BulletProofBlog the blog on crisis communications

On Monday, we looked ahead to how the Securities and Exchange Commission will likely evolve with Chairman Mary L. Schapiro at the helm. Today, I'd like to delve a bit deeper into how companies should act so that the SEC focuses its attention on others; and not on you - an especially important effort at a time when enhanced enforcement measures are the agency's top priority.

A week ago today, Chairman Schapiro gave a speech before the Practising Law Institute in which she outlined the specific steps that the agency will take to reinvent itself in the wake of its reputational crisis. Included along with talk of market transparency, corporate accountability, and investor protection was a sentence that points the way forward. "The regulated need not wait for regulator' s reforms," Chairman Schapiro said. "At a time when investors are appalled at the ways of Wall Street, it is there that change must begin."

The call for Wall Street to begin earnest self-regulation was an echo of her boss' inauguration address just a few weeks prior - and, most important, it provided companies that are concerned about increased SEC scrutiny with a communications template moving forward. Whether the issue is executive compensation, the disclosure of material information, or allowing for greater shareholder input into corporate governance, the time to institute needed reforms - and highlight them for all to see - is now, before the SEC comes to you.

Such moves demonstrate a commitment to the new way forward and provide the SEC with ample reason to find an easier target. And with proxy season almost upon us, publically-articulated reforms will also help to mute the shareholder outrage that will certainly manifest itself at more than a few annual meetings.

Chairman' s Schapiro' s call is, in reality, an opportunity for companies to demonstrate leadership and, in the process, inoculate for the future.