Amazon’s Ty Rogers on how communicators can prove worth to C-suite

The tech company makes PR an essential part of early product development—and asks everyone to participate in the process of explaining value to customers.

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Comms lessons from Amazon

After a remarkable, challenging year, communicators are in a unique position to make an impact within their organizations.

Amid ongoing COVID-19 challenges, marketplace upheaval and social transformation, top execs have leaned on their communications leaders more than ever before. But how can communications pros continue to earn—and keep—their seat at the table in 2022?

For Ty Rogers, vice president of global retail and operations communications at Amazon, the opportunity is clear. His advice: “Be a simplifier.”

“It’s actually really hard to do,” Rogers warns. “It’s one of the ways that I think people can prove their value and earn that seat at the table: If you can take those complex issues and you can boil them down so that they make decision-making fast and easy.”

For top leaders with limited time and overcrowded schedules, it might seem obvious that aspiring executives should find ways to lighten the load for the C-suite. But for communicators, being someone who can translate complex issues into clear solutions is a sure recipe for increasing relevance and influence.

What does it look like to be a simplifier?

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