At an Axios Communicators event on Dec. 14, United Airlines’ Executive Vice President of Communications and Advertising, Josh Earnest, shared details about the brand’s integrated communications playbook. He outlined several benefits and insights the company has learned by giving public relations executives a seat at the table. Our sister pub PRNEWS looks at six takeaways for PR and marketing professionals. Among them, three hit home for both marketing and PR folks:

*Integrating communications with other parts of the business gives organizations the ability to make informed business decisions swiftly—and with company reputation in mind at the outset.

*The toughest decisions do not have clarity—it’s about informing and empowering your teams to use their best judgement.

“You don’t have access to perfect information. You don’t know exactly how things are going to turn out. There is uncertainty, and that’s what makes those decisions tough. Those are the times where I want people to use their judgment to come to me and talk about those decisions,” Earnest said. “But the more effective that I can be in sharing information and empowering members of my team to make good decisions, the less often they’re going to have to come to me and get sign off. That means our team is going to be more effective, they’re going to be more decisive, and they’re going to be faster.”

*The best way for companies to demonstrate that they actually care about a specific issue is to take clear steps to show that. If a company wishes to act with purpose, it needs to do more than talk the talk.

Read the full article in PRNEWS.