We are at a defining moment of inflection and action for the profession. How will you meet it?

Diane Schwartz, CEO, Ragan Communications

When watching a soap opera, be it “The Young & Restless” or “General Hospital,” you can return to the show seven months later and it’s like you’ve never stopped watching. The characters are mostly the same and the plot has hardly changed. It’s predictable, comfortable, easy to follow, a little bit exciting — but nothing earth-shattering.

Let that not be the guiding light for communicators.

We are at a defining moment of inflection and action for the profession. The silver lining laid bare by the pandemic, social unrest, political division, the Great Resignation and a heated economy has cast you and your fellow communicators as strategic leaders in your organization.

You are being noticed and recognized for effecting change around seminal marketplace issues: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, employee culture, social justice, climate change, and more. As consumers trust the business community over government and media (per Edelman Trust Barometer), it’s on communicators like you to keep your organization true to its promises.

The people, profits and planet concerns of the C-suite are now shared and often co-led by the communications department. This is the moment. Meet it; don’t squander it.

At Ragan, we are in touch with communicators every day who are simultaneously excited about this moment and sometimes in disbelief that they are being recognized and elevated on the org chart. It’s a moment that won’t come often.Our conversations with the community make it clear that some work needs to be done to dissolve the silos between departments and disciplines to make sure that this silver lining of the past few years does not disappear.

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