‘The British population sniffs decay, it sniffs failure, it sniffs ambition.’ That’s the case in politics, according to Andrew Grant, founder of Tulchan, but it’s also an important aspect of reputation management. He is mindful of the need to encourage corporate clients to find their own voice. ‘It is actually about the very precise choice of words, and the important thing is they have to be the kind of words that people repeat. They have to be really powerful,’ he explains to Spear’s. Grant also offers insights about the modern corporate world. ‘Among older people there has been deference to big companies,’ he says, adding that ‘young people are more likely to protest. We’re trying to encourage companies not to issue great ultimatums. You have to win the argument; you can’t just make grand statements.’ He specialises in advising CEOs. ‘CEOs are getting younger – a lot of them are in their forties,’ says Grant. ‘If you’ve come up through the corporate ranks, you have a set of responsibilities which you have to manage. Most are surprised by the extent to which their job is about communications and the time it takes up.’ The clients keep coming Grant’s way, and Tulchan now ranks third among PR firms in the number of FTSE 100 companies it represents.