Edelman Global CEO Richard Edelman said companies during this uncertain time "have to speak up now because they are actually the most trusted sources of information -- more than government and more than media." Appearing on a webinar hosted by Axios, Edelman said while brands are "expected not to do a blackout," they are "expected to say how they’re helping solve the problem and also what they’re doing to help employees specifically keep their jobs." In the same vein, Edelman said it is important for companies to go out and talk right now because the "presumption is that we’re all in desperate shape" and it is their duty to "calm people down and say there is light at the end of the tunnel." Edelman: "We have to do facts, compassion and empathy, and those things need to come together, and we need to do it every day." Edelman also cautioned against dismissing the scope of the threat of the coronavirus pandemic, acknowledging that his choice to attend a Big East basketball tournament game at MSG last month put himself at risk. He said, "We have to listen to the medical authorities. We have to overdo being precautionary, and I’ve been inside for the last 19 days because that is leadership at the moment. We have to obey and, in a way, lead from the front this way."
