By Roland Li March 4, 2024 (SFChroncile.com)
The head of the world’s biggest public relations firm is seeing a positive shift in San Francisco.
Major challenges around remote work, homelessness and a slow pandemic recovery remain, but Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman, is noticing a more upbeat narrative.
The city’s dominance in artificial intelligence, the hottest sector in tech, is supplanting “doom loop” fears, he believes. In recent weeks, the Economist printed a spread on the city’s “surprising comeback.” The Wall Street Journal reported that tech critics who fled to places like Miami and Austin, Texas, during the pandemic are coming back, acknowledging the city’s dominance in tech talent and venture capital money.
“There was a lot of piling on and a lot of presumption based on inaccurate (information). And also because it was convenient, politically, to beat San Francisco over the head,” Edelman said, in an interview in his firm’s offices on Market Street. “The tide has turned.”
He credits groups such as Edelman client Advance SF, a business-backed nonprofit whose members include the Giants, Gap and Uber. Last year, it (along with Edelman) launched a civic pride campaign called “It All Starts Here,” with signs around the city and a media tour.
“That’s a business initiative to build back confidence and belief in this city. And it’s working,” Edelman said. “Business has been a leading force.”
Edelman, who splits much of his time in New York and Chicago, said he feels San Francisco had gotten cleaner over the past year. “I would say San Francisco looks a lot better to me than a year ago,” he said.
While AI has been hailed as a potential economic savior, a recent Edelman worldwide poll found that only half of 32,000 respondents trusted the sector, compared with 76% trusting tech overall.
Only 22% of respondents to the Edelman Trust Barometer said innovation was well managed, while 39% said it was poorly managed and the remaining 39% said neither. U.S. respondents had the most negative views, with 56% saying innovation was poorly managed and only 14% saying it was well managed.
The online survey spanned 28 countries from Nov. 3 to Nov. 22, 2023.
There were also widespread negative views of both government and media, which were seen as less competent and unethical than nongovernment organizations and private businesses, which had the highest marks.
Worldwide, businesses were trusted by 63% of respondents, while around half trusted the government and media. In the U.S. only 53% of respondents trusted business and 40% trusted the government.
“I think business has stepped into the void left by government,” Edelman said. “I see business as deeply interested in societal issues,” including environmental sustainability, diversity, equity and inclusion.
He also sees that happening in San Francisco, as business leaders say, “we need the city to work and we want to be part of the solution, and we’re investing here, and we want you, the government, to come along.”
Reach Roland Li: roland.li@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @rolandlisf
March 4, 2024
By Roland Li (SFChronicle.com)
Roland Li covers commercial real estate for the business desk, focusing on the Bay Area office and retail sectors.
He was previously a reporter at San Francisco Business Times, where he won one award from the California News Publishers Association and three from the National Association of Real Estate Editors.
He is the author of “Good Luck Have Fun: The Rise of eSports,” a 2016 book on the history of the competitive video game industry. Before moving to the Bay Area in 2015, he studied and worked in New York. He freelanced for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and other local publications. His hobbies include swimming and urban photography.
He can be reached at roland.li@sfchronicle.com.
