Real-Life Communication
You are a CEO. You are going into a board meeting to discuss the
growth of your corporation. Suddenly, your public relations manager pulls
you aside. He tells you that your company has acquired the aircraft maintenance
company, High Altitude.
You will want to mention this at the meeting.
You need to brush up on the details before you can go in. Your PR manager
hands you a brief about the company.
"The most successful CEOs are
dynamic people and great communicators," says Lisa Collins, an executive educator
in Wisconsin. "They have to get up in public and explain their strategies.
If a company is losing money, the CEO has to explain to shareholders what
is going on."
CEOs must also read reports, journals and write correspondence.
"They usually have public relations personnel to dictate to, or to check over
the documents, but they still need these skills," says Collins.
Read
the brief below, and then answer some of the questions raised at the meeting:
Brief:
After
many months of negotiation, we have acquired the High Altitude aerospace company.
This company is one of the leading manufacturers of specialized aircraft,
including firefighting helicopters and planes. They have a total of 80 such
aircraft.
In addition, High Altitude has begun doing repair work for
major aircraft carriers. This area is going to expand as the company grows.
High Altitude recently constructed a new 25,000-square-foot hangar for aircraft
repair work. This will mean that the total number of repairs could double
by the next year. High Altitude is aiming to take over a larger portion of
the $30-billion worldwide aircraft repair industry.
High Altitude had
been looking for government support to expand its company. It wants to hire
an additional 800 full-time aircraft maintenance workers.
Questions
- What does High Altitude do?
- Why is High Altitude a good investment?
- What effect will this have on the workforce?