In Part 1 (Do Speakers Need a Reputation Czar?) I pointed out that many high-profile speakers end up looking bad because their personal staff and public relation advisers fail to make sure the speaker is ready for “prime time.”

Consider this. You’re the CEO of General Motors. You have in-house PR staff. You have outside agency counsel. Talented professionals. Highly paid.  Yet, when you go to testify before a Congressional committee, the only thing the public remembers is that you flew there in a corporate jet at a cost of $ 20,000. A PR disaster of major scope. 

How is it that competent, experienced public relation professionals can screw up in such a major way? Here are six reasons I’ve observed in my 30-year career. Any one of them can cause a fatal error: 

They grow too close to the client, the issues, and doing business as usual. In the process they lose touch with the audience. To an auto exec, flying the corporate jet to DC was the norm. It was the best way to maximize his productivity. To members of Congress and the American taxpayer it was wasteful and arrogant. PR folks were thinking like the exec, not the audience.
Growing too close to the client also often causes PR folks to become complacent. They start to operate with an everything-will-be-fine attitude. As a result, they are not aggressively anticipating potential problems and developing contingency plans.
They fail to see the symbolic impact of both the message and the events surrounding the delivery of the message. High-profile situations are also high scrutiny. Everything the client does must be in line with the message and desired result.
The PR pro is not able to get the client to commit to rehearsal, arriving early, and mentally preparing for the event. 
They develop a “yes man” mentality. It can be tough, uncomfortable, awkward, and sometimes downright risky, to be blunt in telling the boss or client that something isn’t working, especially if what isn’t working was the boss or client’s idea. But it is essential to be able to do so to protect the client’s reputation.
Most PR pros have little or no experience as a director and performer. So they don’t recognize or appreciate all the aspects that go into making an event a powerful,  persuasive experience. Unfortunately, what they don’t know, can hurt the client.

Hence the need for a specialist, a “reputation czar.”