 Welcome everybody to the latest in our advancing leadership webinar series. My name is Zoe Arden, I'm a fellow at CISL and I'm the chair of these webinars. So delighted to have so many of you with us today. We've had 540 people sign up this webinar so welcome if you're joining us live and welcome if you are listening to this recording, watching this recording afterwards. So today's topic is communicating for leadership, influence and impact. And I'm absolutely delighted to have two expert communicators join me on the panel. And as you would expect with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, they are expert communicators who are also very much focused on social and environmental impact. So first let me introduce Mark. Mark is director of Brand and Social Purpose at Edelman. Mark's career started in advertising. He learned the incredible power of storytelling to influence people and outcomes very early on and has worked across brand strategy and sustainability, innovation, worked with many big brands to help them maximise their commercial brand value and how to scale social impact. He's worked in creative agencies, international NGOs. So he was head of international marketing communications for red and worked for brands as head of sustainability marketing likes of Telefonica. Now Edelman, he's their director of brand and social purpose and works with some of the world's best known brands. So Apple, Unilever, Ikea, Starbucks, O2, etc. So welcome Mark. Hello, good morning everyone. And I'd also like to welcome Anna Lungley. Anna is global head of social impact at Denzou Aegis Network. And Anna is also senior associate at CISL and she works very much at the intersection of strategy, communications and sustainability. And for those of you who aren't familiar with Denzou Aegis Network, there she's responsible for embedding purpose at the heart of business culture and operations, reporting directly into the CEO that her work includes setting and delivering Dan's social and environmental goals. And Dan has 45,000 specialists dedicated to changing the role, the relationship that brands have with consumers. Prior to joining Denzou Aegis, Anna was sustainable business director for BT. And in fact, we're old colleagues from BT. So welcome Anna. Thank you. Lovely to be here. Super. So just a quick recap. Please feel free to ask questions and post comments through the chat functionality throughout the webinar. We'll be monitoring those. And this is a conversation. We're going to make sure that we've got a good 30 minutes at the end to answer your questions. And thank you for those of you who've submitted questions in advance. The final webinar in this series is next month. And that's looking at common leadership, dilemmas and solutions. And last month's webinar, many of you joined us to talk about personal leadership in action. And that was a really fantastic conversation. I encourage you to look at that if you get the chance. OK, so this is our outline for today. So why is communication essential leadership skill? What's the context that we're operating in? So how has the role of business changed? And then society wants more, but consumers also want more as well. So how are brands responding to that? And obviously a really important question that we are going to address head on and has come up in many of the questions, which is how do we communicate in a crisis? How do we behave in a crisis? So firstly, a quick point on why is communication an essential leadership skill? Why are we talking about communicating for influence and impact as part of our advancing leadership series? Well, we know that actually communication plays a critical role in creating positive change. It helps build more inclusive communities and can shape society. Communication actually maximizes our influence and impact to drive meaningful change. So we often put it in the leadership soft skills bucket. But what we know from our programs at CISL is actually quite hard to do right. So and how is how is communication delivered in a way that could ensure that it's an essential leadership skill? So how can we communicate? We can do that by collaborating and creating new innovative solutions at systems level. Really important. It's around how we embed and cultivate purpose driven cultures that foster experimentation and learning. It's how we develop powerful stories that inspire and motivate others and we'll be sharing some examples of those later. And it's how we actually engage with stakeholders and unlock the benefits of divergent and inclusive thinking. So so it's it's perhaps much broader than some of us initially think. OK, so moving on and how does communication enable the future we want? So some of you who've joined this webinar will be already be in the CISL network and you would have received an email from Zane Polykurtis at the beginning of the month talking about CISL's forthcoming new leadership platform, the future we want. And communication is an influence and impact is that absolutely at the heart of this new leadership platform. So a few ways, a few ways in which it is at the heart. So it's how we listen to each other. It's how we explore new possibilities and test and bait and challenge ideas, which is an essential part of this this leadership platform. It's how we coordinate responses. And as Zane Poly mentioned in in her in her blog, it's how we make space for compelling narratives and evidence to be drawn together. It's how we create a vision of a sustainable future, which is absolutely the part at the heart of a CISL's forthcoming leadership platform. How we finally leading on to what Mark is going to talk about. It's very much how we show up as leaders. So so over to you, Mark. Great, thank you Zoe. So I'm going to jump into that role of leaders, particularly probably from the private sector. And where do where do people expect us to turn up? Whether it be our colleagues, whether it be our partners, whether it be our customers and consumers, whether it just be our families at home. And when I'm talking about the change of dynamic we face, including probably interesting there, as Zoe mentioned about the ability to listen and listen to what is expected of you. That's going to be a thing that comes through loudly, I think, in lots of the commentary today. But we're going to be looking at data that's pulled from Edelman Trust. That's been going about 20 years. So the information you're seeing here is actually from about two million people being questioned in 27 markets over that time. And a bit of context, which actually is quite a nice bridge to what we face today. Edelman Trust started in the Battle of Seattle. So those of us on the call, who are old enough to remember, that was a WTO conference over in Seattle when protesters were on the streets and it really caught the attendees out. And the attendees, of course, were leadership of mainly political and in business world. And our CEO was actually attending that, and like everyone else, they didn't see it coming. And the reason we started looking at Trust was to understand who were these people? Why were they so angry? And what was dynamic between them and the people within the conference, beyond the locked doors? And why was it broken? Why do they feel they had to take to the streets to try and get their message out there? So that's where it started. And we've been looking at Trust ever since. And Trust, in that time, has changed a lot. There are various, obviously, global events that take place. There are huge economic events that take place, all of which play into changing dynamics. And when we look at Trust, we look at poor institutions. We look at the NGO sector. We look at media. We look at business and brands. And we've got one there and government, of course, and politics. Now, what we've seen most recently, which is really significant on this slide, which is business is now more trusted than government. And for the first time ever in the last survey, business is as trusted as NGOs. But a key difference is business is seen as being more competent than both actually deliver solutions. It means the role of business has changed in the world and therefore the role of leaders of business has changed in the world. And the world expects brands and private sectors to do more than just sell. There is a greater expectation and hope on businesses to do more. So when we look at the role of leaders in that space, it means that CEOs are being asked to lead. Seventy six percent of people, so CEOs should take a lead on change rather than waiting for government. When I said about listening, what we're seeing in government across the world, not in every single market, but certainly across most markets, is a slight failure of government and that government appears not to be listening as well or not being as effective and implementing change that people want to see while they see that business is doing it more more capably. Now, when we look at the immediate time, the right hand side of this chart here is a survey that's done in 12 markets and completed two three weeks ago now that was looking at how brands are turning up in the current crisis. So moving from WTO 20 years ago to current crisis, there is still a need and the needs change starting to being the model media for the importance of the employer in the society, the trust they have in business to provide solutions is there and very clear what they want you to do. They want to ensure that everyone you touch throughout all of your value chain directly and indirectly, you take care of in the best possible way. And that should be really the primary purpose of business right now and which is a change from the past to share information. So we see every audience expects you to do more if you are working in the private sector, every brand. Consumers expect companies to take actions that increase profits but also improve society. They don't see it as being contradictory. They don't see it as being a choice. They see it as being a commitment and expectation of both. And Anna will talk more about what the reward is for companies that have managed to show that employees. I think any of you who work in any company or any organisation who spent any time talking to the younger staff coming into your business or organisation will vouch for this. Surveys generally show that it's a second question asked. What is your role in the world? What are you doing in the world? How are you improving the state of the world? It's a really important factor where some would join you but more importantly, why they may stay with you. Nine in 10 within companies believe that their CEO should speak out on societal issues. That's a big change from how leadership was 15 years ago where generally it was keep your head down unless asked. That's very, very different to today and investors maybe later to the party, but a hugely important player now in this space and in fact, really the accelerant of what's driving change. They want to see change. They want to ask questions of your boardroom. They want to ask your leadership. What is the change you're trying to see in the world and what a change you are trying to implement in the world? This is a really important factor going forward for the role of leaders to play in understanding and articulate that. And why is it all there? Well, first of all, it's because business is being a positive and effective force for change, a force for good. They see business as a better idea, the better innovation. Probably the second column is really important though. They're better at implementing. 53% believe business can do more than government to correct societal ills. And we're going to come back to that in the current crisis later. What does that mean in the current context? And lastly, but it's really importantly, touch on what we mentioned before about listening, that they believe actually it's easier to mobilize brands than government. It's easier to be heard as a consumer, as a citizen, through brands than government. It means, do I want to express myself and my views on the world, through the brands I choose, brands I promote, I'm with, advocate with, spend my money with, or do I have to wait four years for a time to vote? Of course, that is not meant to be saying we represent voting systems, but it's saying people are expressing themselves in more immediate ways. And they think they're being heard in more immediate ways through brands. So the call is getting louder. They feel they can mobilize you. Their call is getting louder. This chart is very, very striking, Chuck. There's some data points here from different years. Let me explain what this shows you. First of all, on the left-hand side, that bar chart. That bar chart we saw last year is really striking. Really striking. That bar chart tells you that only one in five people believe that the system is working for them. We saw that last year and it jumped out at us as a very alarming sign. Something wasn't right. Many of the people on this call, the careers you're in, you're interested in this call, you're following this institution, you understand some of the tensions that play here. On the right-hand side is what we saw this year. This again was even more striking. 56% of voting people believe capitalism wasn't working today. There's more harm than good. That's a really, really worrying trend to be coming through. The going back to the left, the table. There is hope here. They might feel a sense of injustice. They might have a desire for change. Three-quarters of those people. But let's look at the last. Only one-quarter of a lack of hope. Three-quarters believe we can make things better. Three-quarters believe we can implement change. Three-quarters believe it's in their power to make choices and make change and believe people can utilise. And the institution they believe can do it best are the brands. So as we look forward, it's really important now more than ever to embrace your new role as leaders in brands and business because it's the expectation on you. It's an ask of you. It's a want of you from both your internal colleagues, from your stakeholders, from your supply chain, regulators, from government, from consumers, from citizens. And actually, if you get there and if you can embrace that new role, if you can make it work for you and step forward into it, there is great benefit from it too. I'm handing over to Anna to explain some of those benefits that you'll see coming through. Yeah, brilliant Mark. So thank you for that context sharing. And Anna, now over to you really to talk about how do we have impact and influence and what are some of the qualities that we need to be able to do that well? Thank you, thank you Zoe. So today, as we're sitting here at home doing a live panel saying that the world is changing might feel like an understatement. Global megatrends are reshaping our world. Digital is transforming the way that we work, the way that we live. Today, I think everything we do at the moment is online and business and brands have no choice but to respond and transform their business models to survive. And the advertising and marketing industry is no exception in the way that we communicate is an exception. And like everyone, we need to go beyond the way that we work and go beyond thinking purely about profit to rethink our purpose and consider the true value that we can create for society. And that puts the role of communications organization into start-up relief. We have a powerful role to play in shaping society. And I think it's something that over the last couple of years, advertising communications agencies have really begun to wake up and realize. The power of communication and how effective communication can be in changing the way that people think, feel or act can be a huge force for good. And obviously, it can also be misused as well. And I think it's important not to ignore that. But digital has completely transformed communications. We can communicate to live speed now and we can reach everybody at the perfect time and in the perfect way. So whether you use your mobile phone or you like to consume information on-demand television, we know your preferred channels are communication. The data, which is the lifeblood of the digital economy generates insights to gently nudge people in one direction or another. So Zoe, when you go into the supermarkets by washing powder, you may not actually realize exactly why you choose one brand over another. Because communications is so subtle and it just nudges and influences behavior and that's the power of it. And of course, this global communications network connects people to causes and causes to communities. And 20 years ago, we probably wouldn't have heard of Brecht Sandberg. But social media gave her a voice and connected her to millions of school children in the wild over who amplified their voice with hers. And importantly, took that knowledge and that passion back into their own schools and communities. And so we see digital and real-life communications really beginning to seamlessly merge. And I think it's been palpable in the pandemic how we've seen community groups and neighbors enabled by tools like WhatsApp, rallying around pensioners who are in isolation just to make sure that they are looked after and cared for and they have their weekly shop delivered. And digital can give rise to global movements as well. So we were really proud to be part of our planet and the distribution of our planet reaching millions of people in a very short space of time and uniting people the world over in a global movement and plastic pollution. So I think, again, we can see how fast you can communicate in today's digital communication, the power of that communication to reach into all the corners of the globe and to really, really affect change. But that cut through and create impact. It's really important to understand that businesses, brands, governments are no longer in control of the conversation in the way that they might have been previously. Now, the reason for this is clear. For a long time our relationship with business and brands has been transactional. So brands control the conversation deciding what to communicate and when through advertising or direct marketing. It was very much a one-way conversation. But over the last decade, the power balance has shifted. And 10 years ago, two thirds of touch points were brand led, but today, two thirds of touch points are brand led. And I think that's something that everyone in this call will recognize. We are much more likely to trust a review of an anonymous stranger on social media than the information the brands of business have sent us directly. And the advent of social media means that systems are no longer passive, they're no longer consumers in that way, they have a voice and they are using it. And in fact, some people have stopped using that term consumers and started talking about pro-seamers. So what do consumers want from brands? And I think it's really nice to sort of explain this. Consumers want more from brands. They don't just want that transactional relationship where they're marketed at. If they're going to give you their money or more importantly these days, give them, give you their time, they want you to matter to them and have meaning in their lives. They want to interact with organizations, communicate with entities that actually share their values. And this needs to go beyond the narrative. So 78% of consumers expect brands about social change. I think Mark has talked about some of the supporting statistics already, 64% of people will actually boycott a brand. So I'll actually stop shopping with them or stop engaging with them if they don't agree with their standard social issues. And sustainability of course is an increasing importance. To really cut through, you need to consider your tone of voice and values. Now, in a super VUCA world where everything is changing and the pace of disruption is exponential, people are prioritizing what I would describe as old fashioned values and human qualities that inspire confidence. Trust, which we've touched on, empathy, purpose, authenticity. So suddenly your stakeholders, including your clients and your talent, the people that work for you and your value, but also the people you want to attract into your organizations and teams. They care not just how you operate your business but the role you play in your community and how you treat your people. And that's becoming increasingly important. And what were anonymous businesses are expected to be much more human. So Mark has touched on trust and I think he'll talk about it in a bit more detail shortly. You can build trust. You can keep your brand promise, deliver on time, maintain quality standards, all the things again that we would do as individuals that build our own personal brand and mean that people actually trust us when they work with us. And businesses that build trust have an opportunity and a world where people doubt what they read in the media or potentially doubt the information they receive from governments. The second point is empathy. And I do want to talk about this in some depth. It's one of the most powerful tools we have as communicators and it's often underestimated. In our industry, we often talk about the intention to action. Once you have captured a person's attention and you've created a spark of curiosity and even a willingness to act, how do you actually convert that intention into action? And the key is often to create empathy. The ability to communicate with your audience in a way that enables them to feel empathy and connect your cause can trigger action. And of course, that's what we're all trying to create here when we want to create influence and impact. And this is an approach we use at lots. So at Densey, we work with about 80,000 organizations all over the world. I think 89 of the world's biggest brands, our clients' brands, and it's a tool that we see them deploying very successfully. So when you see campaigns that make your heart lurch, make you roll with laughter or make you cry, that's the brand actively creating empathy to try and inspire you to take action. And it's a really powerful tool. It's why you remember the John Lewis Christmas app. It's why I will only ever buy Pampers because I think P&G's Thank You Mom campaign convinced me that only they know how hard and exhausting it is to actually raise kids and also how rewarding it is. And I still cry every time I watch that. So it's hugely powerful. At Densey during this pandemic, we've actually set up five phases based on the five stages of grief to really understand how people are responding to the current crisis and asking them where they are in their journey and how that's changed over time since the pandemic began. And this has created incredible insights to help brands navigate the emotional storms that consumers are currently weathering. It's also really importantly, help them understand how they can change their messaging over time. So half of millennials in Densey say they're paying more attention than ever to how brands are communicating. And at first, generally, and I think we're all going through this together, which is one of the incredible things about this pandemic. But at first, I think people were really worried about coping or worried about jobs, feeling very isolated, how to take care of loved ones. But as they move from that kind of initial shock into subsequent stages and start coming to grips, we found that actually consumers are looking potentially for less support and more action for brands. They want them to focus on solutions, not just selling, it's only well relevant. And again, I think that's an important point and also touches on that authenticity. It doesn't need to be complicated. So on a very simple level, I'm getting emails from lots of different companies at the moment saying, they're telling me that they think they're thinking of me, not so relevant, but straight and genius. Nando's have actually certainly recipe suggestions. My kids who are completely bored of my cooking after four weeks at home, would be delighted last night to have a full on Nando's meal, including those Periwokas crisps, which I think is absolutely genius and really makes me think very, and feel very differently about the Nando's brand, because they're relating to me at home. And so we want brands to kind of demonstrate that they understand what they're going through, to tell us how they can help or stay silent. And I think these initiatives or product lines might not generate huge profit in the short term, but in the longer term, they will pay for themselves because they will generate that brand loyalty. And that's been nicely to purpose. So the business case purpose of brands is increasingly recognized. 70% agree that brands, the secret profit of purpose is that, they will lose trust in that brand forever. And again, marks me to talk about that a lot. But the one point I do want to make is that I think purpose as a concept is often misunderstood. It's not simply about being a good citizen. It's about recognizing the genuine value you can add to society through your core products and services. And there's been a very interesting case study in the UK recently with Gary Neville, who's a former Man United footballer, who's opened his hotel in Manchester to NHS staff in charge. And of course, Zoe and I are both big fans of Joe Wicks. He's a British fitness instructor who has live workouts at 9 a.m. every morning to get the UK moving. And that feels very logical for him because he's a fitness instructor. And for those of you who haven't yet seen it, I strongly recommend watching his Scooby-Doo puppy workout, particularly if you want to get yourselves up and moving in the morning. Authenticity, so it's really important to stress that companies that position themselves as Papa said, will sustain our authentic consumers will no longer tolerate hypocrisy. There is a very good example of an asset management fund in the United States. And many of you will have seen the image of the girl facing down the bull in front of New York's stock exchange. It was copied world over. The aim was to highlight the need for gender balance on boards. And it was hugely successful with about 200 different organizations appointing women as a result of stating as a result of that campaign. But their brand equity was eroded six on seato and the fund made the front pages for underpaying its female leaders. On the contrary, if your experience is authentic, people are five times more likely to stay loyal. And that brings me to my final point, which is the employer brand. How you treat your people or the people upon whom you depend is going to be more important than ever in the wake of this pandemic. If we behave badly or you have your ethics called into question, you can very quickly end up on social media and also mainstream media as journalists trawling through social media to understand sentiment. And according to one of the surveys that Mark's done over one third of China in April, well, I think it's as high as 82% in China say that they've started using a new brand because of the inoperative and compassionate way that they have responded during the pandemic. So again, a real opportunity. And the best example, one of the best examples I've seen of that recently is the drinks industry in the US who have rallied around the bartender community recognising that they need tips to survive. And Diashio, I think, donated a million, Bacardi three million, a host of other hyper-agreed drinks brands donated into the bartender emergency assistance programme. And that's a very savvy move as well because of course that's forced to their value chain. So in years to come, and again Mark said this, the talent you're trying to attract into your business may well ask you what you do in the pandemic. You personally are new as an organisation. And I do think that's a really good thing because in the new world trust, combined with purpose and the ability to collaborate will be absolutely key. So whether you are responding or managing your communications in the current crisis, do you stick with compassion and make a difference? Brilliant, thank you so much, Anna. And firstly, lovely to see you drawing on so many themes that we had in our March workshop around authenticity and purpose and compassion and empathy. And also picking up on the many questions that we're getting in the chat around trust. So I'd now like to just hand back to Mark for our final few slides before we open it up to questions. And as I said at the beginning, we wanted to address this head on because obviously we've had lots and lots of questions around this and Mark, I know that you've got some new survey data from Edelman which will sort of help people think about this as well. Yeah, absolutely. And so it won't take long, but I think it feels really important to share with everyone. As Anna's reference, we are living in extraordinary times. I'm sure many of you on this call are battling with children who are apparently homeschooling downstairs. You've done Joe Wicks, you're trying to work out how your days are for any different for any kitchen to your lounge, to your study back to your kitchen and study all over again. Same all over the world. It's extraordinary times. We've never had anything like this in our, our lifetime, our parents' lifetime. Hopefully we will not experience it again in our own lifetimes. What does it mean for brands? What does it mean for employers? And Anna raised a really, really important point about the value of employers. Last year we saw a huge change and employees became the most trusted institution in an individual's life. It probably in response to this VUCA world that I alluded to and described, which is things fell out of control and I feel unable to influence. And actually employer is probably the biggest institution that I come into contact with that I have some level of control over. I can talk to a line manager, I can quit my job, I can go somewhere else to work. I can ask for a different role within my company. It's probably the largest, most comforting in terms of the security offers institution which I have a semblance of influence over. But it has really important role. This data I'm gonna show you now is related about three weeks ago in a 12 market study you can see on the screen there. You'll understand how people, citizens around the world were feeling about the pandemic and how companies were responding. So we jump on please Zoe. As mentioned before, we know that brands are regarded to be people who can deliver the solutions we need. Come up with the ideas but deliver them. So 63% are saying that we won't get through this without brands playing a critical role in the solutions we need to provide on what we then build out the back of the crisis. Overall as well, it's interesting, isn't it, to see these numbers and mirroring what they've got. Despite government turning, we haven't seen the same Marshall plan and Roosevelt. Still, they regard business and company to be responding more quickly than government. But that's really telling that that remains true in that sentiment of speed of action. So what do they want people to do? Well, there is expectation on you. So if you're not doing that, they are also gonna punish you. Now, this is also very striking. We spoke about the preference that will be delivered through doing the right thing. This is even stronger. This is telling you that I will actually, not only boycott you personally, I will encourage others to boycott you if I don't believe you stepped up. I think it's quite clear in the first three months of this crisis, the differential between the brands who are stepping up and the brands who aren't. I think it's almost becoming starker and more obvious those companies that have the ability in their leadership teams and their resilience to actually step forward into the crisis and those who may be shrinking under the pressure of it. So we know because she must remember that. Now, Annalute is absolutely right. Now is the time to focus on solutions and not selling. It's a unique period where globally we face the same common enemy. We face the same number one challenge. There is only one priority on every boardroom's list. Every citizen's life. And it's the same everywhere in the world, which is a unique experience. So it's about the solution to that challenge they want to hear about. And if we go for a piece though. The first of all, it's that role of employer again. It is about ensuring that your suppliers and your employees, 90% people believe you have number one responsibility is the core of what business has always done in society, which is provide the wellbeing through security of income, security, a role of a job and that needs to continue. And at all expense, they do expect businesses to take a short-term hit on this to try and keep individuals are being maintained. That includes their safety force at work. And if we go on again, it also means pivoting the business. They want to see products that help people meet challenges about solutions to what you build. It also means offering products to frontline staff and those who are most at danger, most vulnerable, who society as a whole feels now most indebted to discount products, free products. How are you helping those people who are really carrying the greatest burden from us all through this crisis? And we've seen many brands doing this brilliantly and stepping with really meaningful solutions. And lastly, it's worth bearing in mind, they're not looking for new products. They're not looking to browse and things that aren't related to this right now. That is why you were saying such a steep decline in advertising, such a steep decline in lots of marketing campaigns. And it's right because people are telling you, we don't want to see that. We don't want to be buying that stuff. It hopefully will come back. But right now, there's no need for this. And how do they work? They need to work in pan and glove with government. They need to work in partnership with government. But it's really important that second chart there, the second slide, number on this slide rather, the safety net, they really do see business as being the catch-all. The people who will come up with things that maybe government lets slip, that they have an important role to fill the gaps in government's response. The role is vital. And lastly, there is this real need, which is new. It's the new requirement of companies about being an information source, different to normal. We're not just asking you to tell us what time we should start work, what is our pension policy, what they're asking you to tell the information, they trust you more than any other source about what is the situation today? What is the state of coronavirus in our market globally? How are our colleagues surviving? What are we doing for our supply chain? How are we ensuring that we are stepping up to the mark on this? And what should I be doing at home in my life? This is a new role for companies to play and making sure you do it competently and accurately at this time. And with compassion, as Anna said, it's really important. So finally, what should we do as a whole? Well, this point rightly and thankfully, it's going to experts. The public want to hear from more from experts than ever before and understandably so. So if you're dressed in a white coat and you're working in a hospital right now, people will listen to anything you've got to say. But this man is the top of the tree on that. This man is Dr. David Navarro. He's WHO COVID special envoy and we've been working with him to make sure we stay across what's going on with the crisis. His words are deeply compelling. So I want to share them with you. I'm asking everybody who's got the power to lead where they can and not to wait for permission. Here are things to stand by. You should be audacious, ambitious, authentic and accountable in what you do. If you're going to start communicating around this and stepping forward in this challenge, you go forward, please, Zoe. And here is his four things to bear in mind, which I think really is what we've been touched on today. You just show up and do your part. This is not a time to step back. It's not a time to disappear. There is an expectation on brands and companies to meet these challenges. There's a want for them to do it and there's a belief they can do it well. People want to see you doing that. Don't act alone. This obviously is a huge problem, way beyond us, like other problems we face too, namely climate change and shore come up in discussions. But collaboration and collaboration at speed is required and demonstrating that is required. Solve, not sell. I won't go over that. We've spoken out lots, but it's about solutions to problems people face in the immediacy, in their everyday life. During lockdown, they need to have solutions offered to them and communicate with emotion, but deliver with facts and action. People do want to know what's happening and how we're getting through this. You need to show compassion and understanding of what it feels like to be in this. You need to frame it correctly because facts on their own won't be received. But they also need to believe it's accurate so you can maintain the trust. Brilliant. Thank you, Mark, so much. And thank you, Anna, as well. So, and thank you to all of us who've joined us for the questions and comments that are coming in. Mark, I just want to address the first one to you, if I may, just picking up on this point about trust. It's been a really strong theme in the chat conversation, was does Edelman expect trust to change this year with COVID-19? The question is asking the general perception, maybe some exceptions like the US, is that people are trusting governments more, especially as companies are letting people go, reducing payments, et cetera. Any predictions on what might happen to trust? Yeah, so I think where the questions led to is probably the category that will change most, which is government, because there is, so in our trust, we've broken down into what constitutes trust? How do you earn trust? What behaviors do you need to be in? And really it's about your competence in the role you do, the dependability in that task. How much integrity do you have in doing that task? And whether you have a higher purpose, are you doing something in society? Are you helping society move to a better place? You dealing with some of the issues? Government is obviously being very, very poor, sorry, not obviously. Government has been scoring very, very poorly on competency, the belief that it has the ability to solve solutions. Now, you're absolutely right. The government has stepped in unprecedented ways as it needs to, and it will continue to do that. As we move from a health issue to an economic issue, the government intervention will be absolutely key, and we're already seeing a beginning in that response. How effective it delivers that will obviously depend on the level of competency, scoring that they are gaining. We can see that they are, there is a sense of in UK, we're obsessed by referring to split spirit. This sense of this common enemy brings everyone together, and it has galvanized. Whether in time passing, there will be some reviews of how well governments have actually performed for errors they made. And already we're seeing comparisons between markets of governments have done very well and very badly. That will no doubt play in. What is guaranteed is that government's gonna have a bigger role in our lives than it has done for generations. So I think the levels of trust from that will be how well they perform in that role. What is their level of confidence? How will they deliver against what they're promising? And of course what we're paying for. So I think that the question is right to lead to government. That would be where we see the biggest changes. Some companies I think will perform very well as a whole sector, the private sector, I think will be challenging because obviously there's gonna be massive job losses. There's gonna be incredible economic hardship, how much people take regard that as being the private sector or the private sector being a victim of that is a different matter to see how the public react. Level of trust has been very low for a long time. I think what's also interesting in the current conflict is social media. We saw social media in the last few years really falling away. Technology has been the golden child of all industries. Had levels of trust that every other industry would have absolutely loved to reach. In the last three years, we've seen that the general public's understanding to differentiate technology between social media platforms and technology as a whole had started to form. There was maturing and a differential between the platforms and the publishers was starting to mature. So we can see a return to journalism as an old media consumption is rocketing right now. An expert opinion is rocketing right now. There is a fear about fake news. And that has been- Actually Mark, Mark, I'm gonna pause you there if you don't mind but I have so many questions and I would love to try and get through a few more. And in fact, you've actually just segway to a topic that I wanted to pick up with Anna because we've got a lot of questions in advance as well. So it'd be lovely if we could try and get through as many questions as we can. So Anna, three questions that I felt really talked to what you were addressing in your piece there that I'll just lay out for you. See if you've got any other additional comments if that's okay. And we've had a sort of a bunch of questions around how to be relevant and genuine in a changing communications landscape. So three aspects. So the one that Mark was just picking up on there. So how to deal with digital communication and judgment on real versus fake. Now, IE losing all the cues from real outcomes. A second one around how to craft and spread worth to be listened in info in the current information landscape. You know, an overload when we're exposed to it. So how do we keep our communications relevant? And then something you picked up, what are the best ways to communicate in a balanced way? So empathetic with some authority and with hope and power. So the broad bucket here is how to be relevant and genuine in a changing communications landscape and how to deal with digital judgment on real versus fake. We'd love a sort of a 60 seconds thoughts on that. Yeah, I will be snappy. So it's interesting, we produce a survey every year where we survey about 40,000 people called the Digital Society Index and we look at their behavior on internet use. And I think 46% of people who responded do come back and say they're suffering from information overload. But what we find is the more sophisticated people skills are, the more able they are to control that information, install ad blockers, for example. So I think skills are really important. The second thing I would say is that behavior on the online world is no different to behavior in the real world in many ways. And actually, we advise our children from a very early age to a stranger danger to be alert when crossing a road to be careful what they hear. We need to apply that same judgment to social media and actually be really considered about what we hear. Filter it, question information we don't necessarily believe is authentic. And if we see unethical behavior, we need to call that out as well as consumers because that's, I think, a way that we can affect change. People often talk about increased regulation. It's very difficult to regulate a world that moves at that speed. In terms of balance, I think, we've talked a little bit about authenticity. If you want to get communications cut through, at this time, be an aesthetic. Think about what your consumers or your audience are actually going through. Be relevant in terms of the information you communicate. Part of the staff that can wait and then revisit at a later time. So again, I think we've touched a lot on those themes about solutions and selling in authenticity and demonstrate that you are acting in the best interests. We've seen some people, some very well-known people, fall foul over the last few days by coming out and communicating in a way that has felt self-serving. And the TwitterRT has responded rapidly. Yeah, brilliant. Thank you so much. And so many brilliant questions coming through. Clearly, this could put lots and lots of questions still about trust, et cetera. But one I'd like to address, we focus very much on brands and V2C organisations in this conversation so far. And two questions that have come in through the chat. One earlier, so do two parts. And Anna, I'll start with you first and then go to Mark if that's okay. So do the same principles apply for B2B companies as well as B2C? And then a different question, which I think is a really, really important one, is how about the other crisis, the climate crisis? The question was many companies that play a big role are not brands, but are resource companies like mining companies, oil and gas, agroforestry, et cetera. How is trust going to change for these resource companies and what should these companies do differently in the post-COVID world? So Anna, if you thought for you before I... Yeah, I think I'll start with the second part of that question actually, because it is really, really important. I think one of the challenges that we've wrestled with from a sustainability perspective over recent years is that it's actually been very, very difficult for people to imagine what a huge system level shock would look like to society and to the economy. And in some way COVID-19 has actually created that reality for people to understand. And I think what we need to ensure as we come out of this pandemic is that people understand the link between COVID-19, biodiversity loss, how that is an example of a global mega trend at system level shock, how fragile and interconnected our society and economy is and our businesses is, and that that is probably one of many shocks we may see over the next five, 10, 15 years if we don't start to behave in a way that's different. We will see a response, and I think increasing response and demand from investors. So Montt touched on ESG. In the last 12 months, 12 months ago, we weren't getting questions from investors in ESG, but now about 80% of our investors are asking us those questions, increasingly so. I think in the wake of the pandemic, investors will be looking to see how organizations are prepared for this scale of disruption and we'll be seeing those that haven't. So I think that's an opportunity and we need to really, really make sure that we get the agenda. Talking of digital communications and the changing world, I was delighted to see the Earth Day Act which did take place yesterday. It may not be 2 million people on the streets, but it was certainly the largest environmental conference online. So it's good to see that conversation continuing. Super, thank you, Anna. Mark, any thoughts from you on this one? Yeah, I guess so, B2B companies, the principles are the same. You know, you are members of the world. You've got your employees, citizens. You're working with regulators, you're a citizen. So the right behaviors are expected of you and they're different behaviors. So it gives you license to operate with regulators. It gives you that strong relationship with your state and your suppliers. And of course, you guys have customers too, who are people. You have people who you want to work with you and for you. The scale and the reach of your, some of your communications around it may be slightly different. Obviously much more targeted to much narrow and sharper audiences. But the principles we've shared today are no different. It's simply the role that people expect of business and brand in the world today. The execution may be slightly different. Climate crisis is obviously an ongoing challenge. And I know you've all been across the conversations about how interesting is the response to the pandemic versus climate crisis. And that only we could get the urgency that we've shown the pandemics for climate crisis. Yeah, there's an important parallel that has to be navigated here that we don't try and encourage a conversation, which is look how great the environment is now that we've turned everything off and in effect people are dying. That isn't the answer. The answer is yes, it's great that the environment can recover and we can show how different ways we can do things. But what we are aspiring for is a sustainable economy which delivers both rapid growth, rapid job creation but also more sustainable route through. And so for companies who are involved in that space it's about defining the narrative of what the new normal will be. We know we're in crisis stage and rapidly we'll be getting to a new normal. And right now already it's starting to be created and crafted where the large scale investments are placed by governments and by their institutions to get through and beyond and recover this economy. We'll really define whether we take the challenge of we have a decade to really reshape things. And we have a great opportunity to in the normal context is we're nudging people through incremental changes in our current system or current life and in an unprecedented way we've just stopped everything. So when we restart, we can also reset and we can really take this opportunity to really recalibrate some of the systems that the normal times takes so much longer to take. Yeah, brilliant. Thank you. So just a quick build on that. We might actually see people are more open to sustainable lifestyle now that they've actually gone back to basics in their homes, gardening, cooking from scratch. These are all ways of living a much more sustainable lifestyle back on their bicycles. So it'll be interesting to see if we can make. Yeah, absolutely. So I'm going to try and experiment now. I'm bringing kind of three threads of questions together a couple in advance and a couple on the chat. So where we've got to a few things to chuck into the mix and I'll just get you to give broad brush comments both of you to this. So earlier on in the chat, we had the question if capitalism is so culturally ingrained, how can we change it? We'll pick up on what you just said, Anna. Do you think we would question in the chat, do you think sustainability, this definition of sustainability will be changed now? And then sort of related, it's just really around this whole issue of communicating the importance of purpose in an environment which is more comfortable and talking about commercial imperatives. So this whole purpose versus profit, what do we mean by sustainability? How can we convey the urgency of sustainability? Any thoughts? Not even sure if that's a coherent question. I do think, I don't think the definition of sustainability will change, but I do think understanding might deepen. So I think people begin to affect change when they start to experience it themselves personally. One thing that we saw last year, I think the water shortages in South Africa was that women had to start to cut their hair because they could no longer wash it. When global megatrends begin to impact consumers and citizens in their homes, you start to see powerful change. And what social media has done has given citizens and people that voice and that ability to start to affect change at a global scale. And we saw that with the extinction rebellion when they brought London to a close and we implemented a zero carbon target. So I think it is really powerful what consumers can do. And one thing I would say is that capitalism, I think that's on those lips at the moment. We've just talked about that global system shocks high levels of awareness, invested behavior changing. The shock market has, the shock market, that was an accidental expression that the shock waves rippling through the stock market and I think are going to create increasing demand for investors and answers from investors. Brilliant, thanks Anna. Mark, any thoughts? Yeah, I think just reiterating Anna's points and also just going back to that point, the question is kind of, it's alluding to behavior change. It's alluding to, are we entrenched in one way and are we describing sustainability in a way which is slightly counter to that and is it even biting and resonating? I think it goes back to the point I made earlier. In this difficult time, and it is of course an incredibly difficult time, the silver lining for me is, we've never had a chance to reset things. We've, it's true, capitalism is ingrained, our behaviors are ingrained. We've never had a cultural awakening. We've never had an economic awakening that we're about to experience because it's forced on us. So it's really upon us, this community and those people who are beyond or not on the webinar but in the same space, to ensure that when we're drafting and hand planning and trying to guide what the new normal will look like, we ensure that is a different version of capitalism. We ensure that if we're going to have consumption, it's more sustainable consumption. We ensure these behaviors are normal. And personally, if sustainability as a word is not used as much, I have no problem with that because, you know, we fail to make it really cut through in the mainstream for so many years. And if the, you know, the ambitions are the same but we have a different vernacular and we're placing culture and as I alluded to, it sounds up to things like cutting your hair shorter because it's better, it's better, then that's absolutely fine. It doesn't have to be labeled as sustainability. And whatever the examples are that come around the world. So I think that's the silver lining from all of this, is there is an opportunity to reset. Yeah, absolutely fantastic. So probably last round of questions and thank you all, everybody on the call in advance for so many fantastic questions. So I wanna take us back to the way we set this up at the beginning. So this is our advancing leadership webinar series and we're talking about communicating for leadership influence and impact. And I just want to bring our questions around to sort of leadership and communication. So a couple of questions really to put into the mix. First one is a common theme that we see, which is just this issue we just touched on purpose versus profit short-term versus long. So the question is how to communicate on long-term issues to leaders who are proponents of near-term wins. Any quick examples really of success. And the second one was just more broadly and I think very much picks up on what both of you said earlier. So what kind of leadership should we expect now from business leaders? Do we think there'll be changes in leadership structure? So really it's like, how do we take, how do we expand leadership, use the benefits of communication, influencing influence and impact, take people from short-termism to long-termism and what's the kind of leadership we want now? I personally think that we need leaders who are system thinkers. I think there is a gap between the leadership that we have and the leadership that we need and people who have interdependent the systems are. People talk about the pandemic without actually necessarily considering what to call the pandemic and the link to food shortages and biodiversity loss. And I think people understanding that role and for example, women and girls and gender for example and how that connects with issues like climate and how the wellbeing, it's really important that we have leaders who can see that system. In terms of creating that longer-term view, I know Zoe, one of the things that you always talk about is the power of stories and Polyphotos put out this really sort of powerful piece about talking about the future that we want and the future that we can imagine. So I do think we have to create that longer-term vision and then break that down into a very practical pathway. One of the tools that I think works really, really well for all sustainability professionals and business is the financial and the financial team. So when you are communicating sustainability, talking about cost transformation and financial terms, talking about risks and opportunities and financial terms, I think I'm very lucky. I have an extremely enlightened CFO but if I need to have conversation with him about systems we need to implement, we do talk about it in that context and it becomes a very straightforward conversation to have. And I think for all the brands, I mean, I can't emphasize enough, this is an extinction time for brands. You know, businesses will be disrupted at a phenomenal scale and the ones that will survive will be the ones that fundamentally rethink their business models to minimise the risks created by the global megatrends but also capitalise upon those future opportunities. And those that too will be prepared. And I think Unilever is a really interesting example of that because they started thinking about this 10 years ago and it set them up very, very well. And they've taken a very proactive stance not just in clean up and plastic and recognising that they need to clean up everybody else's as well. So it's, and that's real leadership, it's thinking 10 years ahead. And we do have the benefit of some really good case studies and really profitable case studies with their portfolio growing 47% faster the sustainability portfolio growing 47% faster than any other brands. And I think it's that kind of data that really helps to stop the business case. Brilliant. Thank you, Anna. Pulled together so many threads. Mark, last comment from you before we close, if I may. Yeah, I know there's only a minute left. So I think that's not underestimate how difficult the long-term and short-term conversation is going to be with the enormous short-term pressures that all businesses will face in the next 12 months. So for all of you out there, I have a huge sympathy for the pressures that you're facing. The opportunity, I think, and I alluded to in the closing of her section actually is the parallel to the key word we're going to hear lots of going forward is resilience and realizing how many of our systems weren't built with much resilience in them is what we've learned from the pandemic. And so resilience is, of course, something we've struggled to fathom as individuals because the long-term is hard to understand. However, suddenly you've seen, we've all seen the effects of pandemics think they could imagine to become real. And so this is the same for climate change. I think if you frame your long-term objectives in resilience, no one will question the opportunity that presents to a business. In terms of leadership, I think we need a huge amount of compassion ready to be displayed by some leaders in the world right now and very well displayed by others. That isn't to mean it's not strong leadership. You're also going to need to be required to be strong in your decision-making, strong because your workers, your employees, your partners will really need guidance through what is going to be turbulent times but compassion to show you understand how it feels and how best we're going to get through this together is what I'd say we want from you. Brilliant. Thank you so much, Mark. So our final slide before we close is Brilliant Segway from Anna and we've talked about it. Brilliant. Beginning, watch out for the new leadership platform coming from CISL, the future we want. Should also say, we think this is such an important topic. We've actually created a new online course for it and Anna and Mark indeed are both speakers on that course, online course and it's called Communicating for Influence Impact, which launches on May 13th. More information on our website and in the full up email we send you and hope to see many of you on next month's webinar on common leadership dilemmas and solutions. Many other topics have come up such as gender, diversity, inclusion and trust that we might want to dig into more in the future. But more from us. In the meantime, I'd like to say thank you so much to Anna and Mark for such fantastic contributions and to all of you who've joined us and are watching the recording afterwards. Thank you so much. Thank you, Zoe. Thank you.