Communicating at the Intersection of Purpose, Protests, Politics, and Pandemic
We met with Linda Descano, CFA and executive vice president of Red Havas, on 11/18 at 1Pm via Zoom, the webinar was sponsored by the Digital Marketing organization. We talked about Leading Through Crisis, her recently released white paper which deals with strategies on how to be most successful as a leader in times of crisis. Once the pandemic hit, a lot of brands shifted from investing funds into products and services towards investing more in brand messaging. However, I learned that only 38% of consumers believe that companies are being honest about where they are when it comes to awareness and activism on social issues. It’s important as a company to take some type of stand because not only do consumers look to you, but your employees look to you as well for a response. Not everybody shares the same attitude but it’s important to create a proactive strategy. Some strategies that Linda talked about included being a transparent and trustworthy leader, as well as demonstrating the 6 C’s: calm, candid, confident, credible, compassionate, consistent. We talked a lot about the divisiveness that has occurred throughout the last year with the pandemic response, Black Lives Matter, the election. highlights the importance of values when deciding to work somewhere. This relates to my career goals because I am a senior and will soon be looking for job opportunities. I think it is important to ask questions on company culture and where a company will and won’t take a stand. It would be very difficult to work for a company that your values do not align with.