Strategic Communications Consultancy
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Reputation, Influence and Crisis Management
• 25 years managing crises around the world on every continent including environmental remediation, product recalls, hurricanes and natural disasters, lawsuits, and executive changes.
• Proven integrated methodology including disciplines for scaling up proactive PR, expanding crisis response, proactive media relations (both deep background and on the-record), Community Advisory Council development, and detailed reputation tracking by issue, geography, and brand.
• Simple, easy to implement practices designed to set up a drum-beat of credible communications with thought leaders, decision-makers, and influences from the global stage to the local community.
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Strategic Message Mapping for Executives and Companies
• Unique process for uncovering the most challenging barriers and solutions to building, managing, and maintaining a world-class reputation and brand.
• The collaborative process removes the need for senior executive alignment by engaging entire leadership teams in the process of developing the messaging.
• Replicable discipline allows for highly aligned and integrated messaging from the C-Suite down to the shop floor.
• Memorable, risk-adjusted language and disciplines set companies, businesses and executive apart from peers and competitors.
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ESG strategy development and messaging
• Creation of replicable discipline to establish companies or executives as knowledgeable, trusted thought leaders in their areas of accomplishment and expertise related to Environment, Social, and Governance Strategies.
• Detailed landscape analysis, custom messaging scheme, and vocabulary with a range of activities, engagements, and content generation supported by clear, concise metrics from some of the world’s best reputation management tracking systems.
• Understanding of the integrated relationship between corporate and executive purpose communications, detailed road mapping of commitments, and consistent employee and stakeholder engagement on these issues.
• Specific methodology to place company value into the context of current and relevant debate.
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Executive coaching
• 25 years experience coaching C-Suite executives on their public personae, messaging alignment, presence, and engagement of highly interconnected stakeholders including Boards of Directors, Customers, Investors, Media and Communities.
• Unique presentation development that captures the personality and presence of each executive and presents information that is memorable, dynamic and targeted to specific audiences with unique and measurable vocabularies.
The Power of Convergence
Even as India is suffering and parts of the world are mired in issues with vaccine distribution and a disavowal of science, it is clear that the world is inching toward normalcy. But it is a journey with many twists and turns. For those of us interested in what the bounce back will look like and what we will be bouncing toward, I offer a single word: Convergence.
There are several definitions of Convergence. The first, “the degree or point at which lines or objects come together” is important. But a second definition is equally interesting: “a coordinated turning of the eyes to bear upon a near point”. Right now, we are seeing the impact of working from home, of the pain felt by essential workers, many of whom, for all the praise and thanks they have received, continue to struggle to make ends meet, to secure adequate healthcare or proper support for their families. At the same time, the need for local supply chains, a more focused investment in infrastructure and the shifting role of public/private partnership are dramatically challenging the status quo.
So, what is really happening? I believe we are seeing the emergence of a different kind of business economy, one predicated on the convergence between climate change, inclusion and collaboration.
Take a look at the photo below. It is the convergence of the Blue Nile with the White Nile in the city of Khartoum, Sudan. Notice the differences in color, where the water flowing north from Lake Victoria meets and merges with the flow from Lake Tana in Ethiopia. The vastly different streams are easy to distinguish, one light, the other dark, but just a few miles downstream they are the same, merged, integrated, united in a force that, if left uncontrolled, can flood thousands of miles of land, create vast deltas of fertile soil and wreak havoc on unsuspecting people. Harnessing the power of the Nile was one of humankind’s great achievements. But what we are seeing now is much more important and impactful.
People resist change. It’s in our nature. We fight it. Complain about it. Rant, rail and rave about the pain it causes. And then, we adapt.
Eighteen months ago, none of us could have imagined we could live as we have, isolated, disconnected, feeling the very real threat of random death visited on our families and friends. And now, we cannot imagine being able to forget it. This universal experience, perhaps the single most universal experience in the last century, is both a blessing and curse.
I’d like to focus on the blessing if I may.
Nearly 8 billion people are living a shared experience, an indelible shorthand that no previous generation has had while simultaneously having the ability to share it with practically every other person on the planet. It is, by its very definition a CONVERGENT EXPERIENCE. A coming together of lives, lived at risk and in (sometimes forced) collaboration with others. So
At Convergent, it all begins with an idea.
Maybe you want to launch a product or business. Maybe you want to find a way to communicate your company’s impact on climate change, diversity or your communities. Or maybe you have a creative idea and you need help sharing it with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
That’s what Convergent does. We take the bare bones of an idea and work with you to establish clear, concise disciplines you can use for years down the line. It is storytelling at its best. The kind of expert advice and planning that gives you and your company confidence that customers, investors, communities and partners know exactly who you are and what you do.