Can PR practitioners become CEOs?
“Although we’ve been taught about the importance of PR being represented or acknowledged at the senior management level, that isn’t always the reality. How far PR goes in the organisational structure and the amount of influence it is allowed depends on numerous variables including organisational structure and culture, management’s viewpoint, the industry the company operates in, and of course the PR practitioner’s own competence. If the PR person is not viewed as an asset and consistently proves to contribute to competitive advantage, well he/she won’t be reaching CEO level anytime soon.
About the point that communicators are the future CEOs, that won’t happen unles PR people operate with more business savvy and know-how, as opposed to just knowing PR. They’ve got to be all-round in that sense. I’m about to start some research in Trinidad and Tobago that touches on this, so
I’ll see if Caribbean practice mirrors Western, PR theories.”
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I wholeheartedly agree that public relations won’t go far without proper recognition by senior management, and communicators, just like financial or any other experts, won’t get that CEO position without an all-round business expertise.
But again, especially in the non-profit sector, public relations is increasingly “seen as an important player” as the study I reported on remarked. I believe communicators—depending, of course and as you point out, on their individual skills—are increasingly those players.
And I hate nitpicking, but it’s Columbia College Chicago, not Columbia University.