Brian Cowen and speaking to business people

I was at that much commented on 'state of the nation' speech given by Taoiseach Brian Cowen to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce last week. It seems to have been generally concluded – mainly by people that were not there – that 'it's about time we heard something like that' but 'he shouldn't have reserved a speech like that for a select few and certainly not just people in business'

Instead of criticising where An Taoiseach choose to deliver his thoughts though, we should focus on the role the people in that room must play in our national recovery and why it is important that they got the key messge he set out to deliver last Thursday night.

The mention of a 10-12 per cent fall in the standard of living caught the headlines and much of the analysis of the Taoiseach's words has been on the passion of his call for a “can do” spirit, for the need of all to adopt a “community” spirit and for solidarity in the face of economic adversity.

Fundamentally though his assertion that “jobs jobs jobs has to be the priority in the coming years” was a critical and hard message to the room on the night and indeed to the world beyond.

Jobs beget jobs. Aside from the obvious direct benefit to individual citizens, the flow of income from employment is central to Exchequer and thus to the economy’s financial well being. Government for certain has to take an active role in creating and facilitating the correct conditions for, firstly, the protection and then the creation of employment. It cannot however achieve much of what needs doing without an active and committed business sector.

The Celtic Tiger era was clearly good for business. Existing businesses grew beyond their wildest previous dreams as the growing workforce created new eager consumers. In addition the combination of affluence and technology, among other factors, saw the birth of many new enterpriuses as well as complete new areas of invention and trading.

Our decade plus of continuous growth redefined businesses' expectations as to the level of success that could be acheived and the time period within which to achieve it.

Those expectations changed decision making and redefined the context for the creation and maintenance of employment. Jobs basically became easy come easy go. A business that was challenged to achieve Celtic Tiger growth rates could always look at labour cost knowing that a generally buoyant economy would sustain ample compensation and still offer opportunity for those impacted.

A consequence of our changed times is that those expectations need to be re-set. It may seem heresy to business leaders embedded in a culture of double digit growth – especially where their own reward is directly linked to achieving such figures – but that time is gone. There will be the odd 'bolter' will that bucks the trend, but they will do so by short term means in a strained market and for most the only certainty of such stand out performance is that it will not be repeated.

If business can't recalibrate its settings to lower levels of growth, or if it gets caught in the pursuit of short term boom and bust cycles of growth, there is an inevitability that jobs will continue to be unstable but without the backdrop of ready alternative opportunity.


Getting that message through is a challenge, not because people in business are either divorced from reality or are unwilling to listen. It is challenging because it is still new and it is entirely contrary to what has become normal over the past ten years. It is a culture change and culture doesn't change easily

The process of communicating it thoroughly will take time. When the object of the message is to deliver a previously unbelievable reality and where there is a need for action to follow, the most effective means of delivering the message is face to face. We all see, hear and read the mass media. What they say or print forms a substantive part of our common knowledge but it is distant and aggregated – it rarely speaks to the individual.

By contrast no medium has the effect on behaviour that word of mouth has. As Brian Cowen straightened his back to talk on Thursday last he said “I want to look at everyone in the eye and say a few things”. Those very words were a signal in themselves. By saying them he was moving to the most effective means of getting a critical message through directly to an audience without whom his Government and this country cannot get out of the economic hole it is in.

It would be wrong to set out to run the country in accordance with the direction of a communications plan (although that is not to say that some haven't tried!) At the same time well planned and structured communications is a critical component of good government. That means using different means at different times and being strategic rather than populist in the use of communications opportunities.

The direct impact on those present last Thursday night could never be achieved through mass media or through a communication aimed at addressing the population in general. Business has a fundamental role to play in keeping the country working against a backdrop of recent times where perhaps that obligation was blurred. That message needed to be said directly and discreetly.

The Taoiseach's address was a direct challenge about which no one present was left in any doubt. There is of course a need to say it again, to say something similar to other groups and certainly to address those thoughts to the nation as a whole. We must be careful however not to confuse communication for the benefit of good publicity and popular acclaim with communication to achieve a meaningful effect where action is required.