A recent Fortune article included a line that caught the attention of many in our community. In a podcast interview, Melinda French Gates remarked:
“We…should be living those values out, not pivoting to what some comms person tells us is the right thing to do.”
While we deeply respect French Gates and the work she’s done to advance equity and innovation, this framing reflects a damaging and persistent misconception about our profession, one that’s long overdue for correction.
At Page we know that the best Chief Communication Officers don’t pivot leaders away from their values. They help articulate and act on those values with clarity and consistency, especially in moments of pressure, scrutiny, or crisis. CCOs don’t shape messages to match the moment. They ground them in what’s true, what matters, and who the organization is.
In today’s complex environment, defined by polarization, AI disruption, geopolitical volatility, and a crisis of trust, CCOs aren’t polishing optics. They are navigating strategy. They are helping businesses lead with purpose. They are ensuring that every decision reflects the organization's core character.
We often say at Page: CCOs are not just crisis responders. They are the compass of corporate character. This concept, corporate character, has been the throughline of Page’s work for more than a decade. It’s the defining trait of what we call the authentic enterprise: an organization whose actions are grounded in values, purpose, and transparency across everything it does.
Today’s CCOs, in partnership with their CEOs, are responsible for understanding and balancing the diverse, and often conflicting, expectations of all an organization’s stakeholders. That’s not about crafting different messages for different audiences. On the contrary, it requires engagement–deep listening, honest dialogue, and helping the organization choose a clear course of action that reflects its values, even when that choice won’t please everyone.
CCOs are often the ones asking the hard questions in the room, surfacing perspectives that might otherwise be overlooked. We sometimes call this “being the skunk at the garden party.” But this kind of internal accountability is essential to leadership. It’s why the CCO role is expanding, not just as a communicator, but as a convener, translator, and conscience of the organization.
In a world demanding greater authenticity, transparency, and trust, the ability to help organizations navigate complexity through principled action is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.
A CCO’s work doesn’t begin when a reputation is at risk. It begins long before, helping organizations define their values, embed them into culture, and communicate them in ways that resonate authentically with stakeholders.
Our members live this every day. They ask the hard questions in the boardroom. They help executives pause, reflect, and move forward with integrity. And they do it not alone, but with the grounding support of the Page Principles, which call on all communicators to:
- Tell the truth
- Prove it with action
- Listen to stakeholders
- Manage for tomorrow
- Conduct public dialogue
- Realize an enterprise’s true character is expressed by its people
- Remain calm, patient and good-humored
In short, the communicator’s job is not to spin; it is to center, guide, and lead.
We welcome public conversations about the role of business and leadership in today’s world. But we also believe it’s time to shed tired stereotypes about our profession. Strategic, ethical communications, grounded in values, is not a detour from leadership. It is leadership.