December 10, 2007
Research: conflicting priorities for comms and CEOs
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Research from Melcrum and The Company Agency has revealed that CEOs see communicating business strategy to employees as the central role of good internal communication.
However, the report also warns that internal communicators may be focusing on the wrong areas and activities.
“21st Century Leadership Communication” is a new report which explores the attitudes and priorities of CEOs and senior business leaders when it comes to internal communication.
It is divided into two parts:
1. An executive summary, including recommendations for CEOs and senior business leaders
2. A detailed exploration of research findings, with recommendations for internal communicators.
The report closes with an Afterword by Malcolm Higgs, Professor of Organization Behaviour and HR at the University of Southampton School of Management, which places the key research findings in the context of broader leadership research and thinking.
The research is based on in-depth interviews with 18 CEOs and senior business leaders from a broad range of countries:
- Keith Butler-Wheelhouse, CEO, Smiths Group plc
- Paddy Byng, CEO, Smythson
- Paolo Cavalieri, CEO, Hollard Insurance Group
- John Conover, President Americas Distribution, Trane
- Michael J. Critelli, Executive Chairman, Pitney Bowes
- Rona Fairhead, CEO, The Financial Times Group
- Iain Ferguson, Chief Executive, Tate & Lyle PLC
- Val Gooding, Chief Executive, BUPA
- Paul Gray, Chairman HM Revenue & Customs
- Hugh Harvey, Managing Director, Comet
- Jeremy Hicks, Director, Audi UK
- Lori LeBas, Senior VP, Strategy and Business Operations, ESPN
- Wim Roelandts, President and CEO, Xilinx
- Peter Rogers, CEO, Westminster City Council
- Truett Tate, Group Executive Director for Wholesale and International Banking, Lloyds TSB plc
- Jean-Pascal Tricoire, CEO Schneider Electric
- Mike Turner, CEO, BAE Systems
- Paul Walker, Chief Executive, The Sage Group plc.
If you would like more information about the study please don’t hesitate to contact Daniel Gregory on +44 (0)20 8600 4670 or email him at
You can also visit Melcrum’s page on the report.
Disclaimer: Melcrum is one of my clients and they have published some of my material.
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