The Importance of a CEO and Company Spokespersons

September 30, 2013 admin

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By: Maya Lindsay

When it comes to communications and public relations, there are many aspects to watch out for in terms of maintaining a company’s image. One of the most important influencers of a company is the CEO, president, or person in charge. As we look at previous CEO’s such as Micky Arison, who didn’t handle the Carnival Cruise Line crisis appropriately or great CEO’s, like James Burke of Johnson & Johnson who was the CEO during the 1982 cyanide tainted Tylenol capsule crisis, it goes to show how important it is react to a crisis correctly and to be able to speak to the public openly about your company. Four great things to remember when speaking to the public are:

Knowledge of issue or company
Transparency to public
Clear concise statements
Tell the truth! If you don’t know the answer; don’t lie. It’s always better to be truthful!

As I did some research on CNN about Fortune 500 companies, I saw some information on the Hewlett-Packard (HP) Company. I then found a video from September 2012 of the CEO, Meg Whitman, explaining how she plans to focus on reviving its image.

Throughout the interview, she happened to be knowledgeable, informative, and transparent in her delivery. When asked about what she was going to tell Wall Street at her next analysis meeting, one of the things she said was, “We want to tell our story with clarity and transparency so that investors, both buy side and sell side, understand what it is we’re doing, and then they can make a decision about whether they want to invest in HP.”

When the CEO or spokesperson of a company talks to the public about an issue, he/she should make sure to speak in a very clear tone and be very transparent and open to the public. When this happens, the public will feel that the company is trustworthy and is focused on rebuilding their image.

In another part of the video Ryan was asked why 30 percent of stock was lost in the year 2012 and she stated that HP’s number one problem was the inconsistency of leadership, which was true. From 1999-2011, there were about three different CEO’s who came and left HP. She also said how each new CEO usually brings in his/her own team and how each CEO also has slightly different strategies. This can easily cause long term inconsistencies in the company. Additionally, Ryan mentioned that each CEO differs on consistency of investment in the products and solutions that he/she believes will better the company. When asked about her strategy, Ryan immediately answered, providing clear information.

Last but not least, the interviewer touched on how the public may see HP as a company that walked away from consumer PC’s. Ryan admitted that HP hasn’t been successful in the last two years but said it did not walk away from the consumer PC business. She then mentioned the new technology that HP created to help revamp its PC line.

Overall, HP’s CEO spoke in a very clear way and she showed the public that she knew what she was talking about and it also showed that her goal was to rebuild the image of HP and make it more appealing in the eyes of consumers and investors. This is a great example to show how important the CEO is to a company and how his/her responses to the public can influence the opinion of a company.

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The Importance of a CEO and Company Spokespersons

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