New global analysis finds companies with more executives involved in communications experienced half the reputational volatility and stronger stock performance through the beginning months of 2026
NEW YORK — Oct. 28, 2026 — Companies have long built their public identities around their CEO, but as leadership turnover, stakeholder scrutiny and business complexity rise, that concentration can become a vulnerability. Stakeholders expect answers from the executives with direct authority over the issues shaping the business, and companies that rely too heavily on the CEO risk creating a credibility gap when those answers are needed most.
New global research from We. Communications examined what happens when companies close that gap by widening their executive bench. Those with an activated, coordinated C-suite—where senior executives bring distinct expertise to a shared corporate narrative—showed stronger communications, reputation and business signals than companies with limited C-suite visibility.
The findings are detailed in We.’s latest Brands in Motion report, The C-Suite Ensemble Effect: How Broadening Executive Influence Enhances Reputation and Delivers Business Impact. The analysis examines 100 of the world’s highest-revenue companies across consumer, technology, healthcare and financial services, comparing organizations with highly activated C-suites—senior leaders actively representing their company across earned, owned and social channels—with organizations with limited C-suite visibility.
Companies with highly activated C-suite experienced:
The research was developed by We. Advisors, We. Communications’ global corporate advisory offering, in partnership with We. Studio, the agency’s content and creative studio. We. Advisors counsels CEOs, C-suites and senior leaders as they navigate complexity, manage stakeholder expectations, strengthen reputation and drive business impact across North America, EMEA and APAC.
“Communications leaders have long known that executive visibility matters. What’s been missing is evidence of what a coordinated C-suite can deliver for reputation and the business,” said Hannah Peters, Executive Vice President, We. Advisors, We. Communications. “This research moves past the anecdotal, with data that makes the case for engaging not only the CEO but a broader set of executives aligned to stakeholder expectations.”
We. Communications calls this approach the C-Suite Ensemble: a coordinated group of senior leaders who actively represent their organization across earned, owned and social channels, as well as on stages and at industry events, each with a distinct area of expertise and a shared leadership narrative. The model keeps the CEO central while giving companies credible executive voices ready to address the financial, operational, technological and human dimensions of their strategy.
The report identifies four principles for building an effective ensemble: match the right expertise to the issue, align leaders around a shared narrative, orchestrate who speaks and when, and keep the CEO visible as the enterprisewide throughline.
“Alignment gets misread as sameness, and that is where most executive programs go wrong,” said GiGi Downs, Head of We. Studio, We. Communications. “A CFO and a chief marketing officer should not sound like the same person reading from the same page. The most influential leaders bring their own expression to a shared idea. That helps audiences see there are real people behind the strategy, rather than a messaging framework. And this builds belief.”
The research also points to a growing premium on functional authority. In a global survey of 2,000 business decision-makers conducted in partnership with Sapio Research, 86% said messages are more credible when delivered by an executive with subject-matter expertise. On financial outlook, respondents preferred the CFO over the CEO by 17 percentage points; on cybersecurity or a data breach, they preferred the CTO by 19 points.
Further, they want to hear more about AI: 74% said they want executives to discuss both the benefits and dangers of AI more. They even show a bullishness on executive AI use. Two-thirds think it’s appropriate when an executive uses an AI stand-in to answer low-priority questions, respond to emails, craft social media posts and even pen an all-staff memo.
“Our data shows the CEO remains essential to setting direction and providing an enterprisewide view,” Peters said. “But stakeholders also want to hear from the leaders closest to the decisions that affect them. A strong C-suite does not compete with the CEO; it gives the organization more credibility, more depth and more capacity to sustain confidence when the stakes are high.”
The research further suggests that leadership depth can reinforce corporate resilience. Eighty-one percent of surveyed business decision-makers said a well-integrated C-suite makes a company more resilient to executive departures. Companies with highly activated C-suites also showed stronger reputation signals: They scored four points higher in Reputation Forecast, We. Communications’ proprietary tool for tracking corporate reputation and identifying early risk signals, and experienced half the reputational volatility of companies with limited C-suite visibility during the four-month period studied.
Reputation is increasingly built and defended across a group of leaders rather than concentrated in a single figure, and the research suggests that organizations treating executive visibility as a distributed capability are better positioned to hold value through leadership change. We.’s C-Suite Surround is a strategic solution designed to help executives define and amplify their voices, so they can lead industry conversations.
The C-Suite Ensemble Effect is available here.
About Brands in Motion
We. Communications conducted a multimethod global research study examining executive visibility across high-revenue companies in consumer products, healthcare, technology and financial services. In partnership with Meltwater, the firm compared 20 organizations with highly activated C-suites and 20 with limited C-suite visibility from January 1, 2026, through April 30, 2026, analyzing C-level activity across earned media, corporate blogs and LinkedIn alongside aggregate media, sentiment, news-cycle and engagement outcomes.
Sapio Research surveyed 2,000 business decision-makers across Australia, Germany, India, Singapore, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States on behalf of We. Communications, July 17-31, 2026. The research also included publicly available stock-performance data, Reputation Forecast analysis and interviews with 11 senior communications executives across North America, APAC and EMEA.
Together, these findings show how a more coordinated executive presence can shape stakeholder confidence, strengthen corporate reputation and help organizations sustain trust through periods of complexity and change.
The C-Suite Ensemble Effect is part of We.’s Brands in Motion global research program, which has surveyed more than 100,000 consumers and business decision-makers worldwide on how perceptions shift over time and how brands can communicate with clarity in an ever-changing world.
About We. Communications
We. is a global communications agency helping brands navigate an ever-changing world. We’ve spent decades at the intersection of technology and humanity, translating new innovations into meaningful experiences that connect with people. As change accelerates and expectations evolve, we use our expertise to help brands communicate through complexity to drive connection, understanding and progress. We offer a range of solutions with this in mind, across diverse industries, audiences and stakeholders.
