PRINZ

Parliament
Wellington

Welcome to tonight’s interactive debate between the Chief Executives and the Public Relations Professionals – or should that be the bosses and the spin doctors?

I personally hope that by the end of this debate that you don’t accept my shorthand for the PR professionals, because I am going to align myself fairly and squarely with them; not because this is they are hosting this event, but because I am firmly of the view that neither the public nor private sector does itself any favours by failing to understand that perception is reality. By regarding public relations as ‘spin’ we fail to see the critical role of two way communication whether it is implementing a policy or selling a commercial proposition or product. As such the PR professional is a critical component of the management team regardless of the environment and they must be an integral part of the strategic management team.

I want to tell you a couple of stories to illustrate my point.

UK Food Standards Agency was going to be developing policy around a particular product which had been associated with some deaths. I won’t go into the detail, but will say that the first people they approached were the family members of those who died.

One thing that could derail the whole policy was someone saying no-one should go through what I went through no matter the risk. So, the Agency talked it through with the people who had been affected and were able to build understanding. And it was better for the families who were always going to be approached by the media for comment anyway.

This wasn’t spin – unless spin stands for sensitively, personalising information and knowledge. Sadly, I couldn't think of an appropriate 'n' word so I had to spell knowledge without the k – I welcome suggestions for suitable 'n' words!

Let me tell you the opposite story of a regulator that allowed the media to run a story about liquidity funding for a solvent bank as an emergency bailout, sparking fears of losing deposits and leading to a run on the bank – that’s Northern Rock’s story.

There didn’t need to have been a run on the bank – a reassuring statement to the public during banking hours instead of a weekend when the banks were closed could have explained what was going on rather than a Times headline that drove panic through the investing public.

Similarly, we're seeing that perception is reality in the recent finance company collapses here. Some are now failing simply because investors have got nervous and are refusing to reinvest their money. This is leading to liquidity problems in previously solid companies. It's like dominoes. The only thing that can fix this is confidence and that, in this case, is driven entirely off perception.

I can give you all the research in the world about excellence in PR and Communications Management but my world is entirely about perception. In politics perception is reality.

You could all be forgiven for thinking that there used to be a law that said parents could smack their children and that the government took away that right, making criminals of decent, caring parents who lightly tap naughty children on the hand or bottom for trying to put their fingers on hot stoves or for running across the road without looking.

But, of course, this is not the case.

Parents have never had a legal right to assault their children. Section 59 is a defence to a charge of assault that the parent used 'reasonable force' for discipline.

This defence has been used by parents who have beaten their children with a jug, cord, a stick, a riding crop… the list goes on. The defence has been amended to remove the reference to discipline, so reasonable force is still a defence in certain circumstances. This was a private members bill sponsored by Green MP Sue Bradford and, after work had been done on it, everyone voted for it except a handful of MPs. And now we have to hold a referendum on something that hasn't happened because the only reality that matters is the one that is perceived.

In politics great public relations is just that: great relations with your public. In politics, great public relations is not just about getting the public's understanding, it's about understanding the public and creating policy that meets the needs and desires of that public.

So you can see why I am all for PR professionals – they are an integral part of ensuring that the public are engaged in public policy in an informed way.

But public relations is of limited value once things have already gone sour. The most important principle in my mind is that public relations is involved in strategic management, bringing in the views of stakeholders to the decision-making process, and thereby ensuring that business or political decisions won’t meet opposition.

Successful chief executives, like successful politicians, understand this very well – at least I hope they do. It seems like common sense to me. I hope that it seems like common sense to our team of Chief Executives.

I hope you enjoy the evening, now let the debate begin!