Inauguration Week — Comms Winners & Losers

Hello and welcome to Communication Breakdown, a new podcast from the Observatory on Corporate Reputation. Thanks for joining us. I'm Steve Dowling in Silicon Valley. And I'm Craig Carroll in New York City. Each week, Steve and I take a look at strategies companies are using to shape headlines and sometimes save their skins. It's a post game show for PR Pros. This week.

The world's attention turns the Washington for the second inauguration of President Donald Trump. In addition to the usual pageantry, inauguration day saw the first executive orders signed at a hockey rink indoors, of course, while outdoors it was colder than Davos. If the polar vortex didn't give Washingtonians a chill, a surprise appearance by the proud boys surely did.

Plus, a seemingly never-ending string of stream of consciousness speeches and press of alibilities by the new commander in chief. And that was only Monday. Well come back to the Donald Trump show, America. This week is all Trump all the time, flanked by the titans of tech, building his pardon pins, still fixated on Panama and Greenland, among other familiar themes and grievances. With inauguration and pressure minds for this episode, we're going to be looking back at

the week that was, sharing our highlights and takeaways for Consoliders and some early thoughts on how companies might navigate this new administration. Let's start with the inauguration itself under the capital, Rotunda. Trump took the oath, gave a speech. That's usually the focal point of inauguration day. But it was quickly overshadowed by Trump himself as he often does. But let's go to that first noon on January 20 speech, Craig, what were your impressions?

Well, in true Trump fashion, the speech itself almost felt like it was a prelude to the spectacle that followed. For me, what struck me was how Trump used the inaugural moment not to pivot but to double down. The rhetoric was classic, vintage, Trump populist, and bad of, and heavy on grievances. It wasn't so much a call for unity as it was as a continuation of his campaign messaging, except it was simply repackaged for his first official act as president.

From a comms perspective, I'd say it's clear this administration is going to be doubling down on disruption as the brand. For companies, the only lesson is this: we can expect turbulence, we can anticipate unpredictability, and we need to prepare to pivot at any moment's notice. So in this environment, agility is not going to be a competitive advantage. It's going to be a necessity. Yeah, companies are going to get used to rolling with it.

And to your point earlier about people keep expecting somehow the Trump is going to pivot, that's never going to happen. I think it is safe to say. It's surprising, honestly, that we keep hearing this idea that, oh, because it's an inaugural speech, it's going to be somehow different. It wasn't, and we should just banish that expectation from our minds. I was struck by the sheer, I think a lot of people were struck by the sheer volume of executive orders on day one.

I think there were more than two dozen of them, as well as, you know, we alluded to in the introduction, the performance aspect of it, signing them at the Capitol one arena in front of 20,000 supporters. It is what Trump promised to do. So we shouldn't spend too much time on the surprise factor here. I think what shocked a lot of people was the pardons, pardoning of the January 6th insurrectionists.

Yeah. I was telegraming that for so long and was so widely expected to deliver on that campaign promise. People had been asking if it would be everyone who stormed the Capitol on January 6th or perhaps Trump would not pardon insurrectionists who attacked Capitol police. The point is Republican leaders were being asked if they would effectively support looking the other way on violence against the police.

Many of them most notably the vice president and vice president-elect said, no, you shouldn't get away with attacking a cop. But of course, that's exactly what Trump did. And I'm not focusing here necessarily on the politics or the ethical aspect of it, although we could do a whole show on that. It apparently just became so arduous the process. The Trump wanted to do it on day one. And according to reports, he just said, release them all.

The lesson here, I think, as if we need to learn it again is that no one speaks for Trump. If you were one of those Republican senators or JD Vance, you got, you went out on a limb and Trump cut you right off. Yeah. Just on a Thursday, there hasn't been a single White House briefing to my knowledge. The press secretary has been on Fox News, but not the briefing or impodium. No one speaks for Trump.

Trump is the one who is going to make the decisions he's made clear and is going to deliver them importantly. And so I think the takeaway here is, this was a great quote and axiosis from a transition source. It really stuck with me. Never get ahead of the boss, meaning Trump because you just ever know. You know, I think the part and highlight the dangers of leadership style that's prioritizing loyalty and impulsiveness over clarity and process.

You know, for leaders that are watching this, the takeaway is clear. The unpredictability is designed to, you know, energize a base, but it's so going to leave other institutions and allies scrambling. And that's the kind of instability that can have long term costs, you know, especially

when trusting coordination or critical. Now, when you're saying that no one speaks for Trump, right? It certainly creates an environment of complete unpredictability. And for companies, I think this is like almost like the perfect test of the ultimate test of what I'm calling chaos communications, right? You can't control the noise, but you can't control how you respond early in our podcast when we talked a little bit about the shift from crisis communication to chaos communications.

Well, here we go, right? So just a matter of what we talked about before, it's a part of the playbook is going to be three general ideas, principles, priorities and perspectives. So, you know, one, principles and, you know, with all this chaos, your core values are going to have to be what keep you grounded. The external environments all over the place, it's going to be your principles to make sure that your communication stays consistent and aligned with what you stand for.

And when I say principles, what I mean is this is like the ground floor. These are the things that you're never going to fall below. And it's a little different than values, right? I mean, the values are sort of important, but the principles are sort of like the gameplay for the unexpected, which may not always tap into your values. But the priorities is, you know, right now we've had some idea for several months about how Trump was going to respond.

And every company has the list of things that they want to get done during this administration. So it's keeping your priorities front and center so that you're not distracted by whatever the headlines are bringing. And then I think the thing that is super important here is your perspective, right? This is the time to be calm, clear, and this is going to be a much more important objective for comms leaders for working with their senior leadership teams.

The key aspect here is just not getting caught up in the chaos. You just don't have to respond to every move. So take a step back, figure out what really matters and communicate in a way that matters to reassure your stakeholders. You just got to keep the perspective. And the more stable you are, the more trust you could build. I think that, you know, this unpredictability you mentioned that is part of the strategy at the White House.

The strategy is to flood the zone, to overwhelm the system, overwhelm the news media, the conversation in Washington and elsewhere with these proposals and claims and ideas and maybe some actual action, but that makes it hard for people to keep up. That's the strategy. Keep everyone off balance because it makes it harder for the opposition to focus. So how do you operate in that environment? Yeah. I think that idea of being off balance is what is so central right now.

It's like getting your footing is really one of the most important things here, right? You've got to find your footing in a way that, you know, when the ground is constantly shifting below you, right? You got to stay balanced and you got to stay focused on what it is that you're trying to accomplish because what appears to be a strategy from the White House is going to change day to day and it's going to throw you off.

Yeah, consistency to your earlier point, consistency and discipline, meaning direct communication, don't take the bait on every trial balloon that may go up. And I would argue simplicity as well. Stay focused, try to keep your audience focused, which is no small trick with all this chaos going on, but bringing everything back to those actual values and principles and goals back to reality. And that involves playing the long game.

Markets want certainty, businesses want certainty, they want clarity and those are not part of the Trump routine right now. Stavier's put on about the market's craving, certainty. And certainly Trump's unpredictability is what throws all that out the window. But for companies, the challenge in this kind of chaos is to become the source of clarity. That's where sticking to your principles and priorities really matters when everything else is unstable.

You know, your stakeholders and the markets need to know exactly where you stand and what you're focused on. That's not easy, but this consistency here is what makes all the difference. And just to bring it back to this idea that no one speaks for Trump, the White House can get away with this or can execute on this chaotic style because Trump is freewheeling and nobody in the organization crosses him. Companies can't operate like that.

Companies need discipline and to your point, it needs to be consistent when they're delivering

these messages into whom. And so it's really asymmetrical here. It puts companies at a disadvantage, but you don't really have choice other than to be consistent and to be disciplined. Yeah. I think another principle is that what we've seen in politics play out is that people who try to play Trump's game lose. You don't want to be in that position. Right. So that Axios quote, never get ahead of the boss because you just never know. It sums up why chaos is so integral to Trump's leadership style.

It's not just unpredictability for unpredictability's sake. It's about keeping everyone, even as closest allies off balance so that he remains the sole source of distraction. Sorry. Yeah. Exactly. Wow. So source of direction. Well, no, but both descriptions work. Yeah. Okay. Well, let's drill down into one of those moments of distraction.

This was on Thursday, Trump, of course, too busy in Washington to go to Davos, but he did make an appearance by teleconference to not just the assembled leaders, but he took questions from a panel of top bankers, including the CEO of Bank of America, Brian Moynihan, and

Trump went at him. They don't take conservative business. And I don't know if the regulators band data that because of Biden or what, but you and Jamie and everybody, I hope you're going to open your banks to conservatives because what you're doing is wrong. Mr. President, I'll say that. Your friend Gianni was sent a low, told me to tell you a low, and we look forward to sponsoring a world cup when it comes both this summer for the club and next year.

So thank you for getting after the United States. Okay, not the most artful dodge by Moynihan, but he got through it. And importantly, a few hours later, both Bank of America and JP Morgan issued direct statements refuting the claims that Trump was making. Bank of America put theirs on social media. It reads, Bank of America serves more than 70 million clients, and we welcome conservatives. We would never close accounts for political reasons and don't have a political mistest.

JP Morgan also issued a statement there. They said, quote, we have never and would never close the account for political reasons. Bull stop. We follow the law and guidance from our regulators and have long said their problems with the current framework Washington must address. In quote, up, so it's interesting, the speed in which both banks responded, but I was most impressed with the moment in the way Moynihan got through the exchange in the panel before world leaders.

For me, it's the perfect example of the three piece in action for a chaos communication of principles, priorities and perspective. The principle being here diplomacy, decorum, collegiality, not engaging in some type of argument in the middle of a panel and getting off point from the purpose of the panel.

And then, I think another example was just illustrating the collegiality and the humanity of their shared friend and then the priority being number one, stanchored to the purpose of the panel, given all the other world leaders that are there and the purpose of why the panel exists and their focus on business. And then the third piece is just perspective. He stayed calm. He stayed cool. He didn't have, I know other people said it looked like he had a, it looked like a deer in the headlights.

I didn't see that. I kept his calm. He stayed right on script and he did not appear to get agitated. And there was, there did not appear to be any type of follow-up response after the panel. But in that moment, I thought he held it together quite well with his perspective. Yeah, I'm sure he brought a lot of skill and experience to that moment. I don't know how much strategic thinking or what kind was going into it.

But I think the number one thing was let's just get out of this without arguing further with the new president of the United States over a satellite connection. But importantly, he didn't take the bait because that would have derailed the entire thing and you would have gotten into an argument and Trump would have made sure he got the last word and made sure it was not favorable towards Bank of America.

So I think more importantly was how his team used, not the omit of surprise, but direct declaratively reject what Trump said and reassure their audience that it was not true. And I found it refreshing and I hope it sets a precedent for other folks who end up in the same situation because I am sure they will. Well, let's talk about some of the winners and losers this week. Steve, what do you see in terms of companies or people who came out on top?

I think that one winner obviously was the companies we just mentioned who have exposure to tariffs. I don't think anybody is breathing easy, but they get to spend a little more time in anticipation rather than having to deal with an actual decision yet, although they may be looking forward to a decision one way or another so they can deal with it. I would say in terms of winners, Blue Sky, to me feels like there's more momentum and

I think that especially with, we didn't talk about Elon Musk and what he was communicating this week with his words and gestures. But over on Blue Sky, I feel like every day we're seeing new converts. Blue Sky is the Twitter alternative here in the US. I think it's mostly from folks on the left side of the spectrum. I read the other day that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is now the most followed or one of the most followed accounts. But where I think the growth is interesting is in Europe.

And one maybe minor data point, the European Central Bank is now on Blue Sky. And it's not lost on observers that this is happening at the same time that Elon is getting more politically active in Europe using Twitter to promote these far right candidates. And the EU is really concerned about misinformation and political bias in social media. And so they seem to be on a collision course with Twitter and Facebook.

But Blue Sky seems to be building a strong reputation and I would think that Combs leaders should keep an eye on it. Yeah, the point about the European Central Bank joining Blue Sky is kind of interesting. It's a small move. But at the same time, it says something about what the EU's priorities are. Especially when you think about Musk's Twitter or X becoming so, I mean, it's political here in the US, but even more so in Europe. And I would say what we're having now is a collision course, right?

We've got the EU and platforms like Twitter and Facebook that just fills inevitable as a collision course. And then I think Blue Sky might end up being the quieter, more trusted alternative of the mix. Yeah. I'll go with one more winner. And this is honestly from a Combs perspective. There's political aspect to it that's unavoidable.

But I thought that the Bishop Marion Buddy, who spoke directly to Trump during that sermon that he attended at the National Cathedral on Tuesday, she asked him to have mercy on immigrants and gay lesbian and transgender children, people who she said are scared now. And it was a powerful moment. It was uncomfortable for Trump. It got a lot of political attention. He was not happy about it, of course. He demanded an apology, which the Bishop has declined to give.

But it struck me because this is an entirely appropriate and I would argue unsurprising thing for an Episcopal Bishop or a rabbi or a Baptist preacher or the Pope to say at any given service and indeed they do, that's their role. But what makes it remarkable to me right now is that there are so many people who are not playing their role when it comes to speaking out like those, those who were opposed to the pardons for violent insurrectionists of some Republican senators.

You saw them immediately after Trump issued the pardon, they were like, oh, I have to read more about it or at least we're past it now or or whatever. But I think this is a reminder that leaders need people around them who will burst their group think bubble now and then. And it takes courage sometimes, but the differences of opinion, different perspectives, voices of dissent, healthy leaders should be able to hear all of those.

And a lot of the time, if not most of the time, they can make the final product better. Steve, I think what really hit me about Bishop Buddy's remarks was just how simple and true they were. You know, she wasn't trying to be controversial. She was just doing what you would expect from someone in her position, which was calling for compassion and accountability. And the way she said it, right, have mercy. It was so direct you couldn't argue with it.

It was a great reminder that sticking with your principles and being straightforward is going to be one of the most powerful ways of cutting through the noise. And I think for business leaders, they're just going to have to step up and say that a

lot of what Trump was advocating for is not okay. But right now, there's a lot of playing it safe and there's also a line. And the way Bishop Buddy handled the line, very calm, direct. Okay, I'm going to use your word values, rooted in values. It's a perfect example of how you can disagree without being inflammatory. And so for companies, it's about, you know, how can we frame that disagreement in a way that's true to the mission and builds your relationships with your stakeholders?

I don't want to say builds trust, but I do want to say just extends your relationship with them. Someone who I think did not have a great week and we won't spend too much time not just not to pile on, but Mark Zuckerberg, I think, did not have a great week. He apparently told Brian kill me to Fox that he was insulted by Biden characterizing him as an oligarch, because it was part of Biden's farewell speech.

And of course, Biden never mentioned in my name, but this is something that we've seen in Zuckerberg and others do over the years. But someone obliquely issues this criticism and rather than keep quiet or leave some room for doubt, jumps in and expresses in, is indignation and you know, he could have let people wonder, maybe don't give critics satisfaction, but instead he like puts his hand up and says, yeah, that punch landed and it hurt.

Wow. So I think among the tech bosses Zuckerberg had the worst week. I would say instead of diffusing the moment, I think what he did I'm doing is just kind of pouring fuel on the fire. You know, it's like he saw disorder and he met it with more disorder, right? The irony is that his reaction just added to the chaos instead of cutting through it. And I think, you know, just a good reminder, right?

You know, sometimes the best movements is they calm cool and collected and let the noise pass, especially when it's not really about, you know, the first place. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. And to that point, of course, the viral moment was Zuckerberg was caught admiring, should we say, glancing at Laura Sanchez, which is Jeff Pazes' fiancee next to him.

I think it's small, but it adds something to this overall narrative of somebody's trying to control his image and then just completely failing. You know, a moment like this is, you know, it certainly, you know, it seems trivial, but it's going to stick because it reinforces a story about somebody struggling trying to maintain composure of what he's under scrutiny.

And he's getting called out on it by Steve Bannon for, I mean, most probably most significantly, Zuckerberg worked the hardest and in the most blatantly performative way in the last few weeks leading up to the inauguration he went on Joe Rogan. He canceled their fact checking programs. He rolled back to DEI policies. And Bannon went on ABC News last weekend and he described all the tech CEOs as supplicants but who have surrendered to Trump.

But he was really reserved another level of disgust for Zuckerberg and kind of mocking him for this new masculine energy mantra of Zuckerberg. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the whole thing, I think, for Zuckerberg right now is a mess. Yeah, yeah, you know, I mean, just, you know, starting with this Joe Rogan appearance and the whole policy rollbacks, it just felt like, you know, he's trying to cater to the new audience, but he couldn't decide who is actually speaking to.

And I think, you know, that lack of clarity, create a confusion about what meta stands for or about, you know, internally and externally. And then the wrong, Cheryl Sandberg under the bus like that, I thought that was also kind of a misstep, especially, you know, when you think about their, their own partnership and how long she been tied to meta policies and the reputation. So I don't know, backpedaling with praise on threads just made it look like he couldn't control the narrative.

And then he saw through that, I think everybody saw that for, for what it was. And yeah, I think he's the one reputationally who's got the most work to do. Yeah, I would say, yeah, critics likes the band and clearly didn't buy it. And it just risks coming off as being performative rather than being real. Well, all of that in the space of one week, that is our show for this week. We want to thank Shawn P Neal and the PeopleForward Network for making our podcast possible.

If you'd like to tell us what you think or if you have a topic you'd like to suggest for our show, we would love to hear from you. Our email address is podcast@ocrnetwork.com. Communication breakdown is a production of the observatory on corporate reputation. I'm Steve Dowling. And I'm Craig Carroll. Thanks for listening. We'll be back next week. [MUSIC]