Mastering Business for Strategic Communicators: Insights and Advice from the C-suite of Leading Brands

by Matthew W. Ragas (Editor), Ron Culp (Editor)

Overview

The most successful communication professionals are no longer just communication experts—they are masters of business. To serve as trusted advisors to the C-suite and to collaborate across the enterprise means it is necessary to have a strong grounding in business acumen. 

Mastering Business provides strategic communications and public relations students and professionals with expert insights and advice into the various major business functions and departments. From an assemblage of top strategic communication leaders comes this collection of more than 20 essays from current and former Chief Communications Officers (CCOs). The authors show the business areas that communicators help convene, integrate, and translate across their enterprises and to external stakeholders. Each chapter features a Career Spotlight by the CCO and a C-suite View response from a business leader, including CEOs, presidents, and CFOs from household names like GE, GM, Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, Walgreens Boots Alliance, and SAP. 

This collection provides readers with a rare view of the leadership roles played by top strategic communicators inside some of today’s most well-known brands and organizations. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787145047
Publisher:	Emerald Publishing Limited
Publication date:	11/14/2017
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.91(d)

About the Author

Matthew W. Ragas, Ph.D. and Ron Culp are on the public relations faculty in the College of Communication at DePaul Universityin Chicago, USA, where they help develop the next generation of communications leaders. They are the co-authors of Business Essentials for Strategic Communicators.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Roger Bolton, president, Arthur W. Page Society
PART I. Introduction
1. Advising "the room where it happens": the business case for business acumen; Matthew W. Ragas, Ph.D. and Ron Culp 
PART II. Communications, Business Acumen and the C-suite 
2. The communicator as integrator; Gary Sheffer & Weber Shandwick 
3. Why business acumen matters more than ever; Peter Marino
4. From farm to pharm: business and life lessons learned in the barnyard; Jeffrey A. Winton & Astellas Pharma
PART III. Finance and Investor Relations 
5. Taking the numb out of numbers: working with the office of the CFO; Kathryn Beiser
6. The partnership between corporate communications and investor relations; Carole Casto
PART IV. Human Resources and Employee Engagement 
7. Mastering business means first understanding your people; Corey duBrowa
8. Employees as drivers of corporate brand and reputation; Paul Gerrard and Angela Roberts
9. Have a seat at the table - not on the fringes; Anne C. Toulouse
PART V. Corporate Strategy, Innovation and Legal 
10. Collaborating with strategy and innovation: taking on the challenge to "communicate the amoeba"; Linda Rutherford 
11. Telling the story of value creation; Clarkson Hine
12. Lessons from my father: bringing the "greener rules" to corporate strategy and planning; Chuck Greener,  
13. Understanding the corporate legal department; Mark Bain & Baker McKenzie
PART VI. Marketing, Brand and Data Analytics 
14. Driving to the right place: aligning communications with business goals and objectives; Joe Jacuzzi and Tony Cervone
15. Peas in a pod: communications and the chief marketing officer; Richard Kylberg
16. Learn the language of business and keep what you earn; B. J. Talley
PART VII. Social Responsibility and Transparency 
17. Truth, trust and transparency: why hard facts and corporate honesty matter; Matt Peacock
18. How communicators can help corporations make a difference; Stacy Sharpe
19. Communications for social good; Andrew Solomon
PART VIII. Communication and Corporate Transformations 
20. Building communications' influence during corporate transformation; Kelly McGinnis 
21. Accentuate the positive: the communicator's catalytic effect; Jon Harris
22. Communications leadership that strong leaders expect; Nick Tzitzon
PART IX. Summing Up
23. Observations and conclusions from "Masters of Business"; Matthew W. Ragas, Ph.D and Ron Culp

What People are Saying About This

Mike Fernandez

Mastering Business for Strategic Communicators is a gem and a must-read for anyone aspiring to lead communications for any organization. It makes clear that to be a top communicator today you have to be a business leader first, mine data and relationships, and find ways to transform strategy into relationships and results.

Bill Heyman

“Mastering Business is a succinct, readable and compelling work. It does a wonderful job capturing the way the profession has evolved and how it might look in the future. The insights here from Jeff Winton, Chuck Greener, Tony Cervone, Kathy Beiser and many other true giants in the field present a blueprint for those who want to be trusted advisors with a seat at the table where business decisions are made. It is an essential read for anyone pursuing a career in communications.”

Ray Kotcher

“Matt and Ron are on a mission: To make sure PR’s next generation is schooled in the foundations of business and thus regularly asked into the 'room where it happens.' Through chapters contributed by many of today’s most successful communicators, along with observations by leading C-suite executives, their newest book will go a long way towards helping students - as well as those building careers – easily and more fully understand business at the intersection of strategic communications. I used their first book in my classroom at Boston University. I will use their new one, too.”

Barri Rafferty

“Backstopping every C-suite are their strategic communications leaders, counseling businesses on how to increase shareholder value, maintain trust in a crisis, and enhance reputation. Mastering Business provides a front row seat as to how diverse companies navigate the communications land mines populating our ever changing media landscape.”

Tina McCorkindale

“Wow! What an outstanding read! Featuring stories and insights from the best of the best in the industry, Mastering Business For Strategic Communicators must be required reading for students and practitioners alike in any area of business, communication, and public relations.”

Editorial Reviews

Veterans of marketing and business communication help communications professionals think like business people in order to contribute to the company and further their career. They cover communications, business acumen, and the C-suite; finance and investor relations; human resources and employee engagement; corporate strategy, innovation, and legal; marketing, brand, and data analytics; social responsibility and transparency; and communication and corporate transformations. Among the topics are why business acumen matters more than ever, the partnership between corporate communications and investor relations, driving to the right place: aligning communications with business goals and objectives, how communicators can help corporations make a difference, and communications leadership that strong leaders expect.

Annotation ©2017

Building deeper competencies in business helps strategic communicators gain traction with the many silos of the typical corporate C-suite. Mastering Business for Strategic Communicators makes the case that these competencies empower communicators to counsel and serve as integrators of many strategic priorities beyond communication...

The overall tone of the book is invitational to new practitioners, as well as to those who would seek more responsibility. Many practitioners discuss their mistakes, their influences, and their own learning through trial and error. In sum, these authors' views of the power of communication should both inspire and instruct.

Jacqueline Lambiase

Veterans of marketing and business communication help communications professionals think like business people in order to contribute to the company and further their career. They cover communications, business acumen, and the C-suite; finance and investor relations; human resources and employee engagement; corporate strategy, innovation, and legal; marketing, brand, and data analytics; social responsibility and transparency; and communication and corporate transformations. Among the topics are why business acumen matters more than ever, the partnership between corporate communications and investor relations, driving to the right place: aligning communications with business goals and objectives, how communicators can help corporations make a difference, and communications leadership that strong leaders expect.

Annotation ©2017