Tell Us How You Really Feel

How can CEO communications inspire capital market confidence? FGS Hong Kong Partner Kirsten Molyneux shares some insights:

• Leaders spend around 70% of their time communicating. Stronger emotional intelligence in CEO communications can help CEOs create more effective interactions with the capital markets and build belief and trust. And that trust drives reputation and valuation.

• It also takes 3 other vital ingredients: Transparency, integrity and consistency in the messages. Delivering on milestones and expectation management is also key for CEO comms.

• CEO comms should be insight driven, agile and easily understood from wherever your stakeholders sit. Most good CEOs understand the importance of listening to investor feedback. This insight helps shape future communication, gives leaders perspective and avoids the echo chamber.

• When dealing with difficult news, CEOs must play it straight and be very cognizant of how bad news may land. Avoid overcommunication until all the facts are known.

• CEO comms should reflect a leader’s own authentic style. Nonverbal communication plays a significant role in establishing trust and inspiring confidence.

CEO communication is an incredibly important asset for any company and should be amplified in wider corporate comms, which builds up the belief in the corporate narrative. All of this helps inspire capital market confidence.

President of Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) John Yang urged companies to challenge the "model minority" myth and recognize Asian Americans are still underserved in a recent virtual fireside chat with FGS Global. 

The conversation, in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month, touched on a variety of issues currently impacting the AAPI community ranging from the implications of US-China tensions and anti-Asian hate in a "post-pandemic" world to the power of political engagement. 

Below are some key takeaways for companies looking to be better allies: 

• Asian Americans are a very diverse group, so it’s important to have good, segmented data that reflects their varying experiences. For example, as a Chinese-American man, Yang admits that he feels better represented in the business world than Asian Americans of differing nationalities and gender identities. 

• Consider your company’s diversity across verticals. Asian Americans are often confined to more technical positions. Going up the ranks we see a definitive drop off of Asian Americans at the C-Suite level. 

• Companies should also re-evaluate their own metrics for diversity. He highlights how companies will often proudly claim 50% of new hires are from minority communities. But if the definition of "minority community" includes African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic individuals and women – the combination of these groups accounts for far more than 50% of the overall population. 

Visit the AAJC website to learn more about how they’re fighting to advance civil and human rights for Asian Americans and building a fair and equitable society for all.

Despite rapid uptake of generative AI tools like ChatGPT, especially among younger Americans, most American adults do not trust generative AI technology. 

Our Research and Insights team took a look at public opinion towards AI and found:

• A majority of U.S. adults (64%) do not trust generative AI technology. Those who aren’t familiar with the technology have higher shares of distrust (71%), compared to those who are familiar with generative AI (60%).

• Four in five U.S. adults (84%) agree someone could easily abuse generative AI technology and 68% of U.S. adults worry generative AI could negatively impact the economy. More than half of Americans (56%) worry that generative AI will worsen existing social inequalities. 

• More students aged 12-18 (58%) are using ChatGPT than parents (30%). Similarly, 54% of students aged 12-18 have heard a lot about ChatGPT, compared to only 30% of parents. 

• Students who use ChatGPT are three times more likely to use the AI platform (53%) than search engines like Google (18%).