Call it schadenfreude if you like, but us journos have been having a field day with the wave of corporate scandals sweeping the US. So too have hapless investors who, having watched their portfolios dwindle toward nothing, can at least take some pleasure in seeing the Rigases, Kozlowskis and Sullivans of this world get their comeuppance.
In what can only be described as a hostile climate, IROs are treading carefully. Circumspect by nature, they’re searching for opportunities that might emerge ‘when the hurley-burley’s done, when the battle’s lost and won,’ as Shakespeare might have said.
With the investor community clamoring for improvements in corporate governance and disclosure, many companies are increasing the potential and scope of their IR offices. ‘It’s a real opportunity for investor relations to move into the boardroom on a very proactive basis,’ comments Lou Thompson of the National Investor Relations Institute in the US.
But how welcome will the IRO be in the boardroom, among company directors who have, up to now, done their own thing, in their own time and never really had to explain themselves to anyone but other board members? In most cases, about as welcome as the Green Goblin would be at a meeting of Oscorp’s board of directors.
Still, it looks as though intrepid IROs may now have one foot in the boardroom door. An actual seat the table may be a long way off, but regular presentations to the board should be regular events at all companies. Never mind your company’s popularity on Wall Street or employees’ welfare, directors have serious concerns about their own reputations. They need a hot line to investors – and you’re it.
But what about when the next bull market comes along, when Enron and Global Crossing and WorldCom are but distant memories and executive directors once again feel confident enough to push investor relations back down the agenda? It may be that skeptics will be proven right, and all the attention currently lavished on corporate governance will turn out to be no more than lip service.
Let us not lose heart, though. IROs are naturally subtle, used to employing tactics of diplomacy and gentle persuasion, even cunning and guile. They must also be single-minded. If knocking politely at the boardroom door doesn’t produce the desired effects, they should be prepared to cajole and threaten, to whisper blandishments in the chief exec’s ear – through the keyhole if necessary – to do anything, in short, to maintain that hard-won place at the high table.
