Transparency: The Lingua Franca of Communications in an Interconnected World

     

          

“May you live in interesting times”

 

“Let us make the world so economically-interdependent that war will go out of style.”

 

“If you get the right words in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”

 

Thank you, Nina, for that very kind introduction. And thank you, Executive Masters of Science in Communications Management, for allowing me to participate in your well-earned celebration today.

     

However, right here at the outset of my visit with you I have a confession to make.

     

I am so impressed with your program and your achievement – and have so much to share with you – that if I were allowed to deliver it all, we’d be here for several days.

     

Or at least, I would be here for several days -- no doubt standing alone, proclaiming to an empty hall.

     

So my confession is that I will simply offer, as it were, “topical sentences” on a number of selected subjects that I believe are relevant to transparency and to your continued progress in integrating communications into strategic management.

        

I’m sure that each of you can expand and round out these comments admirably.

 

In addressing the critical importance of transparency in our interconnected world, today and tomorrow, I offer you three trenchant aphorisms as pillars to support this theme:

 

“May you live in interesting times”

    

You will, of course, recognize that as the ancient Chinese maxim. We are now living in “interesting times” on steroids. And change on steroids. What opportunities that offers for strategic communications!

      

“Let us make the world so economically interdependent that war will go out of style.”

     

Shortly after the end of the Cold War, an American diplomat, Vernon Walters, offered this prayer-like aspiration without, of course, anticipating the unintended consequences – pro and con – that it might represent for policy makers and communicators alike.     

      

“If you get the right words in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”

     

The brilliant playwright Tom Stoppard has graced us communicators with this bit of inspiration. To us, it is left to discern: What kind of words – what kind of transparency -- will nudge our organizations and the world a little – or a lot – in the right directions?

 

Let’s expand a bit on each of these maxims.

 

“May you live in interesting times.”

 

 

I was recently taken by a comment in this regard by Jose Joffe, a renowned Atlanticist, now publisher-editor of the German weekly Die Zeit. He suggested that Europe and America might be different in their outlooks, yet together they make up The West. “The appropo metaphor”, Joffe wrote, is the Notre Dame cathedral: “common nave, two separate spires, one lofty building.”

    

On a much broader level -- the global level -- in just a few hours, leaders from the G20 group of nations will convene in Washington D.C. in the first of a series of meetings to discuss the current financial crisis – the global financial crisis – and ways to prevent it recurring.

     

As you know, the G20 group includes the G7 group of major industrial economies as well as key “developing” (quote/unquote) countries such as China, India and Brazil.

     

And later this month, the United Nations will establish what it is calling a High Level Task Force of Experts “to undertake a comprehensive review of the international financial system … to secure a more stable global economic order.”

    

There are, of course, many other seminal developments in the evolving interconnected world order involving trade, capital flows, immigration, health, poverty, security and conflict.

   

Which of these will influence the future of your organization? And, more relevant to your now-proven expertise, on which of these issues is your organization prepared to act and to communicate internally and/or externally?

    

(Parenthetically, it may be of interest that the Public Affairs Council in Washington next week will present a webinar entitled, “Transparency and Lobbying in the European Union.”)   

 

 

Those of you who have followed the evolution of corporate social responsibility – also called sustainability, or the other designations for business in society – you know full well that Europe has been well ahead of North America in planning and implementing these vital commitments.

    

So it will probably come as little surprise to you that CSR/Sustainability has entered a new phase. Many business leaders are now convinced that there is a strong business case for such commitments. They see CSR moving from risk management to value creation.

    

But increasingly, they also understand that for transparency, credibility and operational results, it’s becoming necessary to partner with what once might have been thought of as “strange bedfellows.” – non-governmental-organizations and governments.

 

At a United Nations Global Compact meeting in New York last week I was impressed with reports from NGO organizations such as Oxfam International and The World Wildlife Federation that referred to many such partnerships around the world.

    

And in Beijing this week the International Public Relations Association is reflecting on it’s new IPRA Gold Paper entitled, “Public Relations and Collaboration: The Role of Public Relations and Communications Supporting Collaboration in a Complex, Converging World.” I commend it to your attention.

    

 

Economists have traditionally called it “creative destruction.”

    

The New York Times, in a recent headline, called it “Mourning Old Media’s Destruction as Assisted by New Media.”

 

As well-prepared strategic communicators you know, of course, the effect that the new communications technology is having in speeding change in our society – and you no doubt know how to deal with the plethora of on-line communicators who might influence the future of your organization.

    

But on the flip side, the resulting reductions in editorial staff -- that is reporters, columnists and editors –as well as the shrinking “news hole” at newspapers and magazines will have some very disturbing consequences.

    

A speaker at the recent American Magazine Conference put it bluntly: If the great brands in journalism – the trusted news sources readers have relied on – were to vanish, then the Web alone would quickly become a “cesspool” of useless information.

    

The speaker: Eric Schmidt, chief executive of Google.

    

 

 “The modern [U.S.] presidency is as much a vehicle for communication as for decision-making, and the relevant audiences are global.”

    

That’s a quote from The New Yorker magazine on the eve of the U.S. presidential election. (Incidentally, the linkage of communication and decision-making in that quote sounds a very welcome note, wouldn’t you say?)

 

Now that the “euphoria” in many parts of America and the reported “worldwide jubilation” over the election of Senator Obama are beginning to abate, some sober reflection is taking root.

    

It’s now becoming clear that we must manage expectations, a subject we strategic communicators know something about.

    

President-elect Obama faces a formidable “to-do” list. In a nation that is deeply troubled financially and mired in recession, he must lead in stabilizing the economy while addressing issues that include tax policy, healthcare, energy, trade, deteriorating infrastructure and a collapsing auto industry.

    

Having said that, however, I nevertheless believe that future American foreign policy will reflect a new kind of American leadership – one that recognizes the evolving world order.

    

It will be a foreign policy that seeks increased cooperation with many countries, multilateral organizations and other institutions; addresses more humanitarian challenges around the world; and applies the public diplomacy and transparency that is inherent in the informational, educational and cultural exchanges administered by the once successful but now dormant U.S. Information Agency.

    

But it will take some time to reverse course on the U.S. foreign policy of the last eight years. Please be patient.

     

 

On behalf of the Public Relations Society of America and the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, I have traveled from home to five continents in recent years.

    

I have been astounded – and greatly encouraged –in how strategic communications and public relations is taking root around the world.

    

Yes, there are rightfully many adaptations of this fundamental concept depending on local political, economic and social traditions and conditions. But I can attest that even in places like China, Russia and a number of emerging economies these communications disciplines are being studied and applied in an impressive manner and degree.

    

One of the best resources for seeing how this is coming together is, of course, the Global Alliance. I suggest that if you have not recently done so, visit the GA Web site: www.globalalliancepr.org.

   

And as we congratulate all of the graduates today, added good wishes go to the four Global Alliance scholarship winners.

 

“Let us make the world so economically-interdependent that war will go out of style.”

We do have to be careful what we wish for, don’t we?

 

 

The current global financial crisis has stimulated, as perhaps nothing like it before, a willingness to coordinate policy and performance across oceans.

    

In the run-up to today’s financial summit in Washington, the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, sounded what may well be the coming global zeitgeist when he said:

    

“Given that the world has never been more interconnected, it is essential that we work together because we are all in this crisis together.”

    

At these and other such meetings there is now serious discussion of creating new multilateral institutions to reform or replace the global organizations established at Breton Woods in the aftermath of World War II – institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and The World Bank.

    

And much of this discussion centers on the transparency that new financial regulations should require to re-build and retain investors’ trust.

    

The need for such transparency was recently articulated by the Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He wrote:

    

“Because of the truly global nature of the over-the-counter derivatives market, we will need to work closely with other governments in other major markets… the cross-border impacts of the current market problems are obvious to all.”

 

 

We all know, of course, about the arduous progress made in recent years to address global climate change – Kyoto, for example.

    

But new international standards are also developing on a number of other fronts as well.

    

For example, “a global approach to enhance [financial] market confidence” was recently announced jointly by the International Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board. These boards stressed the need for “responding in a timely manner that improves transparency and provides greater global consistency in financial reporting.”

    

Similarly, the international NGOs Verite and CREA, are now facilitating a project to “build consensus around a universal set of standards for … competence in social auditors.”  

    

Downstream a bit, expect new global standards or codes of conduct not only for greenhouse gases but also for water management.  

 

 

It’s been said that globalization is like a wave … you either ride it or are drowned by it.

       

In essence, globalization is basically the inter-action among the peoples of the world. For thousands of years it has meant trade, travel and the exchange of goods, ideas and values.

         

In recent decades, this inter-action—this globalization – has helped many economies around the world develop from ”emerging” to “emerged” with a better life for millions of people.

    

But in this century we’re called on to address what some have termed “responsible” globalization – the attempt to prevent exploitation in all international transactions.

    

That will be an important part of the challenge for your generation of trained strategic communicators. I believe you are more than ready for it.

 

“If you get the right words in the right order, you can nudge the world a bit.”

    

Without elaboration – because I believe they need no elaboration – I present these “right words in the right order”:

 

1. “Every idea should be fully, frequently and fearlessly discussed [lest it] be held as dead dogma, not a living truth.” -- John Stuart Mill

 

2. “Information is the currency of democracy.” – Thomas Jefferson

 

3. “Its name is Public Opinion. It is held in reverence. It settles everything. Some think it is the voice of God.” – Mark Twain

 

I will delay your commencement and celebration just a moment longer to conclude, as I started, with a confession:

 

I envy you.

 

With this commencement, you are most fortunate to be completing a significant phase of your professional development – a phase of your life-long learning – at a most propitious time. It is nothing less than a time when the world order is being transformed.

     

You are now equipped to participate in – and to help effect – that seismic change.