Why we need to hear from the CEO in tough times
By James Fahy, Senior Account Director, Energy & Industrials, Aspectus Group
In uncertain times, customers, investors and employees look to CEOs for clarity. James Fahy explores how a strong executive communications strategy can help leaders manage expectations, build confidence and communicate credibly through both earned and owned channels.
The heatwaves may be over for most of us in Europe, but leaders of industry are still sweating over the Strait of Hormuz, which saw a fifth of the world’s oil and gas sail through before the war. As of the start of September, the waterway is seeing a mere fraction of that trickling through.
The term “unprecedented” gets thrown around like a rider at a rodeo, but it’s hard to escape the fact that Covid-19, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the war in the Gulf has each created unique forms of disruption.
In this volatile environment some stand to gain – oil traders, for example, who can exploit the ups and downs of prices – but many businesses are facing physical threats to staff or assets, or commercial risks from supply chain bottlenecks and economic uncertainty.
In trying times, customers, investors and staff look to leaders for a candid assessment of the landscape and an honest view of ongoing risks. Leadership communication in an uncertain period needs to provide both a strategy for improving the situation – to the extent leaders can affect it – and provide transparency where events are out of their hands.
An effective executive communications strategy requires leaders to communicate early, clearly and through the right channels to reach their audience. Getting ahead in this regard could buy them critical time for reforms to have a positive impact on financial indicators, bolstering their leadership at a time when CEO turnover hit an eight-year high in 2025.
Managing expectations
When Tufan Erginbilgic took over at Rolls-Royce in January 2023, he made headlines by describing the company as a “burning platform” because of how poorly it was performing. Erginbilgic’s visceral language about how deep-seated the issues ran at Rolls-Royce helped set the stage for a restructuring plan to put the business back on track. It is a useful example of CEO crisis communication: acknowledging difficult realities directly, establishing the scale of the challenge and setting expectations about what needs to change.
Since Erginbiligic’s declaration in 2023 tailwinds have propelled Rolls-Royce’s offerings for defence and data centres and driven the share price upwards in the company’s 2026 first half results. Therefore, we should be cautious about drawing a line between Erginbiligic’s communications style and business performance.
However, his direct and eye-catching assessment of the state of the business set expectations to investors about the time required to turn the business around and set the scene for ambitious staff targets – simultaneously buying time and creating urgency for reform. More recently, the energy industry has witnessed a similarly accomplished demonstration of executive communications.
Multichannel communications
On 1 April 2026, Meg O’Neill was appointed CEO of bp; the third person to hold the office in three years. In a short space of time, O’Neill has taken decisive action to simplify its portfolio and strengthen its balance sheet. She has also supplemented traditional media interviews with proactive communications through her personal LinkedIn profile that reminds audiences about the ongoing challenges in the market and at the business, while banging the drum about her priorities that will achieve greater value.
For CEOs, an executive communications strategy should consider where things should be said as well as what. The use of LinkedIn is a smart move from O’Neill because it allows her to determine the narrative for a network of more than 100,000, supplementing earned media coverage where messages are more likely to be lost or watered down as part of the standard editorial process.
The bp share price is up, which observers could say is due to higher oil prices, strong refining revenues and a well-performing trading arm. That said, O’Neill’s pragmatic and unsentimental persona clearly comes through and builds confidence that she is the person to act decisively at the pace required, which others before her were unable to accomplish. One such decision was the sale of bp’s assets in the North Sea, which is an emotional end of an era for many, but a calculated move in support of better value for her.
CEO reputation management is brand management
These are two examples to show how CEOs are seeing the benefits of proactively setting out their stall through traditional channels such as earned media and on their own terms through channels such as LinkedIn or Substack. CEO reputation management increasingly depends on this combination of visibility, consistency and credibility. In tough times, customers want reassurance that their suppliers will deliver, staff want clear direction and shareholders want to see evidence of a strategy that will generate returns.
Customers also expect authenticity and demonstrated expertise from leaders of their suppliers and service providers. Opinion articles, blogs and social media posts must be guided by real experiences and genuine perspectives. Audiences already bombarded by banal AI-generated content are likely to zone out if they see more of the same and they are increasingly using tools like Pangram to call authors out for writing with AI. This means more thought needs to go into communications by executives and their teams, but the result will be higher quality written materials that are more likely to cut the mustard with customers.
At Aspectus Group, we advise CEOs and senior on external positioning ,change management and communications strategies more broadly. The commercial benefits of this type of undertaking were supported by A Global Reputation Economy report from 2026 that found companies with positive reputations can realize as much as 4.78% in additional unexpected annual shareholder returns, hammering home the financial rewards that are ripe for the taking. The CEO is often the face of a brand and when they earn credibility and authority using their thought leadership, it builds the company’s credibility with its clients, prospects, and other stakeholders.
Even for a CEO who is having to handle competing demands in the current environment, creating time to proactively communicate is a savvy commercial decision. The right strategy in challenging times is essential, but equally important is the backing of customers, investors and staff who believe you can see it through.
Key takeaways
Why does CEO communication matter in uncertain times?
Customers, investors and employees look to senior leaders for a clear view of risks, priorities and how the business plans to respond.
How can executive communication help manage expectations?
Speaking early and candidly can help CEOs explain difficult decisions, set realistic expectations and give change programmes time to deliver results.
Why should CEOs use both earned and owned channels?
Combining media engagement with channels such as LinkedIn gives leaders more opportunities to communicate their priorities directly while reinforcing wider coverage.
What makes executive thought leadership credible?
The strongest content reflects genuine experience, clear expertise and a distinct point of view that audiences can recognise as authentic.
About the author
James is experienced in creating and implementing media strategies to meet the objectives of global firms across the energy and industrials industry, from supporting sales in new markets to managing complex reputational issues.
