Issues

Our strategic approach to issues management helps you build greater credibility for public affairs within your organization, use resources more effectively, and achieve measurable results for your business.  

• We conduct a confidential internal audit to surface the issues that could potentially damage your reputation and derail your business goals.
• We analyze the external political, policy, and public opinion trends that will shape your future and determine how best to influence those trends.
• Based on these analyses, we develop a long-term strategy to enable you to maximize opportunities, mitigate potential challenges, and invest your time and money in areas that promise the greatest return.

Reputation

We create a 360° view of how your company is perceived by its most important stakeholders — customers, investors, employees, NGOs, lawmakers, old and new media — and others whom you might not even be aware of.  Then we help you find opportunities to engage them and change attitudes and behaviors.

• We do a full media audit, to determine what is being said about you and why.
• We examine investor sentiment to understand what Wall Street thinks about you and whether your story is coming across clearly.
• We interview employees to assess how they view the company and whether their views align with your mission and desired message.
• We survey opinion leaders to understand how they perceive your organization and what it would take to influence their impressions.
• We scan consumer and activist websites and blogs and survey a representative sampling of these groups to clarify their expectations and see how you measure up.  When necessary, we determine what you can do to turn confrontation into cooperation.

 

Message

A clear, compelling, consistent message may be the deciding factor in whether your organization is driving an issue — or the issue is driving you.   In our experience, companies typically spend too much time fine-tuning the process rather than the content.

• We help you craft messages that people will remember and act upon, and identify the best channels to get those messages across. 
• We bring a fresh perspective to corporate presentations, turning an average set of slides into a powerful, persuasive argument or taking reams of complex material and shaping it into a cogent story.
• We help you frame critical debates and compete effectively in the marketplace of ideas and public opinion.
• We ensure that your internal and external communications are in sync and aligned with your business, financial, and legal strategy.
• We measure whether your messages are reaching the right people and having the desired impact.

 

Thought Leadership

Great organizations derive substantial equity from their ability to stake out thoughtful positions on the world stage and help stakeholders understand complex issues.

• We identify the social and policy trends that will have the greatest impact on your business and that you are uniquely positioned to address.
• We establish strategic partnerships with organizations that can help you shape these trends and connect you with elite opinion makers and influencers who will lead the public debate of your issues.
• We develop a plan of action, from face-to-face meetings, to sponsoring and convening forums, to commissioning and disseminating original research — to bolder tactics designed to make your issue top of mind among key decision-makers.
• We help you develop a thought leadership program that amplifies your company’s community outreach, government affairs, and new business development, as well as your brand marketing, employee recruitment, retention, and more.

 

Skill Building

In all of our work, we aim to build the skills our clients need to communicate effectively across a variety of channels.

• We orchestrate multiple-speaker internal events and critical external meetings where the messages need to be crisp, distinct, and carefully thought out.
• We design and deliver customized workshops that center on the clarity of thinking that underpins all great presentations and written communications.  Participants learn how to build a story around provocative ideas, construct a persuasive argument, and design visuals that pack a punch. 
• We provide individual coaching for senior executives on how to crystallize issues and create a winning impression on panels, with journalists, or before critical audiences.

 

High Lantern Group Notebook

About once a month, the partners at High Lantern Group gather a small list of interesting, provocative, and contrarian items that shed light on what makes great strategic positioning and thought leadership. We are happy to share them with you - and hear from you about ideas worth sharing.