Rolling the Dice for Trust

Most senior public relations leaders are familiar with Page's mantra about public permission and public approval, and it's recited earnestly (even reverently in some seminars) as the received truth upon which public relations lays a claim to the Holy Grail of leadership, a seat at the table when "serious policy decisions are being made and heavy management lifting is being done." Yet in the post-Enron era of trust-challenged leadership, many C-suite suits have learned to talk like Arthur Page about the "public" when in public while secretly celebrating William Vanderbilt's oft quoted opinion of public opinion, "The public be damned."