In our Headliners series of conversations, we get under the skin of PR and communications leaders around the world who have made PRovoke Media headlines recently, uncovering the risks they have taken in their career, the people, brands and work they admire, their advice for industry newbies, and their guilty pleasures.

In this week's Q&A, we speak to Christiane Schulz, Edelman's new chief operating officer for the Asia Pacific region (APAC).

What’s the biggest career risk you’ve ever taken? How did it work out?

Early in my career, I was working at a bank as an economic advisor—this was before the Euro, when we still had the D-Mark. I was 25 at the time, and with the Euro transformation on the horizon, the CEO was looking for someone to lead the bank’s changeover. As an economist and someone deeply passionate about the European Union, I immediately raised my hand.

It was a huge responsibility: I had to identify every single process, touchpoint, and system where the D-Mark appeared and ensure we were ready to operate entirely in Euros by January 1st, 2002. I designed the framework and led the strategy from end to end. Once the full roadmap was in place, I handed it over to the organisation and IT departments for execution.

But the real test came on 1st January—would everything run as planned? I remember being worried that I'd missed some small detail that could disrupt the entire system. Thankfully, it was a smooth and successful transition. That experience taught me a lot about structured transformation, leadership under pressure, and the power of saying “yes” even when the stakes feel daunting.

What’s the biggest creative risk you’ve ever taken?

We had just won a pitch for a major transportation company in Germany and the client wanted us to work on a new campaign. Unfortunately, the headquarters and the local client team had different ideas of what great would look like, and we tried everything to align them through re-briefings, co-creation workshops, etc. 

Everyone was frustrated and they decided to pitch again. They asked us to show them different creative routes. After a meeting with my team, I decided to go in with just one route, as our second route was not as strong as the first one.

We presented and I said we only have one route. The feedback from the client was “this is outstanding, why did you not present something like this before?”. My answer was for this campaign, we ignored your briefing and defined our own one based on all the experiences we had along the way. It was a very successful campaign.

What do you think are the most important character traits for a great PR person

To listen, to be curious and to ask questions.


Which company or organisation do you most admire in terms of PR, branding or reputation management?

I admire those companies who understand that communication is a strategic task and use it accordingly. These are the companies who manage a crisis without making it in the headlines of the newspaper or who make sure via communication that everyone in their company understands the strategy and can deliver to it. These are the companies who will get high scorings in their employee surveys.

Which individual, in any field, do you think exemplifies outstanding leadership or communication skills?

I think doctors who are running an emergency room need to have both. The need to be good listeners, they need to communicate very clearly and precisely,  and they need to make decisions quickly based on data.

What’s the best campaign you’ve seen recently?

A recent campaign that caught my attention was “The Break-Up” from  Deutsche Telekom. It’s deeply emotional, and brilliantly modern in its storytelling. The campaign uses the metaphor of a break-up to portray young people’s growing disillusionment with social media—highlighting the toxic relationship between platforms and users, particularly around mental health, and algorithm-driven content.

What makes it powerful is how Telekom, as a tech enabler, leans into this tension with authenticity—encouraging digital mindfulness rather than just more screen time. It’s beautifully executed and speaks to a real societal undercurrent. You don't expect a telco to take that kind of emotional and cultural stance, which is exactly why it works.

Is there an industry trend or discussion you think is over-rated or exaggerated or just plain stupid?

Right now, I think the way the industry talks about AI can feel exaggerated to the point of distraction. Don’t get me wrong—AI is transformational, and it’s absolutely here to stay. But the narrative that it will replace agencies or the people within them is not only overhyped, it’s unhelpful.

What concerns me is how quickly the conversation gets stuck on speed and scale—this idea that AI is a magic button for instant content. More, faster, cheaper. But that mindset skips over the more important question: What’s the purpose?

As Alexia Adana put it, if you can’t answer why you’re using AI—beyond just using it because you can—you need to rethink the approach. AI needs to be deployed with intention and clarity, not just as a productivity flex. It’s when we pair AI’s power with human insight, cultural fluency, and creative judgment that we create real value. That’s still very much the domain of agencies and humans.

There’s also a fair amount of AI theater right now—more sizzle than substance. We need to move past showcasing tools for optics and instead focus on thoughtful, trust-building applications. At Edelman, we talk about keeping the human in the loop—and I think that’s exactly the point. AI should help us make our work smarter, more inclusive, more insightful, and ultimately more human.

To me, that’s the real opportunity: not replacing what we do, but unlocking human potential.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone entering the PR industry today

It’s a great industry to gather a lot of experience - about other industries, different companies, to stay close to the communication trends - and learn a lot. I would say, take the chance you have and find out what you enjoy the most. 

What’s your guilty pleasure when you need to unwind from the high pressure of PR?

I love Mexican and Spanish telenovelas, and I like to watch them in Spanish with subtitles as my Spanish is not so great.