Media Training for CEOs
Media Training for CEOs requires particular skills. It’s not just their seniority that means that they often require specialist courses. There’s a range of other factors that mean that media interview coaching for CEOs is often better done away from the rest of the team.
We provide Media interview training for CEOs working in sectors ranging from tech to fashion and law and professional services to travel. Very often public relations companies or in-house communications teams bring us in because they either have a new CEO who needs to be ready to do interviews with the media, or they have secured an interview with a prominent business outlet, be that print or broadcast.
Media training sessions for CEOs
Sometimes it might be both the boss, and their team feel slightly uncomfortable doing a media training course together – however safe and supportive we make the experience. In other situations, the CEO simply doesn’t have time to devote to a half day let alone the whole day course. Our brief comment intensive media training sessions for CEOs might require just a couple of hours from their busy calendars.
Sometimes we’re asked to provide media training for a CEO because there’s a particular issue or even a crisis that’s affecting the organisation. The boss will need to be able to talk about it to the media – and other audiences – with confidence, authority but also humanity and authenticity.
Media training courses for newly appointed CEOs
When we provide media training courses for newly appointed CEOs we often start with a refresher on the basics of doing effective media interviews. This includes thinking about the audience, being really clear on your messages, having relevant stories, case studies and examples to back up those messages. Very importantly you also need to be aware of the issues that you don’t want them to discuss. This means identifying these topics beforehand and then providing a line to take before the CEO moves back onto their key messages.
New CEOs will often want to outline the new direction that they are taking the organisation in. Even here there can be risks. What was wrong with the old strategy? What are you going to do that your predecessor didn’t do? What mistakes did they make? These questions can all be tricky and they require an effective answer.
The company’s comms team is also very much aware that there are a number of important audiences for this first major interview. They need to think about the financial markets, suppliers, customers, partners and perhaps regulators. Internal audiences are also very important as employees will be watching or reading the interview with interest. Messages have to be aligned with these internal and external audiences.
Key skills for media interviews
We also provide media training for CEOs when the in-house communications team or PR consultant has secured an interview for them with an important outlet such as the FT or Bloomberg. It could also be a major trade publication. Even the most experienced company leader can benefit from refreshing their key media interview skills and testing their messages here.
Comms professionals like to road test the corporate messages that they’ve devised for their clients and bosses. A line or response might sound good on an email or in the meeting room, but will it wash with a sceptical, professional journalist?
Media training for CEOs
Because all of our media trainers are working journalists (operating under strict non-disclosure agreements) they know what to look for when interviewing a CEO. They also know when an answer doesn’t ring true or might open up an opportunity for them to make some mischief. Our media training for CEOs means that all of this testing happens in a safe environment before the real thing.
CEOs might also be thrust into the media spotlight because of a crisis or because their organisation has had to make a difficult decision or has done something unpopular. During these interviews we will test not only whether the messages that the Comms team and PR consultancy has developed hold water, but we’ll also look at how the CEO themselves comes across. Did they look comfortable and confident delivering them? Equally importantly, did they sound reasonable and authentic? Putting the leader of an organisation on camera, even if it’s not for a TV interview can reveal so much. Again, we put the CEO through their paces and rigorously test them, but this all happens in a safe place.
Finally, we also wanted to make a mention of media training for founder CEOs. We’ll be honest, we love working with these people. We love their passion, their energy and their personal stories. We work with the founders of tech companies, restaurant chains, hotel groups, sustainability organisations and media companies.
Media training for founder CEOs
Very often the public relations consultancy or in house Comms team has brought us in to help the founder CEO to tell their story in a way that sounds confident, articulate and, most of all, authentic. However, there’s another reason why we’re asked to provide Media Training for founder CEOs. That is because they are very likely to speak their minds. Many PR and in-house communications consultants tell us hair raising stories of having to contact a journalist after an interview to correct something that their founder CEO has said. In some cases, they have to expend huge amounts of capital begging a journalist not to quote something that’s wonderfully newsworthy but also horribly damaging to the brand.
In our media training for CEOs, we recognise that these individuals are often laws under themselves. By their very nature, they find it difficult to take advice and be reined in. Simply keeping their attention during a media training course when they would rather be running their business is a challenge. But having done this for many years we know how to keep their attention. We emphasise the value of PR and communications. We help to tell their story in a way that’s great for the journalist, great for them as a founder CEO and great for their PR in-house communications consultant.
Our media training for CEOs is flexible, results orientated and cost-effective. We’d love to talk to you about it some more. You can follow us on LinkedIn here.
