The ballots are in, and we are pleased to announce the winners of our annual Risk Communication Award for 2013, which recognizes those who used communication to skillfully take and manage risk in the past year. Take your seat, top up your champagne and read on.This year’s winners comprise leaders from industry, asset management and government – with one or two surprises:
Ben Bernanke
Standing above all the other winners this year, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke earns his place in the pantheon of risk communicators for his forthright statements about the Fed’s policy actions and economic outlook. Under Chairman Bernanke, traders, investors and corporate chieftains had more information than ever before about what the Fed was going to do, particularly as it prepared to ease its pace of bond-buying. Reading the Fed finally stopped being an exercise akin to scanning Soviet-era photographs for signs of policy shifts. It wasn’t always a perfect process (good risk communication seldom is) but it was an enormous achievement.
Vladimir Putin
Often dismissed by the media as a showman, Russian President Vladimir Putin showed that he understands what can be gained by taking bold steps when faced with big challenges. With controversy threatening to overshadow the Olympic Games in Sochi, his year-end trifecta – freeing the members of Pussy Riot, Greenpeace activists and Mikhail Khodorkovsky – won him favor in the international community and reinforced his authority, which is quite an achievement. You might not like his policies, but Mr. Putin knows how to manage his communications when facing significant risks.
Sheryl Sandberg
Not long after being named CO of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg published “Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead,” reinvigorating the debate about women and the workplace. More than that, she silenced the doubters about Facebook’s strategy, and the company’s share price hit all-time highs. Each was necessary for the success of the other. Communicating and executing – that is the hallmark of a great leader.
Bill Ackman
At first glance, the chief of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital doesn’t seem a likely prize winner given the poor performance of his fund last year. But these awards are for communication, not business performance (although the two are related, which is a topic for another time), and Ackman’s candid discussion of his investment failures in JC Penney, Herbalife and others puts him on our list. Sometimes admitting you got it wrong is the best way to turn the page and get re-focused on what you do best.
Honorable Mention:
Our judges also wanted to recognize these individuals for strong communication performances:
Jeff Bezos – For departing from his customary tight-lipped style to embrace both media interviews and in-person staff gatherings at the Washington Post after he announced he would acquire the storied newspaper group.
Jerry Brown – For steering California away from the brink of chaos by taxing the wealthy to boost education funding (ok, technically a 2012 event), and thereby paving the way for a liberal resurgence that reached as far as New York City, where Bill de Blasio won election with a similar pledge.
Marissa Mayer – For grabbing the joystick at Yahoo just as the company was about to crash with a widely quoted memo telling staffers to get back to the office, sending an unambiguous message that she was serious about fixing the company’s problems fast.