An interview with Jane Rawnsley, Group Head of Corporate Responsibility, M&G Plc

11/16/22 • 34 min

Business has always had an urge to share some of its largess with those less fortunate. With clear roots in the ancient mediterranean civilisations, a line runs through renaissance traders, victorian industrialists to today's billionaires racing to give away their fortunes. Aside from the warm fuzzy feeling they hopefully get, there is a clear strategic outcome. When companies connect effectively with external stakeholders through community projects they trigger a virtuous circle as employee motivation increases, driving performance and ultimately improving reputation. Yet some argue that corporate responsibility programmes are meaningless propaganda used to protect reputations by distracting from irresponsible behaviour elsewhere. So, where do you start? Who do you involve? How do you ensure what you are doing is rooted firmly in what your firm is trying to achieve? To discuss this, Andrew and Matt are joined by Jane Rawnsley whois head of corporate responsibility at the global savings and investments giant, M&G. The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown. Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA. Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc. We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email [email protected]. This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach

Previous Episode

The Shape of Corporate Affairs

On this episode of The Little Questions, we are talking about team structure and resources.

In previous editions we’ve spoken about starting out in a new role, and what needs to be your priority? More often than not, structure is right up there.

Getting it right early on will set up any leader for long-term success. But what is the right structure for the resource you have? Is there a ‘one size approach that fits all’?

After all the fun in the last episode, you have fair warning that during this one, we get technical and applied.

The Little Questions podcast is presented by Matt Young and Andrew Brown.

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email [email protected].

Matt Young is an Apella founder partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Apella partner Andrew Brown is a former Director of Communications and Public Affairs at Ageas Insurance. He has more than ten years’ experience leading the corporate affairs functions for global firms across a range of regulated and unregulated sectors, developing considerable experience in issues, crisis and change management. Formerly Director of Communications at Drax Group plc and Group Corporate Affairs Director at Regus plc.

If you'd like more information about Apella Advisors, visit apellaadvisors.com

This podcast is produced by www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk

Next Episode

Who are the PR heroes and villains of 2022?

For every Atticus Finch and Han Solo, there’s a Hannibal Lecter and Darth Vader.

Who doesn’t love a great hero or a terrifying villain? They are the protagonists that sit at the heart of every great story, of how we demonstrate the values that matter, define our morals and learn valuable lessons.

Arguably you can only become a great hero if you have a compelling villain against which you can strive: Without Voldemort, Harry Potter is just another young wizard; Without the Joker, Batman is just an angry ‘trustafarian’ killing time.

And given it's getting to that time of the year where we like to look back, we thought we’d have a look at our PR heroes and villains of 2022!

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch on social media or email [email protected]

This edition of The Little Questions podcast is presented by Andrew Brown, Jenny Scott and Matt Young.

Apella partner Jenny Scott joins us again on The Little Questions podcast. Jenny has worked as Executive Director of Communications at the Bank of England and co-lead for Bank wide strategy. She was also Advisor to the Governor, and sat on the Bank’s executive committee and risk committee. Formerly Economics and Politics Correspondent for the BBC and Presenter of the Daily Politics, she is now Trustee of Pro Bono Economics.

Matt Young is an Apella partner with 25 years of experience in corporate affairs. He was Corporate Affairs Director at Lloyds Banking Group, part of the senior team which rescued the bank and rebuilt its reputation following the financial crisis. Formerly communications director at Santander UK and board member of the BBA.

Find out more about Apella Advisors at www.apellaadvisors.com and you can get in touch by emailing [email protected]

This podcast was produced by the www.thepodcastcoach.co.uk