Mastering Business for Strategic Communicators: Insights and Advice from the C-suite of Leading Brands

The most successful communication professionals are no longer just communication experts—they are masters of business. To serve as trusted advisors to the C-suite and to collaborate across the enterprise means it is necessary to have a strong grounding in business acumen.  Mastering Business provides strategic communications and public relations students and professionals with expert insights and advice into the various major business functions and departments. From an assemblage of top strategic communication leaders comes this collection of more than 20 essays from current and former Chief Communications Officers (CCOs). The authors show the business areas that communicators help convene, integrate, and translate across their enterprises and to external stakeholders. Each chapter features a Career Spotlight by the CCO and a C-suite View response from a business leader, including CEOs, presidents, and CFOs from household names like GE, GM, Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, Walgreens Boots Alliance, and SAP.  This collection provides readers with a rare view of the leadership roles played by top strategic communicators inside some of today’s most well-known brands and organizations. 

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Roger Bolton, president, Arthur W. Page Society PART I. Introduction 1. Advising "the room where it happens": the business case for business acumen; Matthew W. Ragas, Ph.D. and Ron Culp  PART II. Communications, Business Acumen and the C-suite  2. The communicator as integrator; Gary Sheffer & Weber Shandwick  3. Why business acumen matters more than ever; Peter Marino 4. From farm to pharm: business and life lessons learned in the barnyard; Jeffrey A. Winton & Astellas Pharma PART III. Finance and Investor Relations  5. Taking the numb out of numbers: working with the office of the CFO; Kathryn Beiser 6. The partnership between corporate communications and investor relations; Carole Casto PART IV. Human Resources and Employee Engagement  7. Mastering business means first understanding your people; Corey duBrowa 8. Employees as drivers of corporate brand and reputation; Paul Gerrard and Angela Roberts 9. Have a seat at the table - not on the fringes; Anne C. Toulouse PART V. Corporate Strategy, Innovation and Legal  10. Collaborating with strategy and innovation: taking on the challenge to "communicate the amoeba"; Linda Rutherford  11. Telling the story of value creation; Clarkson Hine 12. Lessons from my father: bringing the "greener rules" to corporate strategy and planning; Chuck Greener,   13. Understanding the corporate legal department; Mark Bain & Baker McKenzie PART VI. Marketing, Brand and Data Analytics  14. Driving to the right place: aligning communications with business goals and objectives; Joe Jacuzzi and Tony Cervone 15. Peas in a pod: communications and the chief marketing officer; Richard Kylberg 16. Learn the language of business and keep what you earn; B. J. Talley PART VII. Social Responsibility and Transparency  17. Truth, trust and transparency: why hard facts and corporate honesty matter; Matt Peacock 18. How communicators can help corporations make a difference; Stacy Sharpe 19. Communications for social good; Andrew Solomon PART VIII. Communication and Corporate Transformations  20. Building communications' influence during corporate transformation; Kelly McGinnis  21. Accentuate the positive: the communicator's catalytic effect; Jon Harris 22. Communications leadership that strong leaders expect; Nick Tzitzon PART IX. Summing Up 23. Observations and conclusions from "Masters of Business"; Matthew W. Ragas, Ph.D and Ron Culp

About the Author :
Matthew W. Ragas, Ph.D. and Ron Culp are on the public relations faculty in the College of Communication at DePaul University in Chicago, USA, where they help develop the next generation of communications leaders. They are the co-authors of Business Essentials for Strategic Communicators.

Review :
Veterans of marketing and business communication help communications professionals think like business people in order to contribute to the company and further their career. They cover communications, business acumen, and the C-suite; finance and investor relations; human resources and employee engagement; corporate strategy, innovation, and legal; marketing, brand, and data analytics; social responsibility and transparency; and communication and corporate transformations. Among the topics are why business acumen matters more than ever, the partnership between corporate communications and investor relations, driving to the right place: aligning communications with business goals and objectives, how communicators can help corporations make a difference, and communications leadership that strong leaders expect. Building deeper competencies in business helps strategic communicators gain traction with the many silos of the typical corporate C-suite. Mastering Business for Strategic Communicators makes the case that these competencies empower communicators to counsel and serve as integrators of many strategic priorities beyond communication... The overall tone of the book is invitational to new practitioners, as well as to those who would seek more responsibility. Many practitioners discuss their mistakes, their influences, and their own learning through trial and error. In sum, these authors' views of the power of communication should both inspire and instruct.