{"podcast":{"title":"Communication Breakdown","slug":"communication-breakdown-7019931","podcast_index_feed_id":7019931,"rss_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/show/6301456/episodes/feed","website_url":"https://ocrnetwork.com/podcasts/communication-breakdown","image_url":"https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/bb1654c4c2ff3f77a3c1f292f51b3d52.jpg","author":"Observatory on Corporate Reputation LLC","episode_count":86,"summary":"Communication Breakdown is a postgame show for PR pros. In each episode, hosts Craig Carroll (Founder of the Observatory on Corporate Reputation, Editor of the SAGE Encyclopedia of Corporate Reputation, Lecturer at Rice University’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business) and Steve Dowling (former head of communications at OpenAI and Apple) discuss the strategies and tactics companies are using in high-visibility crises and PR initiatives, giving listeners unique insight into how key decisions are made. The podcast offers two unique perspectives on communications theory and practice, drawing on Craig’s research and teaching on reputation at USC Annenberg, UNC Chapel Hill, and universities worldwide, and Steve’s two decades of experience as a comms leader at some of the world’s most influential companies. Whether you’re a PR professional, marketing executive, or just curious about how companies make key communications decisions, you’ll find these discussions insightful and valuable.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-05T04:21:27.467075+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/communication-breakdown-7019931"},"episode":{"title":"“Lower-Value Human Capital”","slug":"lower-value-human-capital","published_at":"2026-05-28T13:00:02+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/communication-breakdown-7019931/lower-value-human-capital","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/communication-breakdown-7019931","url":"https://www.spreaker.com/episode/lower-value-human-capital--72198978","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72198978/ep_85_lower_value_human_capital.mp3","summary":"In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll unpack two corporate reputation problems where leadership, governance, and messaging collided under pressure. First, they examine Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters’ “lower value human capital” comment and the three cleanup attempts that followed. Then they turn to BP, where chairman Albert Manifold was removed after less than a year, setting off a governance fight that threatens to prolong the company’s instability narrative. Across both stories, Steve and Craig show how communications teams lose ground when leaders treat high-stakes moments as messaging problems instead of trust, governance, and stakeholder problems. Takeaways Bill Winters’ cleanup attempts focused too much on explaining context and not enough on clearly rejecting the idea that people are “lower value.” A CEO press briefing can create unnecessary risk when the official investor message has already been carefully scripted and vetted. BP’s chairman removal shows how a governance problem quickly becomes a communications problem when the process is unclear. Topics Mentioned AI and workforce displacement, executive communication, internal communications, investor relations, employee trust, crisis communication, CEO apologies, stakeholder management, governance failures, board accountability, reputation risk, leadership credibility, corporate instability, media strategy, press briefings, narrative control, strategic communications Companies Mentioned Standard Chartered, NVIDIA, Wall Street Journal, Air Canada, BP, Bloomberg Episode Hashtags #StandardChartered #NVIDIA #WallStreetJournal #AirCanada #BP #Bloomberg #CorporateCommunications #PublicRelations #CrisisCommunication #InternalCommunications #ExecutiveCommunication #AICommuni…","meta_description":"In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll unpack two corporate reputation problems where leadership, governance, and mes…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1850,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/communication-breakdown-7019931/episodes/lower-value-human-capital/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/communication-breakdown-7019931/lower-value-human-capital.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}