Communication is a risk management function. It just shouldn't act like one.

Communication is a risk management function. It has to be. Someone needs to think about what happens when the company opens its mouth: what can be misunderstood, what might piss people off, what legal will hate, what journalists will ask next and whether the CEO is about to accidentally start a small international incident on LinkedIn.

But communications absolutely cannot act like a risk management function.

That is where things go to shit.

Comms can kill interest, personality and perspective faster than almost anything else in an organisation because it sees danger everywhere. Someone might misunderstand this. That joke could offend someone. We can't quite say that. Legal might object. Let's soften it. Add context. Remove that word. Better run it past everyone again.

Eventually you arrive at something completely safe, completely correct and completely fucking dead.

Good communication needs friction. It needs a point of view strong enough that someone could disagree with it, humour sharp enough that someone might not laugh and a personality distinct enough that some people won't like it. Otherwise you're not managing reputation. You're slowly removing the possibility of having one.

Look at Ryanair, IKEA or Burger King at their best. They tease, provoke, react, make jokes and occasionally annoy people. They behave like actual humans might work there. Not everything lands, and that is inseparable from having a recognisable voice in the first place.

Communications should be capable of ruffling feathers just as much as advertising, perhaps more. Advertising can simply buy attention. Communications usually has to deserve it, and “we are delighted to announce another exciting strategic partnership” is competing against literally everything interesting happening in the world.

This doesn't mean being reckless. The communications team should understand the risks better than anyone. It should know exactly where the landmines are, which ones will actually explode and what happens if you step on one.

But that's the backstage operation.

The audience shouldn't see a risk management function. They should see a company with a personality, opinions, humour, confidence and something worth listening to.

Sometimes comms should say absolutely fucking not. Sometimes it should say this will piss people off and here's why. And sometimes, after considering all the risks, it should say yes, someone will complain; publish it.

The job isn't to make communication safe.

The job is to make communication good while keeping the company safe.

Those are very different things.