When IBM’s shares plunged roughly 25% following a surprise earnings pre-announcement, communications professionals may have found themselves asking an uncomfortable question: If a company follows the crisis communications playbook almost perfectly, why doesn’t it work?
The answer is humbling. Sometimes the playbook just isn’t enough.
By most communications standards, IBM handled the situation well. The company disclosed disappointing results early rather than allowing rumors to fill the vacuum. CEO Arvind Krishna acknowledged the company’s performance fell below expectations instead of blaming the economy or outside forces. Management offered a clear explanation for what happened, maintained message discipline and outlined the company’s confidence in its long-term strategy.
Those are exactly the behaviors communications advisers encourage.
Yet the stock still suffered one of its sharpest declines in decades.
The reason is simple: Communications cannot rescue an investment thesis that investors no longer believe.
Too often, and particularly in investor relations, we measure the success of crisis communications by whether the share price recovers. That’s the wrong metric. The real objective is to preserve trust and credibility so shareholders are willing to listen the next time the organization has something important to say.
In IBM’s case, investors didn’t reject the messaging because it lacked clarity. They rejected the conclusion. Management argued that customers had shifted spending toward AI infrastructure, temporarily delaying purchases in other parts of IBM’s business. Investors, however, interpreted the same facts differently. They questioned whether IBM was benefiting from the AI boom at all.
That’s not a communications problem. That’s a confidence problem.
The distinction matters because communications teams often inherit challenges they cannot solve with words alone.
Every organization has what might be called a communications ceiling.
Below that ceiling, clear messaging can reduce confusion, build understanding and preserve confidence. Above it, no amount of messaging can overcome deficiencies in strategy, operations or leadership. The role of communications is not to pretend that ceiling doesn’t exist. It is to help leaders recognize when they have reached it and what must happen next.
A well-crafted message cannot substitute for business performance. It cannot erase strategic concerns. It cannot convince stakeholders to ignore changing market realities.
The same principle applies far beyond publicly traded companies. Nonprofits cannot message their way out of declining donor confidence if stewardship is weak. Universities cannot overcome enrollment challenges through marketing alone if families question the value proposition. Hospitals cannot repair damaged reputations without improving the patient experience. Family-owned businesses cannot reassure employees if leadership isn’t making difficult operational decisions. Communications can help people understand change. It cannot replace the change itself.
What communications can do is create the conditions for credibility.
That means acknowledging bad news quickly, resisting the temptation to spin, explaining what happened in plain language and, most importantly, giving stakeholders a reason to believe the organization knows what comes next.
This is where many organizations fall short. They spend most of their time explaining yesterday’s disappointment and too little time helping people visualize tomorrow’s recovery. The strongest crisis responses don’t simply answer, “What happened?” They answer, “What are the steps we’re taking to correct and evolve? Why should you believe we’ll be in a better position six months from now?”
That future story has to be supported by measurable actions, milestones and evidence, not optimism alone.
The most valuable communications professionals understand this instinctively. They are often the ones asking the hardest operational questions behind closed doors because they recognize that reputation is ultimately built by decisions, not by messaging. Their job is not simply to craft the narrative. It is to help senior leadership ensure there is a story worth telling and to remind them that rebuilding trust and confidence takes time. They need to play the long game even if it means short-term pain.
Ultimately, IBM’s experience is a useful reminder that our role is not to manufacture confidence. It is to earn it. In doing so, we can preserve something even more valuable for our organizations and our clients: credibility.
And whether you’re a Fortune 500 company, a nonprofit or a family-owned enterprise, credibility is often the asset that determines whether stakeholders will give you another chance to tell your story.
Devine + Partners is a Philadelphia public relations agency. We offer a full range of communications services – from message and content development and media relations to issues management and employee and community engagement.
