A Seat at the C-Suite Table: It’s Not About the Importance of PR
As a former head of corporate communications, founder of agencies, and CEO of CommunicationsMatch™, I have always found the idea of measuring the importance of communications or PR by a seat at the C-suite table to be self-indulgent.
It’s much simpler.
Communications leaders, in fact all business leaders, are invited based on the value they bring to it. The seat is not one-size-fits-all.
I have seen three broad categories of engagement between a company CEO and the heads of communications and marketing, as well as agency leaders.
The first is when a communications leader is actually part of the CEO’s inner circle. As a CEO, I know first-hand that it’s only possible to have deep ongoing relationships with a limited number of people you trust to provide insight and perspective on operational and strategic issues.
A permanent seat at the CEO’s table is based on the ability to contribute to these discussions. There’s a reason CFOs, business unit leaders, and the heads of human resources are there: They’re responsible for the most significant drivers of a company’s success - revenue and expenses.
A communicator who can provide sophisticated insights, grounded in experience, to a company’s strategy, may be brought into the inner sanctum. Professionals who have run businesses in the past and have become communications leaders later have a natural advantage in this regard.
For those without this experience, it’s much more likely that they will get the call to occupy a seat when the CEO is looking for communications help.
For this the second category of membership at the C-suite table, the key is to be there when communications or related issues are being discussed. Being a trusted advisor to the CEO on communications is not to be sniffed at.
It is a measure of the perceived value individual communications leaders are seen to provide rather than a reflection of the progress of corporate communications or PR as a function. If communicators are not called upon at these times, it’s a clear red flag. Professionals that find themselves in this position can either complain or look in the mirror and ask - what do I need to do for the CEO to bring me in?
If we see a seat at the table as a metric for the status of the profession, it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of self-entitlement or self-importance, which never go down well with CEOs. Being a advisor to the CEO on communications issues should be sufficient validation of the expertise and experience industry professionals bring to it.
The third category is when communicators are not directly at the CEO table. This may be because they are at an early stage in their careers and need to grow into the senior advisor role, or it may be that the CEO (rightly or wrongly) simply does not see the individual or the function as a priority.
The bottom line here is the idea of a seat at the C-suite table for communicators needs to be a more nuanced discussion than is generally the case. It should not be seen as an entitlement simply because we as industry professionals believe what we do is important (which it is).
A seat at the table is earned and can mean different things. It may only be something we have on communications issues, but this should not be seen as a negative. It underscores the value communications leaders provide to the CEO and company. That is the real currency and metric against which the profession should be measured.
