I moderated a lively panel discussion among my competitor/colleagues in New Orleans today, "Meet The Insurance Press," during the Risk and Insurance Management Society's annual conference. Unfortunately, only a handful of risk managers showed up, with the bulk of the audience serving in public relations at some of the leading brokers, insurers and associations. It's time for risk managers to come out of their shells and engage the press–even if they have to confront their own communication departments and corporate counsels to do so–for their own good, as well as that of their organizations.
Indeed, I will throw down the gauntlet by stating that if risk managers aren't key players in shaping and executing media policy at their press-shy firms, they will never be able to truly claim the titles of either enterprise risk manager or chief risk officer that have become the profession's holy grails.
Reputational risk is a big buzzword in the risk management community these days, but the words ring hollow unless risk managers play a key role in protecting their organization's brand and public credibility. To do that, they must be proactive players with the media, insisting that their public relations departments and corporate counsels allow them be among the front-line soldiers in the battle to protect their employer's image in the market.
They say you should never anger people who buy ink by the barrel. That axiom should be multiplied exponentially with 24-hour cable news and the Web–including blogs such as this–in the media mix. Your organization can be buried before you know what hit you, if you don't aggressively manage this exposure.
"Handling" the media by trying to exclude it, ignore it or keep it at arm's length is ultimately self-defeating and self-destructive. Media exposure can and should be addressed at least in part by risk managers, who are too often left on the sidelines, marginalized in press relations by other departments.
In my presentation, I went over some of the ways even positive developments can generate negative press if the media isn't properly engaged. I shared the story of someone we profiled as they were about to become president of an industry association. The one restriction? We could not name the person's employer! It was against company policy!
Luckily, the company involved relented and reluctantly allowed the identification, but not before I threatened to pull the profile and write an editorial urging the individual to step down as president–or the group to remove them.
(Another major industry player–Marsh–suffered a black eye in my May 1 blog entry for going along with a press ban imposed by the speaker at their breakfast for some 1,300 clients attending RIMS–the former vice president and climate change crusader, Al Gore. A dishonorable mention goes to Willis CEO Joe Plumeri, who bowed out of a RIMS CEO panel discussion here because there were too many speakers to deal with issues in any "substantive" way, his spokesman said. I get his point, but he cut off his nose to spite his face, I thought. I explain why in my blog of May 2.)
In any case, I want to thank NU Senior Editor Caroline McDonald for working diligently for over two years to convince RIMS to let us put on this press panel. (And I want to thank RIMS for agreeing to give us this forum.)
I also sincerely thank my fellow panelists for agreeing to set aside their competitive drive for a day to share their experiences and wisdom here at the RIMS conference. It's just a shame more risk managers weren't on hand to hear the sage advice they offered.
Click here for Ms. McDonald's news story on the panel, with more details about what everyone suggested. But here are some highlights:
Jack Roberts, editor in chief of "Risk & Insurance," did a very nice job laying out some of the "ground rules" risk managers and PR reps should follow when dealing with the press, including making it clear up front what can and cannot be quoted. Don't assume anything when dealing with the press. Reporters are usually reasonable, but not if they are told conversations cannot be quoted after the fact.
Regis Coccia, editor of "Business Insurance," mused that at least in dealing with the insurance press, he wished more risk managers took the academic "publish or perish" attitude. He noted that by making themselves available to comment on industry trends or their own particular initiatives, risk managers can help the profession evolve and can even boost their own careers.
(One risk manager interviewed for an April 16 story we did, headlined "Camera-Shy Risk Managers Can Benefit From Media Exposure," credited coverage of his quotes in the insurance press for getting him his latest job! To read more, click here.)
Bill Coffin, editor and publisher of the RIMS magazine, "Risk Management," elaborated on this point. He noted that too often, risk managers fly under the radar at their firms, standing out only when something goes wrong–even if a problem was beyond their control. By becoming a trusted source for the media, he suggested, risk managers can raise their profile in a positive way within their firms and profession, by calling attention to their knowledge, insights and success stories.
To sum up, people complain that the media is voracious. Indeed, our panel could have been entitled, "Feeding The Beast." Journalists, most lament, are tough to please, skeptical, often cynical and always in a rush. It's true. Deal with it.
Nature abhors a vacuum, and if you and your firm aren't forthcoming about news developments involving the company, you invite reporters, editors and readers to fill in the blanks and believe the worst.
It doesn't have to be that way. And risk managers are just the ones to make sure it isn't that way.
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