The Year of Business Transformation and Corporate Reputation

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TRANSCRIPT:

DOUG: Megan, your report discusses and describes 2025 as a year of business transformation as well as corporate reputation. Let’s start with corporate reputation. What do you see is the most important factor shaping corporate reputation this year?

MEGAN: Glad to be talking about what we’re seeing over at Golin is what’s ahead for business and corporate reputation. And I would say that more and more, we are seeing that corporate reputation and business transformation are inextricably linked to each other, and that as a communicator or as a chief corporate affairs officer or a CCO, you have to constantly be thinking about your business strategy and how your company is transforming, and then how you’re meeting your audiences and your varied and diverse audiences at that where they want to be met with all of this different business strategy and communication news.

DOUG: Yeah, you talk about different audiences. A key audience for any employer is employees. Is this affecting the dynamic between employers and employees?

MEGAN: We’re seeing a lot of trends that are happening in the workplace, whether it is the rise and the integration of AI. It is the notion of hybrid work or back to work. That was something that was probably established post-pandemic, but we’re seeing a lot of companies, um, change their posture, change culture and, and how organizations and people collaborate with each other, shifting priorities around DEI and sustainability, which impacts not only external positioning but also internal culture and purpose. And so, we are definitely seeing a shift between employees and employers. I read a big study earlier this week from LinkedIn that said, 50% of people will look for a new job this year that continues to reshape how employers are thinking about talent, but then ultimately how they’re thinking about culture and building their organizations for the type of talent that they want in the future.

DOUG: Yeah, and it’s really also about the talent if there’s sort of that much on the look for new opportunities there. It’ll be interesting to see if that comes true. One of the pieces in your report was about it not necessarily being a great environment for hiring. So, that might be a challenge for a lot of those people were changing. You also spoke about AI and that came up twice in your report, one in the area of the proper degree of transparency. And the second piece of it was how it could really facilitate major leaps in drug development. Why don’t you take the transparency and right approach about that first?

MEGAN: So, I think that what we have seen. And we’re, we’re, you know, experiencing Davos right now. And Davos really was the birthplace of, I think a huge accelerant of AI several years ago. And you’re seeing a lot of companies that were making investments in AI. 2025 is the year to prove it in AI. And so, what does that mean. That means that you not only need to have investments in AI, but you need to have your story down. We are saying that every company needs to have an AI story and a distinct point of view, but more importantly, you need to help articulate how AI is transforming your business. Is it driving operational efficiencies? Is it improving or changing the employee experience? Is it helping enhance the customer experience? It’s probably all of the above, but what audiences are looking for, especially the employer audience and the investor audience is for you to prove it with AI. And I think that’s really exciting, but that’s the next step.

DOUG: Yeah, and it’s interesting you say that because, you know, one of the things that sort of strikes me is the issue of transparency. And maybe companies shouldn’t be talking about if they’re using and should not wait and will people be upset. And my take and maybe it’s my own bias, because what we do for a living with content creation and getting clients on television is that you’d want to be open and direct because, hey, it’s a good thing. It’s like you’re one of the cool kids if you’re using if you’re not using it, you’re sort of behind the times and could be in trouble. So, why wouldn’t you be shouting about it from the rooftop? I would think. Like transparency shouldn’t be that huge an issue unless you’re like, using it for, you know, evil intent.

MEGAN: I totally agree, I think there is a lot of interest and appetite for, I’m going to call it responsible AI policies and then transparency around those responsible AI policies. And what does that mean for how you’re integrating it into your business? How our employee is able to use it, not use it. How are you keeping customer data or patient data safe and secure, right? And there is an interest in appetite from again all audiences on that on the employee side. I think we’re seeing from a talent recruitment perspective, those companies that are leaning into AI and showcasing how I will be a part of your employee experience are actually ones that are winning. To your point, I think employees are recognizing that there’s value. Will it change your jobs? Yes, of course, but there’s a lot of things. The internet changed the way our jobs were. AI is can be a great complement or a copilot to your work. It can make you and enable you to do on your work more efficiently and more productively. It’ll also give you time back to be able to invest in some of the harder stuff. So, I think we’re seeing the bell curve and the change management curve happened where it was the immediate fear and scared, but now people are starting to embrace it and see the benefits of that. That gets back just to the some of the overall trends that we’re seeing around transparency writ large. And, you know, especially with investors, people want to know where you’re going and why and how that’s happening.

DOUG: We’re finding that the media, if you bring an eye angle to them or something, that they’re really receptive to covering AI with anything. I don’t know if that’s going to last much longer past this year, but it’s out there. And, you know, part of this whole change, it seems like you’re advocating for executives as well, to becoming more transparent to all of the key audiences around. That is something that’s something that from the agency side, you’ve got to be giving them sort of a push to get there. Or are they like, willingly realizing that they have to be out there?

MEGAN: I think there’s a recognition in both that everybody needs an AI story, and that without it, you are going to be at a deficit because that’s the way the world is thinking now, you have to be crystal clear on what your eye story is in order to have credibility, but we also have a study that we do twice a year called the CEO Impact Index. And we are finding based off of that study that studies a number of different factors that help inform, CEO positioning, that the topics that CEOs are most commenting on in the past year is AI, but the ones that are breaking through, or the ones that aren’t just talking about it on a superficial level, it’s really the ones that are having very clear storylines about how it’s impacting its business and moving its business forward and contributing to the next stage of a company’s business strategy. Whether it’s entering into two markets to drive operational efficiency, create better customer experience, etc, but it’s extremely powerful if used in the right way. The counterpoint to that is if it’s hollow, you’re starting to get called out. And so, our job as builders and protectors of reputation and support of our clients is to help clients navigate that and really have an authentic and clear and data back story to tell around AI.

DOUG: It’s got to be deep. It can’t just be that one layer at the top and one follow up question. You have nothing to say. One of the trends that you talked about in the report, and it’s sort of interesting because challenges to business from investor relations, investor communications might be less from government in the U.S. with the new administration, but is that going to provoke sort of a new, intense activism as a response?

MEGAN: I think we’re seeing a rise of activist investors, and the common red thread that we’re seeing with that shift is a need for more information and more transparency about the business strategy and the growth and transformation. No business is standing still. It goes back to the key point that we keep saying that corporate reputation and business transformation are linked, and what investors want is they want to know your journey and how you’re going to get there. Give them the data points. Of course they need the quarterly earnings reports, but that’s just a snapshot in time. In fact, what we’re seeing is that there is a greater appetite for investors to understand between the quarterly earnings reports, more transparency of what you’re doing along the way, and equally more digital friendly mediums to communicate. They’re consumers just like us. They’re getting information from a variety of sources. So, there is a need and appetite for, um, business leaders and communicators to spend more time with the investment community to talk about business strategy, business growth, and transformation. We’re seeing a lot of companies start to take the investment story inside out. So, really then take the story that they’re telling to the street and then do deeper dives with their employees so that they can help those employees understand the business strategy. I think that is, um, a remarkable, great set of progress because employees can be your biggest advocates and ambassadors. They also can be your biggest detractors if not used properly, which can contribute to activism overall. So, I love that we’re seeing the communications vehicles being used for a multi-stakeholder audience and in a more digital way.

DOUG: Well, Megan, you’ve been making a passionate case that communications is probably more important for businesses, nonprofits, any organization than it’s ever been, especially with the messaging part of that and the different modes of distribution. Is there any final thought you’d like to leave our audience with?

MEGAN: Leaning into business strategy, leaning into data and analytics and, leaning into transformation is going to be the key to our success in this year and beyond, as we continue to help be the best advisors across the C-suite.

DOUG: Great. Well, I hope this conversation has been transformative for a bunch of the people who watch it. Thanks so much for being with us.

MEGAN: Awesome.