Companies Risk Reputational Damage By Abandoning Core Values Due to ‘Politics of the Moment’

Companies that have reversed course or gone silent on their social equity and sustainability commitments are risking reputational damage with consumers, employees and other key stakeholders, says former White House communications director Ben LaBolt. 

The veteran communicator, who spent six years at the strategic communications and public affairs agency Bully Pulpit International before running comms for the Joe Biden administration, was the opening speaker at today’s PRDecoded conference in New York.

“I think it’s a mistake to over-index on the politics of the moment because, in an era of change elections, you are completely redoing your principles as a company or organization every two years and it feels like you have no core,” LaBolt told the PR Week gathering of corporate, agency and nonprofit communicators.

With less than 300,000 voters in battleground states deciding the recent U.S. presidential election, LaBolt advised corporate leaders to stay true to bedrock values like embracing diverse perspectives and backgrounds. 

“If you have core principles as a company and a promise that you’ve made to your workforce that’s helped to attract talent, and to your consumer base that’s helped to attract consumers, you should build out a set of principles that endure over time and that you truly believe in — rather than saying that this election happened, I am going to run over and eliminate these five things, and then two years later do the opposite. That’s not going to enhance your reputation,” LaBolt said.

While discussing Donald Trump's victory, LaBolt acknowledged the Democratic Party focusing too heavily on mainstream news outlets favored by older Americans, such as the evening and morning network newscasts.  The Trump team effectively used multiple digital platforms, podcasts and influencers to campaign to millions of people who don’t have the news consumption habits of earlier generations.

“The rise of the creator is sort of this era’s rise of social media,” LaBolt said. “You’ve got creators who have audiences larger than ABC World News Tonight by two or three times, and they are 21 years old."

Among the parallels between government and corporate communications is setting an editorial calendar and dedicating 70 percent of resources to proactive communications, versus the 30 percent of time spent responding to breaking news and crises that arise.

“I’m a believer you need to be everywhere to break through with frequency,” LaBolt said when asked about the social media platforms necessary to reach mass audiences.