The Dawn of the Communications Executive

Okay, I will admit that my title is a bit misleading. This is by no means the dawn of the communications executive. That honor belongs to Arthur W. Page, who in 1927 became the first public relations executive to serve as an officer of a major public corporation (Arthur W. Page Society, n.d.). Since then, the Page Society has been working to strengthen the profession. Recently, I have become more interested in looking at organizations and their levels of investment in communications. This could be the result of finding myself — for the first time in my career — working within an organizational structure where communications lacks key leadership.

However, I am willing to bet that I am not the only individual within the Master of Communication Management program wondering why my organization lacks a “real” communications executive. I say “real” because in my case, the organization leverages the expertise of several public information officers who really serve as jacks of all trades who weigh in on various communication issues, but whom lack any real influence at the upper echelons of the power structure. In the end, that makes us wonderful consultants who lack any kind of decision-making authority, which is sometimes useful for implementing change.

Before I transitioned to my current position, I worked at a nonprofit where the senior vice president of communications was the CEO’s right hand and had significant influence within the organization. This particular organization raised more than $100 million in unrestricted donations consecutively for many years, and had high brand visibility within the Los Angeles market.

Goodman (2006) points out that organizations require truth telling and effective communication, especially at the C-Suite level. Goodman goes on to emphasize how today’s most successful global companies not only recognize the value of corporate communications, but invest significantly to ensure competence in areas such as media relations, public relations, crisis communication, employee relations, advertising and investor relations, just to name a few.

I cannot emphasize how proud I am to be at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Not just because of the proud Trojan tradition, but because I know that this program takes communication seriously, as I do. There were many programs I considered, but when I looked at the curriculum, I knew that the Master of Communication Management program would teach me lessons to use throughout my career. I sincerely hope that our profession continues to evolve so that every organization — large and small — begins to take communications seriously. Of course, as professional communicators, we all understand that if they do not, they will likely not succeed.

References

Arthur W. Page Society. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24, 2016, from

http://www.awpagesociety.com/about/

Goodman, M. B. (2006). Corporate communication practice and pedagogy at the dawn of

the new millennium. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 11(3), 196-

213.