One of the more rewarding aspects of business podcasting is when you get an opportunity to interview some interesting and influential communicators and other business people.

That’s a privilege my podcasting partner Shel Holtz and I have been enjoying since we started our For Immediate Release podcast series in 2005.

One such example is the FIR Interview with Jon Iwata of IBM that Shel and I have done and which is published today.

The primary topic of discussion in that interview is The Authentic Enterprise (PDF), a report recently published by the Arthur W Page Society that examines the evolving role of the senior communications executive in 21st century business.

An additional topic Jon talked about is a significant change in the global communication and marketing functions at IBM which was announced internally within IBM yesterday.

I’ve not yet seen any public announcement from IBM so it looks like FIR has an exclusive! Again.

In our FIR Interview, Jon describes the integration of IBM’s global marketing and communications organizations under his leadership. Jon will become Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications, effective on July 1, 2008.

Jon told us that the intent of the change is to create a capability for IBM that does not exist in either function today. He says:

The environment is changing, The context in which business operates is changing. Corporations have well established, very successful, tried and true models and mechanisms and tactics to reach customers, the press, employees.

It’s not that those things should suddenly be thrown out. But we are going through, as we say in the [Page] paper, this period of change.

New methods and models are emerging. The corporations that seize them first will be advantaged.

And there’s much more. That discussion starts at about 35:40 into the podcast, which you can listen to here.

Isn’t it good to see a communicator in charge of communication and marketing?