This report, based on a survey of Chief Executive Officers, commissioned by Page examines the drivers and implications of these shifts. The report proposes a set of strategic options for CEOs and other C-suite executives to consider in helping the enterprise successfully respond to the new realities.
Page began taking a proactive view on the role of the CCO in the enterprise with the publication of The Authentic Enterprise, a report that foresaw radical changes in the way people access and share information. We argued that in light of the radical transparency and interconnectedness that we saw coming, an enterprise wishing to earn stakeholder trust must act consistently with its stated mission and values. That report included interviews with CEOs, which has been updated twice since then:
The Page Model begins with the concept of “Corporate Character,” the definition and alignment of mission, purpose, values, culture, business model, strategy, operations and brand to create the unique, differentiating identity of the enterprise. The organization must authentically embody that character in every interaction in order to be deserving of trust.
In 2012, we interviewed 13 leading CCOs who were inventing the future and created a new model that we felt captured the new approach, which we outlined in Building Belief: A New Model for Activating Corporate Character and Authentic Advocacy. That includes building corporate character and authentic advocacy, topics which we explored in more depth in:
The New CCO, 2016
As it became clearer that the Page Model was holding up as an accurate description of the merging role of the CCO, we shifted our attention to exploring the skills and capabilities needed to perform the role well. After engaging members of Page and Page Up in a deep online conversation in 2016, we published The New CCO, which described three roles: foundational, the CCO as integrator, and builder of digital engagement systems. A subsequent report provided more detail on the third of these:
Other Reports
In 2009, Page co-created a report with the Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics, which was established by BRT, the Washington-based CEO organization, at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. The Dynamics of Public Trust in Business focused on the current state of public trust – or distrust – in business, and offered an approach to earn public trust.
Another report in 2013 made the case for Teaching Strategic Communication in Business Schools.