This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. A number of factors, both external and internal, are increasingly demanding a strategic approach to corporate communications. Yet, despite regulatory imperatives, organizational complexities, and a growing need for companies to increase their credibility with their constituencies, many companies still take a tactical, short-term approach to communication that is not only nonstrategic but may, in fact, be inconsistent with their corporate strategy or even impede it. The authors conducted more than 50 interviews with CEOs, CFOs, and heads of corporate communications and investor relations at companies that represent the state of the art in corporate communications, companies that have faced and survived major crises, and some that are great corporate communicators but not usually recognized for their efforts. Offers best practice lessons and a framework to enable executives to think carefully about their organization's objectives for each specific communication, determine which constituencies are critical to meeting that objective, and understand what kinds of messages to deliver through which channel.

Rather than highlight short-term accounting profits, budgets should emphasize future cash. That, as Warren Buffet knows, is where a company's growth potential lies. Changes as simple as replacing the word "budgets" and revising the format of budget reports can put you on a growth footing.

A control system developed and refined for six years at a large electronics corporation has helped top executives to effectively manage the performance of about 100 different projects. The heart of the multi-project control system, the Program Status Report, gives information simultaneously on cost, schedule, and technical status. The development of a system for visually displaying essential elements of all projects allows top executives to pinpoint projects demanding immediate attention. The project manager must report the progress of the project monthly and answer for the end results of the project.