There are few corporate stories from the last decade that have attracted as much fascination, scrutiny and commentary as WeWork.
The company’s rise was extraordinary. Its fall was equally public. By the time bankruptcy and restructuring dominated headlines, WeWork had become a case study used by journalists, investors and business schools alike. For many observers, the story seemed complete.
Yet the problem with public narratives is that they have a habit of lagging behind reality.
When a company experiences a crisis, particularly one that unfolds so publicly, perceptions often become fixed. Stakeholders stop evaluating what the business is doing now and continue judging it through the lens of what happened before. In some respects, reputation develops a memory much longer than that of the organisation itself.
That challenge sat at the heart of my recent conversation with Thiago Viana, Head of Global Communications & Corporate Affairs at WeWork. What struck me most was that he never described communications as the mechanism through which WeWork would rebuild trust. Instead, he described communications as the mechanism through which stakeholders could see the progress that already existed.
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It's an important distinction and one that many organisations get wrong.
When businesses face reputational damage, the instinct is often to search for a communications solution. A refreshed brand. A new message. A repositioning exercise. A campaign. Something that will help move the conversation on, but stakeholders are remarkably good at spotting the difference between narrative and evidence.
A communications strategy can amplify progress. It can explain progress. It can help people understand progress. What it cannot do is replace progress.
The reality facing WeWork after restructuring was that the business itself had changed. Financially, operationally and strategically, it was a different organisation from the one many people still had in their heads. Yet externally, much of the coverage remained anchored to events from previous years. That is a challenge many organisations encounter during periods of transformation. The business evolves faster than perception does.
In those situations, communications teams often find themselves managing two parallel realities. The first is the reality inside the organisation, where leaders, employees and customers experience the progress being made every day. The second is the reality outside the organisation, where stakeholders continue viewing the company through an outdated lens.
Bridging that gap requires more than media relations. It requires patience, consistency and, most importantly, evidence.
One concept from the conversation particularly resonated with me. Shortly after joining WeWork, the communications team developed what they described as a single source of truth. A central messaging framework containing proof points, metrics, business performance indicators and supporting evidence that could be used consistently across the organisation.
While many communicators would recognise this as a messaging house or narrative framework, I think its true value runs deeper. Every organisation has stories. The challenge is that when leadership fails to define those stories clearly, stakeholders create their own. Employees fill in the gaps. Customers draw their own conclusions. Journalists connect the dots themselves. Investors build their own narratives. Sometimes they get it right. Often they don't.
A strong communications strategy is not about manufacturing a story. It is about providing enough clarity, consistency and evidence that stakeholders arrive at the right conclusion themselves. This becomes even more important during periods of change. Most transformation programmes fail because organisations underestimate the emotional side of change. Leaders focus on milestones, operational improvements and financial performance. Stakeholders focus on uncertainty.
Employees want to know whether they can trust leadership. Customers want confidence that service levels will remain strong. Partners want reassurance that commitments will be honoured. Investors want belief that the strategy is working.
Those concerns cannot be solved through messaging alone. They are solved through behaviour. The role of communications is to make that behaviour visible.
Another lesson from WeWork's experience is the importance of executive visibility.
Communications professionals sometimes underestimate how much reassurance people derive from strong leadership communication. During periods of uncertainty, stakeholders are looking for more than information. They are looking for signals.
Does leadership understand the challenge? Do they have a plan? Do they sound credible? Can they be trusted?
Those questions are often answered long before stakeholders analyse a balance sheet or study a strategy deck. People look for confidence before they look for detail. This helps explain why executive communications remains such a critical part of any transformation programme. Organisations may communicate, but people connect with people.
Ultimately, however, perhaps the biggest lesson is that trust is not rebuilt through campaigns. Trust is rebuilt through thousands of small moments. A conversation with an employee. A commitment delivered. A customer promise kept. A transparent answer to a difficult question. A willingness to address reality rather than avoid it.
Communications can help tell the story. But trust is built through what organisations do long before it appears in a headline.
That may be frustrating for leaders hoping for a quicker solution. Equally, it should be reassuring. Because the organisations that rebuild trust most successfully are rarely the ones with the cleverest messaging.
They're the ones with the strongest substance behind it.
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