The Alignment Factor

Book excerpt: The importance of creating a favourable impression is hard to overstate in all walks of life - in business it's vital to achieve strategic goals. Customers, journalists, bloggers, investors, governments and other groups are all important stakeholders in an organizations performance and in persuasively communicating a company's ethical and socially responsible behaviour, these groups can be kept onside. Supported throughout by lively examples, this book contains guidance for implementing strategies that engage stakeholders - highlighting those organizations which employ communication professionals as key performers. Van Riel reveals how a dominant logic develops among executives, which influences styles and techniques of trust-building communication. The practical insights demonstrated via cases including Google, Unilever and Barclays make this book useful reading for MBA and other graduate classes across areas such as public relations and reputation management as well as thinking managers across the globe.