Who wants to talk about corporate greening, philanthropy and social accountability in the middle of financial upheaval? Pulling up to the C-suite strategy table with topics like this could put the chief communications officer in the position of the guy in the ad years ago that bore the headline: "They laughed when I sat down at the piano!"

But wait a minute. In that ad, selling do-it-yourself piano lessons available by mail, the laughable pianist turned out to be pretty good. He stunned the group and made them fans. Or at least he stopped the party and got some respect.

CCOs of course don't need to bring an accordion to the top-level meeting on financial risk. He or she should, however, be ready to show the CEO, COO, CFO and other peers how financial accountability is wrapped around social and political accountability.

In short, put the focus on stakeholders. Talk corporate sustainability. Make the point that dealing with economic risk and opportunity requires alignment with stakeholder interests and government.

That's what my EnviroComm colleagues and I found in writing "Corporate Greening 2.0" (now available through Amazon.com): Global warming and carbon constraints have changed the deal between companies and stakeholders. Social contracts with employees, customers, neighbors and government are altered. And government at all levels is probing ways to make companies part of the answer — or take the punishment for not getting with the new math of "carbonomics."

At the C-suite table, corporate communicators must be armed with insights on stakeholder interests (their "social capital") and knowledge of what's happening in Congress and in the states on issues like cap-and-trade and carbon-lean incentives.

CCOs can earn new respect inside the company by showing how economic, social and political factors are affecting stakeholder relations, and what some companies are doing to stay competitive. The "Corporate Greening 2.0" book includes a guide to company positions on climate change and sustainability strategies that might be at least as good as piano lessons by mail.