。Increasingly, CEOs are speaking out publicly and taking stands on controversial issues. CEOs now have a track record of speaking up about social, political and environmental issues, such as climate change, gender pay equity, same-sex marriage, immigration,gun control and discrimination.After tracking the American public’s perspectives on CEO activism since 2016, we decided to sample communications and marketingexecutives in the US, UK and China to understand how companies perceive their own CEOs’ activism and what companies aredoing to prepare to respond to hot-button societal issues.CEO Activism: Inside Comms& Marketingis the third report issued in the 2018 annual CEO activism poll conducted by WeberShandwick in partnership with KRCResearch.CEO Activism in 2018: The Purposeful CEO focused on American consumer opinionsabout CEO activism, andCEO Activism in 2018: The Tech Effectfocused on the perspectives of technology professionals in sevenglobal markets.2 IntroductionAs expectations grow for business leaders tospeak out on political and social issues,companies must anticipate which issues affecttheir businesses and challenge their values, andbe prepared to address them. Our latest studyamong those responsible for corporatecommunications and marketing provides an insidelook at how companies are faring in an era whereCEO activism is quickly becoming the new normand earning competitive reputational advantage. Andy Polansky, CEOWeber Shandwick 3What we did Weber Shandwick partnered with KRCResearch in May 2018to conduct an online survey of 500 communications andmarketing professionals in the US (n=300), UK (n=100) andChina (n=100). These executives work in a variety ofindustries and titles range from manager to chiefcommunications officer and chief marketing officer. The survey describes CEO activism to respondents asfollows: “In the past year or so, some chief executive officers(CEOs, or top leaders of companies) have spoken out publiclyand taken a stand on controversial issues. For example,CEOs have spoken up about social, political andenvironmental issues such as climate change, incomefairness, same-sex marriage, immigration, gun control anddiscrimination.”In many cases, Chinese respondents rated statements morehighly than those in the US and UK. According to ourcolleagues in China, Chinese respondents likely respondedhonestly to the survey, but with the ideal CEO in mind, notwhat they experience in reality. Their perspective may reflectwhat they want their companies and CEOs to be doing withrespect to CEO activism.US 300 UK 100 China 100 4 。。。。。。