'We can take this hill:' CEO-talk in hard times: how corporate leaders can use communications to rebound during an economic downturn.

• Author: Porr, Jeff
• Position: COMMUNICATIONS

IN GOOD ECONOMIC TIMES, when a company's earnings and stock price are on the rise, a board may not think it is terribly important that the CEO be able to perform well behind a lectern, in front of cameras and microphones, or at a hearing table. But as earnings and stock price head south, a CEO's ability to inspire confidence through speeches and presentations can prove essential to a company's ability to survive and recover. CEOs who communicate well can, at the very least, buy the time needed to put an effective turnaround strategy in place.

With the economy in a slump that shows few signs of ending, growing numbers of boards and CEOs face the challenge of finding ways to inspire key audiences who are both very worried and extremely important--employees, analysts, stockholders, regulators, and the press. But how should company leaders proceed?

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Former CEOs Lee Iacocca of Chrysler and Champ Mitchell of Network Solutions, as well as current CEOs John Chambers of Cisco Systems and Brightpoint's Robert Laikin, have a wealth of knowledge about what to do. All used first-person communications effectively to turn companies around. Jack Welch's experience is very relevant, too. Although he never really had to lead a turnaround, his personal communications skills were among the most important tools he used to set the standard for performance at GE. The experience of these leaders, therefore, can provide some important lessons for boards and CEOs struggling to get their companies moving in the right direction in a troubled economy.

Interviews with these men or their top communications executives, and a look at some of their presentations, reveal a top 10 list of lessons for executive communications in tough times.

1. Make communication a priority

   This may sound obvious, but Bill Lane, Jack Welch's GE speechwriter for 20 years, warns that "Most CEOs will pay lip service to communications, yet they don't really put the time in." Welch was very different. "Jack realized how absolutely critical communications was in bad times and good, and he made it one of his absolute priorities," says Lane.

   The same has been true for Cisco's Chambers, according to Kelly Simons Lang, director, strategic communications. When the company was in trouble in 2001, Chambers saw communications as "fundamental" to turning the company around. Lang adds that her boss continues to be a "true believer that communication drives everything in our business today." One measure, she says, is that Cisco's core communications staff--investor and analyst relations, public relations, and exec comm--is located "literally right outside John's door."

   Lee Iacocca put it quite simply. In his introduction to his collected speeches, he wrote, "Communication has been my most valuable management tool."

2. Communicate to motivate

   Some boards and CEOs confuse volume of...