PRoust Questionnaire: Mat Wilcox
Mat Wilcox, founded and leads Wilcox Group, a management consulting firm specializing in corporate issues and crisis communications management.
Tag: Financial PR
Public Relations before, during, after acquisitions and mergers. Fascinating lessons from Poznan, Poland!
Ok… it took me more than 20 hours by van to return to Italy, while an Icelandic dust closed all of Europe’s airports… courtesy of two young polish drivers (found via the Internet the evening before by one of my benefactors Monika Bogdal from Poznan’s University of Economics… the power of social media…)… yet I was thrilled, honoured and inspired to have been granted the privilege by Prof. Ryszard Ławniczak to participate to the EconPr...
How cognitive dissonance is impacting this growing universal habit of blaming the media for the worsening of the crisis.
Some 77% of american public opinion (if such an animal ever existed) is reported to consider media reports largely responsible for the worsening of the global economic crisis. What is however even more relevant and scary, is that many governmental and corporate leaders vociferously adopt the same argument, to the point were repetition inevitably ends up digging into collective opinions. For example in my country (Italy) Prime Minister Berlusconi has repeatedly abused the media (his...
Will our ‘golden goose’ inadvertently become a blessing for the public relations profession?
A recent Security Exchange Commission investigation on an insider trading scam, innocently involving a Brunswick New York manager, spurs calls for the regulation of the public relations profession. Nina Devlin, an experienced pr professional specialised in acquisition and new listing activities on behalf of clients of the highly reputed Brunswick firm, has been temporarily suspended without pay by her employer when an investigation by the SEC accused her husband Mathew (a trader for Lehman Brothers)...
The Strategist’s “Where PR Belongs” crosses borders and triggers some international discussion
On August 15th my quarterly copy of The Public Relations Strategist (published by the Public Relations Society of America) arrived. The Summer 2008 edition’s cover highlighted the feature article, “Where PR Belongs: A Move at Chrysler Spurs Debate.” The provocative title drew me in, so I literally dropped everything (but the magazine) to have a read. Although Chris Cobb’s article focuses on changes to the reporting structure at the US-based auto giant (a company that...
Entertaining the “R” word. Will you embrace, spin or hide from that elephant in the room?
“Entertaining the ‘R’ word” is rather poetic, isn’t it? Would it surprise you to know that it was economist Derek Holt (assistant chief economist, RBC Economics Research) who came up with that phrase? Derek is providing the (opening keynote) Economic Update 2008 at my organization’s annual Controllers’ Congress, which begins on Thursday, February 21st. For a third year, we’re also offering the Economic Update as a free webcast to the general public. Derek and I...
One Two Three Four, tell me that you love free/online PD opportunities more
With apologies to Leslie Feist, but the talented singer/songwriter is a compatriot, after all, and the fast-approaching PD events I’m about to detail are all Canadian in origin and (I think) “suitable for” public relations practitioners. Particularly the ones who appreciate the importance of big-picture understanding and strategic planning.
Summing up the licensing debate, a post on Strumpette
The Public Relations Society has decided yesterday to set up a task force to explore the certification issue, while many of my students from NYU’s Global Relations course selected licensing for their final paper. Here, in Strumpette, is a post which summarizes the debate. Let me know your thoughts….
Research report on sustainability reporting in Canada
Earlier this week Benita Steyn asked me if I knew of any research relating to “enterprise strategy in Canada,” for use in her current research. Although information on that specific area seems light on the ground at this stage, I did recall the detailed research report conducted two years ago by our national body, the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada. From its June 7, 2005, media release: “There is a widely recognized global movement...
How do I ‘black pr’? Let me count the ways…At least 13. 150 professionals from 7 european countries meet in Vilnius (Lithuania) today to compare notes.
Many will remember Elizabeth Browning’s lovely poem…