The Big Picture
As the globe's major (corporate, political, academic and media) players descend on Davos, Switzerland, this coming January for the World Economic Forum's annual
meeting, a preliminary survey shows that while the 2,000 (expected) attendees increasingly are concerned about security, they remain optimistic about the economic outlook.
At the same time, there are significant rifts within this rather elite crowd. To wit, corporate leaders are considerably more optimistic about security than are political and
media folk, with about 20% of corporate executives saying the world will be a little safer compared with 15% of the other groups, consisting of media reps, politicians, NGO execs
and academics.
The media subset was marginally more pessimistic, but you already knew that. When it comes to coping with terrorism, senior PR reps can make a bigger difference within their
own four walls.
"There's a great deal you can do to show you're helping to create a safe work environment," says Jack Leslie, chairman of Weber Shandwick (New York), which distributed
the study. "But it's not just what you tell but how much you tell, and that means difficult judgment calls, which require people to understand communications as it relates to
behavior."
Leslie, who recently attended a security-related conference that included Fortune 50 security executives and the director of counter-terrorism at the New York
Police Department (NYPD), says corporate-security officials are eager to reach out more to PR directors.
"They're looking for ideas for dealing with anxiety management, and part of that is providing 'visual assurances,'" Leslie says, pointing to Citigroup's efforts after
the investment-banking giant learned earlier this year that its New York City headquarters was a terrorist target.
The very next morning, metal detectors had been set up near every entrance to the building, and police cars and trucks coupled with SWAT teams blanketed the area. The
building has since installed other permanent safety devices.
Although the leaders who responded to the survey were generally optimistic about economic prospects, they are divided on what is going to fuel prosperity, with trade
liberalization besting free flow of capital (see charts). "Brand perception is increasingly important--and increasingly difficult--in an era of terrorism," Leslie says.