Corporate Communications in an age of unravelling
In an era marked by disinformation, digital disruption and global instability, how should corporate communicators navigate the “age of unravelling”? This opinion piece offers insights on maintaining clarity, consistency and connection amid volatility, and outlines principles for delivering stability and trust as a counterpoint to the instability and disruption in a post-truth world.
By Chris Hogg
Fifteen years ago, while on a reporting trip for BBC News in Pyongyang, North Korea, I was present when Supreme Leader Kim Jong Il introduced his son, Kim Jong Un, to the world. I described the event as unprecedented, feeling I was witnessing a pivotal change for North Korea. In reality though, regimes change. Change itself is the norm.
The age of unravelling
“Unprecedented” is a word journalists and commentators reach for often to try to make sense of the changes they witness. Today however, thanks mainly to social media, we all have a front-row seat to witness what feels like significant change in real time; the horror of conflict, the polarisation of politics, the suffering of displaced communities, images and content distorted often by waves of disinformation.
This is why it feels like an “age of unravelling”: the breakdown of long-standing norms, alliances, or assumptions about global stability. What looks like an erosion of international rules is making global institutions look impotent. It is not surprising that many feel we are at an inflection point. Think of the global order as a woven net. Over recent years, threads have loosened or snapped due to wars, political crises and economic fragmentation. While there is no single significant rupture, the net appears to be unravelling.
The post-truth age
For many, the current period feels different to what they have known or experienced before. The rise of digital culture since the 1990s has redefined politics, commerce and warfare (with the rise of disinformation and cyberattacks). Power has shifted from states and legacy institutions (including large multinational corporations) to social networks and platforms, and to the individuals who use them. One of he most outstanding features of the current era is everyone’s unlimited ability to communicate.
This sets up a tension. In theory it is easier than ever to get an idea or a message to a huge audience. What is key, of course, is to go viral, which is not easy. What can happen as people try to achieve virality is that truth gets bent or stretched to serve the interests of an individual or a group. A British academic, Anne Gregory, has written about how the acronym VUCA used to describe the challenging external environment (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) needs an added D for “deceitful”. There are now “alternative facts” she says, in this post-truth age where politicians and other leaders tell lies which both they and the people they are speaking to know are not true.
Accelerators of perceived instability
Today we can add another disquieting trend, as people disregard organisations or cancel individuals they no longer agree with. They feel that the changes they see are troubling or unfair and the result of lies or deceit, and they do not like it. One explanation for this is that in today’s hyper-connected communications ecosystem, people see change in real time, they feel it in real time, and they react to it in real time, often reacting to what has been said rather than what has actually been done.
This behaviour is driven by three accelerators of perceived instability: velocity (because news breaks before it finishes happening) visibility (because every twist and turn of the event is tweeted, televised or TikTok’d) and volume (because amplification of breaking news is often off the charts). Running a business in this unstable and uncertain world is challenging enough. The communication challenges of the post-truth age – disinformation, deceit, scepticism and cancel culture – make that challenging task even harder.
Paying attention to patterns
And yet, despite the systemic strain of recent events, the motivational engine of human society – progress, prosperity, connection – is still powering ahead. Human aspirations have not changed: safety (make me feel protected), belonging (show me I am not alone), recognition (see me, hear me) and purpose (remind me that I matter). When people feel overwhelmed by change, they look for reassurance. If we can provide this, we have a strong opportunity. Sales guru Tony Robins talks about the importance of recognising patterns among the public discourse. When you recognise patterns and pay attention to them, you can semi-predict what is going to happen next. We need to be able to analyse what is really happening beneath what seems to be happening around us, looking for signals that are harder to spot, such as social undercurrents and shifts in language. It requires us to look beyond the top stories on our feeds, scanning the horizon in a bid to understand what will happen next.
Spotting patterns is just the start. We then need to adapt in response, to employ what some describe as “productive paranoia” to question our own narratives before others do. To achieve this, we need the humility to interrogate our own assumptions before publishing a word, a process that is not fear-driven but anticipatory, scanning the horizon for how this initiative or that announcement could go wrong, as well as how to make it go right. The danger of course is that this can make us risk-averse. We must be careful not to be “idea-killers”.
Our tone and content should be “relentlessly reasonable”: “always on” – relentless – in this 24/7 multichannel ecosystem – and reasonable – helping to shape understanding of the contributions we make to the communities we serve. To achieve this, we should aim for the three Cs: clear, consistent and connected communication. In this VUCA(D) world we must constantly evolve how we communicate to better connect with the audience but not contort ourselves as we evolve. We must stick to our core values while adapting delivery, format and channels. In doing so we provide a sense of continuity and trust for our stakeholders.
Three principles to deliver stability
In the face of all the instability and change, there is a compelling case for companies to respond by offering stability and reliability, highly valued in uncertain times. As communicators there are three principles we can focus on to support this.
Number one is consistency. All our communications, both internal and external, should reflect the company’s core values, building trust and demonstrating reliability. Keep it simple, not because people are not smart but because they are overloaded.
Number two is transparency. We need to be open about the challenges we are facing and the steps we are taking to address them. In this age of scepticism, disinformation and hyper-connectivity, openness is no longer optional, it is strategic.
Number three is adaptability. We need to be open to innovation and evolving our communication style and approach, doing so in a way that aligns with the company’s core principles and long-term goals.
Earlier I described a net that was fraying at the edges, but there is another way to look at this. It is communicators who hold the threads of the net in our hands, and we can help keep it intact by spotting vulnerabilities and stopping the threads fraying further, making repairs, even. We can do this with the sense-making we do for senior leadership, bringing the outside in, helping them to recognise which patterns, which issues, which opportunities will prove to be significant and which ones we can ignore.
“We should do what we have always done, but do it better, and hold our nerve”
We can further strengthen the net by ensuring our external communication does the same; beyond simply listening, messaging, storytelling, instead helping to shape understanding about the big issues and opportunities of the day, supporting audiences to understand what matters and why. So, no need to rip up the communications rulebook. We should do what we have always done but do it better: ignore the noise, capitalise on the opportunities and, in the face of what feels like unprecedented change and disruption, continue to hold our nerve.
Key Takeaways
Communicators provide a counterpoint to instability with clarity and consistency.
Real-time social media accelerates the perception of global instability.
Overcoming disinformation requires proactive narrative management.
Our communication must anticipate events and help shape public understanding.
Adaptability is essential – without compromising core values.
Chris Hogg
Chris Hogg is the Global Head of Public Affairs for leading FMCG company Nestlé. Based in Switzerland, he has nearly three decades of experience in corporate communications in journalism as a correspondent for the BBC.