Becoming a Successful Corporate Communication Practitioner in International Business Consultancy

Corporate communication practitioners have a very wide range of professional responsibilities ranging from the almost ubiquitous, for example, media relations, public relations, communication strategy, crisis communications and public policy, to those that are less common, such as investor relations, government relations, technical communications and ethics (Goodman MB, Hirsch PB, Corporate communication: strategic adaptation for global practice. Peter Lang, New York, 2010). This chapter examines how the most frequently encountered of these responsibilities are discharged and highlights the skills and technical practices that are necessary for their successful execution. It further examines the leadership roles of corporate communication professionals in the corporation, among the more commonly encountered of which include counsel to the CEO and the corporation, manager of the company’s reputation, driver of the company’s publicity and manager of the company’s image (Goodman MB, Hirsch PB, Corporate communication: strategic adaptation for global practice. Peter Lang, New York, 2010). It is these leadership roles of corporate communicators that highlight their importance both internally and externally in protecting, maintaining and enhancing the company’s reputation. It also conditions the relationship of corporate communicators with those executives who have primary responsibility for critical programmes, such as investor and government relations, where corporate communicators have a secondary role. It is the task of corporate communicators working as a team with directors and senior managers to formulate and agree a coherent narrative that best represents the company’s activities, aspirations and strategy. In undertaking this work, corporate communicators may call on the support of communication consultancies (and they may themselves choose to spend part of their careers in consultancy), and the chapter discusses their differing roles and how optimum results can be achieved from their combined efforts.