Telum caught up with Konnie Zhu to hear more about why she went into media and PR despite her legal background, how she navigates legal realities in her comms outreach and her advice for PRs who sit in the crisis team.

You come from a legal background, what attracted you to move into corporate affairs?
The first job offer that I received in my career was in media. But my major in university was law and at that time I thought I wanted to be a private practice lawyer, which looked challenging and exciting. I think many of us got that impression from movies and TV series.

After some years in law firms, an in-house opportunity came up and I said to myself, “Why not sit in my clients’ side for two or three years? I would like to know more about how they operate their business. It’s easy to talk about law on paper, but we should provide practical solutions that work.” After some months in a corporate role, I realised I didn’t want to go back to law firms as I really enjoyed the interactions with different people. Every day is different. There is no format to follow.

How does your background in law help you handle external relations at General Mills?
It is helpful in negotiations and when making deals with counterparties. My legal background helps me to easily identify both parties’ bottom lines and boundaries, and my logical thinking helps me to identify their interests and objectives. I use my communication skills to build a ladder for both parties to feel comfortable, sometimes with necessary compromises, to meet the best balance of the bigger objectives.

Within 100 days of starting at General Mills, I solved a compliance issue with the local government, which had lasted for more than a decade and was thought unresolvable. It took me a day to close the deal and it would never have been so efficient without my previous solid practice in law.

What are some of the challenges you experienced in the dual roles of legal and corporate affairs and how did you resolve them?
I think the only challenge was workload; I saw much more opportunity and strength in the dual roles. When the two functions (sometimes even three, as some companies would split government affairs and PR) work together, they might not always reach a consensus. In legal professionals’ eyes, PR colleagues might be too aggressive and sometimes step over the line. In PR practitioners’ eyes, legal colleagues might lack agility and practicality. In the end, their mutual line manager will need to balance and make the decision.

When I took care of both functions, it was easy to reach a conclusion and solution - maximise the interest whilst keeping compliance. Risks always exist when carrying out business. I do not say “avoid any risk”, I say “smart risk-taking”.

In your current and previous roles, you've looked after Mainland China and North Asia. How do you adjust strategies to cope with the legal differences in those markets?
No matter how different they are, we must be compliant with local laws and regulations in the areas we operate in. My focus is not on the legal differences, but on the different political regimes and correspondingly the approaches of how to influence and collaborate with different bodies.

In Mainland China we always keep the word “policy” in mind. I would attach more attention to the political direction and trend, which would bring in the enactment and execution of new laws and regulations. A great number of local regulations come up every year. Frequent communication with local execution bodies can help to learn the most efficient way to implement and get our business prepared.

In other areas in North Asia, the pace is slower. It is common to spend several years on discussing legislation. We work closely with local trade associations such as the Korea Food Industry Association or the Taiwan Food Industry Development Association. Sometimes we seek support from the local embassy or consulate, to advocate with key stakeholders in different parties.

A lot of in-house communicators will sit on crisis teams. What advice would you give someone from a pure PR background?
The recent Tesla crisis in Mainland China is a good lesson for pure PR / media-background communicators. Nobody could entirely dominate public opinion in a social networking era. We need to understand the government’s position and bottom line - sometimes public sentiment will trigger the latter. Always be humble. To develop our strategy with a holistic view means stepping into each of our external and internal stakeholder’s shoes. Think about what we do when playing chess - we need to predict how the counterparties would react.

Lastly, do you have a favourite anecdote or proudest achievement of your career?
I feel especially proud when driving business growth. Every one of us is part of the company’s P&L. Always try to contribute more on the ‘Profit’ part, not to be a pure cost and stay away from ‘Loss’. Usually, people don’t think the corporate affairs function could drive profit in the same way the commercial functions do. After I left one of my previous companies, the other major industry players, one by one approached me for their corporate affairs roles. Not via head-hunters, but with industry referrals. I think this is the best recognition.