Guy Corbet

The beauty of large language models of artificial intelligence (LLMs), or generative AI, is that they can rapidly assimilate and review the totality of the information on a subject.   Then they can compile the argument, write it up and put a bow on it.  They’ll even write in the style of Ernest Hemingway, if you like.  All within seconds, saving hours of human labour, and ingenuity.  Continue…

Received wisdom tells us that businesses should do enough to stay in business, naturally enough.  It also tells us staying in business in itself is not enough.  Businesses and brands should also show leadership, pursuing a social purpose, so says the received wisdom.  It motivates workers and it mobilises customers. That’s why it was so interesting to hear Kenyatte Nelson, Chief Membership &…

Company cultures are running on fumes? should we return to the office? Will the hype of hybrid working run out of steam?

We’ve learned an awful lot about working from home.  It has given many people the freedom to combine work with more family time.  It has been the miracle that has kept the economy spluttering on through the lockdowns.  (more…)

Time to call late payments what they are: "unapproved debt". Small businesses, not taxpayer handouts and public works, will be at the heart of economic recovery. They deserve to have the money they have earned

Small businesses, not taxpayer handouts and public works, will be at the heart of economic recovery. They will start up, create jobs, build, grow and bristle with vitality. Continue reading

Latest blog: “'It’s on all of us.' Three things responsible firms do". They look affter their people, customers and community

Worlds away, back in March, “it’s on all of us” is how the then-rookie chancellor, Rishi Sunak, set out the challenges ahead.  “We want to look back on this time and remember how, in the face of a generation-defining moment, we undertook a collective national effort – and we stood together. It’s on all of us”.

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Six steps to prepare for the recovery. Shaping fresh stories will help businesses and brands rebuild for the new world.

Survival has been the name of the game, but it is not an end game.

For many firms, the main focus so far has been to batten down the hatches in the face of rising uncertainty.

It is time to start rebuilding.  Gradually, the economy will start to splutter back into life.  We will be at the foot of a tall mountain.

How should businesses and brands start to rebuild?  What should they do…

A new type of corporate citizenship? Business, ordinary people and politicians will all soon have a much bigger role in the decisions that shape our everyday lives. How will they live up to that?

Too much has been written about what Brexit might or might not mean. 

What it does mean is that business, ordinary people and politicians will all soon have a much bigger role in the decisions that shape our everyday lives.  (more…)

The Grenfell inquiry illustrates the need for an Apology Act

This article first appeared in The Article on 7 November 2019, by Guy Corbet

Is it possible that Dany Cotton, the head of the London Fire Brigade, is so conceited and heartless that she really would do nothing differently if Grenfell played out again?

I don’t know, but I doubt it. It’s hard to believe that anyone could willingly be so crass. (more…)

This blog first appeared over at Prolific London.

Just when you think there isn’t room in the world for another business index, the very smart people at communications agency Portland have created the Total Value Index. (more…)

Boeing tried to win the wrong argument. It focused on the technical issues, rather than rising worldwide concern from customers, passengers, pilots and governments...

This blog is based on a short quote which the Financial Times was kind enough to include in “Boeing criticised for not acting faster“.

Boeing appeared to be trying to win the wrong argument. (more…)

Meaningful apologies matter. “Sorry” is used too often when it shouldn’t be, and not enough when it should. Please support the #ApologyClause campaign (www.apologyclause.com)

This article first appeared in the August 2018 edition of CorpComms Magazine

The Apology Clause campaign (www.apologyclause.com) aims to make it easier for businesses to behave with compassion when things go wrong, and so to help victims have better recoveries.

Here we look at what is behind the campaign, and why it is important for professional communicators charged with protecting corporate…

It is mistaken to think of 17 million millennials as being a single audience: "The myth of the millennial market"

Basic marketing practice generally means identifying a segment of people with common characteristics and then trying to work out what few triggers will attract as many of them as possible. (more…)

Do brands really need a “social purpose” to do good?

The researchers at professional services firm EY reveal four fifths (82%) of us believe a brand’s values must include a clear purpose. This purpose is critical in deciding whether or not we will buy from them.

The difficulty with this conclusion, and many like it, is that what people mean by purpose can be misunderstood, and such analysis can be overly simplistic and too easily miss a point.

Whic…

Saying sorry can be a good business decision

This article first appeared in The Brief, the specialist law pages of The Times.

It argues that while it is often easy to see why lawyers’ first instinct is to be cautious, there are times when embracing the apology clause would serve their clients better. (more…)

A modern Aesop's Fable on the difficulties with measuring communications effectively

This is written with huge thanks to Aesop’s original fable about the sun and the wind who had a bet about who could get a man to remove his jacket.

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Why the Apology Clause is so important for communications and reputation advisers

This blog first appeared on PRMoment, outlining the need for the campaign, to make it easier for people to recover after traumatic or damaging incidents, and so that businesses can do the right thing when things have gone wrong.

The fear that businesses have that there may be legal ramifications to doing the right thing is often an issue for the communications advisers whose role is to try and…

Apology Clause legislation would be good for business, good for the public and cost nothing

The blog below originally ran on Reaction, to make the case for the Apology Clause campaign which, together with a couple of others, we have conceived and will run on a pro bono basis.

The campaign is to make it easier for businesses to behave with compassion when things go wrong, and thus for victims to have better recoveries.

Businesses are within the law to apologise at present, without that…