On Wednesday I debated Professor Oyvind Ihlen at the London School of Communication’s conference PR and Disruption: Embracing and managing Change. I argued that PR’s main role should be to encourage economic growth, while Oyvind called for placing more emphasis on enhancing civil society. Here’s what I said. Read on ›

Prudential CEO Tidjane Thiam has just learnt the hard way that he is accountable first and foremost to his shareholders. His climb down over the £24.6 billion proposed bid for AIA now looks set to cost his company £450 million and might yet cost him his job. We care partly because the Pru has for decades been the watchword of, well, prudence. Read on ›

Here’s the second in my trilogy on the Stockholm Accords. This one deals with the Accords themselves, following part 1’s examination of their definition of terms. Read on ›

Here’s a PR manifesto offering a post-credit crunch reality check that sticks up for maintaining the primacy of shareholder value in business. Read on ›

In 1994 Tony Blair promised to turn the UK into a “stakeholder society” when he declared New Labour, New Britain. It was the cornerstone of his “Third Way” politics. But nobody’s talking about either term in the current UK General Election. Maybe the wheels will come off the “stakeholder” rhetoric in business too.   Read on ›

Contrary to popular crisis management mythology, most dramas and disasters aren’t really crises at all. Chin up: things aren’t often really all that bad. Read on ›

Made public yesterday, the last words from a family of four: “We’re in a Lexus. . . and we’re going north on 125 and our accelerator is stuck. . . we’re in trouble. . . there’s no brakes. . . we’re approaching the intersection. . . hold on. . . hold on and pray. . . pray.” Read on ›

BBC Newsnight recently claimed that UK government plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations to fill the energy gap by 2020 are hopelessly optimistic. The industry responded by claiming it will be on time and on budget. It’s a phoney debate on both sides. Read on ›

When local boy Roman Geiser, Burson-Marsteller’s Swiss CEO, was catapulted into the stratosphere as Chief Operating Officer for EMEA, I just had to make the twenty-minute train ride to Zurich to interview him. Read on ›

What’s the difference between marketing and PR? That’s a good question, particularly when the likes of Lord Chadlington and Lord Bell are, rightly, calling for more integration between the two disciplines. Read on ›