"Don’t fence me in": Public relations beyond the bounds of management

Public relations realises its potential when it steps up as a leadership compass and helps shape decisions rather than communicating the outcomes of decision-making.

By Catherine Arrow

When I think about where public relations sits in organisational hierarchies, I’m reminded of that old Cole Porter song, Don’t Fence Me In.

Public relations has spent decades seeking recognition, yet in doing so, we’ve fenced ourselves in. In chasing a place within management structures, we’ve too often accepted a role as a service arm rather than a leadership compass.

When it’s labelled as a management function, public relations neatly organises itself to fit specific governance models. Across Western practice, this self-limitation keeps the profession from opening the gate and standing tall as a critical leadership discipline.

In too many boardrooms, public relations is called upon to package decisions, not shape them. It’s time to claim our place as an essential discipline for organisational courage and integrity.

Polish and obscure versus confront and act

This is both a structural problem and a test of courage. Public relations thrives when it advises leaders to act with integrity, even when political or commercial winds blow hard in the opposite direction.

Yet too often we see organisations behaving like cowardly lions. They are powerful on paper but hesitant, deferential and afraid to risk offence.

The result is a slow drive-through of principled operations, replaced by the worst habits of the past - compliance with whoever has the loudest voice, deference to short-term power and a willingness to sacrifice values for proximity to influence.

One of the most significant obstacles is not skill or strategic capacity, but rather management attitude.

Too many organisations use public relations to polish or obscure rather than to confront and act. They prioritise appeasement over principle, worrying more about currying favour with influential figures than maintaining trust with communities and stakeholders.

The cost of playing it safe

This has been thrown into sharp relief in recent months with a steady procession of business and political leaders fawning their way through the White House, culminating this month in Tim Cook’s 24-carat gold lump of solid sycophancy towards Donald Trump.

Presented as clever positioning, it was held up as an example of shrewd public relations in action. In truth, it was the opposite.

Relationships built on such expedience are brittle. They serve neither the public interest nor the long-term health of the organisation. They display capitulation and absorb self-interest, not courage.

Expedience erodes trust

Public relations is uniquely positioned to challenge such thinking if only we are brave enough. As a leadership function, it brings together evidence, stakeholder insight and ethical reasoning to advise against actions that compromise integrity.

It can help leaders see that the cost of capitulation - in reputation, trust and licence to operate - outweighs any short-term advantage.

In a time of intensifying political pressure and polarisation, practitioners can act as a compass, ensuring organisational decisions align with stated values and societal commitments.

Yet public relations too often reinforces the wrong image. Celebrating clever turnarounds of bad optics without asking whether the underlying actions deserved defence at all. This blurs the line between advocacy and complicity.

Reclaiming public relations as a leadership discipline

The value of the 21st-century public relations practitioner lies in judgement, courage, integrity and shared wisdom. Don’t be confined by boundaries set by others for other times.

Walk past the old-fashioned top table and set out your own. And then give everyone a place and provide nourishment for all.