The CCO's unsteady ascent
As communicators take a seat at the top table, they must work out how they are going to stay there.
For some, SpaceX's $75 billion IPO last week will underscore their belief that a coherent corporate communications function is overrated, if not unnecessary. For years, Elon Musk has defied gravity on his journey to becoming the world's first trillionaire without giving professional communicators a look-in.
At the same time, a recent article asserts that top-level communications counsel is in higher demand than ever. According to the Wall Street Journal, chief communications officer (CCO) roles are proliferating and commanding much higher pay, with once languishing PR people now "front and center in the C-suite".
Understandably, many in the industry have seized on this as validation of the essential nature of their work: that companies are at last recognising that the CCO is one of the most valuable roles in an entirely unpredictable world. In other words, the communications function has finally "arrived".
