Here’s to audacious goals!

John F. Kennedy first announced the goal of landing a man on the Moon in a speech to a Joint Session of Congress on May 25, 1961; his vision became a reality only eight years after his speech to Congress with the Apollo 11 mission of July, 1969. In explaining this audacious goal, Kennedy said:

“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

On January 31, the Arthur Page Society Board of Trustees approved a proposal for a new membership organization designed to provide developmental and networking opportunities for high-potential leaders in Page-member organizations, the Chief Communications Officers and Agency CEOs of the future. Only four months later, the Board approved the first slate of 42 members for the new organization, christened “Page Up.”

Page Up now has close to 80 approved members with more in the pipeline. The first annual meeting of the group is scheduled for November. The leadership structure of the new organization is in place, with a 15-member operating committee, led by newly-elected Chair Sherry Scott, a Future Leaders Experience graduate and the chief operating officer of Gagen MacDonald. A dedicated Page Up website is in the process of launching, and additional networking, mentoring and developmental opportunities are being explored. It is an exciting time.

I will admit that it may be overreaching to compare Page Up with the Apollo mission. But when we begin to think about an organization that may one day grow larger than the Page Society itself, and that will serve a critical audience, I think the analogy rings true on many levels. Indeed, to paraphrase Kennedy, no organization, which aspires to be the thought leader of its profession, can overlook the need to include the next generation of leaders in its outreach.

In many ways Page Up is the culmination of a journey that began several years ago with the launch of the Future Leaders Experience. Now in its third generation, Future Leaders has a network of 50 alumni and a current class of 36 participants. Some of the Future Leaders graduates are now chief communications officers of major corporations and are Arthur W. Page Society members.

In addition to Future Leaders, the Page Society has also developed and launched a mentoring program and fielded several Learning Community events aimed at serving the needs and interests of the next generation of Page Society leaders.

This process has helped enrich the Page Society in a number of important ways. Our members have benefitted from being able to offer unique developmental opportunities to key members of their teams. While many Page organizations have internal developmental programs, they don’t provide the networking opportunities with colleagues from other companies, industries and sectors. This cross-company collaboration and communication has been one of the most appreciated facets of the Future Leaders Experience and Learning Community events, and the potential for this to continue with Page Up is enormous. These initiatives also provide additional avenues for reinforcing the timeless and lasting value of the Page Principles.

The benefit from these programs is two-way. The participants in these outreach efforts are already proven leaders in their organizations. They are younger than most Page Society members; they are closer in age and stage to those just entering the profession; they are immersed in the tumultuous changes that are reshaping our industry. We can learn a great deal from them. They have also made it clear that they are eager to give back in meaningful ways to the profession, and they view opportunities such as Page Up as another avenue for them to do so.

For those Page members who have not yet nominated Page Up prospects, it is not too late. Nominations will be considered on an ongoing basis and the form can be obtained by clicking here.

As we move toward the first gathering of this energetic, enthusiastic and committed group of leaders, it is gratifying to know that the future for the Page Society could not be brighter. Onward and upward!

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Tom Martin
Chair, Arthur W. Page Society Professional Development Committee
Executive-in-Residence, College of Charleston

 

(This article first appeared on the Arthur Page Society “Page Turner” blog in March of 2012.)

The Arthur Page Society Future Leaders Experience gathered recently at the College of Charleston, the fourth of six sessions for the group. In the three-day meeting the group of rising communication stars considered: “Building a Strong Foundation: Values for Our Companies, Our Profession and Ourselves.”

Through a series of case studies, interaction with Page leaders and group discussion, the participants focused on the role values play in our lives as professionals, in our relationship with our companies and in carrying out our responsibilities as counselors and advocates.

Prior to the session, the participants spent time considering the values established and communicated by their organizations, as well as their personal roles in creating, shaping and sustaining these values. They also examined the professional values we maintain and how our day-to-day actions reflect these values.

In one very popular part of the session, participants were challenged by communication students at The College of Charleston to explain their own roles in developing, maintaining and communicating values. These students had researched the participants’ companies prior to the session and wanted to know more about how values figured into key business decisions. The comments by participants during and after the session reinforced the belief that values play an increasingly important role in the corporate communications practice, especially as we seek to restore trust in our organizations and the clients we serve.

When they considered what they had taken from the session the group noted that:

• We each have a personal as well as a professional responsibility for values.
• Values have to be developed and evaluated in a deliberate, purposeful way.
• Values can play a pivotal role in creating an emotional bond with other stakeholders.
• In many ways, values demonstrate the humanity of the corporation.

In reflecting on the experience, one participant noted “it was eye-opening to see the power of values in building emotion in an organization with many publics. This session was inspiring because values are often not considered as critical as other ‘business’ requirements, yet they are clearly a key issue. It was very valuable, inspiring and motivating to take this learning back to my company.”

Another said that the “session provided valuable and timely insights into the fundamental importance of values, the role of Communications in safeguarding a company’s values and serving as the corporate conscience, and the increasing dangers of straying from values in a world of transparency.”

Clearly the session provoked reactions that were not expected. As one person described it: “I went in thinking this would be a kind of a hokey cheerleading session…but I emerged feeling invigorated. I was inspired by the examples of how people and companies are living their values — this is clearly what it means to live an authentic life or run an authentic enterprise.”

Another summed it up this way, “I will apply what I learned at work and in my personal life. While my company has strong, well-understood values, it is now clear to me that we have not done enough to define what those values mean and how we live them at work and in our decision-making. My conversations with my team will change. On a personal level, I will create my own set of values and visit them periodically as some of the speakers suggested.”

Some may confuse a consideration of Values with “happy talk” but the session in Charleston was about much more than that. The group came away with a renewed appreciation of the connection between Values and Trust. They learned about organizations making very tough decisions by examining what they really believed in and acting in accordance with these beliefs. Many companies fail by focusing solely on shareholder returns at the expense of employees, customers, regulators and communities. The companies that deliver financial returns while also understanding the importance of employee satisfaction, customer loyalty and community impact tend to outperform the ones that only worry about Wall Street.

I have worked with lawyers, journalists and financial analysts my entire career and thoroughly appreciate their understandable skepticism about these concepts. That’s their job. But it doesn’t negate the fact that some companies have been very deliberate in turning well-crafted and well-managed values into sound decisions and financial success. For the Future Leaders, these concepts clearly resonated in Charleston.

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By Tom Martin
Executive-in-Residence, Department of Communication
College of Charleston