â˛ď¸ How CEOs and CCOs See Comms, 4,000 Weeks
The authority on mixternal comms
đ 𼳠đž Congratulations to Rachel Miller and All Things IC on their 10th anniversary! Hereâs to 10 more!
Mark your calendars:
Feb 7 - Attune Unplugged - NYC
Mar 22-23 - IPR Bridge Conference - Washington, D.C.
Apr 26-27 - VOICES - NYC
May 1-3 - Employee Comms Connect23 - Orlando
June 14 - Unleash Your Inner Rebel - Manchester
A Disconnect at the Top?
CEOs and comms leaders donât always agree on who is actually in charge of corporate comms. A survey of 182 CEOs and 178 comms leaders by HarrisX and Ragan Communications examined how the execs view each other's roles and responsibilities, what they value most, and when they believe responses to public policy issues are necessary.
The standout stat: 33% of communication leaders say the CCO oversees external comms, whereas on 13% of CEOs say the same.
Other key findings:
68% of CEOs say they oversee external comms within their organization, versus 20% of comms leaders who say the same.
91% of comms leaders say their CEO has "somewhat" or "very good" judgment on when to take a public stand on a political issue.
Respondents overall agree that organizations are responsible for putting pressure on the government when a policy will hurt their community (88%), customers (87%), workers (86%), or profits (81%).
A slight disconnect appears over whether companies should take a stand on âissues of public interest.â 63% of CEOs say yes versus 58% of comms leaders. (The survey occurred last October.)
Common ground can be found, as I describe in When Should We Say Something About Social Issues? A Way Forward (Mister Editorial; paid)
Speaking of Executives and CommsâŚ
The Executive Communication Awards has issued its inaugural call for entries, because:
Executive communication has become an essential corporate communication discipline.
Its best practitioners deserve recognition, and their best work needs to be seen.
Early-bird entry deadline is Feb 28. ($$$)
Quick Hits
đ§ A lot of workers losing jobs right now are getting the bad news via their inboxes. Employers value the speed. Many employees feel differently. (WSJ; subscription)
đŁď¸ By the way, 67% of workers prefer to be notified of their own lay-off, if it were to occur, via an in-person meeting. Even remote workers prefer face-to-face: 53% of those who worked fully from home on an average day say theyâd prefer to be laid off via in-person meeting. (Survey Monkey)
đ O.G. comms pro David Grossman is out with a free ebook: Top 11 Attributes of Exceptional Leaders and Communicators. Youâll also learn why those attributes are important. (The Grossman Group)
đľ Contact Monkey published their annual email benchmark report. Itâs your chance to see internal email performance across 20 industries. (Contact Monkey)
Remember: The best email benchmarks are your own. Because of resources (people and technology) and company culture, no two companies are alike. Sofi and Credit Suisse may both be banks, but what goes on behind office walls and firewalls can be vastly different.
Pair with: Why Superficial Statistics Are Important But Not Enough (Mister Editorial; paid)
âWith the computer we write first and think later, corrections are so easy to perform. I like the delete key best; it has a good appearance.â
âfrom Middle C by William Gass
Interesting Opportunities
Apple - Editorial Localisation Manager EMEA (London)
HP - Mergers & Acquisitions Communications Manager (remote; Massachusetts)
IFC (World Bank Group) - Head of Internal Comms (Washington, D.C.)
T. Rowe Price - Senior Manager, Corporate Communications EMEA (HR) (hybrid; London)
Quantexa - Internal Comms Specialist (London)
4,000 Weeks
Humans live on average about 77 years, or 4,000 weeksâa startlingly small number when you think of your own age and do the math. (Iâve only got 1,716 weeks left đŹ.)
The idea of putting life into perspective by counting down the weeks comes from the philosopher Oliver Burkeman and his book Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals.
I was pleased to see comms maven Justine Williams apply Burkemanâs philosophy to comms work.
I realised how useful his tips would have been during my 20-year communication career, but also how useful they could be for comms pros like you navigating your life today.
So today I wanted to share a couple of things from the webinar; a philosophical approach to thinking about our tasks, and five practical and useful tips to help you manage your tasks with more calm.
I tapped into Burkemanâs philosophy when I spoke with Staffbaseâs Emily Stanislaus and the Comms Rebel Advita Patel last year. Someone asked about setting boundaries at work and I replied:
Just getting a little perspective on life is also helpful. Recognize that your to do list will never end, ever. Recognize that the requests on you will be infinite and that your time and resources are finite. Accept that.
The fact is, being more productive can harm you. The more productive and efficient you are, the more work youâre going to create. Not the reverse. Just because you get through your to do list on Wednesday doesnât mean you get Thursday and Friday off. Has that ever happened? No. Pace yourself.
Itâs only February 3. Pace yourself, people.
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Disclaimer: Besides running Mister Editorial, I am the editor-in-chief of Digital Publications at Lam Research. The views in this newsletter are my own.