interesting and valuable to you. To find out more about what's happening at Page, please visit us@page.org. Special thanks to Rivet 360, our podcast partner. Without who support, we simply would not be able to bring this podcast to you. Thanks so much for listening. We'll see you next time on the new cco.  

If most organizations found themselves as the punchline of a late-night comedy joke, their CEO or head of communications might consider it a crisis. But Carnival Cruise Lines is different. Hear from their president, Christine Duffy, and CCO, Chris Chaimes, about how the organization's loyalty and good humor serve as a shield for the brand.

The CCO role is one of the most dynamic in the C-suite, requiring a swiss army knife of skillsets. Because of that, there are many different paths to the top of the communications function and we find that fascinating. In this episode, we sat down with Brian Lott, Page Chair and CCO at Mubadala about how his unlikely start in midwestern U.S. politics uniquely prepared him to lead comms in the UAE.

At a time when reality and satire are becoming increasingly indistinguishable, it is easy to see why disinformation can be so hard to detect. To dissect the various types of disinformation and identify the role business plays in helping tell the truth, we sat down with journalist Vivian Schiller, Executive Director of Aspen Digital, who is focused on the intersection of media and technology.

In the world of executive coaching, there is perhaps no one more well-known, more respected, or more sought-after than Dr. Marshall Goldsmith. At the 2022 Page Spring Seminar, Marshall sat down with Charlene Wheeless, former Page Chair and CEO of Charlene Wheeless LLC.  Along with invaluable life and family advice, Marshall shared wisdom for leaders as they take the top spot, and explained the behaviors - and misbehaviors - that can make or break a team.

After the passage of Texas Senate Bill 8, which severely limited women's access to abortion care, Lyft sprung into action to protect its stakeholders. This episode, including behind-the-scenes perspective from Dominic Carr, VP of Comms at Lyft, features the 2022 winners of the student case study competition that Page holds every year together with the Institute for Public Relations. Both the case study and the recording took place before the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson was decided, but the key themes and takeaways remain relevant.

Carmella Glover, president of the Diversity Action Alliance and director of DE&I at Page stopped by the podcast for a conversation on what Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday means for all Americans and how business leaders can use this opportunity to help build an equitable future.

Throughout his tenure at Merck, Ken Frazier made it a point to stand up for his principles. Unlike most CEOs, Ken was once his company's CCO. That experience prepared him to think multi-stakeholder and pass decisions through the lens of the company's character and values. At the 2022 Page Spring Seminar, Ken sat down with industry icon and longtime Page member Bill Nielsen, in what would go on to be the highest-rated conference session in Page history. They discussed Ken's leadership philosophy, his love for the communications function, and the role business can play in bettering society.

Aaron Bernstein, Walmart's senior director of insights and advocacy, explains how the retail behemoth flipped the script on their brand narrative, using CommTech to uncover actionable insights. He shares how his eclectic experiences - from liberal arts to politics - prepared him to see the power that a CommTech capable function could bring to Walmart's comms efforts. 

In this episode, Dr. Candace Steele Flippin, CCO at Acuity Brands and the chair of our upcoming Spring Seminar, discusses the event's theme of radical relevance and what it means for CCOs whose leadership has proven to be vital in a period of persistent disruption and transformation.

Ofield Dukes was a brilliant communications strategist and one of the most influential racial justice leaders of the 20th century. Last September, he was posthumously inducted into the Page Hall of Fame. As we celebrate Black History Month, we hear from those who knew and loved Mr. Dukes about his storied life and career and how he changed the industry and the world for the better.

In a world of ever-increasing uncertainty, the importance of the communications function is only growing. In this episode, we are reviewing Edelman's new report, The Future of Corporate Communications, to see what trends might persist into 2022 and beyond. Our guests are Edelman's Jim O'Leary, U.S Chief Operating Officer and Dave Samson, Vice Chairman of Corporate Affairs.

Jim Hackett, former President and CEO of Ford, wants you to think outside of the (glove)box and look at the world in a new way. In this conversation from our Annual Conference, Jim speaks with Margery Kraus, founder and executive chairman of APCO Worldwide, about how design thinking helped Ford pivot to the future, using new frameworks to upend the status quo.

Every year, Page teams up with the Institute for Public Relations to hold a student case study competition. The winners are chosen by a panel of some of the most prolific communicators in the world. This year's winning case examined Delta Air Lines' early decision to require masks on flights, the ways they used communications to effectuate that policy, and its step to use the "no fly list" as a tool to enforce compliance.

Heineken's Chief Transformation & Corporate Affairs Officer, Stacey Tank, recently rejoined the company to spearhead its “Evergreen” growth strategy. What's on tap in this episode is an in-depth look at how the company is transforming its operations and Stacey's role in building its sustainable future, giving new meaning to “drink responsibly.”

Carmella Glover, president of the Diversity Action Alliance and director of DE&I at Page stopped by the podcast for a conversation on what Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday means for all Americans and how business leaders can use this opportunity to help build an equitable future. 

As the world grappled with the hardships of COVID-19, Mark Hoplamazian, President and CEO of Hyatt, struggled balancing his personal grief with the harsh business realities of the pandemic. Leaning into his empathy, Hoplamazian transformed Hyatt's culture, implementing new policies and technology to support employee mental health and well-being.

Roger Ferguson's departure from TIAA in March of this year leaves the number of Black CEOs on the Fortune 500 list at four - less than 1%. At last year's Page Annual Conference, we were fortunate to speak with Ron Williams, the former CEO of Aetna, and now CEO and Chairman of RW2 Enterprises. Ron shared some of the lessons from his experience as a Black CEO and what companies should be doing to ensure enterprise leadership is more diverse.

We pull the thread on a story about a group of leaders and socially-conscious shareholders that waged a proxy battle against legacy powerbrokers of a Japanese megacorporation, challenging traditional notions of where power lies. Jin Montesano takes us through this fascinating story from her company.

Every year, Page teams up with the Institute for Public Relations to hold a student case study competition and the winners are chosen by a panel of some of the most prolific communicators in the world. This year's winning case study examined the controversial decision by Dick's Sporting Goods to discontinue the sale of guns in many of their stores, and the outcomes that followed. 

Authentic Purpose goes beyond products, policies and public advocacy - it is the ethos that companies like Patagonia use to guide their business decisions, and as it turns out activism is good for business. In this episode, we speak with Corley Kenna, the Director of Global Communications and Public Relations at Patagonia, analyzing how the CCO role is well-positioned to connect different functions to align a company behind a cause.

In this episode, we bring you a conversation between Alan Murray, CEO of Fortune, and Page President Roger Bolton. Having known each other for decades, the two discuss the economic outlook in a pandemic crisis, the progress of stakeholder capitalism, employee mental health and the future of journalism. The discussion took place during our 2020 Page Spring Seminar.

Page Chair Charlene Wheeless has been convening conversations among our members recently to share ideas about the concrete steps that they can take to address systemic racism within their organizations and across business and society, an issue on which she has been a fierce advocate throughout her career. In this podcast she speaks about what's happening, what needs to be done about it and how CCOs can lead the charge.

Carrying on our series on COVID-19 and its implications, in this episode we speak with Whitney Eichinger, Managing Director Culture & Engagement at Southwest Airlines. We explore how an essential business with a strong culture of employee inclusion can leverage that to support the company through this crisis.

Continuing our series on the COVID-19 crisis and its implications, many companies are now looking to the future, including when and how employees will return to workplaces. Bob Feldman, Vice Chair of ICF Next, explores the question of how we get back to work, from implementing policies and guidelines that ensure workplace safety to the broader, potentially lasting impact on corporate culture.

Continuing our focus on organizations' response to this pandemic, Pablo Jimenez, Global Vice President, Reputation & Communications at AB InBev, shares the challenges and opportunities that come with a global business whose operations are deeply connected to local communities. Pablo reminds us that Comms is a two-way function that needs to balance speed, accuracy and responsiveness, be sensitive to local context while maintaining a global coherence, and help the organization marshal its resources to help where the world needs it.

Given the enormous impact of Coronavirus on companies, we are shifting gears for the next few episodes. Page has been convening its members to share knowledge and best practices in these uncharted territories. We will be bringing you insights from a few of our members with a first-hand look at how they are helping their organizations grapple with these circumstances.  In our first episode in this series, Kati Everett, the CCO at Novant Health, shares with us how her team is helping the people at the front lines of this battle, at a time when their business priorities have shifted entirely. The role of the communications team has never been more central to the organization when having the latest information saves lives. She ends by sharing advice for CCOs navigating this crisis, keeping in mind that there will be a time when we are post-crisis.

History may not always repeat itself but it sure can rhyme. As the world grapples with populism, income inequality and a revolt by a disenfranchised working class, we can see now how the 1920s, with similar circumstances, brought about a progressive movement and spawned the field of public relations. On this episode, Rob Flaherty, chairman of Ketchum, shares his thoughts on how the world we live in today must heed important lessons from a century ago. His big two calls for today's CCOs – step up to the evolving role of business in society, and commit to CommTech as a central aspect of the future of our profession.

Last week, Harold Burson passed away at age 98. Harold was a larger-than-life icon of public relations - he's the Founding Chairman of Burson-Marsteller, a predecessor firm to Burson Cohn & Wolfe, he covered the Nuremberg Trials as a cub reporter after serving during WWII and he's the author of one of the PR industry's most seminal works, The Business of Persuasion.  To commemorate him, we are republishing a past podcast featuring Harold's conversation with Becky Edwards, now CCO of Schneider Electric, at the 2018 Page Spring Seminar. Harold explains why he was bullish on the future of the communications, his roundabout path into the profession, and how the digital era has and will continue to reshape it.  We've also published a handful of retrospectives on Harold to the PageTurner blog. Former colleagues and friends such as Roger Bolton (Page), Bill Nielsen (Johnson & Johnson), Carol Cone (On Purpose), Bob Feldman (ICF Next), Bill Wohl (United Rentals) and Herbert Heitmann (Karaktero) have contributed.  Thank you for listening! If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Special thanks go to Rivet Smart Audio for making this season of The New CCO possible.

As The New CCO wraps up 2019, we sit down with Mike Wing, the lead writer of Page's most seminal research reports, to discuss the common threads of the CCO role from our first publication in 2007 to the present.  Mike's been helping define Page's perspective on the transformation of the CCO for over a decade. Most recently, he penned The CCO as Pacesetter, our report on the state of the CCO role and its way forward. Having surveyed a broad swath of Page membership and their teams, along with his years working alongside Jon Iwata at the head of IBM's communications organization, Mike has a distinct, hyper-aware perspective on the state of the function and how it must evolve.  Special thanks to Morning Consult and Rivet Smart Audio for their support throughout this past year.

Deepfakes are media that take a person in an existing image, video or audio and replace them with someone else's likeness using artificial neural networks. The nefarious application of this technology is wide-ranging, and worse, it's spreading. More than ever, we must equip our enterprises with safeguards against malicious actors who seek to damage corporate reputation and tarnish trust among stakeholders.  Professor Danielle Citron from the Boston University School of Law spoke at the Page Annual Conference to educate us about deepfakes, and we're bringing you her lecture on this episode of The New CCO. Professor Citron is the vice president of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative and an expert in online privacy. She discusses deepfakes' rise to prominence, their proliferation, the ongoing battle to regulate them through legislation and the best ways for us to steel our organizations against attacks.  Special thanks to our podcast partners Morning Consult and Rivet Smart Audio for their support.

Purpose and values are often derided as corporate buzzwords or feel-good messaging. But for Franz Paasche, SVP of Corporate Affairs at PayPal, these foundational elements of corporate character are the lifeblood of the enterprise. They are what differentiates this financial disruptor from its peers.  On this episode of The New CCO, Paasche discusses PayPal's purpose to democratize financial services. From remittances for small businesses to cash advances for furloughed government workers during the shutdown earlier this year, PayPal lives by its purpose and makes it real through action.  The company's mission and values similarly inform its policy positions, some of which have played out on the national stage: as in the case of PayPal's responses to North Carolina's controversial “bathroom bill” and the Charlottesville episode. As Paasche notes, “If you have a clear sense of your mission and you have a clear sense of your values, then these are not political decisions, these are values-driven decisions.” Special thanks to our podcast partners Morning Consult and Rivet Smart Audio for their support.

How do you build an entirely new global customer base for a business that has remained domestic throughout its entire existence? That's the challenge that faced Mitsubishi Heavy Industries CCO Dan Lochmann when he was tasked with burnishing the company's brand globally by CEO Seiji Izumisawa. MHI is a $40 billion B2B business that builds all kinds of large-scale heavy machinery from wind turbines to jets to rockets. In order to identify prospects and target them as core brand stakeholders, Lochmann and his team use CommTech, the emerging field within communications that takes inspiration from MarTech. Leveraging an array of paid social, targeted placements, earned media, and thought leadership, all unified via data dashboards, Lochmann's team opened the doors for MHI to build a global brand, generate leads and earn its longstanding domestic reputation as an engineering innovator abroad. On this edition of The New CCO, we feature Lochmann as he presents the MHI case on CommTech at the 2019 Page Annual Conference in Boston. Special thanks to Morning Consult and Rivet Smart Audio for making this season of The New CCO possible!

KPN is looking to the future of mobile networks and the digital infrastructure on which they will run. Recent CEO Maximo Ibarra discusses how the company is preparing for what he calls a new world of “immersive connectivity.”  Ibarra discusses the future of interpersonal communication, starting with the next era of screens and the new features they will provide. He also dives into the emerging field of neurotechnology and brain-machine interfaces, such as Elon Musk's Neuralink. Ultimately, Ibarra describes how the company itself is transforming to meet the needs of a rapidly changing and perpetually disrupted industry.  This podcast is adapted from a session led by Becky Edwards, CCO at Schneider Electric, at the Page International Exchange held this summer.  Thank you for listening! If you like what you hear, subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.  Special thanks go to Morning Consult and Rivet Smart Audio for making this season of The New CCO possible.

On this episode, we take you inside our new research report, The CCO as Pacesetter, with the research leaders: Roger Bolton, Aedhmar Hynes and Jon Iwata.  Together they visited nearly 30 countries, speaking to over 200 senior communications leaders. Those conversations shaped a new perspective on how and why the role of the CCO is at a pivotal moment. Above all, the CCO is a crucial leader in enterprise transformation, which is in many cases an existential proposition for their companies.  Through our research, we introduce a new wrinkle to traditional stakeholder engagement models through CommTech. We also focus on three key dimensions of Corporate Character the CCO can use as a lever within the C-Suite: corporate brand stewardship, corporate culture and societal value creation.  We also explain how we will translate the new research into digestible, easy-to-learn formats, starting with Progression Paths.  Thank you for listening! If you like what you hear, subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.  Special thanks go to Morning Consult and Rivet Smart Audio for making this season of The New CCO possible.

On this edition of The New CCO, we invite Bill Heyman, Founder & CEO of Heyman Associates, and Jennifer Doidge, Executive Search & Assessment Consultant with Russell Reynolds, to discuss hiring for the CCO role and how it is evolving.  The two leaders of premier executive search firms give us a window into the search process: what CEOs are looking for in a CCO and how the relationship differs from other C-suite functions.  Thank you for listening! If you like what you hear, subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.  Special thanks go to Morning Consult and Rivet Smart Audio for making this season of The New CCO possible.

Last week, Harold Burson announced he will return to his childhood home of Memphis, TN, after seven decades of living in New York while leading one of the world's largest and most successful PR agencies. At 98 years young, Harold is a larger-than-life icon of public relations - he's the Founding Chairman of Burson-Marsteller, a predecessor firm to Burson Cohn & Wolfe - and, to this day, imparts visionary wisdom regarding the industry and its future. On this edition of The New CCO, we revisit a conversation from the 2018 Page Spring Seminar between Harold and Becky Edwards, now the CCO at Schneider Electric, who was then with the International Olympic Committee. Harold explains why he's bullish on the future of the communications, his roundabout path into the profession, and how the digital era has and will continue to reshape it. Thank you for listening! If you like what you hear, subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Special thanks go to Morning Consult and Rivet Smart Audio for making this season of The New CCO possible.

On this edition of The New CCO, we bring you our conversation with General Motors CCO Tony Cervone from the 2019 Page Spring Seminar. Interviewed by former IBM Chief Brand Officer and SVP Jon Iwata, Tony discusses the brand transformation effort he's leading at GM alongside CEO Mary Barra. Facing disruption from new players such as Lyft, Uber, and Tesla, GM has had to rethink everything from its business model to its role in society. Tony has led the redefinition of the enterprise, starting with its brand and culture. He, along with GM's senior leadership team, developed a new aspirational goal for the company - Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions, and Zero Congestion - which now serves as its north star. Tony details how he leverages his responsibility for the corporate brand to influence other parts of the business in ways that bring that brand to life. He also explains the emerging field of CommTech and how he's used data and new technology systems to reach the stakeholders that matter most.

In the past, Communications was largely media relations and speechwriting. While technology has helped make our function more strategic and impactful, we are on the cusp of a major transformation of how it works - what our teams look like, the roles it includes, the skills it requires, and the ways it operates. On this edition of The New CCO, we discuss the emerging notion of CommTech with one of its pioneers, Daniel Jörg, Head of Digital Marketing & Research at Farner Consulting in Zurich. Daniel has spent the last 20 years taking the Communications function through a period of technological experimentation that has resulted in what he views as the function of the future. He walks us through his journey, what he's learned along the way, and how his team is blending new tech with new ways of working to drive real business outcomes.

Enterprises face severe disruption, whether via technology, business model, new competition, etc. Indeed, in order to keep up, organizations must answer fundamental questions about the nature of their business, starting with their people. “What kind of culture do we need to compete in our industry? What does it look like, feel like, sound like? What are the base skills our people possess? Where do they come from?” These are some of the questions Reggie Walker, Chief Commercial Officer at PwC, has wrestled with while helping to lead the enterprise's communications function over the past three years. He's also helped spur a critical organization-wide effort around digital upskilling to better align PwC's people with its business strategy. He's also unified the Communications, Sales and Marketing functions, streamlining an operation that was once disparate entities. On this episode, we'll learn more about each of these initiatives from Reggie and how they ladder up to a new kind of CCO role that's swiftly changing in order to adapt to new disruptive factors. Special thanks go to Morning Consult and Rivet Smart Audio for making this season of The New CCO possible.

With AI & automation poised to change the very nature of work, we welcome Alan Marks, CCO at ServiceNow, to join us for a discussion on his vision of the 21st-century office. He describes the consumerization of work, what automation really means for the future economy, and why establishing meaningful purpose and culture within the enterprise is more important than ever.  Thank you for listening! Please subscribe to make sure you don't miss an episode. Special thanks go to The Home Depot and Rivet Smart Audio for making this season of The New CCO possible.

At this year's Annual Conference, Page welcomed to the stage Paul Argenti, Professor of Corporate Communications at Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business. Paul led a session titled, "If, When, and How to Engage." The session strove to answer the basic question: What's the playbook for companies as they weight the risk & reward of engaging around social issues? Paul welcomed to the stage Linda Rutherford, SVP and CCO at Southwest Airlines. Linda presented the "traffic light model" she and her team developed to streamline the decision-making process around engagement. On this episode of The New CCO, you'll hear from both Paul and Linda, as they present their frameworks for engagement. Thank you for listening! Please subscribe to make sure you don't miss an episode. You will find us on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify and Stitcher. Special thanks go to The Home Depot and Rivet Smart Audio for making this season of The New CCO possible.

On this edition of The New CCO, we welcome Southwest Airlines SVP & CCO Linda Rutherford to tell the fateful story of Flight 1380 and April 17, 2018. She takes us through the minutiae of that day, from first learning the breathtaking circumstances surrounding the airline's lone passenger fatality in company history, to the heroic actions of the plane's crew. She details how her communications function played a role in shaping national dialogue in the wake of the tragedy, and why Southwest Airlines was uniquely equipped to emerge from the tragedy with brand intact. Thank you for listening! Please subscribe to make sure you don't miss an episode. You will find us on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Stitcher. Special thanks go to The Home Depot and Rivet Smart Audio for making this season of The New CCO possible.

At this year's Annual Conference, Page welcomed to the stage Carlos Brito, CEO of Anheuser-Busch InBev. Brito, one of the consensus most admired CEOs in the world, described how AB InBev transformed from a profit-driven company to a well-rounded, societally influential, and community-building organization. He discussed AB InBev's award-winning #NoExcuse campaign and its sustained push to conquer the issue of domestic violence. He also touches on InBev's partnership with Water.org and social value proposition at-large. Brito was interviewed by William Lewis, CEO of Dow Jones and Publisher of The Wall Street Journal. Thank you for listening! Please subscribe to make sure you don't miss an episode. You will find us on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Stitcher. Special thanks go to The Home Depot and Rivet Smart Audio for making this season of The New CCO possible.

At this year's Annual Conference, Page welcomed four students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas and the March For Our Lives movement: Sari Kaufman, Casey Sherman, Delaney Tarr and Sofie Whitney. Each described her journey from tragedy to activism, urging our membership to take part in the cause and establish voting incentives for both their employees and external stakeholders alike. This edition of The New CCO podcast features the discussion with those students. Thank you for listening! Please be sure to subscribe to make sure you don't miss an episode on iTunes or Google Play. Special thanks go to The Home Depot and Rivet Smart Audio for making this season of The New CCO possible.

On this edition of The New CCO, we welcome Joe Carberry, SVP and Head of Communications at Charles Schwab. Joe explains how Schwab expresses its unique differentiating identity within the financial sector, from building a strong culture to realizing the firm's corporate purpose. Joe also discusses how he and his team have adopted Agile methodology, borrowing from the tech community, as well as Schwab's Main Street roots. Thank you for listening! Please be sure to subscribe to make sure you don't miss an episode: iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/page-…d1212422149?mt=2 Google Play: playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.googl…o-pr-mu-pod-16 Special thanks go to The Home Depot and Rivet Smart Audio for making this season of The New CCO possible.

On this edition of The New CCO, we speak with Aedhmar Hynes, CEO of Text100 and Chair of Page. She explains the recent Page rebrand, why it was essential to move the organization forward and the opportunities we hope to create through the new Page. Thank you for listening! Please be sure to subscribe to make sure you don't miss an episode: iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/arthu…d1212422149?mt=2 Google Play: playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.googl…o-pr-mu-pod-16 Special thanks go to The Home Depot and Rivet Smart Audio for making this season of The New CCO possible.

On this edition of The New CCO, we speak with Melissa Selcher, LinkedIn's Vice President for Brand, Communications, and Social Impact. She describes the critical role the Communications function plays in the social giant's operations, from crisis prevention and response to content curation and production. 3:28 - Privacy and the impact of the Cambridge Analytica scandal 6:10 - The CCO as an Integrator across the enterprise 9:04 - Social platforms as publishing companies 12:19 - The social value of social media 16:13 - On brand and reputation, and managing both 17:06 - The future of the Communications function Thank you for listening! Please be sure to subscribe to make sure you don't miss an episode: iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/arthu…d1212422149?mt=2 Google Play: playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.googl…o-pr-mu-pod-16 Special thanks go to The Home Depot and Rivet Smart Audio for making this season of The New CCO possible.

Jin Montesano, Chief Public Affairs Officer of LIXIL, a global housing and building company discusses social purpose with Eliot Mizrachi. She talks about the inherent social value the company creates and how it is a unifying force that gives meaning to the work of more than 70K employees across the globe.

This is the final episode in our three-part series about the technologies fundamentally changing the way we communicate. Last week, we discussed the technologies reshaping culture. This time, we're examining the technologies transcending culture and reshaping the workplace. We revisit our panelists at this year's Page Spring Seminar: Alan Marks (Service Now, moderator), Dave Wright (Service Now), Lulu Cheng Meservey (TrailRunner International), and R.J. Pittman (eBay). Special thanks to The Home Depot and Rivet Smart Audio for their help in producing this podcast.

We're constantly bombarded by game-changing technologies but how can we separate the noise from the signal and make smart decisions about which ones are right for our enterprises? Leaders from eBay, ServiceNow and TrailRunner International weigh in.