By Exec-Edge Editorial Staff
Sir Lynton Crosby has spent four decades reading public opinion for people who couldn't afford to get it wrong — prime ministers, presidents, and the boards of some of the world's largest companies. As Executive Chairman of CT Group, the research and strategy firm he co-founded, Crosby has built one of the most quietly influential shops in political and corporate consulting, with offices across eight countries and a client roster that spans government, industry, and advocacy. In recent years, CT Group has turned its research apparatus toward a subject closer to home for the business community it serves: capitalism itself, and why the system's public standing hasn't kept pace with its performance. We spoke with Crosby about what the firm's research found, and what it means for how business leaders talk about the system they operate in.
Exec Edge: CT Group ran a large-scale study on public attitudes toward capitalism. What prompted that?
We had seen a number of signals that some of the trending narratives on how the public felt about the predominant economic system were misleading. But we don't operate on feelings, but instead we respond to data, so we tested it. There's a narrative that's taken hold since the financial crisis — that the public has simply given up on capitalism, that a decade of scandals and populist politics has turned the average voter against the system outright. We fielded a nationally representative survey of 3,000 people, backed by focus groups, to find out if that was actually true or if something more specific was going on. It turned out to be the latter.
Exec Edge: What did the research actually find?
#edge #Research #turned
Sir Lynton Crosby has spent four decades reading public opinion for people who couldn't afford to get it wrong — prime ministers, presidents, and the boards of some of the world's largest companies. As Executive Chairman of CT Group, the research and strategy firm he co-founded, Crosby has built one of the most quietly influential shops in political and corporate consulting, with offices across eight countries and a client roster that spans government, industry, and advocacy. In recent years, CT Group has turned its research apparatus toward a subject closer to home for the business community it serves: capitalism itself, and why the system's public standing hasn't kept pace with its performance. We spoke with Crosby about what the firm's research found, and what it means for how business leaders talk about the system they operate in.
Exec Edge: CT Group ran a large-scale study on public attitudes toward capitalism. What prompted that?
We had seen a number of signals that some of the trending narratives on how the public felt about the predominant economic system were misleading. But we don't operate on feelings, but instead we respond to data, so we tested it. There's a narrative that's taken hold since the financial crisis — that the public has simply given up on capitalism, that a decade of scandals and populist politics has turned the average voter against the system outright. We fielded a nationally representative survey of 3,000 people, backed by focus groups, to find out if that was actually true or if something more specific was going on. It turned out to be the latter.
Exec Edge: What did the research actually find?
#edge #Research #turned
2 months ago
