Leadership Lens: Matthew Wall and Wayne Reynolds

In 2024, before joining forces with Taylor Bennett to create Taylor Birchwood, Birchwood Knight celebrated its 15th birthday. To mark the occasion, Wayne Reynolds conducted interviews with a wide range of highly accomplished corporate affairs leaders about their experience and views of the function. For our 15th and final interview of this series, we turned the mic around on Wayne and his Taylor Birchwood co-founder, Matthew Wall.

What advice would you have given to an aspiring Corporate Affairs Director 15 years ago?

Matthew (MJW): Make sure that you’ve had diversity in your work. Agency experience is an effective way of testing your capacity with the pace and dynamics not only of different sectors but of different styles of management. You’re likely to work with myriad senior figures and learn about the elements and behaviours you want to follow and avoid. It also helps to build network; the alumni connections of agency often endure and create valued counsel as careers grow together. If in-house, try to work in multiple sectors – it will teach you a lot about what you enjoy and will mitigate the risk of being pigeonholed later in your career.

Wayne (WR): Grab every opportunity and don’t be too impatient to get to the top. Rarely are career paths linear and it’s often the perceived detours that shape you as a leader. I’d also have encouraged people to gain breadth in their experience including across two or more of the key disciplines (e.g. media relations and internal communications), at the group centre as well as in an operating division or across different geographical regions, as appropriate.

How has corporate affairs changed over the last 15 years, and what do you expect next?

MJW: 15 years ago, the function and the expectation of it was much more reactive than it is today. These are broad and imperfect descriptors, but the requirements of corporate affairs leaders placed heavier emphasis on issues and crisis management. There was also less integration between functional specialisms; jurisdictions were both clear and typically adhered to.

Five years ago – before the pandemic – there was a maturity and ‘status’ question. Whether or not the function leader reported to the CEO and had a seat on the Executive Committee was interpreted as a validation (or otherwise) of the organisation’s conviction about the buy-in to the corporate affairs.

Today, it has changed again; the function is more widely respected and sought out, but the requirement for it to have that line into the CEO or seat on ExCo is diminished. The size of those leadership teams is shrinking across industry, as Plc regulation requires other functions to have representation, but the criticality of the corporate affairs function is no longer in question.

Next? We’re already seeing the function more frequently take ownership of brand and brand identity. This – coupled with the reducing resources in journalism – has paved the way for content, production and editorial teams to come in-house. Production studios in corporate affairs functions aren’t a new feature, but they will become a commonplace one. Leadership of the function may change; whereas until now, a media-facing background has been the dominant provenance for leaders, it’s plausible that we’ll see more political figures representing the function – just as Nick Clegg did for Meta. Culture and employee engagement are growing accountabilities for both the function and CEO, so the ascension to function leader from that discipline is also something we may see more of.

WR: The function has matured and adapted to meet the demands of a more complex stakeholder environment and fast-paced communication platforms. Digital communications have largely moved on from being a standalone discipline to an integral channel and corporate affairs leaders have seen their remits widen to include anything and everything from corporate brand and sustainability to investor relations and philanthropic foundations. The key in among all of this is how the function, with the right leadership, can be a strategic enabler for company performance by helping to bring a rounded perspective to decision making (from both within and outside the organisation), maximising opportunities, and minimising mishaps.

What skills does a modern-day corporate affairs director need? And if you could pick only one, which would it be and why?

MJW: Courage to speak up and to effect change. To succeed, you must be brave in bringing the outside in. Other than marketing, the leadership table has a primary focus on internal delivery metrics and organisation. Nobody is having to think about the big external factors such as political change or public sentiment. Echo chambers at the top of businesses are a real danger. Corporate affairs directors will need to go against the grain – sometimes with imperfect information – and that takes courage.

Pragmatism – the trick is to find the balance between being a visible and connected leader in the business; a good enough practitioner; and a strong enough functional leader to hire colleagues who are better than you in their field. It requires a trust in self, a lack of ego, and a conviction about what an outstanding function can deliver.

WR: Judgement, composure under pressure and the ability to influence others. Judgement comes with experience and often requires making decisions with limited information – the ability to do this well is a huge asset to any CEO and colleagues across the leadership team. Calmness plays an important role in bringing clarity to difficult situations and can set the tone for others to function more effectively. And influencing others is what it’s all about.

What do you love about corporate affairs?

MJW: Ours is a people business, so it’s natural that I’d observe that the people involved are typically nice, interested and interesting. By working so closely with this group, we’re able to adhere to our ‘no bad apples’ policy. Yes, I’ve changed the language there. The variety of issues, situations, networks, and functional dynamics mean that there is always a new test to learn from and to navigate.

WR: I love the people. Corporate affairs sits at the intersection of society, business and politics. Corporate affairs people are inherently interested in what’s going on around them and interesting to talk to. Every day really is a school day.

If you didn’t do this job, what would you do instead?

MJW: I’m only just coming to terms with the fact that I’m not destined for a professional football career. I’ve always enjoyed creative challenges, so advertising has always felt something with which I’d have affinity. This being said, my prospects of a career therein are probably as qualified as my footballing potential. Which is to say, implausible.

WR: As a headhunter you can focus on almost anything, helping organisations to hire everyone from anthropologists to zoologists, which probably makes me a wannabe corporate affairs director. That or a racing driver, but at 6’4” my career was sadly over before it had begun.

What was the last book you read?

MJW: Seventh Son by Sebastian Faulks. Not worthy of the hype, I’m afraid…

WR: Pompeii by Robert Harris. I love historical fiction and having just returned from a family trip to Naples this was an excellent choice.

What would be your specialist subject on Mastermind?

MJW: Fulham Football Club or Scotch Whisky. Don’t judge me.

WR: One of the joys of being a headhunter is learning a little bit about a lot of things, but this does make you a bit of a generalist. However, if pushed I’d pick Formula 1 through Michael Schumacher’s first stint in the sport (1991 to 2006).

What do you enjoy doing away from the office?

MJW: I’m at Craven Cottage on a regular basis, and in my allotment even more frequently.

WR: I love spending time with my family and friends, preferably up a mountain or on the water, and with a nice glass of wine at the end of an active day.