You Have a Candidate, Not a Company!

The gasps were audible – as were a few snickers.

That’s what I heard not long ago when I told a gathering of senior corporate executives that that they should stop thinking of their brands as companies and start thinking of them as candidates.

What did I mean by that?  Glad you asked.

What I’ve learned over more than 35 years as a strategic communications professional is how little people truly understand the communications process – especially businesspeople. A huge percentage of failed business initiatives – I’d actually say a majority of them –  can be traced to basic failures of communications.

Disastrous M&A deals. Botched branding and re-branding campaigns. Labor blowups. The list goes on. All victims of caustic communications efforts.

What is especially tragic is that there is so ample a reservoir of communications models that work.

Read the full piece in CEOWORLD Magazine.