How business and finance skills make communicators unstoppable
Top communicators share how business acumen has made all the difference in their careers and why the skillset is integral to future leadership roles.
When students learn that business and finance is a required class in the Strategic PR Master’s program where I teach, their feelings tend to range from concern to outright dread. “I’m not in this program to be an accountant,” and “this course is going to destroy my GPA” are some of the “gentler” reactions I hear.
I teach this course because I believe—passionately—that business acumen can make a huge difference in your success as a communications and PR professional and leader.
Why is it imperative for people in our field to have a solid business foundation? Why should we understand terms like EPS, P/E and ROI? Why delve into the purpose and relationship between the three standard financial reports? Why read a CEO letter in an annual report and a news release announcing an organization’s quarterly financial results? Why listen to an investor conference call?
Steve Cody, founder and CEO of Peppercomm, a strategic communications firm and 2020 PR Week Best Place to Work, sums it up this way: “If you’re financially ignorant, you will be considered an afterthought on the corporate side and a less strategic fast tracker with agencies.”
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