A big drug company I worked with was facing controversy over the safety of a blockbuster medicine. The company’s PR-firm told the chief executive to “show concern”, “apologise” and “take responsibility”. After receiving this advice, the chief turned to me and said: “I’m paying a hundred grand a month for this?”

It wasn’t that the chief executive opposed these high-minded touchstones per se; he just believed this counsel was unwise and uninspired. He felt that his drug saved lives and that the attack on it was unmerited. Would it have been more ethical to traffic in the hackneyed dogma of repentance – which would have put his company at legal and commercial risk – or fight for a drug he believed in, and offend the PR priesthood?

This anecdote is emblematic of the chronic complaint of the PR industry: its inability to earn the respect of corporate leaders. But it’s hard to take seriously the opinions of a profession where the same dollops of advice are rehashed without reflection and do not square with the complex challenges of top management in the digital age. And perhaps BP’s senior executives have become very familiar with these well worn mantras in the past couple of months.

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