Ian Narev (Commonwealth Bank), Ahmed Fahour (Australia Post), Deb Thomas (Dreamworld) are all defined by events in which they lost control of the narrative. Their…
Criticism imposes confronting choices on an organisation. And repeated criticism, particularly in the media, starts a downward spiral, eroding trust, inspiring more criticism, further eroding…
Little destroys a political party’s or a company’s hopes faster than the loss of trust in the leader; think Trump, Turnbull, Narev (Commonwealth Bank). We…
In Australia there's a conversation, an undercurrent, about replacing PM Turnbull. Some say "Why, who else is there?"; others say "Why not replace one lack…
It’s a sensational period for good journalism. In the last short period: 1. The Washington Post scooped that Trump leaked classified information to the Russians. 2. The…
James Ashby (Hanson’s chief-of-staff) was caught on tape describing a way to describing a way to ‘skim’ money from taxpayers and the party’s candidates. There…
Watching Trump carries lessons for us all, especially for practitioners in Crisis PR. If your boss doesn’t have values grounded in solid foundations, beware. That…
It’s the communications professionals who have failed social media. By not taking responsibility we’ve spoilt it for the rest. Traditional media has set an expectation.…
(Peter Wilkinson has been elected Chair of the Global Communications Alliance, an organisation of senior independent public relations and public affairs companies) To be a…
‘Post-truth’ has been named word-of-the-year by the Oxford Dictionary. For me, it's best described in this scathing Economist article, ‘The Art of the Lie’, written…
The passionate debate and controversy around 18C, and Bill Leak's cartoon, has made a simple choice appear complex. It’s about free speech, or restricting it,…
Last week we witnessed the unedifying spectacle of Turnbull and Abbott going hammer and tongs at each other, with media commentary emphasising their mutual hate.…
I've written before that social media strategists need to behave like clever newspaper editors - concentrate on giving their customers the information and entertainment they…
Hilary Clinton: experienced, competent, smart; but sub-par as a leader. Malcolm Turnbull: intelligent, successful, capable; again, failing as a leader. What did JFK, Ronald Reagan…
Think like a newspaper editor. Eventually, your career will depend on it. Here’s a prediction: go forward 2-3 years. More and more journalists will be managing…
We can learn a lot about public relations and how CEOs should manage their companies by watching politicians. Public Relations rule: The vision thing Shortly…
Information overload is a personal battleground, for senders and receivers. Trying to work out the rights and wrongs of the Brexit last Saturday, with the…
Eddie McGuire might have got away with his 'drowning Caroline Wilson' comments, but for social media. For years he’s been making these outrageously inappropriate comments,…
The Australian Leadership Debate on May 29 was probably the worst recent example, but it’s happening daily in the current election campaigns. It’s gob-smacking that…
Justice Lindsay Foster is a Federal Court judge in Sydney. He is presiding over the class action brought by lawyers against Volkswagen over the ‘defeat…
People often ask why Millennials are fleeing traditional media. To me it’s too dismissive to say “They’re apathetic” or “It’s the Twitter generation”. Here’s my…
Here’s a different slant on a story that’s been doing the rounds for the last week, about yet more redundancies amongst journalists, with The Independent…