'Women uniquely suited for public relations'

Karen van Bergen, CEO at global public relations (PR) agency Porter Novelli, talks about her experiences as a woman CEO in an interview with The Korea Times, at the Korcom Porter Novelli office in Seoul, on May 20. / Courtesy of Korcom Porter Novelli

Porter Novelli CEO attributes her success to 'challenging spirit'

By Lee Min-hyung

Women working in the male-dominated business environment find it hard to take on leadership roles.

But Karen van Bergen, CEO at global public relations (PR) agency Porter Novelli, wants to shatter that perception using her role as a successful businesswoman.

"Women are very uniquely suited for public relations because much of it is about relationships and curiosity in a human setting," she said.

"Both males and females have their own special characteristics, but it is really important for women to grab opportunities and that’s what I have always done and where I am now."

The Dutch CEO said a "challenging spirit" was the secret behind her success.

"You have to keep pushing," she said. "Don’t be afraid of grabbing opportunities, even if you think that you may not know 100 percent of the next job. Just go and do it. Take a risk and move forward and keep learning and working with great people."

As one of a few European women running a U.S.-based company, she is committed to ensuring the welfare of female employees.

"We want to make sure women have a lot more flexibility, and we also make sure we don’t lose women at the point where they have to choose between career and family," she said. "We try to give them the flexibility to have both."

Before joining the agency in 2012, she had been a communications expert for more than 30 years. As a former leader at OneVoice, a consortium of Omnicom public relations agencies, she managed 600 staff in more than 80 countries.

"I have worked in a completely male-dominated industry, facing many challenges as a woman,” she said. “That’s why Porter Novelli tries to create as many opportunities for women and other diverse groups as possible."

"Our overall aim is to create a more open culture. We definitely play a big role in changing cultures."

Porter Novelli CEO Karen van Bergen, right, and the agency's Asia-Pacific region president Angie Schneider pose in front of Korcom Porter Novelli office in Seoul, on May 20. / Courtesy of Korcom Porter Novelli

PR company aims to centralize corporate communication

Asia-Pacific region president of Porter Novelli says the company helps Asian clients to be more centralized in corporate communications.

"A lot of Asian-headquartered companies have very decentralized communications,” said Angie Schneider.

"Western companies are more centralized, even though they are much smaller or have only two or three product areas. There’s a lot more desire to have one voice or a consistent corporate theme, even if the products have different messages. But they need to tie up together for one big corporate message all the time."

She said the global agency focused on its relationship management skill to help remove the bureaucratic corporate culture that was deeply rooted in Asian countries.

"For bureaucratic clients, industry or markets, what we would like to do is to figure out who needs to be key decision makers on the client’s side to streamline processes.

"Then we also help them identify what are the most important relationships they need to have externally.

"Depending on whatever level of bureaucracy they are in, we help them make a collaborative environment for the relationships to happen."

Porter Novelli used its multifaceted "measurement tool" to create such environments for clients, she said.

Chris Yim, CEO at Seoul-based Korcom Porter Novelli, explained, "We measure companies in multiple angles ― ranging from their business philosophy, leadership, innovation, performance, and sales. We then put the result into numbers for accurate measurement."

Ms Schneider said, "Only a few companies ranked high when we measured 300 Korean companies."

She said the tool helped pinpoint weaknesses and suggested ways for improvement.

"Companies such as Yuhan-Kimberly and AhnLab were in the top 10, even though they were not as big as Samsung."