Top managers are increasingly central to company communication
In 2022, the media relevance of top managers will grow. In the last year, the media have paid unprecedented attention to Italian top managers: the top 150 executives of our country have been mentioned on the Net 252,000 times. In 2021, online content had been 152 thousand, while the previous year – the one characterized by the Covid-19 pandemic – the total had stopped at 115 thousand. This was revealed by Reputation Science, a leading company in the management of the reputation of companies, managers and institutions, which takes care of the permanent Top Manager Reputation observatory. An important growth rate: +32% between 2020 and 2021 and +66% in the last twelve months.
Symptom of the political relevance that top managers have assumed in our country. Modern executives are required to perform a first-person task, much more active than in the past and on several fronts, from corporate to social. We are in an evolutionary stage of communication, culture needs to be created, but deep and structured work is often lacking. Communication is a real asset, and reputation is dual. There are two poles, the brand and the CEO who acts as an ambassador. Nowadays, the communication of a company, through its manager, governs the public perception of the company itself. Many managers have already embraced this perspective, others are chasing.
The 2022 data highlights this new social role of top managers. Almost one content out of two (46%) is in fact referred to the sphere of Leadership: in a context of crisis, the country has looked to them for guidance. A sign of how business leaders are increasingly integrated into the public debate, not just the economic one. Especially in times of crisis when other points of reference falter. Take for example the changes at the top of strategic companies, as well as the role played in relations with Russia by the protagonists of the sector energy.
The ESG issue is confirmed as one of the cornerstones of communication by top managers. Doing business, even in Italy, thus means paying attention to both internal and external well-being, trying to have a positive impact also on the society that surrounds us. Company performance accounted for 19% of the total. A dimension that fluctuates according to the time of year, meeting its peaks of attention near the publication of the quarterly reports. Residual the story of the personal story of the executives (4%): an asset that few are able to exploit generating positive effects.
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