Is Your Business Mission-Driven? Bad News If It’s Not.

If it bleeds, it leads is a known adage in the media business and a phenomenon we love to hate. Why is it, we ask ourselves, the news is so depressing and the headlines are all disasters, scandals, and transgressions. Stephen Pinker in his book Better Angels of Our Nature, convincingly argues that the overall trajectory for the human civilization is towards less violence, but that is not the impression one gets by following the news.

Much has been said and volumes written about media bias and the basic consensus is that “90% of the news in the newspaper and on television is negative because that’s what we pay attention to.” Broadly speaking then, there is no one to blame for the doom and gloom on the newswire other than our own human nature. 

When it comes to businesses and their impact on society, a good news story, no matter how big, will hardly make the front page, while the bad news most likely will. Just ask Tesla, an electric car manufacturer, which had to deal with numerous headlines like this: “Tesla Self-Driving Car Fails to Detect Truck in Fatal Crash” up until a year later an investigation by the U.S. Dept of Transportation cleared the carmakers’ autonomous driving system. Tesla CEO’s assertion that autopilot improved car safety was also independently verified.

So, in the nutshell, the story of an innovative company, which has made a car 40% safer to drive, could hardly make the mainstream news up until something went wrong and negative media bias was triggered. As diligent as publications are at printing corrections, when the negative story is out it’s out.

beyond the shareholder value, beyond the mission and the vision, a successful business today needs to develop a genuine narrative.

To be sure, media doesn’t create corporate scandals. In Tesla’s case, the automaker was later vindicated, but in most instances, the corporations are blameworthy when they make the list of the Top 10 Brand Scandals and Disasters. By shedding light on the misconduct, the media is delivering a public service, which strengthens societies. Ultimately, one could argue that even the implicated companies, as they recover from a calamity, emerge stronger, better governed, and better positioned for a long-term success.

The paradox of the negative media bias is that it is virtually impossible to communicate positive developments and, when the lapses in judgment lead to a scandal, the wider context or corporate activity is heavily discounted. In other words, the problems get amplified and good deeds get muted. In an opinion piece for HBR, Andrew Winston concluded that in the age of social media “People can now destroy brand trust at the speed of light, with consequences that are far-reaching.” 

The best way to avoid a slamming headline is to prevent mistakes in the first place. Dov Seidman, in his book How argued that corporations must learn to compete on behavior as much as on quality/price of their products. Strong corporate culture is akin to biological immunity. It can’t stop every illness, but the stronger one’s immune system is, the higher is the threshold for avoiding serious damage to one’s health.

engagement with stakeholders must be about listening and not just telling.

Secondly, it is the response to a scandal that makes a difference. Does the company admit guilt, cooperate with authorities/advocacy groups, offer a genuine apology, and promptly institute meaningful change? Or does it attempt a cover-up, blames the victim, and defends the indefensible? The timing of such response, the tone at the top of the organization, the willingness to engage in dialogue – all those factors play a role.

Creating an infallible organization that doesn’t make mistakes is great, efficiently responding to a situation is good, but the reality is that most large multinationals will inevitably have to deal with a negative headline in the long term. Proactive engagement with company’s core stakeholders must thus be the third pillar of corporate strategy.

Here are a few ideas to consider:

Firstly, beyond the shareholder value, beyond the mission and the vision, a successful business today needs to develop a genuine narrative. One that congruently articulates the value for society that this business creates, defines what the leadership philosophy is, and what does the company stand for. If the reality is that most businesses stand for something other than their balance sheets, most businesses create societal value over and above serving their customers, most corporate boards and CEOs ponder the question of responsive and responsible leadership every day, than it is truly regrettable that very few are able to bring it all together in a compelling narrative.

Tesla’s narrative isn’t about making cars: it is about accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy.  Unilever – a major consumer goods company – stands for sustainable development. Those examples come to mind because those narratives truly resonate. The commitment of the leadership at the top level of these businesses is readily apparent, continuously articulated, and backed with real resources. It all comes down to the coherence of rhetoric and action, where the societal value is placed at the core of an operating model.

In the face of a negative media bias, the pillars of corporate communication, such as press releases and publications of quarterly financial results, are quite toothless. A strong narrative, however, could define the context in which a headline is read. A good litmus test would then be a reader’s willingness to give the company implicated in a crisis, the benefit of the doubt.

Secondly, the narrative must be complemented by proactive and continuous engagement of a said business with its core constituents. Each company should be able to identify the top 100 stakeholders beyond its vendors, suppliers, distributors or other commercial partners. According to a recent study by McKinsey, “When asked about the most influential stakeholders, executives expect government entities and regulators—as well as customers—will have the greatest effect on their companies’ value.”

Given the great diversity of stakeholders’ interests, be they governments, advocacy groups, industry associations, think tanks, community organizations, etc., a bespoke strategy for engaging with each group is required. To communicate its narrative, a corporation must take every opportunity to regularly check in with its constituents, to be present in relevant conversations, to join and actively participate in germane initiatives, etc. 

every company should be able to find space for action in the interest of creating societal as well as business value.

More importantly, though, engagement with stakeholders must be about listening and not just telling. Contentious relationships are often a consequence of trust deficit, which on its part results from the lack of interaction and scarcity of opportunity for genuine exchange of ideas. The open dialogue could and frequently does lead to the discovery of convergent interests, where a genuine partnership between a corporation and its stakeholder is not just possible, it becomes desirable if not inevitable. The true beauty of win-win is that it is always there to be discovered.

Thirdly, the action is required to back it all up. An effective narrative is focused and easily comprehensible (e.g. circular economy, eco-friendly, sustainable, etc.); an effective engagement with stakeholders is continuous and consistent, and an effective action is one that substantiates the narrative and builds on the engagement.

Doing well by doing good is a matter of vision – a distinctly attainable one.

Delivering on the narrative is not about the drain on resources. It shouldn’t be a cost center in the same way CSR shouldn’t be an afterthought – a tick-the-box exercise. When Google announced that it will be powered fully by renewables or when Apple pledged to make its iPhones from the recycled materials, this wasn’t charity. Those moves made a long-term business sense, especially when one accounts for intangibles, such as brand value, employee morale, the strength of corporate culture and congruence of leadership vision. Building on the outlined three principles, every company should be able to find space for action in the interest of creating societal as well as business value.

While the corporate communications professionals will not be able to control the timing and the nature of the next blunder, what is addressable is the context in which the headline might emerge. All indicators point to the dawn of a new era – one where a mission-driven corporation will be the rule rather than the exception. Doing well by doing good is a matter of vision – a distinctly attainable one. As business leaders ponder the question of negative media bias, which, for better or worse, is inherent and entrenched in human psychology, despair is not the only answer. Proactive steps can and should be taken to develop a narrative, engage with stakeholders and find opportunities for true public-private partnership.